How do private servers work?

[TomatoThePotatoe]

Okay so I do not have this game yet, but I was just curious how private servers work in this game. I mainly want to play this game with my friend only without being afraid that something will happen while I am offline. So I have a couple questions regarding private servers.
1. Do I have to pay for private servers?
2. How exactly do they work (besides the fact that I can only control the server settings)
3. If I leave the game, will the server turn off or will it keep running?
4. Will private servers cause me to play this game more than 5 hours a day?
5. I heard if I create a private server, my friend has to stay close to me, can anyone explain further?

I don't want to overwhelm anyone with questions so I tried to give a few. Thanks!

[Chaser the Tiny Hippo]

1. No, but you can if you want.
2. You can control when it's on, the settings, the mods, the password(if there is one) and the admin password and therefore all in-game commands too.
3. It won't, but you can just turn the server off when you log off if you like.
4. It depends on if you like it enough to play >5 hours a day (I don't think I understood this question completly)
5. Only if you host a non-dedicated server, which I'd advise against.

You can't overwhelm us with questions. Ask as many as you like.

[Lordbufu]

Basiclly you have 2 options, you either host a non-dedicated via the client, or use the dedicated version via steamcmd (ASM is a program that makes hosting a server really easy).

1. No if you have enough RAM (16GB is adviced) you can run a dedicated server and play the game on the same machine, or if you have a spare PC you can host it on that if it has atleast 8GB of RAM and a half decent CPU. But if you dont have enough RAM or a second PC hosting might be your only option if non-dedidicated isnt for you.
2. Not entirely sure what you mean tbh, i could throw some technical stuff at you about networking etc, but i have a feeling that is not the kind of information your looking for.
3. No if you just leave the game the private server is still running if you opt to use a dedicated one (can be desired even if you need to grow crops or make jerky over night).
4. Only if you cant limit your self to play no more then 5h a day.
5. That is for non-dedicated only, not entire sure how it works only that you cant go beyond the range you set.

I would, even for 2 players, opt for a dedicated sever. They seems to have less issues in general, and give a experience that is more in-line with how things work on say a official server in terms of game mechanics.

[Vesuvius]

4: you can set the configs to make the game everywhere from SUPER GRINDFEST.... to all done in a few days.... and Everywhere in between.

[TomatoThePotatoe]

Originally posted by Tiny Hippo:

1. No, but you can if you want.
2. You can control when it's on, the settings, the mods, the password(if there is one) and the admin password and therefore all in-game commands too.
3. It won't, but you can just turn the server off when you log off if you like.
4. It depends on if you like it enough to play >5 hours a day (I don't think I understood this question completly)
5. Only if you host a non-dedicated server, which I'd advise against.

You can't overwhelm us with questions. Ask as many as you like.

For question 4, I meant to say that, will private servers require me to invest a lot of time compared to public servers or is it less grindy?

[Chaser the Tiny Hippo]

Originally posted by TomatoThePotatoe:

For question 4, I meant to say that, will private servers require me to invest a lot of time compared to public servers or is it less grindy?

Then it's exactly as Ves said. You can choose how long things take to tame, breed, and grow. You can choose how many resources you get per hit and per node.
Basically, if it takes time, you can change the time it takes.

[TomatoThePotatoe]

Originally posted by Lordbufu:

Basiclly you have 2 options, you either host a non-dedicated via the client, or use the dedicated version via steamcmd (ASM is a program that makes hosting a server really easy).

1. No if you have enough RAM (16GB is adviced) you can run a dedicated server and play the game on the same machine, or if you have a spare PC you can host it on that if it has atleast 8GB of RAM and a half decent CPU. But if you dont have enough RAM or a second PC hosting might be your only option if non-dedidicated isnt for you.
2. Not entirely sure what you mean tbh, i could throw some technical stuff at you about networking etc, but i have a feeling that is not the kind of information your looking for.
3. No if you just leave the game the private server is still running if you opt to use a dedicated one (can be desired even if you need to grow crops or make jerky over night).
4. Only if you cant limit your self to play no more then 5h a day.
5. That is for non-dedicated only, not entire sure how it works only that you cant go beyond the range you set.

I would, even for 2 players, opt for a dedicated sever. They seems to have less issues in general, and give a experience that is more in-line with how things work on say a official server in terms of game mechanics.

My main PC only has 8gb of ram and a decent cpu and I don't have another computer. Does that mean I have to use a non dedicated server? What are the setbacks of a non-dedicated server when compared to dedicated?

[Chaser the Tiny Hippo]

Originally posted by TomatoThePotatoe:

Originally posted by Lordbufu:

Basiclly you have 2 options, you either host a non-dedicated via the client, or use the dedicated version via steamcmd (ASM is a program that makes hosting a server really easy).

1. No if you have enough RAM (16GB is adviced) you can run a dedicated server and play the game on the same machine, or if you have a spare PC you can host it on that if it has atleast 8GB of RAM and a half decent CPU. But if you dont have enough RAM or a second PC hosting might be your only option if non-dedidicated isnt for you.
2. Not entirely sure what you mean tbh, i could throw some technical stuff at you about networking etc, but i have a feeling that is not the kind of information your looking for.
3. No if you just leave the game the private server is still running if you opt to use a dedicated one (can be desired even if you need to grow crops or make jerky over night).
4. Only if you cant limit your self to play no more then 5h a day.
5. That is for non-dedicated only, not entire sure how it works only that you cant go beyond the range you set.

