The Best Server Settings for Ark: Survival Evolved

Setting up a server is difficult, beyond the mundane troubleshooting that it inevitably requires, and Ark: Survival Evolved is no different in this aspect. While the power that Studio Wildcard offers server administrators is granular, discovering how best to ensure that the players involved in your server are enjoying themselves ultimately requires a bit of thought.

With a wide number of options, and without even approaching the concept of server-side mods, admins need to tinker around to provide a solid server experience. Whether it’s for a commercial server, or just for a few friends, the server settings set the table for the Ark: Survival Evolved experience.

Concept

A server admin can simply opt to push an Ark server out to the wild with entirely default settings, but this doesn’t necessarily invite players to explore that specific server beyond any others. Being an admin is about ensuring that the players involved can handle the content, it keeps them invested, and offers just the right amount of challenge to draw players back.

New admins can examine the best single-player settings for Ark and get a good idea of where to start, but mirroring single-player settings entirely can make for a stale experience. Admins need to decide what they want to occur on the server: whether there is PvP (which means base-raiding management), how PvE is managed (do you allow players to build and fly inside of dungeons?), and how great of an impact dinosaurs should have for a tribe (dinosaur levels, damage, and other related sundries).

Server Settings

The following server configuration makes a few assumptions:

• The desired server is PvE-only.
• A small group of people will be playing together.
• Time is sacred, and long-term engagements should be reserved for game-breaking power.

While admins should ultimately familiarize themselves with the usage of the customization files GameUserSettings.ini and Game.ini for greater granular control, beginning at Ark’s general settings screen within menus can offer a strong start.

Note that values are to be considered default unless otherwise noted: if an option is not listed, users should leave that value as a default. Secondly, users should note that they can set values beyond what the slider allows by entering a value within the text box of a setting.

General

• Difficulty Level — 0.5
  • This increases the level of dinosaurs as well as loot drops: the default of 0.2 is a bit low for more experienced gamers, and the extra headroom drops far more interesting loot.
• XP Multiplier — 0.75
  • Dropping this level a bit makes leveling slower, giving admins opportunities to host Double XP weekends which increases player count during ideal times.
• Taming Speed — 3
• Structure DMG Repair Cooldown — 360
  • Makes roaming dinosaurs a higher threat for bases. Worth considering a lower value if the server is built for PvP.
• Dino Harvesting Damage — 5
  • Nine times out of ten, you want to encourage players to use dinosaurs to gather resources. This encourages them to scout the map and find the best dinos possible to speed the resource gathering up, which ultimately increases player exploration and interaction.
• Player Harvesting Damage — 1.5
• Dino Count — 3
  • As noted in the Single-Player settings article, this is dependent on how strong of a rig you can dedicate to this game. The value of three (triple the standard amount) is manageable for good players, and offers a slew of opportunities for players to find the ‘perfect tame.’
• Notify Player Left/Joined — On
• Enable Crosshair — Off
  • Some players balk at not having a crosshair, and others relish it. Listen to the player base on this one, but leave it off for the added immersion.
• Disable Structure Placement Collision — On
  • It can make for odd structures, but the added benefit for players is immense. May want to have this setting turned off for PvP servers.
• Use SinglePlayer Settings — Off

Advanced

• Allow Flyer Carry PvE — On
  • Half the fun of flying dinosaurs is the ability to pick up teammates and accidentally drop them to their death.
• No Resource Radius — 1.5
  • This setting is dependent on how close you’re letting players set up shop next to a resource-rich area, If you’re encouraging multiple smaller bases, perhaps using mods to supplement travel, this should be below 1. If you want players to have to push into the world for resources, set this higher. As a general rule of thumb, static players become bored quickly — do everything possible to force them away from their base camps.
• Crop Growth/Decay Speed — 2/0.25
  • This is a setting which will need to be tuned over time: crops can take real days to set up properly, and their harvests aren’t necessarily fantastic. If you’re playing once a week with the buddies, set this higher so one evening can experience multiple crop cycles.

If you’re serious about setting up an Ark server, eventually you’ll need to look past these settings into the more granular level offered by Studio Wildcard. From replacing entire dinosaurs so they no longer spawn, to connecting multiple maps so players can travel between them, a truer level of administration is available in the file hierarchy.