📂 Upload an existing save

ARK keeps the world, the players and the tribes in separate files. Copy the world without the rest and everyone loses their characters, so take all of it.

1

Stop the server from the Console tab in the panel.

2

On your machine, open ...\ARK\ShooterGame\Saved\SavedArks.

3

Take the map file — TheIsland.ark, Ragnarok.ark and so on — plus every .arkprofile and .arktribe file. The profiles are the player characters and the tribes are the shared bases.

4

In Files, go to ShooterGame/Saved/SavedArks/ and upload the lot.

5

On the Startup tab, make sure the map name matches the .ark file you uploaded. A mismatch here generates a fresh map and it looks like your save vanished.

6

Start the server. First boot on a large save is slow — give it a few minutes before assuming it has hung.

⚙️ Turn the rates up

Official rates assume a server full of people playing constantly. For a few friends they are punishing, and this is the first thing most groups change.

1

Stop the server.

2

In Files, open ShooterGame/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/GameUserSettings.ini.

3

Under [ServerSettings], the three worth changing first are XPMultiplier, HarvestAmountMultiplier and TamingSpeedMultiplier. Somewhere between 3 and 5 suits most small groups.

4

ServerPassword makes it private. ServerAdminPassword is the one you need for admin commands — set it and do not share it.

5

Breeding and maturation rates live in Game.ini in the same folder, not this file.

6

Save and start the server.

🛡️ Give yourself admin

Admin is granted in-game using the password you set above, not from the panel.

1

Make sure ServerAdminPassword is set and the server has been restarted since.

2

Join the server, then press Tab to open the console.

3

Type enablecheats YourAdminPassword and press enter. You should see a confirmation.

4

Admin lasts for that session — you will need to run it again after a reconnect.

👥 Let your friends help run it

You can give friends access to the ARK server without ever sharing your account password. Sub-users get their own login and only the permissions you tick.

1

Open your server in the panel and go to the Users tab.

2

Click New User and enter their email address.

3

Tick the permissions you want them to have — Control for start/stop/restart and console, File for the file manager and SFTP.

4

They will get an email invite. Once they register they can manage the server from their own panel account.

💾 Keep your own backups

There are no server-side backups here. Every server has a backup allowance of zero — storing hundreds of gigabytes for a service nobody pays for is not something we can justify, so the Backups tab will not help you. The only copy of your world that exists is the one you download. Do this before any big change.

1

Stop the server from the Console tab in the panel. Archiving files while the server is writing to them is how you end up with a corrupt copy.

2

Open the Files tab and tick the box next to your save folder.

3

Click Archive. The panel packs the folder into a single file in the server root.

4

Click that archive and choose Download. For a large world, pull it over SFTP instead — browser downloads of multi-gigabyte files have a habit of failing near the end.

5

Delete the archive off the server once you have it, so it is not eating your disk space.

6

Keep the file somewhere safe. A server nobody plays on for seven days is removed, and your download is the only thing that survives that.

Server Setup Help