Articles on: ARK:Survival Evolved

Automatic Mod Installation and Update for ARK: Survival Evolved

**We recommend you use the workshop browser method which succeeds this method, guidance on this is HERE.



This method is still viable but does not detect mod updates whilst it is online or send notifications.

We have an automatic mod install and update system available for our ARK: Survival Evolved game servers. With a simple setup, you'l never need to worry about installing or keeping mods up-to-date ever again.


Important notes


This only applies to ARK: Survival Evolved.

When using this method, you must specify the mods in the command line, not the configuration file.

When using this, you must NOT have installed mods via the workshop browser. If you have, uninstall them first. To achieve auto updates using the workshop browser, you can setup a scheduled task, choosing the workshop update option from the task drop-down menu.

You can find the Mod ID, of any mod, or map mod, at the end of the URL. For example:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1581857481

The id is at the end after id= . So the Mod ID would be 1581857481

How to setup:


Open the command line settings. (You'll see a button in your control panel) and then click the New button.

If you have an existing command line you can click on this and edit the command line.

For the mods, you would place the MOD ID's in the provided workshop mod ids box. separated by a comma:


MOD1,MOD2,MOD3,MOD4

Ensure you do not have spaces in-between the mod ID's as this will not install any mod after the first mod. It must be set as shown above.

If using a map mod, select the map drop down and choose the Any Workshop Map Mod, then in the box that shows, add the map mod ID. You must also add this MOD ID to the END of the workshop mod ids list set in step 3. Otherwise the files will not be downloaded.

Select the Enable Auto Managed Mods check box

Once all done, click Save, Then Select to select your new command line.

You may now start the game server. If done correctly, the server will hang at around 50-70 MB Memory use. This is when the game server is installing or updating the mods automatically. Please be patient, as the time it takes can depend on the size of the mods and if your game server is hosted on SSD or NVME. The server will startup fully once complete


Important! If you have errors such as "Mod Mismatch", the server fails to start, or you join and find mods are missing items. It is likely due to the size of the mod, please see our article here for how to resolve this.

Updated on: 04/03/2022

Was this article helpful?

Share your feedback

Cancel

Thank you!