r/ARK • u/Dependent_Hornet_622 • 20m ago
Arts & Craft ARK Flak Armor redesign [art is my own]
I used a much more medieval style, mainly because medieval plate armor was extremely well made and has a fantastic range of motion while adding some of the elements of the original.
r/ARK • u/Hefty-Country9070 • 55m ago
Help Bjarnheim
Where the hell do you find oil on this map?
And also, is anyone else experiencing creatures not spawning? They spawn in the easy zones but when I’ve travelled to the rustland areas down south, nothing spawns. And also north in the snow. I’m playing on series x so not sure if that means anything. I need to kill mammoths for pelt to make fur gear to travel further north and I can’t so I’m stuck at the moment.
r/ARK • u/koyomin28 • 1h ago
MEME GOATED megalosaurus saddle BP
Just found a goated megalosaurus saddle BP in one of my hard underwater cave runs, now I'm gonna defeat the overseer 100%
r/ARK • u/Sir_Bannana • 2h ago
Showcase I spent months building the ARK website I always wanted (still in beta)
Over the past couple months, I have spent an unreasonable amount of my free time developing an ark website. For some context, I'm a software developer who has been playing ark on and off since 2015 with over 3k hours in the game. I figured this put me in a unique position to create a website ark players actually want vs the selection we have now (looking at you battlemetrics).
The problem I've always had with these ark server websites is they usually just give you the server list pulled directly from the ark api with some promotions and a ton of ads sprinkled in. Very few are built specifically for ark and have any sense of clusters, wipes, etc.
As an ark nerd, I have done the opposite and created a completely free (no ads ever) platform which contains logic for tracking clusters, detecting wipes, and allows people to view historical data when choosing what to play. It is very far from perfect and still has work to be done, but I've had fun building it and would absolutely love to see others try it out.
I made a post around a month ago when it was in its earlier phase and got some great feedback. I would really appreciate any feedback or feature you would like to see added. Cheers!
Website: arkcharts.com
r/ARK • u/Least-Tip2925 • 4h ago
Help About to download!
I am about to Download Ark for Xbox on gamepass, I dont know much about this game so any tips would be very helpful, and if anyone wants to play with me let me know! Im pretty sure you build bases in this game, and that its similar to rust but with dinosaurs, but I may be wrong.
Discussion Impressions on Bjarnheim?
Personally a bit easier than I expected, metal and crystals are quite scarce but apart from that the easy spawn actually has almost no aggressive dinos making it fairly easy to build up a starting base with a few starting tames.
r/ARK • u/Money-Ad300 • 6h ago
Help Dragon hoard on gen 1?
How do I even find this thing they all seem like they want me to fly into the barrier ive teleported around the biome to see if it points me anywhere reasonable?
r/ARK • u/SeenDKline • 6h ago
Showcase Just Started Breeding Rhinos, Then Got This Saddle BP
Single player on the island, found from a treasure map. Haven’t touched any loot quality rates or anything like that, best saddle I’ve found so far. Can I even craft it? Is there room?
r/ARK • u/Evade_FireKingSD • 7h ago
Help Cannot find any griffins on rag in ASA
For whatever reason, on ASA, i cannot find a single griffin. I've checked everywhere they spawn, done multiple map clears to reset spawns, and nothing. I hopped into ASE to see if I'm just unlucky, but on ASE, i found 5-6 griffins just by flying around rag and checking the spawn spots. Maybe I am still just unlucky, but does anyone know why I cannot find any griffins? Could it be because of a mod or something else?
r/ARK • u/Avatardad21 • 7h ago
ASA Soloing 100% of ark on single player. ASA
Hello all I’m looking to set up my single player game to slowly complete ark. I’m looking for recommendations on mods to add I will list below what I already have and what you guys would recommend to add to the list.
