ARK Server Cluster Setup (ASA): Cross-ARK Transfers Explained
A cluster is a group of ARK: Survival Ascended servers that share one pool of transfer data, so a survivor can upload at an obelisk on TheIsland_WP, join ScorchedEarth_WP, and arrive with the same character, tames and items. The shared data is what makes it a cluster. Running several servers on one account is not a cluster: without a shared cluster ID and shared storage those are unrelated worlds, players roll a fresh character on each, and nothing ever moves between them. Clustering is switched on deliberately, and when part of it is missing the game fails quietly instead of loudly.
Free tool: paste your start commands into the ARK ASA Cluster & Mod Doctor first. It catches the usual cluster-killers: ?Port= silently ignored (ASA needs -port=), port collisions, and mod list or cluster ID mismatches.
The three requirements
Every server needs all three. Two out of three looks like it works right up to the moment it eats somebody's character.
- One cluster ID, identical everywhere. Start each server with
-clusterid=<CLUSTER_NAME>and terminals list every server sharing that ID. Do not pick a generic name: the wiki warns a common cluster ID pollutes your transfer list with strangers' servers that share no data with you. - One shared transfer directory every server can read and write. Pass
-ClusterDirOverride=<PATH>, the same path everywhere. Files are written to<ClusterDirOverride>/<clusterid>. Omit it and a server falls back toShooterGame/Saved/clustersinside its own installation, private to that install. - The transfer settings enabled consistently. The seven upload and download toggles plus the three expiry timers live in
[ServerSettings]inGameUserSettings.ini, and must hold the same values on every map.
The shared directory is the part people get wrong. Two servers with the same -clusterid but different -ClusterDirOverride paths still list each other in the transfer menu. The upload succeeds. The destination shows an empty ARK Data screen, because it is reading a different folder. Per the official wiki, players "will still see on transfer list such servers but they will not be able to download (and thus also transfer) anything uploaded from a server to another". The cluster looks configured and is not.
On one host, point every server at one literal directory. Across machines a shared mount works, but a network hiccup mid-transfer "typically ends with the player losing the entire data". Keep the cluster on one box if you can.
Cluster settings and launch arguments
Verified against the ARK Community Wiki. INI keys go in [ServerSettings] in GameUserSettings.ini; the seven transfer booleans can also be appended to the command line with ?<option>=<value>.
| Name | Where | What it does | Match cluster-wide? |
|---|---|---|---|
-clusterid=<CLUSTER_NAME> | Launch argument | Names the transfer group. Servers see each other only if this matches | Yes, exactly |
-ClusterDirOverride=<PATH> | Launch argument | Cross-server storage. Requires -clusterid. Data lands in <PATH>/<clusterid> | Yes, same storage |
-NoTransferFromFiltering | Launch argument | Blocks ARK Data moving between single player and servers with no cluster ID. The wiki suggests keeping it on anyway | Yes |
noTributeDownloads | INI, default False | True blocks all cross-ARK downloads on that server | Yes |
PreventUploadSurvivors, PreventUploadItems, PreventUploadDinos | INI, default False | True blocks that category from being uploaded | Yes |
PreventDownloadSurvivors, PreventDownloadItems, PreventDownloadDinos | INI, default False | True blocks that category from being downloaded | Yes |
TributeCharacterExpirationSeconds | INI, default 0 | Survivor upload expiry. Default, or 0 or less, means no expiry | Yes, critical |
TributeDinoExpirationSeconds | INI, default 86400 | Tame upload expiry. 0 or less reverts to the 24 hour default | Yes, critical |
TributeItemExpirationSeconds | INI, default 86400 | Item upload expiry, cryopods included | Yes, critical |
MaxTributeCharacters, MaxTributeDinos, MaxTributeItems | INI, defaults 10 / 20 / 50 | Upload slots. Lower values are reverted; raising them far is reported to corrupt cluster data | Recommended |
CrossARKAllowForeignDinoDownloads | INI, default False | True lets non-native creatures download on Aberration | Aberration only |
MinimumDinoReuploadInterval | INI, default 0.0 | Seconds before a tame may be re-uploaded (43200 on official). ASA support is unconfirmed, so test it | Yes if used |
-port=<port> | Launch argument, ASA only | Game port, needed for anything but the default 7777. The ?Port= append syntax does not work in ASA | No, unique per server |
-mods=<ids> | Launch argument | CurseForge mod list. An item arriving on a map without its mod has nothing to load | Yes, in practice |
-passivemods=<ids> | Launch argument | Loads a mod's data without its functionality, so modded creatures can transfer to a map you do not want them spawning on | Per map, deliberately |
Full key list: the official ARK Community Wiki Cross-ARK Data Transfer reference. Everything else in those files: the ASA server settings guide.
