For a private group of four to eight players, start with 2x XP and harvesting, 3x taming, level-150 wild dinosaurs, and a breeding setup of 15x maturation, 10x egg hatching, and shorter mating and cuddle intervals. Put general rates, difficulty, PvE/PvP rules, transfers, and limits in GameUserSettings.ini. Put breeding, imprinting, crop growth, tribe limits, and advanced gameplay controls in Game.ini. Stop the server before editing, back up both files, and restart it before testing.
The profile below is a practical starting point rather than an official preset. Play with it for one or two sessions, then adjust one group of settings at a time. That approach keeps building, exploration, taming, and breeding rewarding without forcing a small group to reproduce the slowest parts of the default game.
Where do ARK: Survival Ascended server settings go?
Dedicated ASA servers split their configuration between two INI files. On a Windows dedicated server, the normal directory is ShooterGame/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/. General server behavior belongs in GameUserSettings.ini, while advanced gameplay and breeding controls belong in Game.ini.
| File | Section | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
GameUserSettings.ini |
[ServerSettings] |
XP, harvesting, taming, resource respawn, difficulty, PvE/PvP mode, offline protection, structure rules, transfers, and many player-facing limits. |
Game.ini |
[/Script/ShooterGame.ShooterGameMode] |
Breeding, egg hatching, maturation, mating and cuddle intervals, imprinting, crop growth, tribe limits, and other advanced gameplay controls. |
Control panels often expose the same values through a Config tab, but the underlying file and section still matter. A correctly spelled key in the wrong file or section may be ignored without an obvious error.
What is the best starting configuration for a 4–8 player group?
This profile keeps progression noticeably faster while preserving reasons to explore, gather, build, and tame. It assumes a private PvE server. If your group wants PvP, use the same progression rates only after making a separate decision about offline protection and structure damage.
Recommended GameUserSettings.ini
[ServerSettings]
DifficultyOffset=1.0
OverrideOfficialDifficulty=5.0
XPMultiplier=2.0
TamingSpeedMultiplier=3.0
HarvestAmountMultiplier=2.0
ResourcesRespawnPeriodMultiplier=0.5
PlayerCharacterFoodDrainMultiplier=0.75
PlayerCharacterWaterDrainMultiplier=0.75
ServerPVE=True
PreventOfflinePvP=TrueRecommended Game.ini
[/Script/ShooterGame.ShooterGameMode]
BabyMatureSpeedMultiplier=15.0
EggHatchSpeedMultiplier=10.0
MatingIntervalMultiplier=0.25
BabyCuddleIntervalMultiplier=0.2
BabyImprintAmountMultiplier=1.5
BabyFoodConsumptionSpeedMultiplier=0.5The values sit within commonly documented convenience ranges: roughly 2–3x for XP and harvesting, 3–5x for taming, and accelerated breeding values that reduce waiting without making every baby instant. Treat them as a baseline, not a promise that every species will mature on the same schedule.
How do I apply the settings without losing them?
Editing while the server is active is the most common cause of ignored or overwritten changes. Use this sequence whenever you alter an INI file.
- Stop the server completely. Use the host control panel or shutdown command, then wait until the status reports offline. Do not edit while it is still saving or accepting connections.
- Back up both files. Copy
GameUserSettings.iniandGame.inito a dated folder. A backup lets you undo a bad multiplier or recover from a malformed section. - Open the correct files. On a Windows dedicated server, browse to
ShooterGame/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/. A rented host may provide an editor instead of direct file access; choose the equivalent file and section. - Place each key in its proper section. Put general rates under
[ServerSettings]inGameUserSettings.ini. Put breeding and advanced game-mode keys under[/Script/ShooterGame.ShooterGameMode]inGame.ini. - Keep one assignment per line. Use the exact spelling and capitalization shown in the examples, with a single equals sign and no comma-separated list.
- Save before starting. Close the editor or save the panel form, then start the server and wait for it to finish loading.
- Verify one change in game. Test a clearly visible value, such as XP gained from a small craft or the time shown for a new egg. If it did not change, stop the server and troubleshoot the path, section, spelling, and overwrite timing before changing anything else.
What does each progression multiplier actually change?
Multipliers are not interchangeable. A faster harvest does not make taming faster, and a faster maturation rate does not automatically make imprint requests fit your schedule.
Harvesting
HarvestAmountMultiplier changes the resources gained per successful hit. A value of 2.0 doubles the amount gathered per hit relative to a 1.0 baseline, making group construction less repetitive while leaving the act of finding nodes and tools intact.
