ARK Graphic and PC Enhancements

Post of helpful Optimizations and Client side bug fixes for our ARK Players:

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

Windows:

  • OS: Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit versions)

  • Processor: Intel Core i5-2400/AMD FX-8320 or better

  • Memory: 8 GB RAM

  • Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 670 2GB/AMD Radeon HD 7870 2GB or better

  • DirectX: Version 10

  • Storage: 60 GB available space

Mac OS X:

  • OS: OSX 10.9 or Higher

  • Processor: 2 GHz Equivalent CPU

  • Memory: 4000 MB RAM

  • Graphics: OpenGL 3 Compatible GPU with 1GB Video RAM

  • Storage: 20000 MB available space

Linux

  • OS: Ubuntu Equivalent Distro

  • Processor: 2 GHz 64-bit CPU

  • Memory: 4000 MB RAM

  • Graphics: OpenGL 3 Compatible GPU with 1GB Video RAM

  • Storage: 20000 MB available space

GAME OPTIMIZATIONS

LAUNCH OPTIONS

  • Right click ARK: Survival Evolved in your Steam Library

  • Open Properties

  • In the General tab, click Set Launch Options... Paste in: -USEALLAVAILABLECORES -d3d10

  • Use -nomansky -lowmemory if you are on a very low end pc.

  • Use -sm4 only if you are NOT having Brightness issues in some maps.

  • Click OK

  • Close the other window and try ARK again normally (do not launch in a special mode)

  • Reset Resolution

  • Launch the game with the option "Reset Resolution"

  • Otherwise, open GameUserSettings.ini located in steamapps\common\ARK\ShooterGame\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor (or the equivalent for your OS)

Adjust the following settings (more details here) to your choosing: [/script/shootergame.shootergameusersettings] ResolutionSizeX=1920 ResolutionSizeY=1080 bUseDesktopResolutionForFullscreen=False FullscreenMode=1 bUseVSync=False

List of the all useful launch options with descriptions: -USEALLAVAILABLECORES - (the game will use all your CPU cores) -sm4 and -d3d10 - (runs game with DirectX 10) -nomansky (removes clouds and some sky effects) -lowmemory (the game will use only 4gb of your RAM) -w 640 -h 480 - (runs game in 640x480 resolution) -full - (fullscreen mode) -window - (windowed mode with borders) -noborder - (windowed mode without borders) -low - (runs ARK as a low-priority process) -high - (runs ARK as a high-priority process) -noaafonts - (removes fonts anitalising) -autoconfig - (return default settings) -novid (turns off some cinematics)

ARK SURVIVAL OPTIONS PANEL CONFIGURATIONS:

We’ll walk you through every option as many of them can impact FPS or boost/lower overall game performance: Please note that these options will not be the most optimal setup for all computers, but about 80% of them will see a huge increase in FPS from changing these settings. Open the Options Screen from your ARK Lobby Screen. After altering all of these settings, remember to save them! Resolution – change this depending on your device and CPU/GPU, desktop computers should not have any problems running 1920×1080 but on a Laptop it’s recommended to use the 1280×768 resolution. Window Mode– ALWAYS have this in full screen, Windowed or WindowedFullscreen will decrease your FPS and cause lag and/or frame tearing. Note full window is NOT compatible with alt tabbing. Resolution Scale – lowering it down will decrease resolution but increase FPS, only lower this as a last resort if you have lag even with other settings optimized. World Tile Buffers, View Distance, Anti-Aliasing and Post Processing – set these to medium or low depending on your computer. General Shadows, Terrain Shadows, Ambient Lightning – configuring these to the lowest setting will provide you with a nice increase to FPS and overall performance. Sky Quality, Ground Clutter Density, Ground Clutter Distance and Mesh Level of Detail – set these between lowest-middle, these will most certainly lower your overall FPS if you have them on max. High-Quality Anisotropic Filtering – ON This feature creates smoother looking objects from various points of view. Motion Blur – OFF An unimportant aesthetic. Film Grain – OFF Another unimportant feature. Distance Field Ambient Occlusion – OFF Triggers soft shadows for distant objects. Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) – OFF Triggers soft shadows for nearby objects. Dynamic Tessellation – OFF Distance Field Shadowing – OFF Another shadows-related feature. High-Quality Materials – OFF This option improves textures of in-game materials. Sub Surface Scattering – ON It affects light behavior and makes foliage more realistic. High-Quality VFX – OFF It affects all in-game water effects. Simple Distance Character Movement – ON It relieves CPU from animations of distant characters. High-Quality LODs – ON Improves the level of details. Extra Level Streaming Distance – OFF This will make map loading faster while moving fast. Color Grading – ON Slightly improves colors. It won’t affect FPS. Light Bloom – Personal Choice. Won’t affect performance. Can cause blinding bright spots. Light Shafts – Personal Choice. It doesn’t affect performance. Can cause bright Shafts of light. Mesh Level of Detail (LOD) – Again. you can choose to disable/enable it by your own preferences. It affects GPU VRAM marginally.

