ARK: Survival Ascended VPS Set Up

Install and host an ARK SA on a Linux Server (VPS or Dedicated)

Written By Xylo01

Last updated About 18 hours ago

A complete step-by-step guide for a Linux ARK Server

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If you find you need help with installing this please open a ticket and our team can do it for you!

Hardware Requirements

  • ~12 GB RAM usage per server instance

  • ~19 GB disk space (server files only)

Installation

  1. Login to your VPS via SSH or Console

Then let's enter this

apt-get install -y docker docker-compose

a bunch of lines will process, once completed you can continue to the next step

  1. Start docker daemon

systemctl start docker systemctl enable docker

  1. Create the Docker Compose Config

Create a directory called asa-server in the main directory

mkdir asa-server cd asa-server

now we'll download the file to the asa-server folder

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mschnitzer/ark-survival-ascended-linux-container-image/main/docker-compose.yml

  1. The First Server Start

    Now start the server for the first time. It will install Steam, Proton, and downloads the ARK: Survival Ascended server files. In the folder you have the docker-compose.yml file we downloaded, you'll execute the command

docker-compose up -d

This can take some time. Depending on the download speed and processor of your vps!

If you want to follow the download and install, you can watch with this command

docker logs -f asa-server-1

you can CRTL+C to exit the log, and it will not stop the installation

Once the log shows the following line:

Starting the ARK: Survival Ascended dedicated server...

... the server should be reachable and discoverable through the server browser in ~2-5 minutes.

The Server name is randomly generated on the first start, use this command to see the name.

docker exec asa-server-1 cat server-files/ShooterGame/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/GameUserSettings.ini | grep SessionName

Result of running above command

Once you've connected and ensure the server works, let's stop the server so you can modify it

docker stop asa-server-1

  1. Edit The Server The GameUserSettings.ini and Game.ini file can be found at /var/lib/docker/volumes/asa-server_server-files-1/_data/ShooterGame/Saved/Config/WindowsServer. The Game.ini file is not there by default, so you might want to create it yourself

the directory with the GameUserSettings.ini

To edit the GameUserSettings.ini you can do

nano /var/lib/docker/volumes/asa-server_server-files-1/_data/ShooterGame/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/GameUserSettings.ini

Use your arrow keys to scroll the lines of code and backspace to edit once you're happy with your changes do CTRL + X then Y then Enter the editor will close and your changes have been saved.

  1. Changing the startup parameters & Player Limit

in the docker-compose.yml you'll edit the following. Click here for a list of startup commands

...  environment:  - ASA_START_PARAMS=TheIsland_WP?listen?Port=7777?RCONPort=27020?RCONEnabled=True -WinLiveMaxPlayers=50 ...

Use your arrow keys to scroll the lines of code and backspace to edit once you're happy with your changes do CTRL + X then Y then Enter the editor will close and your changes have been saved.

Please note:

  • The value before ?listen is the name of the map the server launches with. (See all official map names)

  • Please do not remove ?listen from the parameters, otherwise the server is not binding ports

  • ?Port= is the server port players connect to

  • ?RCONPort= is the port of the RCON server that allows remote administration of the server

  • The player limit is set by -WinLiveMaxPlayers. Please note that for ASA servers, editing the player limit via GameUserSettings.ini is not working.

  1. Start/restart/stop

To perform any actions listed below, you will need to be back in the asa-server folder (where the docker-compse.yml file is)

docker-compose start asa-server-1 docker-compose restart asa-server-1 docker-compose stop asa-server-1

  1. Adding Mods
    Mods can be added by adjusting the docker-compose.yml file and adding a -mods option to the start parameters.

    e.g.

    [...] - ASA_START_PARAMS=TheIsland_WP?listen?Port=7777?RCONPort=27020?RCONEnabled=True -WinLiveMaxPlayers=50 -mods=12345,67891 [...]

    Once done, restart the server using docker-compose up -d. It might take longer until the server comes up, because the server has to download the mods first.

    Mod IDs are usually somewhere listed on the mod page of a mod on curseforge.com.