ARK Survival Ascended settings generator
Pick your rates, tame limits and breeding speeds, or start from the casual or boosted presets, and copy two ready blocks: one for GameUserSettings.ini and one for Game.ini. Paste your current files first and we change only those keys under the right header, because ARK silently ignores a setting in the wrong file, and breeding keys only work in Game.ini.
GameUserSettings.ini: rates and rules
Game.ini: breeding and crops
Pick a preset or change a value to see what to write.
Stop the server first: ARK writes its settings back to GameUserSettings.ini when it shuts down, so edits made while it runs are lost. Both files are in ShooterGame/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/, even on Linux. Anything on the start line beats the file. On a GamezServers server, XP, taming, harvest, wild dino level and PvE are panel settings on the start line, so set those in Settings and use the files for the rest.
How it works
Rates, tame limits and quality of life switches go under [ServerSettings] in GameUserSettings.ini. Breeding, imprinting and crop speeds go under [/script/shootergame.shootergamemode] in Game.ini.
Empty fields leave your file as it is. Pasted files keep every other line, and a missing section is added for you.
The presets are the casual and boosted rates from our best ARK settings guide. Official rates are 1 for every multiplier.
Example
The casual tribe preset writes TamingSpeedMultiplier=3.0, XPMultiplier=2.0 and HarvestAmountMultiplier=2.0 under [ServerSettings], and MatingIntervalMultiplier=0.1, EggHatchSpeedMultiplier=10.0 and BabyMatureSpeedMultiplier=10.0 under [/script/shootergame.shootergamemode] in Game.ini.
Questions
Why do my ARK settings reset?
You edited the files while the server ran. ARK writes its settings back to GameUserSettings.ini when it shuts down. Stop the server, edit, then start it.
Why do my breeding settings do nothing?
Breeding keys only work in Game.ini, under [/script/shootergame.shootergamemode]. In GameUserSettings.ini they are ignored.
Where are the ARK config files?
ShooterGame/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/, even on Linux, because Survival Ascended only has a Windows server build.
What do wild dino levels mean in the ini?
DifficultyOffset 1.0 with OverrideOfficialDifficulty 5.0 spawns wild dinos up to level 150, like official servers. 10.0 gives level 300.
Related guides
Best ARK Survival Ascended Server Settings for Small Groups
The ARK Survival Ascended server settings we recommend for small tribes: taming, XP, harvest, breeding and imprint values, with the exact ini keys and paths.
ReadARK Survival Ascended Server Settings Not Working? Fix Rates
ARK Survival Ascended server settings not working or resetting after a restart? Fix GameUserSettings.ini and Game.ini rates that will not apply.
ReadHow to Set a Tame Limit on an ARK Survival Ascended Server
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ReadHow to Host an ARK Survival Ascended Server: Hosted or Self Hosted (2026)
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ReadSkip the setup
A server of ours comes online in about a minute with its ports open, its own address and backups.