Articles on: ARK:Survival Evolved

Reverting to a Previous ARK: Survival Evolved Save

If for any reason you wish to restore a previous save, we have outlined this process for you.

The following is for when reverting to a previous save that the game itself has created. This often gets you a more recent save, so is best to do first to minimise any loss. For full backup restores from, for example, our backup tool, please see here article

Taking a backup before beginning of your whole SavedARK folder


Login to our TCAdmin panel

Select your game server and then open the File Manager.

In the File Manager, go to ShooterGame > Saved

You should now see a SavedARKS folder. Select it and click zip.

If you have a different AltSaveDirectoryName in the command line the folder will be whatever it is set to in the command line. Example: AltSaveDirectoryName=SAVEFOLDERNAME (Folder will be SAVEFOLDERNAME)

If you get a too large error:
This is because your map is large, the SavedARKS folder contains lots of backup copies of your map that you don't need. See the marked ones in the below image




Delete the old ones that you don't want to revert your save too, for example if you want to revert to a save taken on the 31st, you could delete all the ones on the 30th to reduce the size of the folder and enable you to zip.

If you don't want to delete any, you could transfer them to your computer using an FTP program, or download each file manually.

Download this zip for your backup.

If you get an error saying that its too large to zip, please look here


Before we go any further you should know more about what the Saved folder contains. For your ARK server to load correctly, three key files are required:


TheIsland.ark - This is your current loaded save. (the file will have whichever map you are using in the filename in place of TheIsland, i.e. Ragnarok.ark)
xxxxxxxxx.arkprofile - These are the profiles and configurations of players who have joined your server. These are created as join.
xxxxxxxxx.arktribe - These are the tribe profiles and configurations of tribes on the server. These are created as people create tribes.

The server will load missing the player and tribe files. However, if you had a tribe, you will loose this, the same for your or your players characters. When restoring just the world save file, you shouldn't need to touch the profile or tribe files.


Once you have made sure to backup your existing files:


Login to your server with your chosen FTP program, such as FileZilla

Go into the SavedArks folder, which you will find in ShooterGame > Saved

You will see many files, some will be in this format (it will vary depending on the map you use) : TheIsland_22.06.2017_11.50.39.ark, which goes: MAP_DATE_TIME. These are your backup saves created by the server. The date and time reflect when the save was taken.

Rename the existing TheIsland.ark to OldTheIsland.Ark (TheIsland will be the name of the map you are using)
You can Right click on the map save and a menu will open and you should now see Rename
Find a previous .ark save that will look similar too: TheIsland_01.02.2021_00.41.08.ark that you want to rollback too. The time format is 24h.

Once you have found the save you wish to restore, rename that file to TheIsland.Ark or the relevant map name you are using.

Once you have done this, start your server and you should be all set to go.

If you prefer to use the file manager rather than an FTP program, it is possible, please see the below image




If you need any assistance with this please contact us.

Updated on: 02/02/2021

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