Experience
XPMultiplier affects global XP gain for players and tames. At 2.0, exploration, crafting, and combat still contribute to progression, but a small group is less likely to have one player permanently assigned to leveling chores.
Taming
TamingSpeedMultiplier increases progress earned from each food item. A starting value of 3.0 is fast enough for a shared server without making every creature an immediate acquisition. Creature food-drain settings also influence how quickly a taming process advances, so changing both systems can produce a larger effect than either number suggests.
Resource respawn
ResourcesRespawnPeriodMultiplier is a time multiplier, not a yield multiplier. A value of 0.5 shortens the respawn period so nodes return sooner; it does not double the resources obtained from each hit. This distinction matters around bases, where rapid respawns can make a familiar area feel inexhaustible.
Player food and water
PlayerCharacterFoodDrainMultiplier=0.75 and PlayerCharacterWaterDrainMultiplier=0.75 reduce the rate at which those meters fall. They ease routine survival pressure for a group that cannot keep every member online, while leaving environmental hazards and combat decisions in place.
How do I get level-150 wild dinosaurs on an unofficial ASA server?
Set OverrideOfficialDifficulty=5.0. The documented formula is the configured value multiplied by 30, so 5.0 targets a level-150 wild-dinosaur cap.
When OverrideOfficialDifficulty is non-zero, the server uses it instead of reading DifficultyOffset for the wild-level calculation. Keeping DifficultyOffset=1.0 in the example is harmless for a profile that uses the override, but the override is the value that determines the intended cap. After changing difficulty, allow the server to restart fully and verify newly encountered wild creatures rather than judging the setting from creatures that were already spawned.
Which breeding settings reduce waiting without breaking imprinting?
Use the six breeding keys together, then test the exact species your group raises. Higher maturation and hatching values shorten growth and incubation; lower mating and cuddle intervals shorten the waits between those events.
| Setting | Recommended start | What a higher or lower value does |
|---|---|---|
BabyMatureSpeedMultiplier |
15.0 |
Higher values make babies mature faster. |
EggHatchSpeedMultiplier |
10.0 |
Higher values make eggs hatch faster. |
MatingIntervalMultiplier |
0.25 |
Lower values shorten the wait before a creature can mate again. |
BabyCuddleIntervalMultiplier |
0.2 |
Lower values shorten the time between cuddle requests. |
BabyImprintAmountMultiplier |
1.5 |
Higher values increase the imprint percentage awarded by each cuddle. |
BabyFoodConsumptionSpeedMultiplier |
0.5 |
A lower value slows food consumption, giving caregivers more time between feed checks. |
At the default 1.0 settings, a Rex is documented as taking about 3 days and 20 hours to mature. A 15.0 maturation multiplier makes that schedule dramatically shorter, but the exact result varies by species and by the timing of imprint requests. If maturation becomes too fast, a baby can reach adulthood before a player is available for the required cuddles. Raise imprint gain or lower maturation rather than assuming every species follows the same timetable.
Should a small group choose PvE or PvP?
Choose ServerPVE=True when the group wants shared building and progression without player-versus-player damage. Choose PvP only after agreeing on offline protection, structure vulnerability, and the hours during which raids are acceptable.
PvE profile
The recommended profile uses ServerPVE=True and PreventOfflinePvP=True. PvE changes the importance of structure-protection and offline-raid controls because the main threats are creatures, the environment, and accidental damage rather than rival players.
PvP profile
For PvP, decide whether offline protection is enabled and how long it lasts. An offline-protection key has no practical effect unless its corresponding feature is enabled, so copying a single protection line into a PvP configuration does not create a complete policy. Write the decision down before launch so every player knows when bases can be attacked.
Mixed expectations
Do not combine a PvE ruleset with assumptions about competitive raiding. Structure resistance, pickup behavior, turret limits, and offline protection can change the character of a server as much as the XP rate does. Make the conflict model explicit in the server description and welcome message.
How should I handle structure and building rules?
Structure resistance, building limits, pickup behavior, and turret limits should be changed as a cluster, one cluster at a time. Most basic structure rules belong in GameUserSettings.ini, while some structure-related keys live in Game.ini.
- Structure resistance: decide whether you want normal damage, forgiving construction, or a deliberately vulnerable PvP base. Do not alter resistance while players are testing a raid or a major build.
- Structure limits: review tribe and map limits together. A generous building rule can still feel restrictive if a tribe cap or area limit is unchanged.
