Help Centre
ARK: Survival Evolved guides
ARK: Survival Evolved: 18 server guides on maps, Workshop mods and admin commands, from Play Your Way, in plain English.
Getting Started
Settings & Admin
ARK ini settings: GameUserSettings.ini and Game.ini
What the common ARK: Survival Evolved GameUserSettings.ini and Game.ini settings do, from XP and taming to breeding, and why to stop the server first.
ARK server admin password and cheats
Set ServerAdminPassword from the Startup tab, log in with enablecheats, run the basic admin commands, and whitelist admins by Steam64 ID.
Change Alliance Settings in ARK: Evolved
Switch tribe alliances off or cap their size on your ARK: Survival Evolved server with PreventTribeAlliances and two Game.ini limits.
Change Per-Level Stats in ARK: Evolved
Change how much each level-up point is worth for players, tames and wild creatures on ARK: Survival Evolved, with the stat index and Game.ini lines.
Change Wild Spawn Rates in ARK: Evolved
Scale wild creature spawns with DinoCountMultiplier or favour one creature with DinoSpawnWeightMultipliers on your ARK: Survival Evolved server.
Disable Ice Wyverns on ARK: Survival Evolved
Stop Ice Wyverns spawning on your ARK: Survival Evolved server with one NPCReplacements line in Game.ini, then clear the ones already on the map.
Enable cave flying on ARK: Survival Evolved
Let flying creatures into caves on your ARK: Survival Evolved server with the -ForceAllowCaveFlyers launch option in the Startup tab.
Enable events on ARK: Survival Evolved
Switch on the Winter Wonderland event on your ARK: Survival Evolved server with the -ActiveEvent launch option, and see which events still work.
Engram Points Per Level in ARK: Evolved
Set how many engram points each level gives on an ARK: Survival Evolved server, using OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints lines in Game.ini.
Floating Damage Numbers in ARK: Evolved
Turn on RPG-style popup damage text on your ARK: Survival Evolved server with the ShowFloatingDamageText key in GameUserSettings.ini.
Offline PvP Protection in ARK: Evolved
Stop offline raiding on your ARK: Survival Evolved PvP server with PreventOfflinePvP and an optional delay in GameUserSettings.ini.
Set up RCON on ARK: Survival Evolved
Connect an outside RCON tool to your ARK: Survival Evolved server by adding a network port, pointing RCON Port at it and using your admin password.
Mods & Plugins
Add Workshop mods to ARK: Survival Evolved
Add Steam Workshop mods to an ARK: Survival Evolved server from the Startup tab, set the load order, update mods, remove one and fix a mod that won't load.
Install a custom map on ARK Evolved
Run a Steam Workshop map on your ARK: Survival Evolved server: find the mod ID and map name, set Mod IDs and Map in Startup, and switch back.
Game guides
Get an ARK: Survival Evolved server
Your choice of location, online in minutes, and these guides are a click away from the panel.
ARK: Survival Evolved servers here run The Island, Ragnarok, Fjordur and every other official map, set with Map in the Startup tab, and each map keeps its own save. Workshop mods load from Mod IDs in the same tab, and the Console tab runs saveworld and broadcast without logging in.