Add CurseForge mods to ARK Ascended

ARK: Survival Ascended mods come from CurseForge, and the game is built to download them itself. Your server needs only the mods' project IDs: it fetches the mods as it starts, and players get them when they join. This guide covers finding the IDs, the load order, mod maps, updates, and removing a mod safely.

Before you start

1. Take a backup of a world people have played. A mod can add items and creatures to your save, and removing it later takes them with it. How to create and restore backups shows how.
2. Check the mod is for Ascended. ARK: Survival Evolved mods are on the Steam Workshop and don't work on Ascended. On CurseForge, an Ascended mod is listed under ARK: Survival Ascended.

Find a mod's project ID

1. Open the mod's page on CurseForge.
2. In the About Project box beside the description, find Project ID. It's a number, such as 929420.
3. Copy it. A mod that needs another mod usually says so on its page: copy that one's ID, too.

Add the mods

1. Open your server's Startup tab.
2. Paste the IDs into Mod IDs, separated by commas with no spaces: 929420,111111,222222 for three mods.
3. Restart the server.

The first start after adding mods takes longer, because the server downloads each one on the way up. Wait until the console shows advertising for join before anyone tries to connect.

Load order

The server loads mods in the order you list them in Mod IDs. Order only matters when two mods change the same thing, and the mod's CurseForge page usually says when it does, such as "load above" or "load below" another mod. Follow that.

To change the order, edit the list in Mod IDs and restart.

Mod maps

A map from CurseForge is a mod like any other, plus a change to Map:

1. Add the map's project ID to Mod IDs.
2. Set Map in Startup to the map's name, exactly as its CurseForge page gives it, with the _WP ending. For Insaluna, for example, Mod IDs is 939532 and Map is Insaluna_WP.
3. Restart.

The map starts as a fresh world with its own save, and your old map's save stays on the server for when you switch back.

Large mod maps use more memory, as Lost Colony and Astraeos do. ARK: Survival Ascended getting started has the memory figures for the official maps, and How to upgrade or downgrade your plan covers moving up if a map needs it.

How players get the mods

Nothing to do. When a player picks your server in Join ARK, the game downloads the server's mods before it connects. The first join after adding mods takes longer for them, too.

Updates

Your server checks for mod updates every time it starts, so a restart is all it takes. A nightly restart keeps your mods current without you thinking about it: Schedule automatic restarts and tasks sets one up.

Remove a mod

1. Take a backup.
2. Delete the mod's ID from Mod IDs, along with the comma next to it.
3. Restart.

Everything the mod added goes with it: its creatures, items and buildings disappear from the world. Some mods ask you to run a clean-up command first, so read the mod's page before you remove one.

If the server won't start or a mod doesn't load

1. Check the console. Open Console and look for the mod's ID or name near the error. Use your server console and send commands explains the log.
2. Check the IDs. Each one must be a project ID for an Ascended mod. A typo loads nothing, or the wrong mod. If the server stops straight after Error querying server mods: Failed to send request to server with error: 404 in the console, CurseForge won't give a server one of the mods. Remove the IDs you added last until the server starts, and look for another version of that mod.
3. Remove the newest mods. Take out the mods you added last, restart, then add them back one at a time to find the one causing it.
4. Check memory. Many big mods together can need more than your plan has. The Console tab shows memory use while the server runs.