NVIDIA SETTINGS:

In your taskbar, find the NVIDIA GeForce Experience icon. Right click and then left click NVIDIA Control Panel. On the Left side of the window that opens find 3D Settings.

Adjust image settings with preview: In the window that opens, Change these Settings: Set Use my Preference Emphasizing: PERFORMANCE Click Apply. Click Use the advanced 3D image Settings: Click Apply.

Manage 3D Settings: In the window that opens, Change these Settings: Feature: Setting Image Sharpening: Sharpen (set to .50 and the Film Grain to .17 With GPU Checked) Ambient Occlusion: Performance Anisotropic filtering: Application-Controlled Anti-aliasing - FXAA: Off Anti-aliasing- Gamma correction: On Anti-aliasing - Mode: Application-Controlled Anti-aliasing- Setting: Application-Controlled Anti-aliasing- Transparency: Off CUDA - GPUs: All DSR - Factors: Off DSR- Smoothness: Off Low Latency Mode: Off Max Frame Rate: Off (in some cases if you want the best FPS possible match this to your monitors Hertz rate) Multi-FrameSampled AA (MFAA): Off OpenGL rendering GPU: Set this to your prefered Video Card Optimize for Computer Performance: On Power Management Mode: Prefer Optimal performance Shader Cache: On Texture Filtering - Anisotropic sample optimization: On Texture Filtering - Negative LOD bias: Allow Texture Filtering - Quality: High Performance Texture Filtering - Trilinear optimization: On Threaded Optimization: Off Triple buffering: Off Vertical Sync: Off Virtual Reality pre-rendered frames: 1

Configure Surround, PhysX: In the window that opens, Change these Settings: PhysX settings: Processor: Choose your Graphics Card from the drop down list. Click Apply.

On the Left side of the window that opens find Display.

Change Resolution: Go to your monitor and select it. (If you are on dual or triple Select the Main screen(s) you game on. Be sure to duplicate the settings that you can on the other gaming screens.) Select the highest NATIVE PC Resolution rate for your monitor. Then select the Highest Refresh rate for that setting. Click Apply and then YES. Repeat this for each of your monitors if you are running more than one.

Adjust desktop color settings: 1. Select your monitor. 2. Choose - Use NVIDIA settings. 3. Apply the following enhancements: Digital Vibrance: 75% (Or personal preference)

Adjust desktop size and position: If you previously setup in the 3D settings: These settings will be greyed out. Leave these settings Greyed for the best results. If you want to use one of these options instead, Go back into 3D settings and Turn OFF GPU Scaling to re-enable these settings. Tips: BEST FPS(using native resolution): NO Scaling. BEST FPS and VISUALS: GPU Scaling(IN 3D settings) Play lower res/pixel games: Set Integer Scaling Set your Resolution to Native Your Hertz to what your monitor uses Click apply.

On the Left side of the window that opens find Video:

Adjust video color settings: Select your monitor. Under How do you make color adjustments? Select With the NVIDIA settings. Click Advanced and set the drop down to: Full (0-255) Click apply

To ensure all settings are properly applied, Please restart your PC now! NOTE: If you start getting D3D errors in Game. Make sure that you reset the POWER OPTIONS to OPTIMAL and Change any THREADING filters to off.

