Ark Survival Ascended modding guide: How to install, modded servers, and more

Knowing how to install mods in Ark Survival Ascended can greatly enrich your experience with the game. Here, modding can help you enhance the environment, provide new creatures and items, and make many quality-of-life changes that can save resources and time. Since this game is made on Unreal Engine 5, the modding scene is smaller than before. However, there are still many exciting mods for the new engine.

If you're a vanilla ARK player and want to try modding for the first time, this article is for you. It will explore ways to use ARK Survival Ascended mods.

How to install and enable mods in Ark Survival Ascended

Mod installation (Image via Studio Wildcard)

In previous titles in the ARK franchise, the only way to use the mods was via Steam Workshop. However, this has completely changed in the latest title. Now Ark Survival Ascended comes with cross-platform modding support facilitated by CurseForge and Overwolf, allowing console players to use various mods to enhance their game.

Alongside cross-platform modding support, this new title also comes with a built-in Mod browser. You can use this browser to efficiently install and enable mod.

You can follow these steps to do so:

Launch the game, then go to the Mods list. Here, you can see all the available mods.
Choose the mod you want for your game.
Once you choose the mod, click on it and select Install.
After downloading the mod, return and select Create or Resume Game.
Select Mod Settings from the options, and click on Available Mods.
Click on the downloaded mod and activate it by selecting the Activate Mod option.

How to set up a modded Ark Survival Ascended server

Utilities Plus mod (Image via Studio Wildcard)

This game has three types of servers: official, unofficial, and non-dedicated. You can add mods to any server apart from the official server.

To set up a modded non-dedicated server, select and install all the mods by following the steps mentioned earlier. Once you have activated the mods you're interested in having, start a non-dedicated server in ARK Survival Ascended to add the mods to your session.

To successfully set this up, you'll need some under-the-hood tinkering in the game directory. If you're running it through SteamCMD, get it running with app_update 2430930 validate, which can also be automated with a custom .bat file with the following:

"start <file path>\steamcmd.exe +force_install_dir C:\ARK +login anonymous +app_update 2430930 validate +quit"

In this, the 'file path' will be the ASA installation directory. However, if you're running the game directly form Steam, you can skip this step. Next, you have to set up a .bat file in the folder with the game's executable, which is game directory/ShooterGame/Binaries/Win64. Let's call it 'runserver.bat'. Open this up with Notepad++ (or your preferred Notepad tool), and add the following:

"start ArkAscendedServer.exe TheIsland_WP?listen?Port=7777?QueryPort=27015?SessionName=ASAExampleServer?MaxPlayers=50?ServerPassword=1111?ServerAdminPassword=1234? -mods=000000,000000 -nosteamclient -game -server -log"

It's not this exact line, though. This is a template added here for convenience's sake. In this, you have to change the following:

TheIsland_WP will set the server to run The Island map. If you want to run The Center, you'll have to use TheCenter_WP instead, for example.
'ASAExampleServer' will be the name of the server in this format. Change it to a server name of your preference.
You can also change the server password and admin password in the respective prompts that follow.
Here's the most important part: note the -mods= section, after which there's 00000... and so on. Here, you'll have to add the unique mod IDs of each mod that your server uses, punctuated by commas.
This goes without saying, but make sure the host PC (your PC in this case) has the mods installed on the existing copy of ARK Survival Ascended. If you're using a modded map, make sure the modded map as well as all prerequisite assets are installed as well.

On the other hand, to start an unofficial server, you'll need to purchase a hosting package from a third-party provider. After you have your unofficial server, add the mods using the built-in Mod browser to enjoy an enhanced version of the game with other ARK players.

Where to find modded Ark Survival Ascended servers

Different servers in ASA (Image via Studio Wildcard)

To find modded Ark Survival Ascended servers, first launch the game. You then need to select the Join Game option from the menu. Now, choose the category of the server and enter your server name in the search bar. After refreshing the list, find and select your server. Press the Join button at the bottom right to connect to the server.

Check out other guides on this game:

Edited by Siddharth Satish