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guide *Guide* Host Xbox servers via PC Windows 10 Store Version of Ark


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On ‎11‎/‎13‎/‎2019 at 11:23 AM, kareldekoe said:

i have the same problem, i do have a open nat. me and my  roommate can join my server. but every one outside of the network can't join. wenn i host a deticated on my xbox they can't join.

This may occur if Windows firewall is OFF! surprisingly...

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Great job Juggernaut!


I have been running my own Win10 crossplay servers now for a couple years and concur with and confirm all of your post!

Around summer of 2019 I finally figured out how to host multiple servers using virtual machines in VirtualBox !
It is a bit complicated, and I don't think it is appropriate for me to post those details in a reply.
May post on its own if requested.

I have some things to add to Juggernaut's post...

Firstly, most of the limitations and issues root from the fact that the game is being run from the AppStore, and runs under a different framework than the normal PC version.
The appstore apps programs and files are secured in a way that prevents tampering.
There is in fact a server statup batch file, you can view it (if you can find it), but cannot edit it.
For this reason, and the requirement of having to login to xbox live, it cannot be run headless or be started automatically.
(although I am certain that Nitrado crossplay servers do not login to xbox live, and are headless...hmmm, what do they know that we don't?)

Some other info that I wish to impart:

Important: Windows Firewall MUST be enabled, you may not be able to access the server from the Internet (WLAN) if it is not enabled (but I think LAN works).

Juggernaut didn't mention port forwarding here and I am glad for that because many people have you setup port forwarding needlessly.
As it turns out the Win10 crossplay version relies entirely upon UPNP (with the exception of RCON) !!
Beware that the ports ARE NOT CONFIGURABLE! (except for RCON).

RCON does work, and you can also use it to somewhat manage your server, you can enable the RCON settings in your GameUserSettings.ini
(I have a phone app [ARCON for ARK] that lets me login to all my servers and check online player list, chat logs, and run some commands remotely like destroyalldinos)


For example (GameUserSettings.ini):
[ServerSettings]
RCONEnabled=True
RCONPort=27023
RCONServerGameLogBuffer=600.000000

You WILL NEED to port forward your RCONPort (TCP) to your server address.
You WILL NEED to put in a similar windows firewall inbound rule.

Some significant things that are known to not work (and reiterrating what Juggernaut says):
- After ANY restart the server will not appear in the server lists for several days.
- The whitelist does not work, so you lose adminstrators across restarts.
  That means you will have to give admins the password.
- Character/Dino transfers don't work at all (although Juggernaut's post has given me some ideas on that!)

Some significant benifits:
- No monthly server hosting feees!!
- Not limited to server hosting slot limitations, you want to run 71, you got it!
- Full backups!
- Full backups (this one counts twice)(I have used them on several occasions - a lifesaver)
- Full access to the Game and GameUser ini settings (although some settings do not work)
- You control

I also have a sophisticated backup powershell script that is designed to handle multiple servers, and retain a certain number of backups (self-cleaning).
(I may post if requested)

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Some of Juggernaut's comments about copying player files to get around transfer not working got me to testing...

I found that not only does this work, it is better than the official transfer because you retain your character on the original server!

Now you can play on either one.

As for transferring items/dinos...

I find this CAN be done, but because the ClusterDirOverride setting does not work, you have to either manually sync your cluster folders, or use a program to do it.

Once your cluster folders are syncing it works!

Even better, because your player exists on BOTH servers, you can freely transfer items and dinos back AND forth between servers via obelisks!

So far I have not seen any issues with it.

You do start out with a naked player on the transferred to server, but you retain all your stats, engrams, and levels.

If you can make it to an obelisk, you can pickup all the stuff you transferred and get a good boost on your game!

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2 hours ago, MatrixDreamer said:

Some of Juggernaut's comments about copying player files to get around transfer not working got me to testing...

I found that not only does this work, it is better than the official transfer because you retain your character on the original server!

Now you can play on either one.

As for transferring items/dinos...

I find this CAN be done, but because the ClusterDirOverride setting does not work, you have to either manually sync your cluster folders, or use a program to do it.

Once your cluster folders are syncing it works!

Even better, because your player exists on BOTH servers, you can freely transfer items and dinos back AND forth between servers via obelisks!

So far I have not seen any issues with it.

You do start out with a naked player on the transferred to server, but you retain all your stats, engrams, and levels.

If you can make it to an obelisk, you can pickup all the stuff you transferred and get a good boost on your game!

Exactly, but now to initiate the transfers you make a custom discord bot where the player types a command in discord, and then the copy/sync folders take place.

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I did a thing... 