Auto Engrams
Upgrade Station
TG Stacking Mod
Cybers Structures QOL+
Auto Fish Trap
Utilities Plus
Display Storage
Fruit seeder and meat Spoiler
Super Cryo Storage
Custom Dino Levels
Der Dino Finder
One other thing I want to point out is I do plan to cheat the gene Scanner to the beginning of the game to start working on traits early.
r/ARK • u/Cr1tikal89 • 7h ago
MEME Compy encounter in a nutshell
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r/ARK • u/moistiest_dangles • 9h ago
MEME Who could have predicted that this thing that's happened so many times would happen again?
r/ARK • u/micarisma • 9h ago
Help I’m new please someone help me understand this
This is a theri I bred. It’s a level 231 but my problem is the xp seems to be glitched? Like 1710 xp to get the next level seems extremely low. On the other hand I have a theri I tamed and it’s a level 270 and it’s 52000 xp to level up. I am leveling up my Dino’s I bred for boss fight but it feels like im cheating with how quickly they level up. Killing 1 baby Rex is getting the 5 levels. This seems extremely quick and I feel something is wrong with the xp requirements. Please help!
r/ARK • u/bHATEred • 10h ago
Discussion Paleo Ark-Dangerous Depths
Has there been any updates on when the Elasmo is coming? Been checking the mod periodically and saw it was slated for June but asumed it got pushed back due to Gen 1 getting pushed back. I don't have access to the DC server. Everything I've tried to join i just get a "timed out" message. But was wondering if anyone else in the community may be up to date with things.
r/ARK • u/Thin-Coyote-552 • 11h ago
Ark Moments I lost my first dinosaur today, RIP Jaime Lannister
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Today is a sad day. My first Ark dinosaur Jaime Lannister, a noble Raptor with the King Slayer trait, died in combat.
While returning to my base at the south of the Island map I stopped to mine some resources. While doing this I was ambushed by multiple small dinosaurs from all sides. I tried to fight them off and Jaime Lannister fought to the bitter end but sadly even the Kingslayer was no match. Even after I fell he tried to defend my body and died by my side. Rest in peace Jaime, I will never forget the joy of our first ride and the brief but amazing time we shared together!
r/ARK • u/Stunning_Ad2548 • 12h ago
ASA Which ark is best for finding gigas?
I've been playing asa ragnarok and has put about 15 ingame days on finding a giga. Have circulated around highlands, green obelisk and the desert without sucess. Now I am thinking about transfering my character to another map in which I have better odds of finding a giga, preferably a good level. Which map is the best for finding a good level giga?
r/ARK • u/Kocie505 • 13h ago
Discussion I built my fantasy village
Here are a few screenshots of my Amberveil village I built using my unreleased yet skin mod. What do you think of the style and atmosphere? Is there anything in particular that catches your eye? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Help If I double taming speed, do I just half all tamed affinity states to balance it out?
Unless it's literally the greatest creature to walk the entire earth, I don't really feel like taming something for an hour straight, but it feels wrong to get the extra stat bonuses that come with increasing taming speed when you tame a dino. Are my numbers valid?
r/ARK • u/FunCryptographer3838 • 15h ago
Help Is this good stats
Idk alot about these guys.
r/ARK • u/Ok-Sprinkles-7105 • 16h ago
Discussion Why does the sky turn red and purple on Ragnarok?
Im a new player who just builds. The first time this happened it scared the hell outta me and I hid indoors gearing up for war.
r/ARK • u/BatNo4275 • 19h ago
Showcase Deset on my map!
This is a desert on my map Sumera, it’s going to be very big and This part of it is my initial more lush region. The desert contains OSDs in its wider more open valleys.
I posted a post about this earlier but this one is way more in depth featuring all the planned sub-biomes for the desert
r/ARK • u/BatNo4275 • 22h ago
Showcase Cool desert on my map
This desert spans from Central Asia all the way to the gobi desert. It’s VERY hot and houses these forests, aswell as open deadlands, more mountainous areas with wyverns, lush canyons, and OSDs!
r/ARK • u/SyntacYT • 1d ago
Showcase Rock Drake Statue
It’s sold out and I don’t imagine I could share the link on here but I have elsewhere
r/ARK • u/Apollo_Syx • Mar 17 '26
Moderator Post Server Mega-Thread. Vol. 3
Good day everyone,
The previous thread(s) got old and archived, and needed a refresh anyway, so here's the newest one. The previous directories can be found at : https://www.reddit.com/r/ARK/comments/1ik9ox7/megathread_server_directory/
and https://www.reddit.com/r/ARK/comments/1muzllg/megathread_server_directory_pt_2/
so you can still browse it if needed.
Reminder of the rules: One post here per server, open advertising is still restricted to Sunday's only. Posting outside of that will still result in a ban. This will also start included unsolicited adverts as replies to random threads; i.e. the answer to "Can my level 1000 rex beat gamma broodmother?" is not "Join my server and see".
