Create your first ARK server

Spin up an ARK server, add a map, and get your friends connected.

Your computer is connected, so let’s get a game running on it. We’ll set up ARK and get your friends in.

A quick note on words you’ll see in the dashboard:

  • A server is the game installed on your computer (your ARK install).
  • A map is a world running inside that server (like The Island or Scorched Earth). One server can run several maps.

Step 1: Create the server

  1. In your dashboard, open the computer you connected and click Add server.
  2. Choose your game: ARK: Survival Ascended or ARK: Survival Evolved.
  3. Confirm, and the install starts.

ARK is a big game, so this download takes a while, sometimes a good chunk of an hour depending on your internet. You can close the tab and come back. The dashboard shows the progress.

Step 2: Add a map

Once the server is installed, add a world for people to play on.

  1. Click Add map.
  2. Pick the map you want, for example The Island to start.
  3. Give it a name your friends will recognize in the server list.

If you want several maps that players can travel between, add more than one and put them in the same cluster. There’s a cluster option when you add a map, just give them all the same cluster name.

Step 3: Tweak your settings

This is where you make it your server. From the map’s settings you can adjust things like player count, rates, and the rules of your world. The defaults are sensible, so you can change as much or as little as you like.

Want mods? Add them from the mods section and we’ll handle installing and updating them for you.

Step 4: Start it up

Hit start on your map. It takes a minute or two to spin up and come online. The dashboard shows when it’s live.

You can also turn on automatic updates so the game and your mods stay current without you lifting a finger, or leave it off and update on your own schedule.

Step 5: Get your friends in

Once your map is online, your dashboard shows the connection details. Share those with your friends, and they connect from inside ARK:

  • In ARK, they search the unofficial server list for the name you chose, or
  • They add your server’s address to their favorites and join from there.

And that’s it. You’re hosting your own ARK server on your own hardware. Welcome to being the host.

Running into trouble? Most issues are a map still starting up or a setting that needs a tweak. Give it a couple of minutes after starting, then check the map’s status in your dashboard.