So I've been hosting two windows 10 player dedicated servers for a while now and thanks to this post I was able to synchronize the obelisk, character data and maps between the two servers using different pieces of synchronization software. Eventually I got tired of the various issues that came with the sync software, especially when the obelisk just wouldn't sync randomly.. so I thought to myself, hey! I'm a developer, why don't I just write my own program! So I did...

I've created a java program specifically for windows 10 ark that synchronizes the server files for me so that I can transfer between the two servers and since the map files are also synced I can launch any map on either server, freedom!! Even better I turned the program into a .jar application and created a .bat (executable) file that I can simply double click to start the synchronization program, then I completely upped my game and used task scheduler to schedule the .bat file to start whenever someone logs onto the computer. So now I can literally turn on my computer, start up ark and host a player dedicated server and all the synchronization happens by itself.  

The best thing? The application is programmed by me so I have all the power muahahahahahahaha - JK, the best thing is that it's simple and lightweight unlike most sync software out there.

However, I'm not just here to brag... without the information on ark's file structure provided in this post I wouldn't have been able to create my little program. Hence, if anyone is interested I'm willing to share it! :) 

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Need help with setting up my server with the windows 10 as the host. If I am on my xbox I can host a dedicated server that friends can join from outside my network. When I am on my pc running the same dedicated server all friends get failed to join.

So far have tried...

Working on the Teredo - this is functioning as intended
Currently have port forwarding for all/any xbox360/kinect/one ports.
Have the computer using UPnP.
Nat type is Open. 

So not sure where else to look. If anyone has any suggestions I am will to try any. Reason I am asking for help is my friend outside my network used my account to create a server and it worked just fine (others were able to join in), however when i did it didnt work (others were NOT able to join in).

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 1/10/2020 at 9:59 AM, MatrixDreamer said:

YES!! the issue is that Microsoft has a license service that eventually detects that you are running multiple copies, and will kill the one before it.

Start the Ark server as you normally do.

Wait for the console admin screen to appear, then disable the service using: net stop LicenseManager

Note that the LicenseManager must be running to get fully logged into the game, so you cannot disable it, only start/stop it.

You also do not need to restart the service as launching the game restarts it for you!

I created batch file on the desktop for easy access.

(it took me months to figure this out, and finally found clues in the windows event log)

 

Thanks for this, working like a charm!

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  • 2 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I too am still unable to fix the "join failed" issue people are having with my server. Hosted from windows 10 xbox app,  and just as the other posts I can join from my xbox, and if hosted from my xbox out-of-network users can join, the issue only arises when I attempt to host from my PC.

-NAT is open on pc

-UPnP is enabled in router settings

-Firewall is Enabled, all xbox/ark apps are enabled (private+public)

I have been scouring the internet for the past 4 days now, communicated with xbox support, I have absolutely no idea what is going on here, or who even to contact in order to properly troubleshoot the problem. If anybody has any possible solution, please respond here message me on xbox with at gamertag "Flyer1567".  Thanks!

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  • 3 weeks later...

First of all thanks for the great guide. It helped me answering some questions I had.

I am trying to get the RCON working, however all tools that I try won't connect. They all complain about an I/O timeout (if I try a different port I get a connection refused), so the port seems open.

What RCON tools do you use succesfully with your Win10 ARK?
The next step for me would be to automatically launch the dedicated server when Ark starts, did any of you already succeeded to do that?

Many thanks!

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On 5/7/2020 at 7:30 AM, jimmyc36 said:

I too am still unable to fix the "join failed" issue people are having with my server. Hosted from windows 10 xbox app,  and just as the other posts I can join from my xbox, and if hosted from my xbox out-of-network users can join, the issue only arises when I attempt to host from my PC.

-NAT is open on pc

-UPnP is enabled in router settings

-Firewall is Enabled, all xbox/ark apps are enabled (private+public)

I have been scouring the internet for the past 4 days now, communicated with xbox support, I have absolutely no idea what is going on here, or who even to contact in order to properly troubleshoot the problem. If anybody has any possible solution, please respond here message me on xbox with at gamertag "Flyer1567".  Thanks!

I am new to this game, but it works for me and friends. 
I have port forwarded port 27015 to 27016 and 7777 (TCP and UDP) towards my pc. Maybe this will help for you as well?

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This is the best thread I've found on this topic.  I have been struggling to find knowledgeable people that are willing to help each other on serving up Ark from the Windows10 Store install.  I have run into a wall that I am at maybe six hours of banging my head upon.  At all levels of the WindowsApps folder and all of the way down to the ShooterGame to UWP that holds the ini files...I am not able to write an ini file anywhere.  Most files are green which means the property of "Encrypt contents to secure data" is checked.  Using cmd, powershell, right clicking in explorer...nothing works.  "An error occurred applying attributes to the file:  C:\X..X  The parameter is incorrect."  I have only one MS user account in this new install and it is an admin.  I have taken ownership of everything from Program Files and under.