How to Optimize Nvidia Control Panel: The Ultimate GUIDE 2020

AMD SETTINGS:

Below is the Global profile which will provide the best performance/quality ratio across most titles. Yet, there may be times that you will still be searching for even greater performance (i.e higher frames). When this situation presents itself, there is a primary setting that should always be tested first to see if performance is increased when adjusted via Radeon settings. Everything else would remain the same. Tessellation Mode: Override Application Settings/ None To access these options, open AMD Radeon Settings by right clicking on your desktop, and select AMD Radeon Settings.

Anti-aliasing Mode: -Use application settings (Off in game) Anti-aliasing Method: -Multisampling (Off in game) Morphological Filtering: -Off Anisotropic Filtering Mode: -Use application settings (Off in game) Texture Filtering Quality: -Performance Surface Format Optimization: -On Wait for Vertical Refresh: -Off, unless application specifies (Off in game, unless your frames are able to be maintained, never dropping below your monitors refresh rate) OpenGL Triple Buffering -Off Shader Cache: -AMD optimized Tessellation Mode: -AMD optimized Frame Rate Target Control: -On [Set to your monitors maximum refresh rate - EX: 60 is using 60Hz, 75 is using 75Hz etc..]

How to Optimize AMD Settings For GAMING & Performance The Ultimate GUIDE

GAME ERRORS and FIXES

What to do if your Client cannot connect to our servers!

Are you able to directly connect to all the servers in a cluster? Make sure you can directly connect to all the servers. It can take longer for some maps to load up than others. Make sure you are allowing 5-10 minutes for all the servers to fully load up.

To Use Direct connect... Go to your Steam page> view> servers> when the box pops up, along the top are tabs, select "History" and there will be all the servers you have joined in the last two months. To join a server from one of them: right click the servers line, in the box that opens select "add server IP" add the ip address (use just the number from the steam link) and hit the "join this server" button. It will take a few seconds to minutes to load up. Double Check the filter settings in the server browser of the obelisk Make sure your filters do not filter out the servers. For example, the option "Show Passworded Servers" will filter out all servers except Passworded servers. Are all the mods updated? Mods will take time to update. Not only do they need to download they also need to install. This can take several minutes for some mods. They will show white type in the bottom right hand corner of the lobby.

SETTING UP YOUR LOBBY WINDOW

Make sure all the boxes in the top row are on default settings. At the bottom left you need to check With Mods, and Survivors Also when you are Downloading a mod... WAIT till that box in the bottom right ... Marked with a RED BOX here. IS done doing the mod updates. YOU will be disconnected over and over till the mod is done Downloading and Installing.

Steam Joining Bug

When you cannot join from the lobby page, and joining from the Banners page on the Website is also not working right, try this fix: Go to your Steam page> view> servers> when the box pops up, along the top are tabs, select "History" and there will be all the servers you have joined in the last two months. To join a server from one of them: right click the servers line, in the box that opens select "Join this Server?" and there you have it.

Ark Workshop Mod Mismatch

Go to here :https://steamcommunity.com/id/alphynen-bloodhart/myworkshopfiles/?section=collections&appid=346110 unsub from the Cannon mods package. Wait about a minute, then resub to the mod pkg. This will redownload all our standard mods. When the Lower righthand section of your lobby page is NOT showing loading of a mod. Your good to attempt to load into the servers.

"0 Reverify" or Cleaning Caches:

When in doubt about any Workshop files a "0Reverify" will almost always fix the workshop errors. While making the player mad as hell. Steam has trouble with any file size larger than 3 gigs. So often they error or drop files in the download process. "0Reverify" instructions: And lastly always clean your caches after each base game update, and after any large mod updates.

Launching from a desktop icon

For any steam game, Using the Desktop ICON bypasses the auto updates for the game, when you unsub and resub it will allow you to connect to the server IF you have the same version as the server. The Server in some cases will receive an updated mod before the Clients do. (ARK Updates for example) and create some issues in version matches. Please go the listed mod packaged for your platform and unsub to the mods pac. and then re sub to them one by one. This will trigger a new download of the mods and instead of fully downloading they will repair the files.

Long Load Time / Fatal Errors on load

Anytime you experience either Exceptional long loading times or Fatal errors on loading. EXIT STEAM, and then re-enter the game lobby and try again. If it repeatedly loads slowly or errors, try doing a Re-Verify of your game files.

