ARK: Survival Ascended Tether Distance: Increase It, Remove It, or Go Dedicated
If you and a friend are playing ARK: Survival Ascended on a non-dedicated session and one of you gets yanked back the moment you wander too far, you have hit the tether distance. It is one of the most common reasons players move from a private hosted game to a rented dedicated server. This guide explains exactly what the tether is, how to raise or remove it on a non-dedicated game, the limits that no setting can fix, and when a dedicated server is the cleaner answer.
What "tether distance" actually is
Tether distance is a mechanic that only exists on non-dedicated sessions (also called listen servers). When you start a game from inside ARK: Survival Ascended and let friends join, the world runs on your machine and you are the host. Joined players cannot stray more than a set distance from the host character. Walk past that distance and the game pulls the joined player back toward the host (or simply will not let them go further).
This exists for a practical reason: a non-dedicated game runs the world simulation on the host PC, and tethering keeps everyone inside a single loaded area so the host hardware does not have to render and simulate the whole map for several players at once. Dedicated servers have no tether because the world runs on a separate always-on machine that loads the full map independently of any player.
The key distinction: tether is a non-dedicated-only limit. If you are on a dedicated server, official or rented, there is no tether and you can go anywhere on the map. Everything below applies to non-dedicated games unless stated otherwise.
The in-game slider (easiest method)
Before you start hosting a non-dedicated game, ARK: Survival Ascended exposes a tether control in the host settings:
- From the main menu, choose Host / Local and pick Non-Dedicated.
- Open the General settings tab.
- Find Non-Dedicated Host Tether Distance.
- Drag the slider up. The slider tops out at
3.0, but you can type a larger value directly into the field for a bigger multiplier.
This is a multiplier on the base tether range, so 2.0 roughly doubles how far joined players can roam, and so on. The slider is the simplest route because it survives restarts of that hosted game without any file edits.
The INI method: ListenServerTetherDistanceMultiplier
If you want a value the slider will not reach, or you want it baked into the config, edit GameUserSettings.ini. The exact key is:
[ServerSettings]
ListenServerTetherDistanceMultiplier=10The default value is 1. Raising it widens the leash; many players set it to 5 or 10 for near-free roaming. On a Windows install, GameUserSettings.ini lives under:
...\ARK Survival Ascended\ShooterGame\Saved\Config\Windows\GameUserSettings.iniThe exact drive and base path depend on where Steam installed the game.
Stops the game resetting your edit: ARK: Survival Ascended sometimes rewrites GameUserSettings.ini on launch and reverts manual changes. A common fix is to save your edit, then set the file to Read-only in Windows file properties so the game cannot overwrite it. Remember to clear the read-only flag if you later want to change other settings through the in-game menu.
The v34.65 default change (180 to 800)
The non-dedicated tether default used to be much tighter. In the PC patch v34.65 (February 12, 2024), Studio Wildcard "extended tether distance for non-dedi games from 180 to 800," per the official ARK Community Wiki patch notes. That is why an unmodified non-dedicated game today feels less restrictive than it did at launch. It is still a tether, though, and the simulation load still sits on the host machine, so pushing the multiplier very high can introduce rendering hitches and performance problems on the host PC.
The limits no tether setting can fix
Raising the tether does not change the fundamental constraints of a non-dedicated game:
- The host must be online. Because the world runs on the host's machine, nobody can play when the host is offline. If the host logs off, the session ends for everyone.
- Host hardware carries everyone. Every joined player adds rendering and simulation load to the host PC. A wide tether across a busy map can stutter for the whole group.
- Progress is tied to the host save. The world only exists on the host's save files. If the host machine has a problem, the shared world goes with it.
- Performance work competes with playing. The host is both running the server and playing the game at the same time, on the same hardware.
When to move to a dedicated server
If any of these sound familiar, the tether is a symptom and a dedicated server is the real fix:
- Friends want to play when you are not online.
- You want everyone on opposite ends of the map at once with no leash.
- The host PC stutters once two or three people join.
- You want clusters across multiple maps with character transfers (impossible on non-dedicated).
A dedicated server removes the tether entirely, runs the world on a separate always-on machine, and lets your group play around the clock. For the full self-hosting walkthrough see ASA dedicated server setup, and for hardware expectations if you self-host see ASA self-host hardware sizing.
Related ARK: SA articles
- How to Set Up an ARK: Survival Ascended Dedicated Server
- ASA Self-Host Hardware Sizing
- ASA Server Settings Guide
- Is ARK: Survival Ascended Cross-Platform?
- ARK Cluster Setup
Quick Start with Supercraft
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