ARK: Survival Ascended Server Migration Guide

ARK Guide • Updated Oct 25, 2026

ARK: Survival Ascended Server Migration Guide

ARK: Survival Ascended (ASA) rebuilt the game on Unreal Engine 5, meaning the old ARK: Survival Evolved (ASE) save format is incompatible. However, a structured migration process exists. This guide walks through the official and community-developed pathways to preserve your tribe's progress, tamed dinos, and base structures when making the leap from ASE to ASA dedicated servers.

Just updating an existing ASA server through a big patch (Genesis Part 1, the July 9 Lumina update)? That is not a migration - your world carries over. The rule is: stop the server, back up Saved/, update server and clients to the same version, start. A version mismatch between server and client is the #1 "my server is gone" false alarm after major updates - the world is fine, the client just can't see the server until both sides match. After updating, sanity-check your launch command with the free ARK ASA Cluster & Mod Doctor.

⚠️ Format Incompatibility

ASE's older .arktribe and .arkprofile formats cannot be directly loaded in ASA. Character re-creation or profile conversion tools are required.

🦕 Dino Export

Use the community Dino Export / Import feature (enabled in server config) to transfer tamed creatures via encoded dossiers before switching server app IDs.

Step 1: Backup Everything from ASE

Before installing ASA, locate the old save directory and archive all files:

~/ShooterGame/Saved/SavedArks/
  - TheIsland.ark       ← World save
  - TheIsland_WildDinos.arkworld
  - Players/            ← Individual .arkprofile files
  - tribes/             ← .arktribe files

Step 2: Install ARK: Survival Ascended Dedicated Server

ASA uses a new Steam App ID (2430930). Update via SteamCMD:

steamcmd +login anonymous \
  +app_update 2430930 validate \
  +quit

Step 3: Configuration Adjustments

ASA's GameUserSettings.ini shares many parameters with ASE, but some keys have changed. Key differences to review:

Some keys that older guides use are not in the ASA server and are ignored: AllowTribeAlliances (the ASA key is PreventTribeAlliances, with the opposite meaning), AllowTribeWarPvE (use PvEAllowTribeWar), PvEStructureDecayDestructionPeriod (use PvEStructureDecayPeriodMultiplier) and bEnablePvPStructureDecay (use PvPStructureDecay).
Ports, mods and clusters are set differently: mods come from CurseForge through -mods=, and maps carry the _WP suffix.
You will see guides that recommend NaniteEnabled, MaxOutgoingTransferBuffer or CleanupDinoCountBuffer. None of them exists in the server, so they do nothing.

Cluster Migration: If you cluster ASA servers (cross-ARK travel), ensure all nodes in the cluster run the same ASA build version. Mismatched builds cause corrupted character transfers.

Step 4: Performance Tuning for UE5

ASA is significantly more resource-intensive than ASE. For a smooth 20-player experience, allocate at minimum:

RAM: 16 GB dedicated (32 GB recommended for modded)
CPU: 8 physical cores at 3.5 GHz+ (UE5 is multi-threaded but favors fast clock speeds)
Storage: NVMe SSD. The server install alone is about 12 GB, before saves and backups

Professional Hosting

Making the jump to ASA? Launch your ARK: Survival Ascended server with Supercraft and get pre-configured UE5 settings, automated backups, and one-click updates.

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.

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ARK: Survival Ascended Server Migration Guide