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ARK Survival Evolved Guide

This article sets out some key basic information for running an ARK: Survival Evolved server on AMP. This article assumes that the “Generic” template is being used, not the CubeCoders official module (which is now legacy).

1. Dependencies on Windows​

ARK requires the following dependencies on Windows:

2. Ports​

ARK uses three key ports:

  • Game Port: 7777 UDP by default
  • Peer Port: 7778 UDP by default (you might see this called Reserved Port in AMP if you have an older instance)
  • Query Port: 27015 UDP by default

All three ports need to be port forwarded (if you’re on a NAT network). Check what ports are actually allocated to your instance by clicking on the “Edit Ports” button for the instance.

3. Settings​

Almost all settings that can be configured on the command line or in GameUserSettings.ini and that are listed here are included in AMP’s UI.

4. Mods​

4.1 Installing/updating​

4.1.1 Automatic method​

With one caveat, the easiest way to manage mods on the server is using “Automatically Manage Mods”. This is enabled by default.

4.1.2 Manual method​

If preferred, mods can be manually added to the ShooterGame/Content/Mods directory.

4.2 Loading​

Any non-map mods that are listed in “Mods List” will be loaded by the server when started, as long as the associated mod files are in ShooterGame/Content/Mods (either by automatic download or manually).

5. Server Binding​

By default the ARK server is bound to the application IP binding set for the instance. This is normally 0.0.0.0 (all interfaces) unless it has been changed under New Instance Defaults.

6. Clusters​

Options for clusters are included in the ARK Cluster Settings menu.

7. Backup Exclusions​

The template is configured to download two default backup exclusion files, which result in AMP’s backups of the ARK instance excluding most of the server content (anything that is not specific to the server and can simply be downloaded via SteamCMD again).