ARK: Survival Ascended VPS Set Up
Install and host an ARK SA on a Linux Server (VPS or Dedicated)
A complete step-by-step guide for a Linux ARK Server
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
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
Start docker daemon
systemctl start docker
systemctl enable docker
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
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
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

Once you've connected and ensure the server works, let's stop the server so you can modify it
docker stop asa-server-1
Edit The Server The
GameUserSettings.ini
andGame.ini
file can be found at/var/lib/docker/volumes/asa-server_server-files-1/_data/ShooterGame/Saved/Config/WindowsServer
. TheGame.ini
file is not there by default, so you might want to create it yourself

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.
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.
Start/restart/stop To perform any actions listed below, you will need to be back in the
asa-server
folder (where thedocker-compse.yml
file is)
docker-compose start asa-server-1
docker-compose restart asa-server-1
docker-compose stop asa-server-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.
Last updated
Was this helpful?