Mod Installation Problems

When mod installation freezes or slows down or the mods do not install properly or are errored and a Verify does not fix the issue.

  1. Close ARK Unsubscribe from all your ARK mods at http://steamcommunity.com/id/YOUR_ID/myworkshopfiles/?appid=346110&browsefilter=mysubscriptions (Feel free to favorite them to keep them in a list)

  2. Delete your \steamapps\common\ARK\ShooterGame\Content\Mods folder

  3. Delete your \steamapps\workshop\content\346110 folder

  4. Use the launch option "Launch ARK (Reset Total Conversion) "

  5. Reconnect to your server (You will be timed out while the mods are re-subscribed and re-downloaded)

  6. Return to the main menu

  7. Wait until all messages on bottom right of your screen go away

  8. Try playing again - otherwise Try Increasing Virtual Memory on your OS.(Instructions here)

How to reduce the size of ARK Survival and save some DISK SPACE.

Method #1 You can compress the installation folder.

Go to the ark directory, find "content" and "seekfreecontent", and enable NTFS file compression from the "properties" menu. It can take an hour or two to complete depending on your CPU speed. Most games come pre-compressed. ARK does not, because the devs are inept.

Method #2 Unsubscribe and clean Mod Files out.

Unsubscribe from all your mods, (while doing this "favorite" any of the mods you do want to keep or you are intrested in, so you do not loose them.) delete all workshop folders in this location: ARK>ShooterGame>Content>Mods Then resubscribe to the mods that you actually use now, and then exit steam and restart it. This should trigger the steam download to start.

Method #3 Using a third party application to compress files.

Use this Third party app if you are on win10: Visual Interface for the Windows 10 Compact Function https://github.com/ImminentFate/CompactGUI You can cut a brand new install by 60GB with zero perceptible change by compressing the filesystem (e.g. removing duplication)

Black Screens -Dual Monitors - Max FPS

Sometimes your graphic card will overheat when running two monitors, while in ARK Survivor. This applies where one monitor is 144mhz and the other is 59-60mhz. Set the newer monitor to 60mhz to stop the black screen issues. Then in ARK Survivor, open your tab bar and type t.maxfps 60. This command limits the FPS to 60FPS which in turn keeps the graphic much more stable and much cooler. And the plus, NO MORE BLACK SCREENS.

Too Bright Bug

You can also fix the weird shininess/everything is too bright bug by going into settings while in game and going to options. Next turn reflections to low, hit apply, then turn them off and hit apply again. Use of the Launch Parameter -sm4 will reduce brightness on some Video Cards.

Various Resets with EACH Patch.

1. Using -SM4 into set launch options 2. Tab to open up console ingame and type R.Shadowquality 0. This one will turn off shadows completly and give you a huge FPS boost. 3. Change some INI Files in your CLIENT SIDE settings. You will find the files here: \SteamApps\common\ARK\ShooterGame\Config LOOK FOR DefaultEngine.ini file "make a copy of this one So you always have it somewhere."

Find this section below:

[/Script/Engine.RendererSettings] r.MobileHDR=True r.AllowOcclusionQueries=True r.MinScreenRadiusForLights=0.030000 r.MinScreenRadiusForDepthPrepass=0.030000 r.PrecomputedVisibilityWarning=False r.TextureStreaming=True Compat.UseDXT5NormalMaps=True r.AllowStaticLighting=False r.NormalMapsForStaticLighting=False r.GBuffer=True r.GenerateMeshDistanceFields=True r.Shadow.DistanceFieldPenumbraSize=0.050000 r.TessellationAdaptivePixelsPerTriangle=8.000000 r.SeparateTranslucency=True r.CustomDepth=0 r.DefaultFeature.Bloom=False r.DefaultFeature.AmbientOcclusion=True r.DefaultFeature.AutoExposure=True r.DefaultFeature.MotionBlur=False r.DefaultFeature.LensFlare=False r.DefaultFeature.AntiAliasing=1 r.EarlyZPass=2 r.EarlyZPassMovable=True r.ClearSceneMethod=1 r.MSAA.CompositingSampleCount=0 r.WireframeCullThreshold=5.000000 ;PRIMAL - DS r.SSAOSmartBlur=0

Second option:

