Questions (could use your help)

[george2r]

TLDR: want to understand intricacies (pros/cons) of servers and how that affects characters, items, maps, etc...

 

Good day,

I've been playing ark on PC on local server and single player for a little while. Game keeps crashing (even after I use Steam's ability to verify integrity of game) and most of the time I have to start over. I've tried to read a lot on my own to avoid having another useless post, but most of the posts I have found are either incomplete (for what I'm looking for) or assume you already have some knowledge (which I apparently lack to some degree). Anyways, from what I have read, it seems like going to a dedicated server would be better (?) and would help drastically reduce chances of game crashing (?)

With that in mind, I had a few questions...

What are the differences between dedicated official and unofficial servers?

Are there any other options that I don't know about (is undedicated a thing)?

How do multiple characters, maps, mods, items, playing with other people, etc work with dedicated (official and unofficial) servers?

I'm basically trying to understand the "fine" writing or the things that advances players have learned from experience and it is not written anywhere. In other words, if you were you when you first starting playing Ark, what are some things you wish you knew (in regards to the topics discussed above)?

I really appreciate your responses in advance, and if there is any terminology that I need to clarify or have explained, by all means let me know.

Thanks!

[Guest]

>> What are the differences between dedicated official and unofficial servers

dedicated means the server is a seperate program to your client (The client is the game itself).  From the HOST\LOCAL menu, you can host a non-dedicated session, where your client also acts as a server.  When you close Ark, the non-dedicated server closes as well.

Official servers are those hosted on behalf of WildCard (typically Nitrado servers).

Unofficial servers are hosted by individuals like you and me.  These can run on paid-for servers (such as Nitrado and other hosting companies) or on your own computer at home.

 

>> is undedicated a thing

It is called "non-dedicated".  Choose the HOST\LOCAL menu from Ark

 

>> How do multiple characters, maps, mods, items, playing with other people, etc work with dedicated (official and unofficial) servers?

Each Steam account can have one character (one Survivor) per map.

 

>> what are some things you wish you knew  [ when you first starting playing Ark ]

1. How much of my life it would consume. (loads)

2. How frustrating the game can be. (very)

3. How brilliant the game can be. (very)

4. How unstable the game can be. (very)

5. How long it takes on vanilla settings to tame some dinos. (days - as in real life days).