Finding solution for hosting local dedicated server with no internet

[SAS]

Here in my country we expect prolonged blackouts and dark winter without continuous heating, internet, communications, water supply etc.

The goal of this topic is to find a working solution to be able to connect to a locally hosted dedicated server cluster that is running on the same PC machine I use to play the game. With no internet access.

The platform is Steam, Linux. ARK is played via Steam Proton.

A solution of any technical complexity will do. I intend to keep the topic alive until it is found.

[DirkInSA]

I have done this in the past with a Steam Emulator in combination with the UT4 startup switch bIsLanMatch on the Ark executable (undocumented in Ark). However the Devs have altered the way that networking is implemented (or my Emulator got to be too out of date), and I no longer can do this. The change happened just before the epic games version release and was to do with that, so if you have an old "save" of the game (client and server) then you can go there, but clearly not with all the new released content & mechanics. My archives indicate that version 295-108 definitely still worked, but did not bother to retain versions after that to know exactly what the last working release was. From the change log I would guess an early 2020 version.