 

I have watched and read many giving all sorts of suggestions and used them all with no luck.  Also, this is a VmWare VM with ESXi.  I doubt this means anything but mention it just in case.  Thank you for reading and for any help.

UPDATE:  It seems that I was ahead of myself.  I have hosted a cluster for like 18 months at this point and have well formulated ini files that I was trying to use.  It seems that if you run the host first, it will then create the writable area for your configured ini files.  You can then edit those files.  So the process is to run the server once.  Close it down.  Then go to the ini location and edit away.  Don't try to edit ahead of running it first.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi All,

I am hosting a server on my PC using a second Win10 account - "CerealFox". My friend (PC) can join the server by joining CerealFox - the host (or by accepting an invite from CerealFox). But then when I try to join or accept an invite on my Xbox from my main gamertag - "YoungJayWill", nothing happens and I just stay on the Main Menu. I've tried joining the host ("CerealFox") and my friend, and invites from either don't work either, I just stay on the Main Menu.

So I've created a server that works and my friend can join it, but I can't find it anywhere or join through the host OR my friend. How can I join my server and play with my buddy? :/ 

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Jay 

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  • 4 months later...

Hi All,

I just wanted to pop in and say thank you to @Juggernaut ! I have used this guide before extensively and I could not have done it without this thread. There is an extreme gap of knowledge on this particular setup and this thread is the best resource of all my hours of searching. Also shoutout to @MatrixDreamer and @mrlogun for your contributions they saved me alot of headache as well. 

Cheers and good luck everyone!

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  • 3 months later...

@Juggernaut thank you so much for writing this explaination down here. It helped me to set up a dedicated server on a second PC. Coming from playing on a non-Dedicated, this was very new for me.

Now I have successfully managed to set up the server and play on it with my main account. Also found a workaround for player upload to change map via Command Line; works like a charm. I do not yet understand the differences between the three different Ascent methods (i believe it was something like 1, 2 or 2p something?). 

 

Now One problem I have when starting the server is that it always starts up with the same map if once chosen. Even if I click on another map and start the dedicated server, it still loads the previous map.

I have found the "Player.info" section in the gameusersettings.ini, which contains the entry "lasthostedmap" and behind that the name of the map which was last chosen for dedicated server. I found out that when I delete the whole section "Player.Info" including "lasthostedmap", i can start the dedicated server with a different map. After that; the entry will beback there and I have to delete it again to start another map.

 

Is this by design or did I do something wrong here?

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10 minutes ago, Juggernaut said:

@SXS14 Honestly I dont know. The windows version hosting is an after thought to them honestly. I can see the devs overlooking this or trying to make it simple to jump back in the last hosted session.

Yeah this somehow makes sense. I mean, surely I will not change the map in short intervals. But I wanted to ask the question, because I was afraid to corrupt something when deleting those lines in the gameusersettings.ini.

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6 hours ago, Torsten85 said:

Hi how do you do backup?

Tried with xcopy but the files under username are encrypted.

So do you have a smooth set of backups automatically on a regular basis?

Are you using the Microsoft Version? because I do, and the Save files under c:\users\%username%\appdata\local\packages\ are not encrypted. Only the App files under c:\program files\WindowsApps are encrypted. 

I perform backups with Windows backup or Acronis True Image.

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2 minutes ago, Torsten85 said:

For me, everything under username is coded and can not be copied with Xcopy in a bay file.

But wasn't there someone in the thread who had a script to do auto backup about once an hour? Can't you do a tutorial on that?

Yep the Microsoft version that this thread applies to 😉

I work with Windows 10 (Pro and Enterprise) and Server OS every day, and can assure you that the files and directories in the user profile should not be encrypted... Do you use bitlocker or smething similar? This is not the default behaviour of user profile files by Windows...

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22 minutes ago, SXS14 said:

I work with Windows 10 (Pro and Enterprise) and Server OS every day, and can assure you that the files and directories in the user profile should not be encrypted... Do you use bitlocker or smething similar? This is not the default behaviour of user profile files by Windows...

Okay maybe not coded. But they are in any case locked and do not want to copy themselves with a simple xcopy command.

But now locked as they are in a user's folder, the server controls with remote desktop 

Is there any better script to do auto backup with?

 

Have a valheim server with on the same server computer and there is no problem with xcopy. 

Screenshot_20210304-100745_Microsoft Remote Desktop.jpg

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