ARK: Survival Ascended servers are coming soon
ARK: Survival Ascended's server licence allows personal, non-commercial use only, and its publisher lets just one company rent ARK servers. ARK opens on Wilderack only if we obtain a commercial hosting licence. These guides are ready for the day we open.
To become admin on your ARK: Survival Ascended server, set an admin password in the panel, join, and type enablecheats with your password in the game’s console. Then put cheat in front of each admin command, like cheat fly. In the panel’s Console you type commands without cheat.
Become admin
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Open Settings > Players and set an admin password. Pick something long that you don’t use anywhere else.
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Restart the server, so it uses the new password.
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Join your server and open the console (see the table below).
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Type
enablecheats, a space, and your password:enablecheats long-password-here -
You’re admin until you leave the server. Type it again each time you join.
| Platform | How to open the console |
|---|---|
| PC | Press the ~ key |
| Xbox | Turn on console access in the game’s settings. Pause with Menu, then press View |
| PlayStation | Turn on console access in the game’s settings. Pause with Options, then press Create |
Type the password in the console, never in chat. Anyone who sees it can become admin. If it leaks, change it under Settings > Players and restart.
Where to type commands
| Where | How | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| The game’s console | cheat and the command, like cheat fly |
Needs enablecheats first, or your ID on the admin list |
| Panel Console | The command alone, like SaveWorld |
Works without joining. Commands that act on your own character, like fly, only work in game |
ARK commands don’t care about capital letters, so cheat fly and cheat Fly do the same thing.
Players and moderation
Many of these need a player’s ARK ID, a 32-character code. ListPlayers shows everyone online with their IDs. A player can see their own with whoami in the game’s console.
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
ListPlayers |
Lists everyone online, with their ARK IDs |
KickPlayer <ARK ID> |
Kicks a player off the server |
BanPlayer <ARK ID> |
Bans a player |
UnbanPlayer <ARK ID> |
Lifts a ban |
AllowPlayerToJoinNoCheck <ARK ID> |
Adds a player to the whitelist |
DisallowPlayerToJoinNoCheck <ARK ID> |
Takes a player off the whitelist |
ServerChat <message> |
Sends a chat message to everyone |
Broadcast <message> |
Shows a message on everyone’s screen |
RenamePlayer "<old name>" <new name> |
Renames a player’s character |
In the game, put cheat in front, like cheat KickPlayer and the ID.
Moving around
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
cheat fly |
Fly freely |
cheat walk |
Turn off fly and ghost, back to normal |
cheat ghost |
Fly through walls and the ground |
cheat god |
Take no damage |
cheat infinitestats |
Keep health, stamina, food, water and oxygen full |
cheat TeleportToPlayerName <name> |
Teleport to a player by their character name |
cheat SetPlayerPos <x> <y> <z> |
Teleport to exact coordinates |
Creatures and items
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
cheat forcetame |
Tames the creature you’re looking at, straight away |
cheat summon <creature ID> |
Spawns a wild creature next to you, like cheat summon Rex_Character_BP_C |
cheat gfi <item> <amount> <quality> 0 |
Gives you an item by part of its name, like cheat gfi MetalIngot 100 0 0 |
cheat DestroyWildDinos |
Removes every wild creature. New ones spawn over time. Tames are safe |
DestroyWildDinos also helps performance on a busy server. See refresh the wild creatures.
The world and the server
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
SaveWorld |
Saves the world now |
SetTimeOfDay <hh:mm:ss> |
Sets the time, like SetTimeOfDay 08:00:00 for morning |
cheat ShowMyAdminManager |
Opens a menu for admins in the game, with players, bans and more |
DoExit |
Shuts down the server |
To stop or restart the server, use the buttons in the panel instead of DoExit. The panel saves the world first and knows the server was stopped on purpose.
Admin without the password
For friends you trust, an admin list is safer than sharing your password. Players on it get admin commands without typing enablecheats.
- Ask your friend for their ARK ID. They can type
whoamiin the game’s console, or you can find it withListPlayersin Console. - Add the ID to the admin list under Settings > Players.
- Restart the server.
By hand, the list is ShooterGame/Saved/AllowedCheaterAccountIDs.txt, with one ARK ID on each line.
The roles in Friends, like Admin and Moderator, are for the panel. They don’t make anyone admin in the game.
RCON and outside admin tools
RCON is how admin tools send commands to an ARK server. On Wilderack, RCON is internal: only the panel’s Console uses it, and it isn’t open to the internet. That keeps strangers from guessing your admin password over RCON.
If you want to use an outside admin tool, you can open RCON from the panel. It gives RCON its own port and shows a warning first. Anyone with that port and your admin password can control the server, so only open it when you need it.
Keep admin safe
- Use a long admin password that you don’t use anywhere else.
- Give trusted friends admin through the admin list, not the password.
- Change the password when someone leaves your group of admins, then restart.
- Use
cheatcommands with care on a shared server. Spawned creatures and items stay in the world for everyone.
Questions
How do I become admin on my ARK Survival Ascended server?
Set an admin password under Settings and Players in the panel. Then join, open the console with the ~ key on PC, and type enablecheats followed by a space and your password. You stay admin until you leave.
Why do ARK admin commands need cheat in front?
On a server, admin commands only run when you put cheat (or admincheat) in front, like cheat fly. In single player you don't need it. In the panel's Console you type commands without it.
How do I open the console on PlayStation or Xbox in ARK Survival Ascended?
Turn on console access in the game's settings first. On Xbox, pause with Menu and press View. On PlayStation, pause with Options and press Create.
Can I give a friend admin without sharing my password?
Yes. Add their ARK ID to the admin list under Settings and Players, or put it on its own line in ShooterGame/Saved/AllowedCheaterAccountIDs.txt. They get admin commands without typing a password.
Sources we checked
- Console commandsARK Official Community Wiki
- Server configuration (administrator whitelisting)ARK Official Community Wiki
