ARK: Survival Evolved Server Setup: SteamCMD, GameUserSettings.ini, Ports & RCON
How to stand up an ARK: Survival Evolved dedicated server: installing the free app 376030 with SteamCMD (anonymous login works), the launch command and map ids, which of GameUserSettings.ini and Game.ini each setting belongs in and the command-line override trap, the four ports and the multi-server query-port collision, enabling genuine Source RCON, installing Workshop mods with ActiveMods, and the crossplay/mods trade-off.
ARK: Survival Evolved's official servers are gone - since ARK: Survival Ascended launched, the original game lives entirely on community-hosted servers, and the studio ships only occasional maintenance patches. That is good news for hosts: the server tech is stable, well documented, and free to run without owning the game. This guide is for legacy ARK: Survival Evolved - Survival Ascended is a different game with different server tooling; don't mix guides between the two.
Installing the server with SteamCMD
The dedicated server is its own free Steam app - 376030 ("ARK: Survival Evolved Dedicated Server"), separate from the game client (346110). Anonymous login works:
Official map ids you can drop in for the first argument: TheIsland, TheCenter, ScorchedEarth_P, Ragnarok, Aberration_P, Extinction, Valguero_P, CrystalIsles (the _P suffixes are part of the id - ScorchedEarth alone won't load). You may see working setups without ?listen -server -log; including them matches the widely-used convention and -log gives you a console log file.
The override trap: any ?Key=Value you pass on the command line overrides the ini value and is written back into the ini on save. If a setting "keeps resetting", check your start script for a ? param shadowing it. Related: don't hand-edit the ini files while the server is running - the live process rewrites them on save/shutdown and your edit is lost. Stop the server first.
GameUserSettings.ini vs Game.ini
Both live in ShooterGame/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/ (or WindowsServer\):
GameUserSettings.ini - the everyday settings. [SessionSettings] holds SessionName, Port, QueryPort; [ServerSettings] holds ServerPassword, ServerAdminPassword, RCONEnabled, RCONPort, ActiveMods, and most gameplay toggles (taming/harvesting/XP multipliers, PvE mode, ...).
Game.ini - advanced rules under [/script/shootergame.shootergamemode]: per-level engram points, per-dino overrides, breeding multipliers and similar deep tuning. A fresh install often has this file nearly empty - that's normal.
Ports to forward
Port
Protocol
What
Key
7777
UDP
Game traffic
?Port=
7778
UDP
Raw/peer socket (game port + 1)
moves with ?Port=
27015
UDP
Steam query (server browser)
?QueryPort=
27020
TCP
RCON (optional, remote admin)
?RCONPort=
Forward the game + query ports as a minimum; forwarding 7778 as well is the safe convention (its use depends on the raw-sockets transport mode, and running with it closed is a classic source of "friends can't connect" reports). Only forward the RCON port if you administer remotely - and never without a strong ServerAdminPassword.
Running several instances on one IP: every instance needs its own QueryPort, and leave a gap between game ports (7777, 7779, 7781, ...) - the peer port is always game+1, so back-to-back game ports collide.
Admin access and RCON
Set ServerAdminPassword (in [ServerSettings] or via the launch string). In-game, players become admins with enablecheats <ServerAdminPassword>.
For remote administration, ARK speaks the standard Valve Source RCON protocol - the same one CS2/Rust tooling uses, so ordinary RCON clients work. Enable it in GameUserSettings.ini:
The admin password is also the RCON password. For the command vocabulary once you're connected (bans, teleports, dino wipes, ...), see our companion reference: ARK: Survival Evolved RCON Commands.
Workshop mods
Mods come from the client app's Steam Workshop (app 346110). List the numeric Workshop ids comma-separated in [ServerSettings]:
ActiveMods=731604991,889745138
Order matters - leftmost loads first and wins conflicts. Add -automanagedmods to the launch command and the server downloads/updates the listed mods itself on boot. Every player needs the same mods subscribed on their client.
Crossplay trade-off: launching with -crossplay lets Epic Games Store players join a Steam-hosted server, but crossplay servers cannot run Workshop mods (Epic clients have no access to Steam Workshop content). Pick mods or crossplay, not both.
BattlEye, saves and hardware
BattlEye is on by default. Private/passworded servers often run -NoBattlEye (clients must then also launch without BattlEye); public servers should leave it on.
Saves (world, players, tribes) live in ShooterGame/Saved/SavedArks/ - that folder is your backup target, and major-version or mod changes are the moments to snapshot it.
RAM is the binding resource: plan on 8 GB as a floor for a small vanilla TheIsland server and 10-16 GB+ once you add players, mods, or heavier maps (Ragnarok, Valguero, Genesis). CPU-wise a few fast cores beat many slow ones.
MantaScope tracks the live ARK server list with population history, per-server rank, uptime and downtime incidents, plus decoded server attributes (PvE, official, modded, BattlEye). Because ARK speaks standard Source RCON, you can claim your server on MantaScope and administer it from the browser - live player list, kick/ban and console over the RCONPort you set above - alongside population graphs, scheduled messages, automations and Discord notifications.
ARKServer Admin