What transfers and what stays behind
| Thing | Moves? | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Survivor: level, stats, engrams | Yes | Only one survivor sits in ARK Data at a time, and downloading overwrites whatever survivor the destination already held |
| Tamed creatures | Yes | Uploading drops the creature's whole inventory, saddle included. Strip it first and send the gear via ARK Data |
| Items and resources | Yes | Tek items lose their charge on transfer |
| Cryopodded creatures | Yes | They travel as items, so they use item slots and can exceed the destination tame cap. The cap still applies on release |
| Structures, bases, crop plots | No | Nothing you built travels. The base stays on the source map, decaying to that map's rules |
| Element and Element Shards | No | Convert to Element Dust at an 80% loss, move the dust, convert back |
| Boss tributes, artifacts, most boss heads | No | Exceptions that do move: the Alpha Rex, Alpha Wyvern, Alpha Deathworm, Rockwell, Moeder, Master Controller and Rockwell Final Form trophies |
| Inactive implants, Gacha Crystal, Bee Hive, filled Fish Basket | No | The inactive Specimen Implant and Homo Deus Record never move. Destroy the hive to cryopod the Giant Queen Bee; release the fish and cryopod it |
| Map-restricted creatures | Sometimes | Aberration accepts only a documented species list unless CrossARKAllowForeignDinoDownloads=True. Valguero's Chalk Golem and Polar Bear never transfer properly |
If your maps have very different creature sets, decide early which one is the breeding hub. Which ASA map to choose has the trade-offs.
The upload timer, and why the dino vanished
Uploaded data does not last forever. Tames and items expire after TributeDinoExpirationSeconds and TributeItemExpirationSeconds, both defaulting to 86400 seconds, or 24 hours. Survivors are the exception: TributeCharacterExpirationSeconds defaults to 0, so uploaded survivors have no expiry unless you set one.
What surprises admins is when expiry is evaluated. The wiki is explicit: every access to ARK Data uses the settings of the server the data is accessed from, and deletes anything expired according to that server. So if five maps use 7 days and one still runs the 24 hour default, a player opening a terminal on that sixth map wipes their own stored tames. That is the real answer behind most "my dino disappeared from the obelisk" reports: a server with a shorter timer read the folder and cleaned up.
So use the same values everywhere, test maps included, and avoid absurd ones: these numbers are added to the upload time in Unix epoch format, and anything much over 31536000 seconds (one year) can overflow the check and delete the data it was meant to protect. Seven days, 604800, is the sane ceiling.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No transfer or upload option at the obelisk | An upload toggle is True, or -clusterid never reached the running process | Check the three Prevent Upload keys, then confirm the argument is on the live command line, not just a saved config |
| Character arrives naked or reset to level 1 | The destination wrote a fresh profile over the real one, or the source rolled back after upload | Recovery in ASA character transfer deleted. A source rollback forces a new character by design, as anti-duping |
| Tames missing from the download list | Upload or download blocked, destination tame cap full, or the map refuses that species | Check the Prevent keys, free a tame slot (the creature waits in ARK Data until there is room), and on Aberration set CrossARKAllowForeignDinoDownloads=True |
| Upload succeeds, download is empty on the other map | Same cluster ID, different cluster directory. The single most common cluster fault | Give every server the same -ClusterDirOverride and verify files appear under <PATH>/<clusterid> |
| Cluster works one direction only | The booleans differ between maps, so one side allows upload and the other blocks download | Diff the [ServerSettings] block of every map and make the seven toggles identical |
| Everything vanished after a restart | Expiry evaluated by a server with a shorter timer, or a cluster directory on non-persistent storage | Align all three timers and make sure the shared path survives restarts and redeploys |
| Transfers broke after a game update | One map is on an older build than the rest | Update every server in one window. See ARK version mismatch fix |
| A cluster member will not come back up | Port collision with a sibling, or a mod that did not update | ASA server will not start or crashes and mod broke after update |
What a cluster actually costs you
A four-map cluster is four dedicated servers: four times the RAM and CPU, four sets of saves, four mod lists to keep in step. ASA gives every map its own directory under ShooterGame/Saved, even with ?AltSaveDirectoryName, so save size and backup time scale with map count. See ASA hardware sizing and the backup strategy guide.
The update work is what bites: every map has to move to the new build together, because leaving one behind breaks transfers into it, and failed transfers are how players lose characters. Mods are the same story. Budget one window for the whole cluster.
A cluster is not worth it below roughly ten regular players, or when the group plays one map at a time and just wants variety. Two maps nobody crosses between is double the bill and double the update work. Run one server and swap the map instead (the migration guide covers moving a world safely); add the second when players ask where to put the next base.
Related reading
- ASA dedicated server setup: launch line,
_WPmap IDs, SteamCMD app 2430930 - ARK server configuration, including
Game.iniand its/Script/ShooterGame.ShooterGameModesection - ASA crossplay setup: a cluster and a platform list are separate switches
- Genesis Ascended server setup, adding the newest map
Managed ARK: Survival Ascended server hosting. Supercraft runs ASA dedicated servers on AMD EPYC hardware with CurseForge mods, every released map, raw INI access, daily snapshots and four regions. Still on Survival Evolved? We run ARK: Survival Evolved servers too.