ARK: Survival Ascended (ASA) is the Unreal Engine 5 remake of ARK. Its dedicated server is one of the most demanding game servers to host: lots of RAM, a fast CPU, and plenty of disk. This guide covers what to expect, a native Windows setup, and the common Linux approach (running the Windows server through Proton).

Requirements

Item Recommendation
CPU 4+ fast cores (high single-thread performance)
RAM 16 GB minimum for a small server; more with many players, mods or large bases
Disk 30–60 GB+ (server files, saves, mods)
OS Windows Server (official); Linux via Proton/Wine (community)

Memory use grows as tribes build. For larger communities, a dedicated server is the better fit. See VPS vs dedicated server and game server VPS.

Option 1: Windows Server (official)

On a Windows VPS:

  1. Download SteamCMD for Windows, and extract it to C:\steamcmd.
  2. Install the server (app ID 2430930):
C:\steamcmd\steamcmd.exe +force_install_dir C:\asa +login anonymous +app_update 2430930 validate +quit
  1. Install the Visual C++ Redistributable and DirectX runtime if the server fails to start.
  2. Start the server with a batch file:
cd C:\asa\ShooterGame\Binaries\Win64
start ArkAscendedServer.exe TheIsland_WP?listen?SessionName="My ASA Server"?ServerPassword=secret?ServerAdminPassword=long-admin-pass?RCONEnabled=True?RCONPort=27020 -Port=7777 -WinLiveMaxPlayers=20 -NoBattlEye

Remove -NoBattlEye if you want BattlEye anti-cheat enabled.

  1. Open the firewall:
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "ASA game" -Direction Inbound -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 7777 -Action Allow

Keep RCON (27020/tcp) closed to the public, or restrict it to your IP. See Windows Server firewall with PowerShell.

Option 2: Linux with Proton (community method)

There’s no native Linux build of the ASA server, but it runs well under Proton GE (Valve’s Wine-based compatibility layer). Popular community projects (for example Docker images such as “asa-linux-server”) automate this. The general approach is:

  1. Install SteamCMD, and download app 2430930 with +@sSteamCmdForcePlatformType windows.
  2. Download a Proton GE release, and set up a Proton prefix.
  3. Run ArkAscendedServer.exe through Proton with the same launch options as on Windows.

A maintained Docker image is the easiest route, because it handles Proton, updates and restarts. Expect a little extra overhead compared with Windows, and check the project’s issues after game updates. See Docker on a VPS.

Key settings

Configuration lives in ShooterGame/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/:

  • GameUserSettings.ini: server name, passwords, difficulty, rates (XP, harvesting, taming), max players.
  • Game.ini: advanced rules (custom levels, breeding multipliers, item stack sizes).

Edit them only while the server is stopped, or the server may overwrite your changes on shutdown.

Ports

Port Protocol Purpose
7777 UDP Game
27020 TCP RCON (restrict to your IP)

ASA servers appear in the in-game browser through Epic Online Services. There’s no separate Steam query port as in the original ARK.

Mods

ASA mods come from CurseForge. Add mod IDs to the launch options with -mods=12345,67890. The server downloads them on start. Every mod adds RAM use and startup time, and mods can break after game updates.

RCON and admin

Connect with an RCON tool (for example ARK Server Manager-style tools or rcon-cli) using ServerAdminPassword. In game, use EnableCheats <adminpassword> to get admin commands. Useful RCON commands: SaveWorld, ListPlayers, Broadcast <msg>, KickPlayer <id>, DoExit.

Updates, restarts and backups

  • ASA updates frequently, and clients can’t join outdated servers. Schedule a daily restart that runs SteamCMD app_update first.
  • Before stopping, run SaveWorld via RCON, then DoExit.
  • Back up ShooterGame/Saved/ (SavedArks plus Config) several times a day, and keep copies off the server. See backup strategy.

Quick reference

Item Value
SteamCMD app ID 2430930
Executable ShooterGame/Binaries/Win64/ArkAscendedServer.exe
Game port 7777/udp
RCON 27020/tcp
Config Saved/Config/WindowsServer/*.ini
RAM 16 GB+

Related: Rust dedicated server and Windows Server initial setup.

  • Game Server
  • SteamCMD
  • Windows