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If the idea of taming a roaring T-Rex on your very own island thrills you or you want to unite friends on Xbox, PlayStation 5, and PC inside a single tribe, then settle in, because you’ve found the Ultimate Guide to Hosting a Ark Survival Server. In this expanded introduction we’ll start from the ground up, demystifying everything from hardware choices (10 K SAS HDD, SATA SSD, or NVMe) to the handful of TCAdmin settings that make the biggest difference on Day 1. You’ll see, step by step, how to add CurseForge mods without touching a single command line, how to flip on cross-play so console survivors can join instantly, and how to balance RAM and CPU for buttery-smooth gameplay.
We’ll compare ARK : Survival Evolved (ASE) with the dazzling new ARK : Survival Ascended (ASA) so you can decide which version best fits your tribe’s style and budget. All guidance assumes you’re running on a Twisted Servers plan, complete with TCAdmin pre-installed so the focus stays on customizing your world rather than wrestling with arcane server launches. By the time you finish this Ultimate Guide to Hosting a Ark Survival Server, you’ll know exactly how to spin up a stable, mod-friendly, low-latency ARK environment and keep it thriving long after the first base walls go up.
Quick links:
• Order an ARK Survival Ascended Dedicated Server
• Order an ARK Survival Evolved Dedicated Server
• Browse the official ARK Survival Ascended Wiki for gameplay specifics
Evolved vs Ascended - What Changed and Why It Matters
ARK Survival Evolved, launched in 2015, still runs on Unreal Engine 4. ARK Survival Ascended is a full rebuild in Unreal Engine 5. The upgrade introduces Nanite geometry, Lumen dynamic lighting, higher-resolution textures and a brand-new modding pipeline. All those visual goodies come at a cost: ASA eats more RAM, hits the CPU harder during busy moments and streams much larger textures from disk.
For the average player the practical differences boil down to three things:
Performance profile – ASA needs about one-third more RAM per active player than ASE.
Cross-platform play – ASA lets Steam, Windows Store, Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 survivors join the same world.
Mod distribution – Mods uploaded to CurseForge can be flagged “Cross-Play”, which means PC and console players get them automatically.
If your community still loves the classic look or runs on very modest PCs, ASE remains an affordable choice. If you want cutting-edge visuals and all the latest content drops, ASA is the way forward. Either way, Twisted Servers has a plan built around your goals.
Hardware and Storage: Understanding Load Times
A smooth ARK experience starts with the right blend of CPU muscle, RAM headroom and fast storage. Large maps, frequent auto-saves and heavy mod lists all create bursts of disk activity. That is why the drive you pick has a bigger impact on “feels fast” than raw megahertz on a spec sheet.
| Storage Type | Average Read Speed | First-Boot Load Time* | Auto-Save Pause | Good Fit For… |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 K SAS HDD | 180–220 MB/s | 3–4 minutes | Noticeable lag | Small, private groups where budget rules |
| SATA SSD | 450–550 MB/s | 90–120 seconds | Small hiccup | Medium servers (20–40 players) |
| NVMe (Gen 4) | 5 GB/s + | 45–60 seconds | Barely felt | Busy clusters, mod-heavy worlds, competitive PvP |
*Island map, fresh install, no mods. Times increase as save files grow—NVMe scales best.
How much RAM do you need?
| Concurrent Players | Recommended RAM for ASE | Recommended RAM for ASA | Recommended CPU Threads* |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 – 10 players | 12 – 18 GB (≈ 8 GB base + 0.5–1 GB / player) | 16 – 24 GB (≈ 12 GB base + 0.5–1 GB / player) | 4 |
| 11 – 25 players | 24 – 40 GB | 32 – 48 GB | 6 – 8 |
| 30 + players or 3-map cluster | 48 – 64 GB | 64 – 96 GB | 12 – 16 |
*CPU guidance is identical for both editions because the game’s main server thread remains the bottleneck; extra threads help during save-and-load spikes and when running multiple maps.
Why the difference?
ASA’s Unreal Engine 5 upgrade adds higher-resolution textures, Lumen lighting and larger dino AI nav-meshes, all of which remain in memory once loaded.
ASE runs on Unreal Engine 4 and uses smaller texture packs, so its baseline footprint is roughly 30 % lower.
Your First 10 Minutes in TCAdmin
Because the server is already installed, you only need to adjust a few options before inviting friends:
Name and Password – Open the Command-Line Editor, type a memorable session name, set a strong password (or leave blank for public) and hit Save & Start.
Slots – Still in the editor, choose the maximum number of simultaneous players. You can raise or lower this at any time with no save-file loss.
Difficulty and Rates – Click Configuration Files and open
GameUserSettings.iniin the config editor. Here you can increase wild dino levels, tweak XP multipliers or make nights shorter. Each setting has a comment explaining what it does.Auto-Saves and Back-Ups – By default the server saves every 15 minutes and backs up hourly to off-site storage. If you are running NVMe and 32 GB RAM or more, feel free to shorten the save interval to 10 minutes for extra peace of mind.
Hit Restart and your personalised ARK world will be live within a minute on NVME, 1-3 minutes on Sata SSD and up to 5 minutes on SAS HDD.
Adding Mods Through CurseForge
No Manual File Copying Needed
The new ASA modding pipeline makes life far simpler than the old manual Workshop process:
In TCAdmin, open the Mods tab and switch to CurseForge Browser.
