ARK Survivor: Game Opt. & Fixes

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 -sm4 -d3d10 -nomansky -lowmemory
• 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)

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 maximum 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: On
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 if more than one.

Adjust desktop color settings:
1. Select your monitor.
2. Choose - Use NVIDIA settings.
3. Apply the following enhancements: Digital Vibrance: 80% (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!

​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​

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.

GAME ERRORS and FIXES

General Troubleshooting

• Ensure your system meets the Minimum System Requirements mentioned above.
• Ensure you have an audio output device connected.
• Restart your computer and try ARK again.
• (Windows) Complete steps below for Redistributable Issues
  • (Windows) and Redistributable issues:
  • Ensure you have a 64-bit operating system
  • Run windows update and download all critical updates
  • Download and install Visual C++ 2013
  • Download and install DirectX web installer
  • Restart your computer and try ARK again
• Delete your LocalProfiles folder (\steamapps\common\ARK\ShooterGame\Saved\LocalProfiles)
• Verify ARK through Steam
  • (Instructions)
• (AMD GPU) Install PhysX System Software from Nvidia's website.
• Update your video drivers (for Mac ensure all system updates are installed).
• Update your chipset drivers from your computer/motherboard's website.
• Restart your computer and try ARK once again.
• Use the launch option "Launch ARK (Reset Total Conversion)" and try again.
• Complete steps above for Mod Installation Problems.
• Try ARK again.
• (Optional) Backup your single player game (\steamapps\common\ARK\ShooterGame\Saved\SavedArksLocal)
• Delete local game content through Steam (same location as verify)
• (Important) Delete the entire ARK folder (\steamapps\common\ARK\) Reinstall ARK through Steam and then try ARK again

There are no servers in browser:

If you cannot see any servers listed in the browser, make sure that the Map, Game Mode, & Sort By lists are set to All.
The Session Filter should be set to Unofficial if this is a new toon,
Or if you are a past player use My Survivors.
If the settings are correct, but you still can’t see any Ark Survival servers, then you may still use the Steam Server List Tool:

• Open the main Steam client
• Click View > Servers
• Select your desired tab
• Use the Internet tab for a list of official and unofficial ARK servers
• Use the Favorites tab to manually add servers using the server's query port
• Use the History tab to find and manage the list of servers you have connected to before

Click "Change Filters" and change the Game to "ARK: Survival Evolved" (each tab has its own filter)

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.

Restarting Steam

Restarting Steam can often help resolve problems with Internet connectivity when trying to load or play games. You can restart Steam by closing and reopening the client, or refresh your Steam files in the event you feel that Steam's files may be modified, corrupted, missing, or mis-configured on your operating system. If none of these solutions work, try contacting Steam.​

Method 1 Restarting Steam

1. Click on “Steam” in the toolbar at the top left corner of your Steam session.
   2. Select “Exit” or “Exit Steam.” Your current session of Steam will close. Alternately, right-click on the Steam icon in the notification tray on your desktop, and select “Exit.” In Windows, the notification tray is located at the bottom right corner of the desktop; in Mac OS X, the notification tray is located at the top right corner of the desktop.
   3. Double-click on the Steam icon on your desktop to relaunch Steam. If the Steam shortcut icon is not located on your desktop, search for Steam in the “Start” menu in Windows, or in the Applications folder on Mac OS X.

Method 2 Refreshing Steam Files in Windows

1. Exit Steam using steps #1 and #2 from Method One.
   2. Press the Windows + R keys at the same time. This will open the Run dialog box.
   3. Type the following command into the Run dialog box, then press Enter: steam://flushconfig. This command will refresh your Steam files.
   4. Restart your computer, then navigate to C:\Program Files\Steam.
   5. Double-click on “Steam” or “Steam.exe” to relaunch the Steam client. This will open Steam directly from the installation folder. Do not open Steam using its shortcut icon located on the desktop.
   6. Resume game-play in Steam as normal. Your Steam files will now be refreshed.

Method 3 Refreshing Steam Files on Mac OS X

1. Exit Steam using steps #1 and #2 from Method One.
   2. Launch Safari and type “steam://flushconfig” into the address bar.
   3. Press “Enter,” then close your Internet browser.
   4. Restart your computer, then relaunch the Steam client. Your Steam files will now be refreshed, and you can resume game-play as normal.

Method 4 Refreshing Steam Files in Linux

1. Launch Terminal and type “steam --reset” at the prompt.
   2. Press “Enter.” The message “Installing bootstrap /home/[username]/.steam/steam/bootstrap.tar.xz” will display on-screen. This message means your Steam files have been successfully refreshed.
   3. Restart your computer, then relaunch the Steam client. Your Steam files will now be refreshed, and you can resume game-play as normal.

Verify Your GAME through Steam

• Your Steam page.
• Right click the Game Title.
• In the box that opens: Click on the tabs on the top (Local Files).
• In the last box in the list: Verify integrity of Game Files… : Click this.
• Wait for the process to complete. (May be lengthy).
• When the process finishes, restart the Game Title to re-acquire any lost files.
• After files are re-acquired.
• Restart Steam from one of the methods above, and try the Game Title again.

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 interested in, so you do not lose 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(instructions above).
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.

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 10 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.

Freezing During Snapshot_16 or WorldEnd (Singleplayer/Unofficial)

• Reduce the DinoCountMultiplier to be no greater than 1 in your GameUserSettings.ini (\steamapps\common\ARK\ShooterGame\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor or the equivalent for your OS)(Single Player only)
• Try connecting to a different server and then the server you are interested in again.
• 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 - otherwise see General Troubleshooting.
• Fatal Error Containing "steam_api" or "steamclient" or "steamclient64"
• Refresh your Steam client files using steam://flushconfig (Instructions).
• Try ARK again - otherwise see General Troubleshooting
• Mod Installation Problems
• 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)

• Delete your \steamapps\common\ARK\ShooterGame\Content\Mods folder
• Delete your \steamapps\workshop\content\346110 folder
• Use the launch option "Launch ARK (Reset Total Conversion)"

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

• Return to the main menu
• Wait until all messages on bottom right of your screen go away
• Try playing again - otherwise Try Increasing Virtual Memory on your OS.

​Increasing Virtual Memory in Windows 10​

​Increasing Virtual Memory in Linux​