Add Workshop mods to ARK: Survival Evolved

ARK: Survival Evolved mods come from the Steam Workshop, and on our servers they all live in one field. This guide goes further than the short section in ARK: Survival Evolved server: connect, mods: finding the right IDs, setting the load order, updating and removing a mod, and fixing a mod that will not load.

Where mods go

There is no Mods tab for this game. Open your server, go to the Startup tab and use the Mod IDs field. It takes Workshop IDs separated by commas, digits and commas only, so no spaces and no names.

Find a mod's ID

Open the mod's page on the Steam Workshop. The number after id= in the address bar is its ID. There is no collection field here, so for a collection, open each mod in it, copy its ID and join them with commas.

Add the mods

1. In Mod IDs, type or paste the IDs, for example 731604991,1404697612.
2. Press Save.
3. Press Restart now in the alert, or restart from the Console tab.

Our launch line passes the field to ARK as GameModIds and adds -automanagedmods whenever the field is not empty. ARK's wiki describes that option as automatic mod download, installation and updating, so the server fetches everything itself on the way up. The first boot after adding mods is slow, so give it time before deciding something is wrong. Players get the same mods automatically when they join.

Set the load order

The order of the IDs is the load order. The wiki says priority runs left to right, with the left-most ID the top-priority mod. If two mods change the same thing, the one further left wins. Reorder the IDs in the field, press Save and restart.

Update mods

Restart the server. The mods update on the way up, with no separate button. If a player gets a "mod version mismatch" when joining, restart the server so it picks up the current Workshop version, and have the player restart Steam so their copy updates too.

Remove a mod

1. Take a backup first. How to create and restore backups shows how.
2. Delete its ID from Mod IDs, press Save and restart.

Check the world afterwards, especially if players have built with the mod's items, since the backup is how you get them back.

Mod maps and Primitive+

A mod map needs its ID in Mod IDs and its own name in Map. How to install a custom map on ARK: Survival Evolved walks through that. Primitive+ is a total conversion rather than a Workshop mod.

Common problems

1. Mods do not load: check the IDs have no spaces or stray characters, then restart once more. A mod that failed to download is retried on the next boot.
2. The server sits on loading for a long time: normal after adding mods. Watch the Console tab and give it several minutes.
3. Two mods fight each other: move the one you want to win further left in Mod IDs.
4. Only some players cannot join: they are on a different mod version. Have them restart Steam so it updates their copy.

If none of these match, open the Console tab, switch to its Errors tab and copy the exact lines into your support ticket along with what you changed just before it started.