Installing ARK: Survival Ascended Mods – Guide

Installing ARK: Survival Ascended Mods – Introduction

Inside the beautiful worlds of ARK: Survival Ascended, players will encounter new creatures, travel across lush plains, and explore the mysteries of the ARK. With the ultimate adventure there is a lot of fun to be had, but you can take the exploration a step further with mods. Mods implement brand-new features to your server from unique new dinosaurs to custom maps. These ARK: Survival Ascended mods can also be installed in only a few seconds with Nitrado’s built-in CurseForge integration. You’ll also be able to take advantage of crossplay mods and PC-only mods in seconds depending on your server settings. In this guide, we will show you how to install mods and enhance your ARK: Survival Ascended server within minutes!

Note: For detailed information, spawn points, and resources regarding the maps in ARK: Survival Ascended, please visit our new Nitrado Ark Map Wiki.

Prepare Your ARK:SA Server for Mods

By default, your ARK: Survival Ascended server can support mods whether you’re using crossplay or PC-only. These are in the form of crossplay mods and PC-only mods. Below, we’ll show you how to switch between crossplay and PC-only to determine which mods you can install onto your server! Note: With crossplay enabled, only console and Windows 10 (Microsoft Store) players will be able to join. When crossplay is disabled, only PC (Steam) players will be able to join.

NOTE: On release, only the PC version will be available and Consoles will be released soon after. In the beginning, crossplay will only include consoles (Xbox Series S|X, PlayStation 5) and Windows (Microsoft Store), later on PC. Once new platforms and updates are published we will inform you right away! 🦖

1. Head to your ARK server webinterface and stop your server.
2. Then to the left below the “SETTINGS”, press the “General” option.
   
3. In your ARK server settings under “Base settings”, find “Choose platform”.
4. Use the dropdown for this option to change between “Crossplay” or “PC-only”.
   
5. Afterward, press “Save changes” and restart your server.

You’re now ready to begin using ARK mods!

Installing ARK: SA Mods to Your Server

1. Go to your ARK: SA server panel.
2. Then, to the left under “SETTINGS”, select the “CurseForge Mods” option.
   
3. You’ll now see an “Active Mods” option and sections to click to install mods.
   

You can now install mods both automatically or manually with IDs and below, we’ll show you how!

Adding ARK: Survival Ascended Mods with Our Curseforge Installer

1. To install mods using the automatic CurseForge integration, head to your ASA server.
2. Then, to the left under “Settings”, click “CurseForge Mods”.
   
3. Then, use the different sections (Popular Mods, Featured Mods, etc) to search for mods.
   
4. Once you have found a mod, click it to add its ID to the “Active Mods” section.
5. Lastly, press “Save changes” and restart your server to load those mods.

Adding ARK: Survival Ascended Mods Using the Mod ID

1. Inside the Nitrado CurseForge Mods installer, find the “Active Mods (IDs)” option.
2. On CurseForge, you can search for and find mods you’d like to use on your server.
3. After finding a mod, on its page the Project ID is the mod ID you’d need to put on your server. For example: 928793
   
4. Copy the IDs of those mods and paste them into this section like this:
   MODID,MOD2ID,MOD3ID,MOD4ID
   
5. Once you have, press “Save changes” and restart your server to load those mods.

How to Change your ARK: SA Mod Settings

Some ARK: Survival Ascended mods include settings that you are able to add directly to your server files to change different options in the mod. Not all mods support these settings so we recommend first checking the mod’s page to see if that’s supported.

1. Check the page for that ARK: Survival Ascended mod on CurseForge.
   

   The description, scrolling near the middle of the page, offers details on the mod and will inform you if there are settings available to edit.

2. To add these settings, head to your ASA server webinterface.
3. From there, under “TOOLS”, select “File Browser”.
   
4. In your server’s file browser, navigate through the folders “arksa” → “ShooterGame” → “Saved” → “Config” → “WindowsServer” and then click to edit the file named “GameUserSettings.ini”.
   
5. After editing that file, scroll to the bottom and paste that mod’s settings into it like this:
   
6. From there, edit those new options to your preference.
7. Lastly, press “Save changes” and restart your server to load those settings!

How to reinstall mods on your server.

To reinstall the mods on your server, you first need to become an admin. You can follow this guide on how to become an admin. Once you’ve done that, you can simply run the command cheat RedownloadModsOnServerRestart in the in-game console while connected to your server. On the next server restart, the mods should be reinstalled.

ARK: Survival Ascended Mod FAQ

Are there limits to how many mods can be installed on an ARK: SA server?

There is no limit to the number of mods you can install, but there is a limit to the total file size of mods you can have installed. On ARK: Survival Ascended crossplay servers, you can have up to 20 GB of mods installed at any one time. For PC-only servers, you can have up to 50 GB of mods installed.

Can I install developer mods to an ARK: Survival Ascended server?

We know that many mod developers often need to test their mods prior to releasing them to the public. To assist mod devs, add “-dev” to the end of your mod ID list to utilize mods currently in development on CurseForge. To learn more, you can check out Studio Wildcard’s blog for mod developers.

What do I do if a mod will not work on my ARK: SA server?

There are two common reasons mods will not work on an ARK: Survival Ascended server. The first is that the mod ID may not be correct or that the formatting of the “Active Mods” option on your server is incorrect. We recommend checking your “Active Mods” section to ensure the format is “MODID,MODID,MODID” and also make sure that each ID is correct. Then, it’s important to keep in mind that ARK: Survival Evolved mods will not work on ASA, and therefore those mod IDs will not work on your server. Once you have verified that the IDs are set correctly, give your server a restart and you’ll be ready for some dinosaur action!

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