ARK: Survival Evolved is a mul­ti­play­er survival game. ARK server commands are essential when con­fig­ur­ing your ARK server. These set the game and server rules, determine in-game com­mu­ni­ca­tion and change game settings. We’ll show you which server commands you should know and how to save your con­fig­u­ra­tions.

What are server commands in ARK: Survival Evolved?

You determine the rules for the mul­ti­play­er game ARK: Survival Evolved when you have your own ARK Dedicated Server. As a server ad­min­is­tra­tor, you can configure your ARK server to your liking and choose the settings for game worlds and players. For example, you can decide to allow or disallow ARK cheats, if players are whitelist­ed, and which game features are used. The ARK server commands are useful if you’re setting up a new server, or per­form­ing re­con­fig­u­ra­tion and server migration.

How to use and save ARK server commands

It can take a lot of time and effort to configure your own server for ARK: Survival Evolved. Ensure your settings aren’t lost when shutting down your PC. Simply apply the server commands, and store and automate them in the GameUser­Set­tings.ini file.

The GameUser­Set­tings.ini file stores the server commands and reads them when the server starts. The file executes the con­fig­u­ra­tions after restart­ing. Open the path ShooterGame\Saved\Config\WindowsServer\GameUserSettings.ini with a text editor to access the file.

Look for Ser­ver­Set­tings. You can enter one or several commands. Each command must be on a separate line. Save the file to execute the command(s) au­to­mat­i­cal­ly every time you start the server.

Important server commands for ARK: Survival Evolved

The following overview presents the most important ARK server commands and their functions.

