How to play ARK with friends PC private server

One of the defining characteristics of ARK is its obvious design towards Multiplayer gameplay. While you can certainly play ARK alone, you can’t actually play it through. Limitations in character development and the design of the game effectively prevent a single player from accessing some parts of the end-game.

Índice Show

Disadvantages of the Offical Servers
Private Multiplayer Servers: The Solution?
A Comparison of Server Providers
ARK Gameserver from Nitrado
Joining servers
Step 1: Select the Join Ark option
Step 2: Change the filters in the game according to how you like to play the game
Step 3: Choose the correct server
Hosting Servers

Hence most players eventually ask themselves: “What server is the right one for me?”. That’s an interesting question, because there are multiple choices to make.

Disadvantages of the Offical Servers

There are hundreds of official servers, which usually enjoy high player counts. They’re a good starting point if you’re playing with people you don’t know, however they do have problems: In practice, they’re often unmoderated. Griefers can easily ruin your day. For example, typical problems include reserving resources, raising fees for access to some parts of the map, and that even on servers that don’t allow direct fighting (PvE). Moreover, some people there already have end-game equipment, and enjoy rubbing that into the face of newcomers.

Private Multiplayer Servers: The Solution?

Those are the reasons for why ARK also offers players the option to create their own, private, servers. This means, players can run their own servers on their computers and others can join them. The logical consequence is that they’ve got complete control over their server instance, including the ability to modify the game almost at will. That means independence from the official servers.

The gameplay on a private server can be radically different. From difficulty level, levelling speed to the prohibition of modern weaponry in the so called “Primitive Mode”, everything can be customized. Most importantly, the owner of a private server can decide himself, who may play on it and who may not. This gives him the power to ban griefers, or to limit the server to his friends and family.

Unfortunately, there are downsides to hosting your private servers on your own computer. Due to the early state of the game, the server software can be unstable, needs huge amounts of RAM and manages to occupy most of the CPU. Many players also expect that a server is online around the clock, which can result in power-costs well into the hundreds of dollars each year.

A Comparison of Server Providers

Consequently, it’s a sensible choice to rent a server in a data center. A disclaimer: We’re currently cooperating with the marbis GmbH, which, among other things, owns Nitrado. Independent of that we’re recommending Nitrado because of it’s objective Advantages over other providers. Nitrado hosts some of the official servers for ARK, and is in direct contact with Studio Wildcard, the people who develop ARK: Survival Evolved. That means, Nitrado has direct insights into the technical details, and can optimize the their servers in terms of stability and speed.

A short comparison of server providers (Date: 10. September 2018, * converted)

Provider	Nitrado.net	G-Portal	Blue Fang	4Players
Slots	20 Slots	20 Slots	20 Slots	20 Slots
Price(per Month)	15,50 EUR	16,00 EUR	20,48 EUR*	18,00 EUR
Price in US$	$ 18,88	$ 19,49*	$ 24,95	$ 20,08

ARK Gameserver from Nitrado

	Own Maps and Mods (Steam Workshop) Prepaid (no contract) Support in up to 9 languages Wiki with tips and tricks Many payment posibilities (ex. paysafecard, PayPal, CreditCard, SMS, Cash, …) Real protection against DDoS Attacks GameCloud – including gameswitch (up to 100 games, 1 Gameserver) Immediately online Best net-connection for optimized pings

If you plan a foray into the Ark: Survival Evolved, then, first of all, an excellent choice to make. Ark: Survival Evolved has been a revelation in the survival game segment that has become pretty stale for quite some time now. But Ark: Survival Evolved has changed the scenery forever and offers a game that would not only test the players but would be fun to enjoy as well – a pretty rare combination. Even if you are not much of a fan of survival games, Ark: Survival Evolved would still entice you to give it a try, just do not forget to use your Battlelog cheats to make your life a little bit easier in the game.

But to truly enjoy the game, make sure you play this with your friends. Sure, you can try to go solo, but for beginners, it is advised to rope a couple of friends in to make the gameplay a bit more fun and also easier. And Ark: Survival Evolved allows players to do just that quite easily. You can easily invite your buds to play this game with you without issue. Let’s see how to do just that.

Joining servers

The easiest way to invite your homies to play this game with you is by joining a public server available in the game. You can simply enter a server and then share the server id with your buds to join. This is undoubtedly the most straightforward way, so let’s see how you can do just that step by step.

Step 1: Select the Join Ark option

As soon as you boot up the game, you will see the main menu, from where you have to select the Join Ark option.

Step 2: Change the filters in the game according to how you like to play the game

This is the next step in the process. Make sure you choose the game that is suited to you. Luckily there is a filter in the menu that would allow one to sort out servers without any issue. It is essential that you do so as it would let you find the right game for your squad.

Step 3: Choose the correct server

Once you have sorted out through the server, the next step is to simply join one. Do note the server you have opted for, as you would have to inform your friends about the same.

That’s it; you have joined a round in Ark: Survival Evolved. You need to remember that you and your friends can join the same server through the console and PC. In simplest terms, Ark: Survival Evolved has a cross-platform option that gamers can take advantage of.

Hosting Servers

Joining the public servers is not the only way one can enjoy this game with their friends in Ark: Survival Evolved. One can also host a server by themselves and then ask their friends to join. It is excellent if you want a private server and do not want any other player to join your game. However, doing so can be a bit more challenging as you have to set the rules of the games for hosting the server.

But first, one needs to know that there are two different types of private servers that one can choose between – dedicated and non-dedicated servers. In the non-dedicated server, the non-host servers have to stay close to the host; if they try to move away, they would simply be transported back.

Now, for the dedicated server, that is not the case. But there needs to be dedicated hardware in place with RAM and processing power to run the game. Yes, this option can be pretty challenging, which is why players often prefer to play with a non-dedicated server. However, if you truly want a challenge, then going for a dedicated server might be an excellent option, even with all the efforts you have to make.

To create a hosted game, you only need to select the local/ host option at the time you boot up the game. After doing so, you will see a menu where you can choose the game’s rules, the difficulty, the strength of native creatures, your taming ability, and so on. The possibilities are endless here. You can easily create a fiefdom and rule the abandoned island as you see fit.

These are a couple of ways to enjoy the game with your buds. It goes without saying that this way, you can make the most of the fun experience offered by this game.