You can change the majority in the game settings menu but we offer you a whole settings list of edited values. You can change GameUserSettings.ini file this way:

Go to the Steam client. Open Library and right-click Ark: Survival Evolved. In the Local Files tab open Browse Local Files. Open Shooter game folder. Click Saved, then Config and finally open WindowsNoEditor. Find GameUserSettings.ini file. Open with Notepad and delete all. Copy and paste these values:

[/Script/ShooterGame.ShooterGameUserSettings] MasterAudioVolume=0.75 MusicAudioVolume=0.25 SFXAudioVolume=0.25 CameraShakeScale=0.000000 bFirstPersonRiding=False bThirdPersonPlayer=True bShowStatusNotificationMessages=True TrueSkyQuality=0.000000 FOVMultiplier=1.250000 GroundClutterDensity=0.000000 bFilmGrain=False bMotionBlur=False bUseDFAO=False bUseSSAO=True bShowChatBox=False bCameraViewBob=False bInvertLookY=False bFloatingNames=True bChatBubbles=true bJoinNotifications=True bCraftablesShowAllItems=True LookLeftRightSensitivity=1.000000 LookUpDownSensitivity=1.000000 GraphicsQuality=3 ActiveLingeringWorldTiles=12 bUseVSync=False ResolutionSizeX=1768 ResolutionSizeY=992 LastUserConfirmedResolutionSizeX=1920 LastUserConfirmedResolutionSizeY=1080 WindowPosX=-1 WindowPosY=-1 bUseDesktopResolutionForFullscreen=False FullscreenMode=1 LastConfirmedFullscreenMode=1 Version=5 bHideServerInfo=False LastServerSearchType=2 LastServerSearchHideFull=False LastServerSearchProtected=False HideItemTextOverlay=True bDistanceFieldShadowing=True LODScalar=1.000000 HighQualityMaterials=False HighQualitySurfaces=False bTemperatureF=False bDisableTorporEffect=True VoiceAudioVolume=1.277778 bLocalInventoryShowAllItems=False bRemoteInventoryShowAllItems=False ClientNetQuality=3 bToggleToTalk=False bChatShowSteamName=True bChatShowTribeName=True EmoteKeyBind1=0 EmoteKeyBind2=0 bNoBloodEffects=False bLowQualityVFX=True MacroCtrl0= MacroCtrl1= MacroCtrl2= MacroCtrl3= MacroCtrl4= MacroCtrl5= MacroCtrl6= MacroCtrl7= MacroCtrl8= MacroCtrl9= bSpectatorManualFloatingNames=False

[ScalabilityGroups] sg.ResolutionQuality=100 sg.ViewDistanceQuality=3 sg.AntiAliasingQuality=0 sg.ShadowQuality=2 sg.PostProcessQuality=0 sg.TextureQuality=2 sg.EffectsQuality=0 sg.TrueSkyQuality=0 sg.GroundClutterQuality=0 sg.IBLQuality=0 sg.HeightFieldShadowQuality=2

When WC "MindWipes" Players,

or When you need to reset your Last played Maps for THE PACK CLUSTER Go to the Steam client. Open Library and right-click Ark: Survival Evolved. In the Local Files tab open Browse Local Files. Open Shooter game folder. Click Saved, then Config and finally open WindowsNoEditor. Find GameUserSettings.ini file. Open with Notepad Search for (Ctrl +F) - [/Script/ShooterGame.ShooterGameUserSettings] and Copy and paste these values at the end of the [/Script/ShooterGame.ShooterGameUserSettings] section.