Server Command Function
ServerPVE Enables PVE and disables PVP, prevents players from killing each other.
Server­Hard­core Activates hardcore mode, players drop to level 1 after each death.
Server­Crosshair Activates the crosshair function for targeting creatures and players.
Server­ForceNo­HUD Player names are no longer displayed above char­ac­ters.
Alt­SaveDi­rec­to­ry­Name Saves the server files in another folder.
Glob­alVoiceChat Enables the global voice chat, so all par­tic­i­pat­ing players can hear each other.
Prox­im­i­ty­Chat Makes text chat possible for game players who are in close proximity to each other only.
NoTribute­Down­loads Prevents external downloads of game char­ac­ters or dinos.
Al­lowThird­Par­ty­Play­er Activates the third person view for players.
Al­waysNo­ti­fy­Play­er­Left Enables no­ti­fi­ca­tion when player leaves the server.
Don­tAl­waysNo­ti­fy­Play­er­Joined Disables no­ti­fi­ca­tion when player joins the server.
Map­Play­er­Loca­tion Activates the position indicator for your character on the map.
Dif­fi­cul­ty­Off­set=[value] Adjusts the server’s dif­fi­cul­ty level to the “value” entered, for example 0 for normal or 1 for a dif­fi­cul­ty level three times more difficult.
bDis­ableStruc­ture­De­cayPVE Disables the automatic de­struc­tion timer for struc­tures in PVE mode.
bAl­lowFly­er­Car­ryPVE Flying creatures can also carry loads in PVE mode.
MaxStruc­turesIn­Range=[value] Defines the default minimum distance to the opponents’ struc­tures can be defined in “value”.
En­ablePVPGam­ma Adjusts gamma settings in PVP mode.
Dis­ablePvEG­am­ma=[true/false] Allows or disallows gamma settings from being adjusted in PVE mode with the values “true” and “false”.
Day­Cy­cle­Speed­Scale=[value] Con­fig­ures the speed of change in day/night.
Night­Time­Speed­Scale=[value] Con­fig­ures the length of the night.
Day­Time­Speed­Scale=[value] Con­fig­ures the length of the day.
Din­oDam­age­Mul­ti­pli­er=[value] De­ter­mines the amount of damage to dinosaurs.
Play­er­Dam­age­Mul­ti­pli­er=[value] De­ter­mines the amount of damage to players.
Struc­tureDam­age­Mul­ti­pli­er=[value] De­ter­mines the amount of damage to struc­tures.
Play­er­Re­sis­tance­Mul­ti­pli­er=[value] Con­fig­ures the game char­ac­ters’ level of re­sis­tance values.
Di­noRe­sis­tance­Mul­ti­pli­er=[value] Con­fig­ures the dinos’ level of re­sis­tance values.
Struc­tur­eRe­sis­tance­Mul­ti­pli­er=[value] Con­fig­ures the struc­tures’ level of re­sis­tance values.
Tam­ingSpeed­Mul­ti­pli­er=[value] De­ter­mines the time it takes for players to tame creatures.
XP­Mul­ti­pli­er=[value]] Con­fig­ures the mul­ti­pli­er of char­ac­ters’ ex­pe­ri­ence points.
Har­ves­tA­mount­Mul­ti­pli­er=[value] Defines the harvest’s yield in the game.
Play­er­Char­ac­ter­Wa­terDrain­Mul­ti­pli­er=[value] Increases or decreases the char­ac­ters’ water con­sump­tion.
Play­er­Char­ac­ter­FoodDrain­Mul­ti­pli­er=[value] Increases or decreases the char­ac­ters’ food con­sump­tion.
DinoChar­ac­ter­FoodDrain­Mul­ti­pli­er=[value] Increases or decreases the dinos’ food con­sump­tion.
Play­er­Char­ac­ter­St­a­mi­naDrain­Mul­ti­pli­er=[value] Con­fig­ures the char­ac­ters’ stamina.
DinoChar­ac­ter­St­a­mi­naDrain­Mul­ti­pli­er=[value] Con­fig­ures the dinos’ endurance.
Play­er­Char­ac­ter­HealthRe­cov­ery­Mul­ti­pli­er=[value] Defines the time char­ac­ters need to re­gen­er­ate their health.
DinoChar­ac­ter­HealthRe­cov­ery­Mul­ti­pli­er=[value] Defines the time dinos need to re­gen­er­ate their health.
DinoCount­Mul­ti­pli­er=[value] De­ter­mines the number of dinosaurs in the game.
Har­vestHealth­Mul­ti­pli­er=[value] Defines the amount of yield from a specific harvest.
PvEStruc­ture­De­cay­De­struc­tion­Pe­ri­od=[value] Defines the period after which decay occurs in PVE mode.
Clam­pRe­source­Har­vest­Dam­ager=[true/false] De­ter­mines whether a creature’s damage in close combat affects its yield as a per­cent­age when col­lect­ing items and resources.
Re­sources­Res­pawn­Pe­ri­od­Mul­ti­pli­er=[value] Defines the respawn of resources’ duration.
Re­sourceNoRe­plen­ishRa­dius­Play­ers=[value] Defines the radius of the respawn of resources around char­ac­ters.
Re­sourceNoRe­plen­ishRa­diusStruc­tures=[value] Defines the radius of the respawn of resources around struc­tures.
Kick­I­dle­Play­ersPe­ri­od=[value] Defines the players’ permitted in­ac­tiv­i­ty time before they are au­to­mat­i­cal­ly dis­con­nect­ed from the ARK server. The default value for in­ac­tiv­i­ty is 2400.
Au­toSavePe­ri­od­Min­utes=[value] Defines how often the sever status is au­to­mat­i­cal­ly saved. The default interval is 15.
PvP­Zon­eStruc­tureDam­age­Mul­ti­pli­er=[value] Sets the amount of damage inflicted on struc­tures and buildings near caves or at heights.
Ac­tive­Mods=[Mod-IDs] Allows the use of multiple mods on one server using Mod-ID.
MapModID=[MapModID] Defines the map that the server should use for the game using MapMod-ID.
GameM­o­dIds=[GameMod-IDs] De­ter­mines which mods should be active on which server using GameMod-ID.
Max­Tamed­Di­nos=[value] De­ter­mines the maximum number of dinos that can be tamed on the server. The default value is 4000.
Spec­ta­tor­Pass­word=[password] Sets the password for spectator mode in the game.
Al­low­Cave­Build­ing­PvE=[true/false] De­ter­mines whether struc­tures can be built in caves with “true” or “false”.
RCO­NEn­abled=[true/false] Enables or disables the remote console on the server.
RCONPort=[port number] Defines the specific port through which the remote console can be reached.
Ban­Lis­tURL=[URL] Provides the un­of­fi­cial ban list for the server.
bPvEDis­able­Friend­ly­Fire=[true/false] Enables or disables the friendly fire function as needed. You can add the command in the Game.ini file in /script/shootergame.shootergamemode.
PvP­Struc­ture­De­cay=[true/false] De­ter­mines when struc­tures and buildings start to decay after not being used.
Dis­ableDin­oDe­cayPvE=[true/false] Enables or disables the decay of dinosaurs after a certain time.
PvEDin­oDe­cayPe­r­i­od­Mul­ti­pli­er=[value] Sets the rate at which dinos decay.
Ad­min­Log­ging=[true/false] De­ter­mines whether admin commands are recorded in a log file.
Per­Plat­for­m­MaxStruc­tures­Mul­ti­pli­er=[value] De­ter­mines the maximum number of struc­tures allowed for each dynamic platform.
Max­Plat­form­Sad­dleStruc­ture­Lim­it=[value] De­ter­mines the maximum number of saddle platforms.
bRaw­Sock­ets Enables “direct UDP sockets mode” on a private ARK server.
In­creasePvPRes­pawn­In­ter­val=[true/false] De­ter­mines whether the respawn cooldown keeps in­creas­ing after dying multiple times in PVP battles. The value “true” activates the in­creas­ing respawn cooldown.
In­creasePvPRes­pawn­In­ter­valCheck­Pe­ri­od=[value] Defines the time and interval for respawn cooldowns. You can define the waiting time in seconds in “value”. The default setting is 300.
In­creasePvPRes­pawn­In­ter­val­Mul­ti­pli­er=[value] Sets how much the respawn cooldown increases when a character dies multiple times. You can enter the mul­ti­pli­er for the length of time until a character is res­ur­rect­ed in “value”. The default value is 2.
In­creasePvPRes­pawn­In­ter­val­BaseAmount=[value] Defines the duration for the start of the respawn cooldown in “value”. 60 is the default setting.
Au­toPvE­Timer=[true/false] Activates and de­ac­ti­vates the PVE/PVP switching system.
Au­toPvES­tart­TimeSec­onds=[value] Enables and disables the system time of a PVE/PVP switch system instead of the server time.
Au­toPvEStop­Ti­meSec­onds=[value] Defines the PVP period duration in a PVE/PVP change system. You can define the duration in seconds from 0 to 86400 in “value”.
Tip

If you’re an ad­min­is­tra­tor on your own server in the Minecraft universe, check out our list of the most important Minecraft Server Commands as well as how to manage a Minecraft server. We also have an overview of other games with dedicated servers, which offer prac­ti­cal­ly unlimited game worlds like ARK: Survival Evolved.

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