ARK Survival Ascended Server Not Showing Up? How to Fix It

If your ARK Survival Ascended server is not showing up in the server list, the cause is almost always one of five things: the list filters, the server still starting, UDP port 7777 not reaching the server, the firewall, or a missing line in GameUserSettings.ini. Work through the fixes below in order. Most people are sorted by the first three.

Short answer

1. In Join Game, set the list to Unofficial and tick Show Player Servers.
2. Search the exact session name, and clear the map, password and ping filters.
3. Wait until the server log says it has fully started. The first start can take 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Make sure UDP 7777 is forwarded to the server and allowed through the firewall.
5. Add Culture=en under an [Internationalization] section in GameUserSettings.ini and restart.
6. On PC, test with open your.ip:7777 in the console. If that works, the server is fine and only the list is the problem.

Check the server list filters first

This catches more people than anything else. Survival Ascended hides self hosted and rented servers unless you ask for them:

• The list must be on Unofficial, not Official.
• Show Player Servers must be ticked. Without it, most community servers are hidden.
• The search box matches the session name. Type part of the exact name, not the map.
• Check the filters at the top and bottom of the list: PvE or PvP, map, and whether password protected servers are shown.

Console players on Xbox and PlayStation use the same Unofficial list with the same toggle.

Give the server time to start

ARK is slow to boot. On first start the server builds the map, downloads any CurseForge mods and only then registers with Epic Online Services, which is what the in game list reads from. Until the log shows a line like Full Startup: 312.45 seconds, the server will not appear.

After it has started, allow another minute or two for the listing to show up. Restarting it over and over while it is still loading only resets the clock.

Test a direct connection

On PC, press Tab on the main menu to open the console and type:

open 203.0.113.10:7777

Use your server's public IP and port instead of the example.

• You get in: the server works and is reachable. Only the listing is broken. Skip to the Culture=en fix.
• Connection timed out: players cannot reach the server at all. Check ports and the firewall.

Open port 7777 and the firewall

If you self host, the router needs to send game traffic to the PC running the server:

Forward UDP 7777 to the server's local IP address, and allow the server through Windows Firewall. From an admin Command Prompt:

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="ASA Game Port" dir=in action=allow protocol=UDP localport=7777

If you set a different port with -port=, forward that one instead. Remember that Survival Ascended ignores the old ?Port= style option. Our port forwarding guide covers the router side step by step.

If forwarding looks right but outside players still cannot connect, compare the WAN IP in your router with the IP a "what is my IP" site shows. If they differ, your internet provider uses CGNAT and port forwarding cannot work until they give you a public IP. A hosted server avoids this completely, because there is nothing to forward.

Add Culture=en to GameUserSettings.ini

A lot of server admins report that their Survival Ascended server accepts direct connections but never appears in the list until they add this to GameUserSettings.ini. Stop the server, open ShooterGame/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/GameUserSettings.ini, and add this at the end of the file as its own section:

[Internationalization]
Culture=en

Do not put it inside [ServerSettings] or any other section. Save, start the server and check the list again once it has fully started.

Make sure the server is up to date

Players on a newer game version will not see an outdated server, or will see it greyed out. If you self host, run the SteamCMD update again after every patch:

steamcmd +force_install_dir C:\asa-server +login anonymous +app_update 2430930 validate +quit

App ID 2430930 is the Survival Ascended server. 376030 is the old Survival Evolved server, and installing that by mistake is a common reason nobody can find the server.

Other things that hide a server

• Session name typos or special characters. Keep the name to plain letters, numbers and spaces while you test.
• Too many mods failing to download. If a mod ID is wrong, the server can hang during startup and never register. Remove mods, confirm the server shows up, then add them back a few at a time.
• Out of memory. ARK needs 8 to 10 GB with nobody online. If the machine runs out, the server hangs or crashes during startup. See how much RAM a game server needs.

Still not showing on a hosted server

On a GamezServers server there are no ports to forward and the firewall is already set up. If your server is Online on the dashboard but not in the list, check the filters above, give a fresh server a few minutes, and use the open command with the address shown at the top of the control panel. The name in the list is the server name on your dashboard. If you need to see what the server is doing, the Console tab shows its live log.

FAQ

Why can my friends join with open but not find the server?

The server works, but its listing did not register. Add Culture=en under [Internationalization] in GameUserSettings.ini, restart and wait for the server to fully start.

How long does it take for an ARK server to show up?

Usually a minute or two after the log shows Full Startup. The first start with mods can take 10 minutes or more before that.

Can console players join if the server is not listed?

Not easily. Xbox and PlayStation players cannot type an address, so they need the server to appear under Unofficial with Show Player Servers on.

Does ARK Survival Ascended use Steam for the server list?

No. Survival Ascended uses Epic Online Services for discovery, which is why old Survival Evolved tips about Steam query ports do not help.

The easy way

Most "server not showing up" problems come from home networks: ports, firewalls and CGNAT. A hosted server has none of those, since it runs in a data center with its own address. See ARK: Survival Ascended server hosting, or follow the quick start guide.