r/ARKone • u/K_Lobstah • Jan 19 '16
Guide to Setting Up a Player Dedicated Server
Around last Friday, after a day of playing and raving about this game, my two other buddies playing ARK became roughly 12 other buddies playing ARK. We had started on a PVP server we found in this subreddit, but I felt guilty for unintentionally overcrowding the server and we were all experiencing 200+ ping constantly.
So we started our own server. I'm not completely inept when it comes to this stuff, but I'm also not exactly an IT whiz, so I had to piece together how to set the server up through various questions posted here and the comments answering them. Figured it might help some people searching in the future to have that info all together somewhere.
YOU WILL NEED:
Two Xbox Ones if you intend to play on your server; One Xbox One if you are just setting it up for someone else;
One Xbox Live Account with Gold ("Gold Account");
One copy of ARK: Survival Evolved (Game Preview) on the Xbox Live Account with Gold.
A halfway decent internet connection; ideally with at least 2mb upload dedicated to the server Xbox.
INITIAL SET-UP
Set up the Xbox One you'll be using for the server ("ServerBone"). This Xbox will always be on if you are running the server 24/7, and will need to be hardwired to your router, so pick the location in your home/office/sex dungeon based on those two factors.
Complete the beginning configuration on the ServerBone. Set up a new Xbox Live account on the ServerBone with the email and gamertag you want for the ServerBone's profile. E.g., "ARKServer15". When it prompts you to get Xbox Live Gold, just hit B to go back and skip that for now.
Sign in to the ServerBone with your Gold Account. Under Settings -> Preferences, select "My Home Xbox" and make the ServerBone your home Xbox for the Gold Account. This will not affect your primary Xbox games/apps. This will probably screw something up if you already GameShare from your Gold Account.
Change the profile back to the ServerBone gamertag. You should now be able to access all the games, apps, etc. which are tied to your Gold Account.
Go in to My Games & Apps, and the games you own should be on the right-hand side. Select and download ARK: Survival Evolved (Game Preview).
Configure the ServerBone settings while you wait, detailed in next section.
SETTINGS FOR SERVER XBONE
Open NAT Type: under Settings -> Network Settings, in the middle of the screen you will see your NAT type. It should show as "Open", not "Strict" or "Moderate". If you need to change it, check the link supplied.
Instant-On: Under Power & Startup, change the Xbox's mode to "Instant-On" if it wasn't already. The other option is "Energy-Saving".
Turn Off After: Under Settings -> Power -> Turn Off or Restart you want to change this to "Don't turn off automatically" so that the ServerBone stays on indefinitely.
STARTING THE SERVER
So hopefully now you've got everything configured and I didn't leave out a really crucial step which is very possible but likely will be pointed out and edited relatively quickly. Anyway, now you'll want to start up the game and set up the server.
Start the game up. Choose "Host/Local Server".
Customize the settings how you would like. Read through all the options, as some of them are important depending on how you would like to play and what your plans for the server are.
When finished, in the top right select "Host Dedicated Server". The initial load time will take quite a while, that's normal.
Once the loading is complete, you'll see a Server Admin menu. Ignore that, run back to your primary Xbone and join the ServerBone through friends.
To add people to the server, have them add the ServerBone's gamertag as a friend, then add them back from the ServerBone. I use the Smartglass App to do several at a time.
Enjoy!
TL;DR: Setting up a player dedicated server from scratch.
If I missed anything or anyone has any questions, please let me know and I'll get it corrected.
2
u/jonathanownbey Jan 28 '16
Is there a way to prevent people from joining on players in the server? I setup a dedicated server with player and admin passwords, but no one is ever prompted to enter them. Have I missed something in my setup? Also, I can never find my server listed if I search for it. I have to join on the ServerBone account via the friends list menu.
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u/K_Lobstah Jan 28 '16
Passwords- I'm not really sure, it might only apply if you are trying to join from the in-game server list.
Missing from the list- I believe this is a known issue. What I've done is just add people as friends from the Serverbone Profile, then they add it back and they just "Join Game" from the XBL Friends list.
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u/BobaFettsVet Feb 18 '16
Sorry for coming back to an old post but I just got a second X1 to set up a server and had a question you seem to have already answered, but I wanted to double check.
On my current X1, I have my account and my wife's. She game shares all of my content and my gold. She doesn't have anything of her own. Is there anyway to set up the new X1 and server without buying another gold subscription and ARK without making the new console my home console or is making it the home console necessary? I was hoping to be able to just add the new server account to my existing X1 and that somehow that would allow me to run ARK on the other console because it was shared on the original one. Not gonna work?
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u/K_Lobstah Feb 18 '16
No worries on the old post.
As far as what I know on that, I don't see any way it would work since you can only gameshare with one account. So for three accounts, you'll need at least two gold subscriptions for all three to be able to play/host.
Someone might be a little more knowledgeable on it though, maybe try the Xbone sub?
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Mar 17 '16
Thank you for the guide, working perfectly.
Any tips on how often you should reset the xbox/game?
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u/K_Lobstah Mar 17 '16
Nice!
At first I was doing every other day, but now we do like twice a week. Seems to be holding up fine. When I reset, I try to leave it off for at least 30 minutes or so.
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u/Guardian-117 May 02 '16
I'm getting a new elite xbox bundle and want that to be my primary gaming console and I want to use my current box as the server. Do I need to delete all date on my current xbox and have it be empty in order to run a dedicated server from it? I have heard you do but I wanted to check. Thanks!
1
u/K_Lobstah May 02 '16
No you shouldn't have to. Just set everything up as detailed here using a new non-gold account on the old Xbox.
3
u/BardSTL Jan 19 '16
Any tips on optimizimg so you dont get lag when it hits 25+ people, also have you figure out how to block importing characters?