Survival Guide

ARK: Survival Ascended

Detailed connection, admin, file, settings, mods, backup, wipe, and troubleshooting notes for ARK: Survival Ascended dedicated servers.

Connect & First Checks

Before editing files

Use Steam favorites, in-game server browser, or direct IP if exposed by the game.
Give players the server password if ServerPassword is set.
Modded ASA servers may require players to download matching CurseForge/ARK mods before joining.

Stop server before edits

ShooterGame/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/GameUserSettings.ini	Most common server settings such as SessionName, ServerPassword, ServerAdminPassword, difficulty, rates, and PvE/PvP toggles.
ShooterGame/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/Game.ini	Game rules, engrams, breeding, harvesting overrides, stack/level overrides, and advanced gameplay config.
ShooterGame/Saved/SavedArks	Map save, tribe, character, and world data. Back up before updates/mod changes.
ShooterGame/Binaries/Win64 command line	Map name, ports, MaxPlayers, mods, cluster options, and launch flags may be injected by the panel.

High-use values

SessionName	Public server name.
ServerPassword	Player password. Leave blank for public.
ServerAdminPassword	Admin command password. Rotate if shared.
DifficultyOffset / OverrideOfficialDifficulty	Creature level scaling. Use together carefully.
XPMultiplier / TamingSpeedMultiplier / HarvestAmountMultiplier	Common rate controls. Make one change at a time and restart.
ActiveMods / -mods	Mod IDs/order. ASA mod loading is sensitive to bad IDs or incompatible mods.

Staff access

Set ServerAdminPassword in GameUserSettings.ini or panel field.
Join the server and use the admin login command supported by ASA, then use admin commands.
Keep the admin password private. Change it after temporary staff access.

Install carefully

Add mod IDs in the panel field or launch/config method provided by your template.
Keep mod order stable. Removing structure/item mods can delete spawned content.
After adding mods, restart and watch startup logs for download/load failures.

Protect player data

Back up SavedArks plus both config files before mod, map, cluster, or rate changes.
For a map wipe, stop server and archive/remove the map save files.
For a full wipe, also remove player/tribe data after backing it up.

Common tickets

Mod mismatch	Confirm every mod ID and order. Have players restart and update mods.
Admin password fails	Wrong config section, typo, or server not restarted after edit.
Rates not changing	Setting belongs in Game.ini vs GameUserSettings.ini, or syntax is wrong.
Crash on startup	Temporarily remove last added mod and check logs.

Docs and sources