Tools

ARK Server Settings Generator

Configure your ARK: Survival Ascended dedicated or single-player server without hand-editing config files. Dial in harvest, XP, taming, breeding, imprint and difficulty, then copy a clean GameUserSettings.ini and Game.ini — only the lines you changed, so it never fights the server's own defaults.

Rates & progression

The core grind multipliers. Higher = faster, except respawn period (lower = resources come back sooner).

XPScales all experience gained by players and tames.
Harvest amountScales resources collected per hit (wood, metal, berries…).
Taming speedHigher tames faster (less food/time and fewer narcotics needed).
Dino food drainHow fast tames and knocked-out creatures use food. Higher drains food faster, so a knockout tame eats its tame food — and finishes — sooner.
Harvest healthScales the health of harvestable nodes/trees — higher means more hits per node.
Resource respawn periodHow long until harvested nodes regrow. LOWER = faster respawn (0.5 ≈ twice as fast).
Item stack sizeScales the max stack size of every stackable item.
Spoiling timeScales how long perishables take to spoil. HIGHER = food, meat and other perishables last longer.

Breeding & raising

All in Game.ini. Speed multipliers: higher = faster. Interval multipliers: lower = more often.

Mating intervalCooldown between matings. LOWER = breed again sooner (0.5 halves the wait).
Egg hatch speedHigher hatches fertilised eggs faster.
Baby mature speedHigher raises babies to adult faster.
Cuddle intervalTime between imprint cuddles. LOWER = cuddle prompts come more often (helps hit 100% imprint).
Imprint amountImprint % gained per cuddle. Raise this if fast maturation leaves too few cuddles to reach 100%.
Baby food consumptionHow fast babies eat. LOWER = less food needed while raising.
Lay-egg intervalCooldown on wild/passive egg laying. LOWER = eggs drop more often.

Difficulty & max level

Difficulty overrideMax wild dino level = this × 30. Official is 5.0 (level 150). Set 7.5 for level 225, 10.0 for level 300.
Difficulty offset0–1 blend toward the difficulty cap. Leave at 1.0 when using the override above.

Survival & combat

Drain multipliers: lower = stats deplete slower. Recovery: higher = heal faster.

Player food drainHow fast players get hungry. LOWER = eat less often.
Player water drainHow fast players get thirsty. LOWER = drink less often.
Player stamina drainHow fast player stamina depletes. LOWER = sprint longer.
Player health recoveryHow fast players heal. HIGHER = regen quicker.
Dino stamina drainHow fast tame stamina depletes.
Dino health recoveryHow fast tames heal.
Player damageScales damage players deal.
Player resistanceScales damage players TAKE. HIGHER = take more damage.
Wild dino damageScales damage WILD dinos deal.
Wild dino resistanceScales damage wild dinos take.
Tamed dino damageScales damage your TAMED dinos deal.
Tamed dino resistanceScales damage your tamed dinos take.

Day / night cycle

Day cycle speedOverall length of a full day/night. LOWER = longer days and nights.
Daytime speedLength of daytime only.
Nighttime speedLength of nighttime only.

Structures

Structure resistanceScales damage structures TAKE. LOWER = bases are tankier.
Structure damageScales damage structures DEAL (e.g. spikes, turrets base).
Max structures in rangeBuild limit within an area. Raise for big bases (official is 10500).

General & tribe

Max tribe sizeCap on tribe members. 0 = unlimited.

Your config

No changes from official defaults yet
GameUserSettings.ini
# No non-default values for GameUserSettings.ini yet.
# Change a setting above and its line appears here.
Game.ini
# No non-default values for Game.ini yet.
# Change a setting above and its line appears here.

Where these files go

ARK reads two config files. Most rate and survival multipliers live in GameUserSettings.ini under [ServerSettings]; breeding and tribe options live in Game.ini under [/script/shootergame.shootergamemode]. Both sit in your save folder:

Paste each generated block into the matching file. If a [section] already exists, merge the lines into it rather than adding a second copy of the header. Always stop the server before editing — ARK rewrites these files on shutdown and will overwrite changes made while it's running. On a host like Nitrado, use its config editor / “expert mode” so it doesn't revert your edits.

The generator only writes the settings you change from their official defaults, which keeps the file short and easy to audit. Multipliers are simple scales: 2.0 is twice the normal rate. Watch the direction notes — some values (mating interval, resource respawn, food drain) get faster as the number goes down.