ARK server settings generator
Every rate, difficulty and breeding setting as a labelled control, for ARK: Survival Evolved (not Survival Ascended). Set them how you like and copy out ready GameUserSettings.ini and Game.ini files, only the lines you actually changed.
Presets
Every rate and breeding speed back to ARK's own numbers.
Double XP, taming, harvesting and breeding speed.
Three times XP, taming, harvesting and breeding speed.
Five times XP, taming, harvesting and breeding speed.
Ten times XP, taming, harvesting and breeding speed.
Breeding 10x faster and double imprint per cuddle. XP, taming and harvesting stay as they are.
Nights pass twice as fast. Days and every rate stay as they are.
Rates
XP rate
Experience gained by players, tribes and tames from every source.
Taming speed
How fast taming bars fill. Higher is faster.
Harvest amount
Resources gained from trees, rocks and corpses per hit.
Resource respawn time
How long harvested nodes take to come back. Lower is faster.
Wild dino population
How many wild creatures spawn across the map.
Item stack size
Multiplies how many of an item fit in one inventory slot.
Food spoil time
How long perishables last before spoiling. Higher lasts longer.
Crop growth speed
How fast crops grow in a crop plot.
Difficulty
Difficulty offset
A finer 0 to 1 difficulty setting. Most owners leave this and use the override below instead.
Override official difficulty
Raises the wild dino level cap: value times 30. 0 leaves the game's own difficulty offset in charge.
Override is 0, so it's off: the game uses the difficulty offset above instead.
Day & Night
Day and night speed
Speed of the whole day/night cycle together.
Day speed
Speed of daytime only.
Night speed
Speed of night time only. The usual fix for nights that drag on.
Player & Dino Stats
Player hunger drain
How fast players get hungry.
Player thirst drain
How fast players get thirsty.
Player stamina drain
How fast player stamina depletes.
Player health regen
Passive player health regeneration speed.
Player damage dealt
Multiplier on damage players deal.
Dino hunger drain
How fast tames get hungry.
Dino health regen
Passive tame health regeneration speed.
Wild dino damage dealt
Multiplier on damage wild creatures deal.
Structures
Structure damage resistance
Damage resistance of player-built structures.
Structure damage dealt
Damage structures deal, for example spike walls.
Structure decay time (PvE)
How long an unsnapped or unpowered structure takes to decay on a PvE server.
Disable structure decay (PvE)
Turns structure decay off entirely on a PvE server.
Server tame cap
Total tamed creatures allowed across the whole server.
PvE, PvP & Quality of Life
PvE server
True turns off PvP entirely and makes the server PvE. Note the lowercase s: this is not ServerPVE.
Third person camera
False forces first person only.
Show position on map
False hides a player's own position on the map, which some PvP servers prefer.
Flyers can carry wild dinos (PvE)
True lets flying tames pick up wild creatures on a PvE server.
Allow Titanosaur feeding
Lets players feed and use the raid-only Titanosaur.
Offline PvP protection
Makes offline players and their tames invulnerable.
Auto-save interval (minutes)
How often the server saves the world automatically.
Breeding (Game.ini)
Baby maturation speed
Higher shortens the time a baby takes to grow up.
Egg hatch speed
Higher shortens the time a fertilised egg takes to hatch.
Mating cooldown
Lower shortens the cooldown before a female can mate again.
Imprint cuddle interval
Lower means babies ask for imprint attention more often.
Imprint amount per cuddle
Higher raises the imprint percentage each cuddle gives.
Your settings
0 changed from defaultTwo files, only the lines you changed. Stop your server first, upload both to ShooterGame/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/ in the File Manager, then start it again: ARK writes GameUserSettings.ini back out on shutdown, so an edit made while it's running is lost the moment it next stops.
GameUserSettings.iniCreated automatically the first time your server starts.
[ServerSettings] ; No changes - every setting below uses ARK's own default.
Game.iniNot created by default: make a plain text file with this exact name if one doesn't already exist.
[/script/shootergame.shootergamemode] ; No changes - every setting below uses ARK's own default.
A setting also on your Startup tab (server name, join password, admin password, map, max players, mods, BattlEye) is sent on the launch command and always wins over the same key in these files.
On a Play Your Way ARK server you can still edit these files by hand from the dashboard's File Manager, or set the same rates from the Startup tab, no ini editing required for the common ones.
Get an ARK serverBefore you upload
- Stop the server first. ARK writes GameUserSettings.ini back out from memory when it shuts down, so an edit made while it's running is gone the moment it next stops. Stop, upload, then start again.
- Game.ini may not exist yet. GameUserSettings.ini is created on first boot, but Game.ini usually isn't: create it as a plain text file with that exact name if the folder doesn't already have one.
- The Startup tab can win. Server name, join and admin passwords, map, max players, mods and BattlEye are sent on the launch command from your Startup tab, and a value there always beats the same setting inside these files.
FAQ
GameUserSettings.ini holds almost everything you'd call a server setting: rates, difficulty, day and night speed, PvE or PvP, and the quality-of-life toggles, under one section called [ServerSettings]. Game.ini is smaller and mostly used for one thing, breeding: maturation, egg hatching, mating cooldowns and imprinting, under a section header you need to type exactly as shown, [/script/shootergame.shootergamemode]. This generator builds both.
Almost always because the server was still running. ARK keeps its settings in memory while it's online and writes GameUserSettings.ini back out when it shuts down, overwriting whatever was already running with the values it had in memory. Stop the server, upload the file, then start it again. Editing while it's running, even if you plan to restart afterwards, can lose the edit.
GameUserSettings.ini is created for you the first time your server boots, but Game.ini usually isn't. Download the Game.ini this generator builds, then in the File Manager open ShooterGame/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/ and upload it there under that exact name.
Override official difficulty raises the level cap on wild creatures: whatever value you set is multiplied by 30 to get the highest wild level, so 5.0 gives the familiar level 150 official servers use. Leave it at 0 and it's switched off, and the game falls back to the difficulty offset setting instead, which only makes a finer adjustment inside the game's own default range.
No. Survival Ascended is a separate, newer game on a different engine, and several of its settings are renamed or don't exist in the original Survival Evolved. This generator, and every key and default on this page, is for Survival Evolved only.