Using Commands in your ARK Server

If you've played ARK for more than a few hours, you are very aware of how complex the game can be. At any time, you can be ambushed by a pack of raptors, or something can just go wrong in an unexpected way. My favorite is being tranquilized and falling face first into a pool of water. Most players counter the hardcore nature of the game by using mods, editing the GameUserSettings.ini, or by making heavily fortified bases and being very careful.

However, there is another option of course and that is to use commands. Commands can help with a lot of things, like cheating in something you lost, traveling very quickly as an admin to another player, or many other things.

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ARK Command List

For a list of all cheats and commands, we suggest checking the ARK wiki. Any command labeled with Cheat: Yes will require you to prefix your cheat command with the word cheat or admincheat unless you are connected to your server as an admin. For example, to enable flying, you would use cheat fly.

To use any command in your server, you first need permission. You have two options: Setting and Admin Password or Setting a list of Admins.

1. Connect to your ARK server.
2. Open the in-game console. The default key-binding is TAB, but you can change it to anything else. On some platforms, it might be the Tilde key.
3. If you are using the admin list, you can skip this step. Otherwise, you need to use the command to enable cheats to use cheat commands: enablecheats MyPassword.

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The full list of ARK commands can be intimidating because there are so many different commands! You can also use tools like ARK IDs admin command list to find the commands you need.

Setting an Admin Password

An admin password will allow any player with the password to access cheat and admin commands. To set an admin password:

1. Open the GameUserSettings.ini file in Command Center.
2. Find the line for the ServerAdminPassword= setting. If it is not present, add the line in the section directly underneath the [ServerSettings] header. After the =, type in the password that you want to use.

3. Click Save to save your password settings. Settings will not be applied until the server is restarted.
4. Restart your server, and when you rejoin you can use the in-game console to send commands.

Setting a list of Admins

Adding a list of admins to the server will allow those users on the list to use cheats and commands without needing a password, or the EnableCheats command
To set an admin list:

1. You'll need to know the unique Steam64 User ID number for each player. The easiest way to find these numbers is by looking it up here: http://www.steam64.com/
2. Once you have the Steam64 ID, make a new .txt file called AllowedCheaterSteamIDs.txt. Put your Steam64 ID number in this file.
3. Connect to your server using SFTP, and upload the AllowedCheaterSteamIDs.txt to the folder /ark-survival-evolved/ShooterGame/Saved.
4. You can add additional Steam64 IDs by opening AllowedCheaterSteamIDs.txt in Command Center, and adding the ID number on a new line.