Juggernaut

Day one bug on store version, don't hold your breath. Reload the map.

I just booted a server up on a VM (hyper v) under a separate gamer tag. Then on the same machine used another instance of windows and separate GT and connected to the ark server,no issues. Friends were able to join in on it via adding the host ark GT as friend first then joining game in session since server wasn't showing up yet on ark server list. I was not port forwarding and simply using upnp. Both were on the same subnet and gateway address. Both Xbox app under network settings were showing NAT as open. At first it was strict but once I rebooted machine it became open. So maybe just try a simple reboot. But yes, you can host and play on the same machine, but I wouldn't call it ideal. Separate machines is more ideal. Still can't cluster though since we don't have startup command access to link the IDs like steam or nitrado.

Because Microsoft generally views mods as a security or lack of quality control in terms that may allow a game to go beyond the games rates maturity level. The mods for some games, are first vetted by Microsoft first, eg skin customizations, the agility to add custom skins was approved by Microsoft, Microsoft is making the dev police it first, if they don't then Microsoft will step in. Policing requires dev support which means money, which means less money for new games. Anytime an app or game is updated for Xbox or ms store there is a Microsoft qc team that checks for malicious intent or content not appropriate for the maturity rating, which is why often steam updates for the same game will come faster Vs those found on Xbox or ms store, because steam uses a more automated approach, in that they quickly scan the MOD, but in general are reactive to removing bad content often based on user feedback where ms tries to be proactive in stopping it in the first place.

I guess if you get donations everything is cheap, aka free...are you running for political office by chance?

Yeah but not in the same game instance, since windows store version hosting is not headless like all the other versions. You will have to run a VM with one instance of the game which is hosting under a separate Xbox gamer tag, then you can run another instance outside of the VM or another VM and use a different gamer tag to join it. Welcome to windows store version which is severely unsupported and lacks almost egerything compared to other ark versions. Don't even think about joining official servers with windows store version because you only have access to a small isolated crossplay servers and small tribes only.

Yep that was broken also, I resorted to just give extra engram points per level, you have to set it per level. Under game ini put this for engrams: [/Script/ShooterGame.ShooterGameMode]  OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100   OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100 OverridePlayerLevelEngramPoints=100

My decay and boosts were working but the autodecay/destroy never did even if no one was there to render. You can even try it in single player. It will become destroyable but it never actually gets removed. I tried every combination I could, I could manipulate the timer all I want but to actually get the structures to remove was impossible, even if I restarted the server or was the only one on the map. If they fixed ini for tame cap, autodestroy after day timer hits zero, allowed clusters, and not having to friend people on Xbox live before they can join the server. I could handle not being immediately on server list and occasional crashes. Just a shame these all work when hosting via nitrado for Xbox servers. Both systems are using similar ,x86 hardware, we just have different access to tools and versions of the game which shouldn't be the case since they are the same game. Windows can't do headless hosting either yet steam version can (even Linux can host headless with way more hosting tools available). They literally stripped the windows store down to singe player only (still no anti-cheat software even though they said they would add it) so can't play on official servers except a small cluster of 5 servers. Then they strip the hosting ability and left with a useless version of the game.

You put them in both sections?

Play unofficial with higher rates, the less time you spend building the more you can actually pvp and fight people. Most of official and even smalltribes is still pve. Offline raiding offers to many benefits to the attacker is way safer to raid when people are offline. With lower rates, comes more willingness to protect your resources and Dino's which means why risk a online fight when you can simply offline as you build your way towards alpha tribe which is what everyone is trying to do. On a server with higher rates and more frequent map wipes, you care less about losing stuff and more likely to engage in online pvp but the risk of losing hard work is not there also. Not sure there is a perfect balance for everyone but maybe try an unofficial.

Expect nothing less honestly...still a beta game with beta developers.

No, your only option is to host yourself via windows store version which is severely unsupported and lacks a lot of features that nitrado provides, maybe by intent or just don't care about windows store version.

Haven't hosted windows store PC version for Xbox in awhile, decided to stop because of lack of support compared to other versions of the game. Makes zero sense all the versions aren't equivalent..but have they done any improvements in the past 6 months for hosting via windows store version? - does it appear on server browser immediately like nitrado hosted servers? - can you cluster servers yet? - do the servers randomly become unjoinable after time? -did they fix the missing ini commands that nitrado can use but windows store can't like Max tame limit, controllable events, autodecay/destroy

Or you could just use Smithys, fabs, Dinos for storage instead. Vault on a raft is bad because the raft/motorbost has less health than vault. Can't have them on boats because ppl will just vault drop underwater bases, block caves, etc the same thing they were doing on land.

Weekly server wipes is the only way to level playing field, tribes that have existed longer will be better. Sad for the most part, the game balance comes down to who started playing first.

Weekly small tribe map wipes and monthly character wipes once a month should help fix the issue. No time to really build up so the fall from cheaters is a lot softer. Plus the early rush of a new map is what most people look forward to anyways, every time they release a new map on small tribes it is slot capped then the population dies off slowly because once you can't devote as much time as others to the game, they continue to get stronger until the point they become bored and just kill all new players which kills the population. Rust employs this setup and they have servers almost fully player capped because more casuals can play and still be enjoyable because in all honestly that is the majority of the population of most games.