- Pickup behavior: decide how long players can recover misplaced pieces and whether that convenience undermines the need to plan permanent builds.
- Turret limits: set these with the conflict model in mind. Limits that are tolerable in PvE can make a competitive defense impossible, while unlimited defenses can turn a small PvP server into a construction contest.
Record the reason for every structure change. Documentation makes it possible to reverse a single experiment instead of restoring an entire file and erasing unrelated settings.
Should I enable single-player settings?
Leave bUseSingleplayerSettings=False for a predictable custom server. Enabling it adds extra multipliers to taming, breeding, crop growth, and several stat systems, so the effective result can be far higher than the numbers visible in your INI files.
If you are migrating a solo save or intentionally want the bundled single-player boost, treat it as a separate profile. Do not enable the switch and then evaluate the recommended 3.0 taming or 15.0 maturation values as though they were running alone; the combined behavior is no longer comparable to this baseline.
Why do my server settings disappear after a restart?
Most disappearing settings come from editing the wrong file, using the wrong section, or saving while the server is still running.
Wrong directory
On a dedicated Windows server, confirm that you edited the files under ShooterGame/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/, not a similarly named local, staging, or single-player folder. Hosted panels may write to this location for you, but a manual edit in another copy will not affect the active server.
Wrong section or file
Move general rates to GameUserSettings.ini under [ServerSettings]. Move breeding and game-mode keys to Game.ini under [/Script/ShooterGame.ShooterGameMode]. A valid key in the wrong section can be silently ignored.
Server was not fully stopped
Stop the server, wait for an offline status, edit, save, and then restart. If the host restores a previous copy during shutdown, your edit can be overwritten even though the text editor showed the new value.
Spelling or formatting error
Compare the key character by character with the documented name. Keep one Key=Value pair per line, remove accidental spaces or pasted markup, and make sure a section header has its brackets intact.
Another setting is masking the result
Check bUseSingleplayerSettings and any panel-level preset first. A preset or bundled single-player multiplier can change the in-game result even when the custom line remains in the file. Disable the competing preset or document the combined profile before testing again.
How should I tune the profile after the first session?
Change one family of settings at a time and judge it against the activity your group actually struggles with. A useful order is progression, survival pressure, breeding, then building and conflict rules.
- Ask whether progression is still meaningful. If players skip exploration because XP and harvesting are too generous, reduce one of those multipliers rather than slowing taming as well.
- Check unattended play. If players log in only briefly, food and water drain and breeding intervals may be the real bottlenecks. Adjust those systems independently.
- Observe a complete breeding cycle. Watch egg incubation, maturation, food consumption, and every imprint request for one species before changing all breeding values.
- Review the world difficulty. Confirm that newly encountered wild creatures match the intended level cap after the difficulty change has been active through a full restart.
- Document the result. Keep a short change log with the old value, new value, date, and reason. If the server becomes too easy or too punishing, revert the specific experiment instead of rebuilding the configuration.
What should I put in a server rules message?
Tell players the rates and rules that affect irreversible decisions. At minimum, publish the XP, harvest, taming, breeding, wild-level cap, PvE/PvP mode, offline-protection policy, and whether single-player settings are disabled.
Also state that rates may be tuned after a trial session and that players should report a problem with the exact activity, creature, and setting involved. Clear expectations prevent disputes when one person assumes a PvE base is safe or another assumes a cuddle request will remain available all day.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a resource respawn value of 0.5 give me twice as many materials?
No. It shortens the time before a node returns; the amount obtained from each hit is controlled separately by HarvestAmountMultiplier. Use the two settings together only when you want both faster node availability and larger collections per trip.
Why can a baby mature before I receive all of its imprint requests?
Maturation speed and cuddle timing are independent systems, and species schedules differ. If a baby reaches adulthood too soon, lower BabyMatureSpeedMultiplier or raise BabyImprintAmountMultiplier after observing one complete cycle rather than changing every breeding key at once.
Will changing the difficulty override make existing wild creatures stronger?
The override sets the level ceiling used for wild spawns; creatures that already exist should not be used as the verification sample. Check newly encountered wild dinosaurs after the server has restarted with the non-zero override.
Can I use the same INI profile for a hosted panel and a self-hosted server?
The keys and section names are the same, but the panel may write them through a Config interface instead of the WindowsServer folder. Confirm which file the panel edits, save while the server is stopped, and avoid maintaining two competing copies.