How to change the map on an ARK Ascended server

Your ARK: Survival Ascended server runs one map at a time, and you can change it whenever you like. Each map keeps its own save, so going back to an old map picks up where you left off. This guide covers switching maps, which maps need a bigger plan, and bringing a save across from another host.

How saves work across maps

Saves are in ShooterGame/Saved/SavedArks/, with a folder for each map, such as SavedArks/TheIsland_WP/. A map from a mod can name its folder differently, so look in SavedArks in the File Manager after its first start. Each folder holds:

• the world, <map>.ark, plus dated copies ARK keeps beside it;
• each player's character, in an .arkprofile file;
• each tribe, in an .arktribe file.

Switching map starts that map's own save. Characters, tribes and tames don't come with you: players start fresh there. Switch back and the old map, characters and all, is exactly as you left it.

Change the map

1. Back up. How to create and restore backups shows how. Your plan has a limited number of backup slots, so check you aren't replacing one you want to keep.
2. Open your server's Startup tab.
3. Set Map to the new map's value, exactly as written below.
4. Restart the server.

A new map takes longer to start the first time, while ARK builds the world. Wait for advertising for join in the Console before anyone joins.

Type the map value exactly as shown, with the _WP ending. If the server won't start after a change, check that value first.

Maps that need a bigger plan

The map decides most of the memory your server uses. An empty Lost Colony already holds 14.9 GB and an empty Astraeos 17.3 GB, so neither fits on a 16 GB Dodo. Move to Rex (24 GB) or Giga (32 GB) first: How to upgrade or downgrade your plan shows how, and your saves stay as they are.

The other eight maps run on a Dodo, though players, mods and large bases all add to it.

Bring a save from another host

Moving an ARK server means copying its map folder.

1. Stop the server on your old host, so the world is fully saved.
2. Check which map it ran. The folder under SavedArks is named after it, and so is the .ark file inside.
3. Stop your server here. ARK saves as it stops, over anything copied in while it runs.
4. Copy the map's folder from the old host's ShooterGame/Saved/SavedArks/ into the same place on your server: download it there and upload it in the File Manager, or over SFTP for a large save.
5. Set Map in Startup to the same map, and start the server.

The .arkprofile and .arktribe files must come with the .ark, or players arrive as new characters in a world full of buildings they no longer own.

Bring a single-player or non-dedicated save

A world you played alone is saved on your PC under ShooterGame/Saved/SavedArksLocal/ in the game's install folder, in a folder named after the map. Take a backup of the server first. Copying the map's .ark world file into the matching folder under SavedArks on the server brings the world across. Characters are tied to each player's own ID, so players should expect to start a new character.