I would, even for 2 players, opt for a dedicated sever. They seems to have less issues in general, and give a experience that is more in-line with how things work on say a official server in terms of game mechanics.

My main PC only has 8gb of ram and a decent cpu and I don't have another computer. Does that mean I have to use a non dedicated server? What are the setbacks of a non-dedicated server when compared to dedicated?

Well, a non-dedicated server is essentially singleplayer with the ability for others to join(different from multuplayer, I'll explain)
It has multiple settings in place in order to make it easier on your pc since you're running both the server and the client at once, and that's much harder on your pc than just a server or a client.
Honestly, i never noticed the difference and much prefer a dedicated server, even if I'm playing alone.
Non-dedicated servers and singleplayer suffer from some pretty bad bugs. The 2 big ones are that things don't spawn until you get near(this isn't really a bug, but...) so things won't spawn in caves until you're in the cave, but even then they take their time spawning in...
The other bug is that if you close the game before letting resources respawn, those resources may or may not decide to never spawn ever again.
That said, you'd have questionable performance if you're just at 8gb and running a server and the client on the same computer. This is a situation where someone might decide to pay for a server(I wouldn't do it in a million years though, personal opinion on whether or not it's worth it)

[Vesuvius]

Not to mention... the tether

[JDaremo Fireheart]

in the server command line you can also add -exclusivejoin
Then add the Steam ID numbers of the people you want to auto join without having to enter a password (adding a password is a secondary line of defence from unwanted players joining) to this list in this folder of your server.
"\ShooterGame\Binaries\Win64\PlayersExclusiveJoinList.txt"
if that file doesn't exist, create one. Oh, when adding the Steam ID# to that list, place a comma between each with no space.

Note: ARK also supports its own "whitelist" mode which acts as a bypass for player join checks (ignores slot checks, etc.). This can be enabled in the same fashion by simply creating a file named "PlayersJoinNoCheckList.txt" in the same location as the exclusive join file.

[Chaser the Tiny Hippo]

Originally posted by Vesuvius:

Not to mention... the tether

I forgot about this. Non-dedicated servers have the tether distance(your original question #5)
The tether distance is how far players can go from the host. It also triggers when people go into different areas, such as caves or the ocean. It's living hell on the center map.

[TomatoThePotatoe]

Originally posted by Tiny Hippo:

Originally posted by TomatoThePotatoe:

My main PC only has 8gb of ram and a decent cpu and I don't have another computer. Does that mean I have to use a non dedicated server? What are the setbacks of a non-dedicated server when compared to dedicated?

Well, a non-dedicated server is essentially singleplayer with the ability for others to join(different from multuplayer, I'll explain)
It has multiple settings in place in order to make it easier on your pc since you're running both the server and the client at once, and that's much harder on your pc than just a server or a client.
Honestly, i never noticed the difference and much prefer a dedicated server, even if I'm playing alone.
Non-dedicated servers and singleplayer suffer from some pretty bad bugs. The 2 big ones are that things don't spawn until you get near(this isn't really a bug, but...) so things won't spawn in caves until you're in the cave, but even then they take their time spawning in...
The other bug is that if you close the game before letting resources respawn, those resources may or may not decide to never spawn ever again.
That said, you'd have questionable performance if you're just at 8gb and running a server and the client on the same computer. This is a situation where someone might decide to pay for a server(I wouldn't do it in a million years though, personal opinion on whether or not it's worth it)

My current computer specs are 1050ti, and an I3-6100 with 8 gb of ram. Do you think it is possible for me to run a dedicated server with maybe at least 40 frames with one other friend?

[Lordbufu]

Dang it i typed all that for nothing, thanks hippo :P
But yeah that tether distance (his 5th point) is the biggest deal breaker tbh.
The biggest bugs you can deal with if you mess with the resource respawn settings, or dont mind waiting for caves to spawn stuff (not ideal obviously).

[TomatoThePotatoe]

Originally posted by Tiny Hippo:

Originally posted by Vesuvius:

Not to mention... the tether

I forgot about this. Non-dedicated servers have the tether distance(your original question #5)
The tether distance is how far players can go from the host. It also triggers when people go into different areas, such as caves or the ocean. It's living hell on the center map.

By "triggers", what do you mean exactly? Does it kick you out of the game or something similar?

[JDaremo Fireheart]

BTW, my comment was for if you rent a server or host your own Dedicated Server.
other wise use the Non-Dedi option but keep in mind you will be tethered to each other so as to not lag your computer by having a tonne of areas out of hybernation at once.

[Chaser the Tiny Hippo]

Originally posted by TomatoThePotatoe:

Originally posted by Tiny Hippo:

I forgot about this. Non-dedicated servers have the tether distance(your original question #5)
The tether distance is how far players can go from the host. It also triggers when people go into different areas, such as caves or the ocean. It's living hell on the center map.

By "triggers", what do you mean exactly? Does it kick you out of the game or something similar?

When the tether triggers, it pulls the player triggering it to the host. Since it's based around the host, the host can't trigger it.