[/Script/ShooterGame.ShooterGameUserSettings] LastJoinedSessionPerCategory="The PACK Island PvE Cluster(3xH, 4xXP, 8xT)" LastJoinedSessionPerCategory="The PACK Center PvE Cluster(3xH, 4xXP, 8xT)" LastJoinedSessionPerCategory="The PACK Scorched Earth PvE Cluster(3xH, 4xXP, 8xT)" LastJoinedSessionPerCategory="The PACK Aberration PvE Cluster(3xH, 4xXP, 8xT)" LastJoinedSessionPerCategory="The PACK Ragnarok PvE Cluster(3xH, 4xXP, 8xT)" LastJoinedSessionPerCategory="The PACK Extinction PvE Cluster(3xH, 4xXP, 8xT)" LastJoinedSessionPerCategory="The PACK Valguero PvE Cluster(3xH, 4xXP, 8xT)" LastJoinedSessionPerCategory="The PACK Genesis PvE Cluster(3xH, 4xXP, 8xT)" LastJoinedSessionPerCategory="The PACK CrystalIsles PvE Cluster(3xH, 4xXP, 8xT)" LastJoinedSessionPerCategory="The PACK Genesis2 PvE Cluster(3xH, 4xXP, 8xT)" LastJoinedSessionPerCategory="The PACK Amissa PvE Cluster(3xH, 4xXP, 8xT)" LastJoinedSessionPerCategory="The PACK EbenusAstrum PvE Cluster(3xH, 4xXP, 8xT)" LastJoinedSessionPerCategory="The PACK Fjordur PvE Cluster(3xH, 4xXP, 8xT)" LastJoinedSessionPerCategory="The PACK Hope PvE Cluster(3xH, 4xXP, 8xT)" LastJoinedSessionPerCategory="The PACK Olympus PvE Cluster(3xH, 4xXP, 8xT)" LastJoinedSessionPerCategory="The PACK Event Map PvE Cluster(3xH, 4xXP, 8xT)"

NOW search for [Player.Info] And copy and paste the following at the bottom of that section.

[Player.Info] LastMapPlayed=CrystalIsles PlayedMaps=Genesis PlayedMaps=Ragnarok PlayedMaps=TheCenter PlayedMaps=Amissa PlayedMaps=TheIsland PlayedMaps=ScorchedEarth_P PlayedMaps=Extinction PlayedMaps=EbenusAstrum PlayedMaps=Valguero_P PlayedMaps=Olympus PlayedMaps=Hope PlayedMaps=Aberration_P PlayedMaps=Arkforum_Eventmap PlayedMaps=CrystalIsles PlayedMaps=Viking_P PlayedMaps=Gen2 Now SAVE and close the Wordpad File.

YOU have just added THE PACK to your Current played maps history and this will show up in the steam window on your next restart of Steam.

GAME OPTION PANEL SETTINGS:

For HIGH/EPIC Settings.

resolution scale = 100 World tile Buffer = EPIC View distance = HIGH Anti-aliasing = EPIC Post Processing = EPIC General Shadows = LOW Terrain Shadows = LOW Textures = EPIC

For MEDIUM/HIGH Settings.

resolution scale = 100 World tile Buffer = HIGH View distance = MEDIUM Anti-aliasing = EPIC Post Processing = EPIC General Shadows = LOW Terrain Shadows = LOW Textures = HIGH

For LOW Settings.

resolution scale = meter all the way to left World tile Buffer = LOW View distance = LOW Anti-aliasing = EPIC Post Processing = LOW General Shadows = LOW Terrain Shadows = LOW Textures = LOW

Snapshot_ # (Can be 10 or 16) Fatal error Load.

Snapshot_16, or _10 or whatever, is a set of updates to the server you're logging into. If you interrupt getting that copy by failing to load Ark in time, and getting dropped off the server, the next time you try to get it Ark appears to hang up hard on loading Snapshot_#.

Windows 11 doesn't handle Ark like other programs, by automatically increasing the swap file size so it can unload more stuff to let Ark load. That's why Ark can usually join a clean server, but not one with heavy mods. And if you fail to load Ark fast enough when trying to log in, you timeout your login and generate the Snapshot_# error.

One fix for this is, if possible, moving your ARK mods to a SSD. The SSD will then load the mods much faster and you should not time out. But as most SSD are small in size this is not always a possibility. Try following the steps outlined below, and if they do not work , Our next step would be to make a larger Virtual Memory Allotment.

Find the DefaultEngine.ini file, \ARK\ShooterGame\Config on the client Make a backup of these file(s). Locate the lines [/Script/OnlineSubsystemUtils.IpNetDriver] InitialConnectTimeout=300.0 ConnectionTimeout=300.0 and change "300" to "600".

Consider using the launch options mentioned in the Launch Options section and try ARK again.

Launch ARK in Low Memory 4GB mode and try again.

Launch ARK in Extremely Low Memory mode

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Last updated

Change request #2650: