Tools for installing ARK Survival Ascended Dedicated Server on Linux

What does it do?

This script will:

• Download Proton from Glorious Eggroll's build
• Install Steam and SteamCMD
• Create a steam user for running the game server
• Install ARK Survival Ascended Dedicated Server using standard Steam procedures
• Setup a systemd service for running the game server
• Add firewall service for game server (with firewalld)

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What this script will not do:

Provide any sort of management interface over your server. It's just a bootstrap script to install the game and its dependencies in a standard way so you can choose how you want to manage it.

Features

Because it's managed with systemd, standardized commands are used for managing the server. This includes an auto-restart for the game server if it crashes.

By default, the game server will automatically start at boot!

A start and stop script is included in /home/steam/ArkSurvivalAscended for starting and stopping all maps, (not to mention updating before they start).

Sets up multiple maps on a single install, and all of them can run at the same time (providing your server has the horsepower to do so).

Directory Structure

/home/steam/ArkSurvivalAscended
├── AppFiles/                  # Game Server Files (directly managed from Steam)
├── prefixes/                  # Proton prefix directory (emulates windows filesystem)
│   ├── ark-aberration/
│   ├── ark-club/
│   ├── ark-island/
│   ├── ark-scorched/
│   └── ark-thecenter/
├── services/                  # Service file overrides (for setting startup options)
│   ├── ark-aberration.conf
│   ├── ark-club.conf
│   ├── ark-island.conf
│   ├── ark-scorched.conf
│   └── ark-thecenter.conf
├── GameUserSettings.ini       # Game Server Configuration
├── Game.ini                   # Game Server Configuration
├── ShooterGame.log            # Game log file
├── start_all.sh               # Start all maps
└── stop_all.sh                # Stop all maps

Installation on Debian 12

To install ARK Survival Ascended Dedicated Server on Debian 12, download and run server-install-debian12.sh as root or sudo.

Debian 12 support tested on Digital Ocean, OVHCloud, and Proxmox.

Quick run (if you trust me, which you of course should not):

sudo su -c "bash <(wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cdp1337/ARKSurvivalAscended-Linux/main/server-install-debian12.sh)" root

Managing your Server

On installation, you have the option of selecting which map to enable. All maps are installed so they can be disabled / enabled at any time.

• Island - ark-island
• Aberration - ark-aberration
• Club ARK - ark-club
• Scorched - ark-scorched
• The Center - ark-thecenter

Start, Stop, Restart

Start a single map:

# Start the Island
sudo systemctl start ark-island

# Start Aberration
sudo systemctl start ark-aberration

# Start Club ARK
sudo systemctl start ark-club

# Start Scorched
sudo systemctl start ark-scorched

# Start the center
sudo systemctl start ark-thecenter

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Restarting a single map:

# Restart the Island
sudo systemctl restart ark-island

# Restart Aberration
sudo systemctl restart ark-aberration

# Restart Club ARK
sudo systemctl restart ark-club

# Restart Scorched
sudo systemctl restart ark-scorched

# Restart the center
sudo systemctl restart ark-thecenter

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Stopping a single map:

# Stop the Island
sudo systemctl stop ark-island

# Stop Aberration
sudo systemctl stop ark-aberration

# Stop Club ARK
sudo systemctl stop ark-club

# Stop Scorched
sudo systemctl stop ark-scorched

# Stop the center
sudo systemctl stop ark-thecenter

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Start all maps (and update game server from Steam):

/home/steam/ArkSurvivalAscended/start_all.sh

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Stop all maps:

/home/steam/ArkSurvivalAscended/stop_all.sh

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Enable and disable maps

# Enable Island
sudo systemctl enable ark-island

# Enable Aberration
sudo systemctl enable ark-aberration

# Enable Club ARK
sudo systemctl enable ark-club

# Enable Scorched
sudo systemctl enable ark-scorched

# Enable The Center
sudo systemctl enable ark-thecenter

Enabling a map will set it to start at boot, but it will not start the map immediately. use sudo systemctl start ... to start the requested map manually.

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# Disable Island
sudo systemctl disable ark-island

# Disable Aberration
sudo systemctl disable ark-aberration

# Disable Club ARK
sudo systemctl disable ark-club

# Disable Scorched
sudo systemctl disable ark-scorched

# Disable The Center
sudo systemctl disable ark-thecenter

Disabling a map will prevent it from starting at boot, but it will not stop the map. use sudo systemctl stop ... to stop the requested map manually.

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Configuring the game ini

Configuration of your server via the configuration ini is available in /home/steam/ArkSurvivalAscended/GameUserSettings.ini

sudo -u steam nano /home/steam/ArkSurvivalAscended/GameUserSettings.ini

Sssshhh, I use vim too, but nano is easier for most newcomers.

Adding command line arguments

Some arguments for the game server need to be passed in as CLI arguments.

# Configure start parameters for the Island
sudo nano /home/steam/ArkSurvivalAscended/services/ark-island.conf

# Configure start parameters for Aberration
sudo nano /home/steam/ArkSurvivalAscended/services/ark-aberration.conf

# Configure start parameters for Club ARK
sudo nano /home/steam/ArkSurvivalAscended/services/ark-club.conf

# Configure start parameters for Scorched
sudo nano /home/steam/ArkSurvivalAscended/services/ark-scorched.conf

# Configure start parameters for The Center
sudo nano /home/steam/ArkSurvivalAscended/services/ark-thecenter.conf

When done editing, reload the system config:

(This DOES NOT restart the game server)

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Automatic restarts

Want to restart your server automatically at 5a each morning?

Edit crontab sudo nano /etc/crontab and add:

0 5 * * * root /home/steam/ArkSurvivalAscended/stop_all.sh && /home/steam/ArkSurvivalAscended/start_all.sh

(0 is minute, 5 is hour in 24-hour notation, followed by '* * *' for every day, every month, every weekday)