Search for a mod such as Better Creatures or Classic Flyers. You’ll see a green “Cross-Play” tag if console players can use it.
Click Install. TCAdmin handles downloading, unpacking and adding the mod ID to the correct line in
Game.ini.Restart the server. Load-time increases a little the first time as the assets compile, but future boots stay quick, especially on NVMe.
Most quality-of-life mods work fine out of the box. Overhauls that change core mechanics may require you to rearrange the load order; TCAdmin includes arrows so you can drag mods up or down without editing text files.
Cross-Platform Play – PC, Xbox & PlayStation Together
CrossPlay in ARK Survival Ascended is now baked into the engine, so you no longer add the old -crossplay flag. Instead, you tell the server which platforms you want to allow with the new -ServerPlatform= switch. Before you change anything, make sure every device—PC, Xbox, PlayStation—has installed the latest patch; mismatched versions are the single biggest cause of “connection timed-out” errors.
| What you do | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Update first (TCAdmin ► Update/Validate) | All players must run the same build number, or consoles refuse to join. |
| Choose your platform mix • PC + Xbox + PlayStation (default) • PC + Xbox only: -ServerPlatform=PC+XSX• Console-only: -ServerPlatform=XSX+PS5 | Lets you widen—or narrow—who can connect without reinventing your whole launch line. |
Disable BattlEye for full cross-play: add -NoBattlEye | Consoles currently won’t connect if BattlEye is active on the server. |
| Stick to CurseForge mods flagged “Cross-Play” | Steam-only mods stop consoles at 100 % loading. |
| Show console players how to join: they open Join ARK → Unofficial → Search by Session ID (six-digit number printed in your TCAdmin console). | The in-game list is huge; searching the ID gets them in fast. |
For step-by-step screenshots and the latest cross-play flags, bookmark our full guide: Twisted Servers Knowledgebase → How do I set up CrossPlay?.
Security, Back-Ups and Community Tools
A mis-click should never wipe weeks of progress, and griefers should never have the last word. Here is how to stay safe:
Automated Snapshots – Daily back-ups secure your save on a separate server. You can restore any point from the past 24 hours in seconds.
RCON Web Console – The TCAdmin web terminal lets you ban trolls, teleport stuck players or broadcast server messages. Use a unique 16-character password and whitelist your own IP in the firewall settings panel.
Discord Integration – Paste your webhook URL into the Notifications field to mirror in-game chat and kill-feed straight into your Discord channel. Moderators can step in even when offline.
Admin Logs – Toggle
ServerAdminLogs=Trueso every command issued by staff is recorded. Transparency keeps trust high.
Why Twisted Servers Is Different
While gathering data for this Ultimate Guide to Hosting a Ark Survival Server, one pattern kept popping up: most “budget” hosts boast unlimited slots but quietly throttle your CPU once popularity ramps up. The result? Rubber-banding raptors, teleporting wyverns and frustrated clan-mates. Twisted Servers has a different philosophy, we charge by resources, not by head-count. If your tribe needs 40 player slots and 64 GB of RAM, you select a 64 GB plan and enjoy every byte of it. No secret slot tax, no sudden slowdowns just because your weekend raid filled the map.
Storage built for every budget and every dream build
10 K SAS HDD (included) – Reliable, high-RPM drives give newcomers an affordable on-ramp without sacrificing data integrity.
SATA SSD (optional upgrade) – A mid-tier boost that cuts first-boot times roughly in half, perfect for small-to-medium communities.
Gen 4 NVMe (premium upgrade) – Blazing-fast 5 GB/s reads make autosaves nearly invisible and allow mod-heavy Ascended worlds to restart in under a minute.
Upgrades are a single toggle in your client area; you can move from HDD to SATA or NVMe without migrating files or losing progress.
Low-latency Australian infrastructure
Your server lives in data-centres across Australia, delivering sub-30 ms pings for Australian players and stable latency for friends overseas, thanks to our 10 Gbps backbone.
TCAdmin at no extra cost
Every plan includes TCAdmin, no paywall. You get drag-and-drop mod installs from CurseForge, cross-play toggles, a web-based RCON console and hourly automated backups stored off-site. Accidentally wiped your base? Roll back with two clicks.
True “one-click” scaling
As your community grows, scaling up is painless: open the client portal, select Upgrade, choose more RAM, vCPUs or faster storage, and the resources appear in minutes, no reinstall, no ticket queue, no downtime.
Finally, our 24 / 7 support team plays ARK themselves, so whether you are wrangling cross-play flags, balancing dino spawns or troubleshooting a stubborn mod, you will talk to someone who speaks fluent survivor, not generic tech-script. Twisted Servers turns the technical chores of hosting into a seamless experience, letting you focus on breeding perfect rexes, conquering Ascension bosses and building the ultimate ARK legacy.
Conclusion
This Ultimate Guide to Hosting a Ark Survival Server has shown that great performance is not about memorising console commands; it is about picking the right storage (NVMe if you can), allocating enough RAM for your player count and using TCAdmin’s friendly interface for day-to-day tweaks. With CurseForge making mods one-click easy and Ascended’s built-in cross-play uniting every platform, there has never been a better time to launch your own ARK world. Twisted Servers wraps all that power in a fully managed package so you can spend less time battling config files and more time battling Alpha Rexes. Ready to claim your island? Spin up an ARK Survival Ascended or ARK Survival Evolved server with Twisted Servers today and experience the smoothest, fastest ARK hosting in Australia.
