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Dedicated Server Setup

Windows Only

At the time of this writing, there is only support for Windows.

Required Resources

At the time of this writing, a Dedicated Server instance requires at least 10GB of free RAM to run without crashing. Monitor RAM usage when running the server if the machine is close to these limits.

Directory Setup​

You will need two directories to setup a Dedicated Server

  1. a directory for SteamCMD
  2. a directory for the Dedicated Server (cannot be the same as the Steam CMD directory)

Install SteamCMD​

Download SteamCMD for Windows and extract it to a directory (E.g. C:\steamcmd). Double click steamcmd.exe to install it into the same directory. When it finishes, close the window.

Install Dedicated Server​

Located the directory you intend to install the Dedicated Server to. While holding shift, right-click the directory and select Copy as path and paste it somewhere for now. Now locate the SteamCMD directory. From within the SteamCMD directory, create a new text file and name it UpdateServer.bat (make sure you are not hiding file extensions). Right-click and edit this file. Inside the file insert the following while replacing <my-dir> with the path you pasted from the Dedicated Server directory:

UpdateServer.bat
.\steamcmd.exe +force_install_dir "<my-dir>" +login anonymous +app_update 2430930 validate +quit
exit

Let this process complete, as it will take some time. Once it has completed, the server has been installed. You can run this .bat file anytime to update the server as well.

Dedicated Server Setup​

RunServer.bat​

From within the directory of the Dedicated Server (where the Engine and ShooterGame directories are), create another new text file with the name RunServer.bat. Right-click and edit this file. Copy the following to the file contents:

RunServer.Bat
set mods=<my-mod-id>,<other-mod-id>
start ShooterGame\Binaries\Win64\ArkAscendedServer.exe TheIsland_WP?listen?Port=7777 -game -server -log -ServerAdminPassword=oppass1 -NoBattlEye -mods=%mods%
exit

Take note of the set mods part at the top of the file. This is where the mod IDs for the server will be defined. Insert a comma separated list of mod IDs. If you are testing an unpublished build (locally cooked or CurseForge cooked), append -dev to the ID (E.g. 12345-dev). If you are using a locally cooked Mod, copy the Mod to the Dedicated Server.