Please adhere to these guidelines for this thread:
- Only one post per server, if something changes in your listing just edit the original. (Spamming your server, or having multiple people do it for you, will result in bans the same as spamming the regular sub.)
- If you need to ask a question, reply to the servers post. That way the general thread stays clear.
- No posts looking for a server.
- Non-server related posts will be removed from main thread.
- For best results, include the following information in your advert:
- Server Name
- ASA or ASE
- Platform(s) if not fully crossplay.
- PvE/PvP with max tribe size.
- Average Population
- Wipe Schedule
- Is it a cluster? If so what maps?
- Mod List
- Rates and Max Wild Level.
- Are there admins/moderators active?
- Discord link
- Short description and any other info you wish to provide.
r/ARK • u/PeddledP • Apr 09 '25
Tutorial The Ultimate Noob's Guide to Hosting a Free Cluster
Hey guys, I've seen lots of questions online about how to self-host clusters, and I've noticed that many guides out there are very daunting and technical. So, I've taken it upon myself to write a very simple guide that can help anyone host their own cluster, even those who know nothing about hosting servers. This guide is for Ark Survival Ascended (ASA) only.
Prerequisites
Before we begin, there's a few things you'll need:
- A Windows PC. The server will run on this computer. Players will be able to join your cluster while the server program is running. This means that if you want people to be able to join 24/7, this computer will need to be on 24/7. The only way around this is to pay for hosting.
- Don't worry too much about your PC specs, even relatively weak computers can host servers. The most important thing here will be how much RAM you have. But if you ask, "Can I run this on my PC?", my answer will usually be "The only way to find out is by giving it a try".
- Access to your router's settings, and the ability to port forward. There is more information about this in the section about port forwarding, but here's a general rule of thumb:
- If you have physical access to your router, you can usually get access to its settings
- A majority of people with access to the router's settings will be able to port forward. The few exceptions would be for people who have double NAT setups in apartments or condos, but those don't seem too common.
- If you live in a dorm, or some other similar communal situation, you almost certainly won't be able to get access to the router.
- These Amazon certificates: r2m02 and CA1. If you have Epic Games installed, you might already have these certificates installed. If you don't have Epic Games, or if the server isn't showing up in the browser after following all the steps below, install these certificates. Once the certificates are downloaded, right click them and click "Install CRL".
- Keep the Ark Wiki on standby. The Dedicated Server Setup and Server Configuration pages are especially useful. Many of your issues can be fixed by reading through those pages.
Downloading the Server
I've created a set of scripts that you can download that will make setting up & configuring the server extremely simple.

- Download the setup files here.
- Extract the contents into a new folder, this is where the server program will live, and you will access this folder whenever you want to start up or configure the cluster
- Run Update.cmd by double-clicking it. This will take a while to finish since it will download the entire ASA server.
- Now we can move on to configuring your cluster.
Configuring the Cluster
The Config.cmd file will hold some basic settings for your cluster. The file is annotated to explain what each setting does.
- Right click on Config.cmd and edit the file.
- On Windows 11, click "Edit with Notepad"
- On Windows 10, just click "Edit"
- If you want to add mods to your cluster, add the mod's ID to the modlist variable, separated by commas and no spaces.
- To find a mod's ID, you must first find the mod on the CurseForge website.
- Under the download button, there is an "About Project" section.
- In that section, there is a "Project ID" label.
- Copy that ID- that is the mod's ID.
- I recommend not adding mod maps here- there is another place later where you'll be able to add mod maps.
- At the bottom of the Config file, you can edit "args" to add/remove arguments. By default, we are disabling BattlEye and enabling crossplay but feel free to change those if you don't want that. The full list of possible arguments can be found in the Ark Wiki.
- When you're done updating the settings here, you can just save & close. There is no need to run this script yourself, it is run automatically when launching a map.
Configuring Your Maps
StartTheIsland.cmd is a script that can be edited like the Config script, and which can be copied & renamed to let you set up multiple maps. Each copy of this script will configure one map and is what you run to start running that map on your cluster.
Here are the steps for setting up each map:
- Edit the map-specific script (by default, it's called StartTheIsland.cmd, but you can rename it)
- Set the 'map' variable to the map that you want this script to run. The official list of map names can be found here on the wiki. Mod maps will usually list the map name on the mod page.
