Mods from CurseForge

How mods work in ARK

Every ARK: Survival Ascended mod comes from CurseForge, and there's no file for you to upload: we hand your server the mod ids at launch and it downloads them from CurseForge itself.

That means a mod you add or remove only takes effect after a restart, and the first start after adding new mods runs longer than usual because it's fetching them.

Add a mod

1. Open the Mods tab and search for the mod by name
2. Hit install on the one you want
3. Restart your server

If you already know the mod's ID, add it straight from the Load order table. The ID is the numeric Project ID in the About box on the mod's CurseForge page, not the name in the URL.

Order matters

Mods load in the order the table shows, and a later one can override an earlier one. The general rule:

• Mods that change core systems first
• Content and dino mods after them
• Interface and cosmetic mods last

Use Up and Down to arrange them, and restart after any change.

Mod maps

A mod map takes two steps together:

1. Add the map's mod from the Mods tab like any other mod
2. Go to the Launch tab, pick "A map from a mod", and type the map name the mod author gives you, which always ends in _WP

Where the files land

Mods download into ShooterGame/Binaries/Win64/ShooterGame/Mods/83374/, one folder each, named modId_fileId. Don't edit them by hand, because your server fetches them again on every start.

What we keep is the mod list itself, not the mod files, so a backup carries the list alone. Restoring one has your server download the mods again on its first start, and a reset clears the list and starts you from nothing.