ARK Ascended Lost Colony Server Setup
This guide covers running a dedicated ARK Survival Ascended (ASA) Lost Colony server. Lost Colony is a paid DLC for ASA — both the host and every connecting player must own the DLC for the server to be playable. Setup follows the standard ASA dedicated server flow with the Lost Colony map identifier substituted for the default map.
DLC ownership requirement: All players who join a Lost Colony server must own the Lost Colony DLC in addition to ARK: Survival Ascended itself. If a connecting player doesn't own it, they'll fail to load the map.
Step 1: Standard ASA Server Install
If you don't already have an ASA dedicated server installed, follow How to Set Up an ASA Dedicated Server first. The Lost Colony map runs on the same server build (Steam app 2430930) as every other ASA map — Lost Colony is served as DLC content the server fetches automatically when the map identifier is selected.
Step 2: Set the Map Identifier
Per the official ARK Community Wiki, the Lost Colony map identifier is LostColony_WP. Pass it as the first positional argument to your server launch command, replacing whatever map you ran before:
ArkAscendedServer.exe LostColony_WP?listen?SessionName=My Lost Colony Server?ServerAdminPassword=YourPwd -port=7777 -WinLiveMaxPlayers=16Remember the ServerAdminPassword-must-be-last rule (see the setup guide).
Step 3: Memory Considerations
Per third-party hosting documentation (Legion Hosting), Lost Colony places higher memory demands on the server than the base maps. If your previous map was The Island or Scorched Earth and you're at the edge of your memory budget, you may need to upsize before switching to Lost Colony. Expect a noticeable bump in baseline memory usage compared to vanilla maps.
Specific numbers depend on your player count, mod load, and server configuration — there isn't a single official figure to quote. Start with whatever your map needs in baseline + 25-30% headroom for Lost Colony, then watch real usage on first boot.
Step 4: Map-Specific Mod Considerations
Some ASA mods built for The Island or Scorched Earth assume specific terrain features and may not work cleanly on Lost Colony. When testing mods on a fresh Lost Colony server:
- Boot vanilla Lost Colony first; confirm the world generates and players can connect.
- Add mods one at a time and verify the server stays stable for 10 minutes between each.
- Custom-loot, structure, and creature mods are generally portable; map-replacement mods will conflict.
Step 5: Cluster Considerations
Lost Colony can be added as another map in a multi-map cluster (with The Island, Scorched Earth, etc.). To do that, run the Lost Colony server alongside your other map servers, sharing a -clusterid= value and a -ClusterDirOverride= path. See ARK Cluster Setup for the full cluster pattern.
One caveat: tames transferred from a base map to Lost Colony are subject to the cluster transfer rules in your server settings — you may want to disable item or dino transfers for balance reasons on a fresh Lost Colony rotation.
Common First-Boot Issues
| Symptom | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| Players can't connect: "DLC not owned" | The connecting player doesn't own Lost Colony — they need to purchase it |
| Server boots, but Lost Colony content missing | Server build needs revalidation: steamcmd +login anonymous +force_install_dir /opt/asa-server +app_update 2430930 validate +quit |
| Server crashes 5 minutes after boot | Memory exhausted — Lost Colony's footprint is larger than base maps, see Step 3 |
| Map identifier not recognized | Verify exact spelling: LostColony_WP (case-sensitive on Linux) |
| Mods break on Lost Colony but worked on Island | Map-replacement mods conflict; remove or pick Lost-Colony-compatible alternatives |
Related Reading
- How to Set Up an ASA Dedicated Server — full launch arg reference
- ARK Astraeos Server Setup — sister community map
- ARK Cluster Setup
- ASA mods not loading
- Official: ARK Community Wiki — Dedicated server setup
Quick Start with Supercraft
Supercraft hosts ARK Survival Ascended Lost Colony servers with the Lost Colony DLC content downloaded automatically when you pick the map in the panel. Memory provisioning is sized for Lost Colony's larger footprint by default. Cluster setup with Island + Scorched Earth + Lost Colony is one click — we wire the ClusterDirOverride path and shared launch args.