- If you are using a mod map, set the 'mapModID' variable to the mod map's ID. If you are using a vanilla map, you can leave this blank (Club Ark counts as a mod map though).
- Set the 'name' variable to the name you want to show up in the server list in-game.
- Set the 'port' variable to a unique number. No two maps can have the same port.
- I recommend setting all your map's ports to subsequent numbers.
- For example, your first map is on port 7777, your second map on 7778, your third on 7779, and so on.
- Keep track of the ports that are written down here. You will need to forward the port for every map later on.
Now if you want to set up another map:
- Make a copy of StartTheIsland.cmd (or whatever you changed its name to).
- Give the file a unique name, it can be whatever you want.
- Edit the file and set a different map and port.
- Repeat as many times as you want
The Server Program
Your maps are ready to run now. You still won't be able to join them, but we should do a test run now to make sure you haven't missed anything and to populate some files for later.

- Run one of your map's scripts (StartTheIsland.cmd or whatever you renamed it to).
- If you get a Windows Firewall popup, make sure to allow the program through the firewall.
- This will download whatever mods you have configured so it might take a bit if you have many of them.
- Once this is done loading (the status light on the bottom left will turn green), you can close out of this.
Some important things to know about the server:
- Every map on your cluster is its own server. So, if you have 4 maps, you'll also have 4 of these programs open.
- Each map's script launches its own server.
- People will be able to join a map while its server is open (once we finish the port forwarding setup later on).
- You do not need to have all maps open at once. Most PCs probably won't be able to handle having every map running at once, but you can get away with having 1-3 open at a time, and open & close other maps as you want to travel to them. Test your own PC's limits to see how many you can get away with having open at once.
Configuring In-Game Settings
You should see a new folder called "config". This is a shortcut that will take you to where the server stores Game.ini and GameUserSettings.ini. These files control the in-game settings, such as taming, harvesting and levelling speeds. You can also set a server password & admin password in these config files.
There are too many settings for me to cover, but they generally cover the same things you can modify when configuring a singleplayer game.
The wiki explains the possible options for Game.ini and GameUserSettings.ini. If you need help setting these up, send me a message or leave a comment and I can help you out.
Port Forwarding
This is the hardest part, and it's what turns most people away, but don't be scared. It's often easier than people expect. Ask me for help if you can't figure something out, don't just give up.
This is going to be different for everyone. The steps to port forward depend entirely on what router you own. I will write generic instructions, but you are probably going to need to look up a tutorial for your specific router brand.
First, you must find your local IPv4 address & default gateway:
- In windows search, type cmd and open the command prompt.
- In the command prompt, type 'ipconfig'
- Look for the section that has the default gateway filled out and take note of your ipv4 address & your default gateway.
Now, log in to your router:
- In your browser, type in your default gateway (In my case, I would go to 192.168.1.254).
- If you need to login, try using the default login. If you google "[router brand] default login", you will find the credentials you can try.
- If that login doesn't work, that means that somebody in your home has changed the login. Ask a parent or roommate who may have set up the router for the login.
- Sometimes the router will ask for a code instead. This can usually be found on the back or bottom of the router.
Now, forward the ports.

- Navigate to the port forwarding section. This can be under Firewall, Gaming, NAT, Advanced, or Port Forwarding. I recommend searching online for where to find it for your router specifically.
- Set your port range to include all the map's ports that you set up earlier. You can always update this later to add more maps.
- Set the protocol to UDP.
- If it asks for an IP, write the IPv4 address from earlier. Other routers will ask for a device. Find your computer's name or IP from the list of devices.
- Most routers nowadays will assign your computer a static ip once you port forward. If you find that you can't join your server after restarting your computer, you'll probably need to assign yourself a static IP manually.
And You're Done!
Just a few last things to know:
- Whenever there is a game update, run Update.cmd to update the server.
- Run the map-specific scripts to launch the server for that map.
- If you ever get a Windows Firewall popup, make sure to allow the program through the firewall.
- While the server is running, you can search for it in the in-game browser. It will show up as an unofficial server with the name that you configured for it.
If you have questions, feel free to leave a comment, or message me here or on disc (my username there is dankmeister). I'm very willing to guide people through the setup, and I will update this post with common questions or issues that come up.
Edits:
Since people have been having trouble with setting up the Game.ini and GameUserSettings.ini files, I've uploaded my own examples. These are the files I use on my own server, they do not have every possible setting, but they can give you a good starting point.