Do everyone in a private non-dedicated server need the DLCs of the host to be able to join?

[Egobyte83]

So, I got Ark and friend A joined me in my private non-dedicated match with no problems, since we both only had the base game. Then we both decided to by the story DLCs in the Ultimate Survivor bundle and told friend B to also join us. However, my friend B can't join us because of what I think is the culprit; he only has the base game.

This, to me, seems logical, if regretable. However, this post is created out of the fact that on many forums, people have asserted over and over that the DLCs of the host shouldn't matter to the people joining as long as you are using the vanilla map of The Island, which my session does.

What we want to do is have a private match without trolls. Making the match private effectively removes the ability to find the session in the in-game search browser. Passwording the server and making it open seems to be a moot point because the search browser doesn't seem to find my session even if it isn't set to "private". I have no idea why.

So inviting or having friend B join my session seems to be the only way, however, he can't click my invite when I invite him, and he can't join either. So I am thinking it MUST be the absence of the DLCs that is preventing him.

Can anyone shed some light on this please? I'd be really grateful.

[Valhalla Awaits]

Yes, if you have the DLCs enabled as the host, everyone needs them. (As DLC content is backwards compatable with older maps/dlc. However if the host disables/removes the DLCs he can join till you enable them again.

[🦊 Hermit]

Originally posted by Valhalla Awaits:

Yes, if you have the DLCs enabled as the host, everyone needs them. (As DLC content is backwards compatable with older maps/dlc. However if the host disables/removes the DLCs he can join till you enable them again.

I'm afraid this is a little mistaken. The DLCs allow players to access the maps which the DLC packs add, but all other features, such as dinos and equipment from DLCs, are available in the base game.

This is proven by the fact that players can spawn DLC creatures on other maps even when they do not own the DLCs. Back when Aberration came out, my friends and I didn't buy it initially, but we hosted a server on Ragnarok together and I as admin could spawn all of the Abs creatures, even without the DLC being on my computer. Additionally, I have played many sessions with those same friends, where I have had both Ark season passes, but they have not had them, and they have still been able to join me just fine.

So long as the server/session being hosted is done on a map which the joining player owns, they should be able to access the session without issue. And since The Island map is in the base game, anyone who has the base game can join that one. Any issues with joining must be caused by some other issue.

@OP: Are you using any mods in your game, at all? And also, are you appearing online on Steam when you host? I know in the past when I hosted sessions and I was in 'invisible' mode, my friends could not join me, but when I switched to appear online they could.

Another thing to try - tell your friend to add your server via Steam's server browser, and see if it shows up in-game then, or even if they can join right from Steam's browser itself. In your Steam browser, go to View > Servers, click the Favourites tab, then 'Add A Server' inputting the IP address along with port number. That should make it show up in the Favourites menu selection in-game, and you can even select to join the server from the Steam browser and it should launch the game to do so.

[zerassar]

What forums told you it was possible? Because it's a bald faced lie!

DLCs are the maps. If you do not have the map downloaded and installed it's not possible for your game to load it.

[🦊 Hermit]

The OP isn't asking 'can I host a DLC map and get my friends who do not own the DLC to join it?'. They are asking 'If I have the DLC and my friend doesn't, but I host a session on the game's base map, The Island, will that cause problems for my friend joining?'.

And the answer is no, it will not cause problems. Their friend cannot join a DLC map, that is true. But they can join The Island, because that map is in the base game. Owning the DLCs or not will make no difference to that.

[retsam1]

Originally posted by Egobyte83:

So, I got Ark and friend A joined me in my private non-dedicated match with no problems, since we both only had the base game. Then we both decided to by the story DLCs in the Ultimate Survivor bundle and told friend B to also join us. However, my friend B can't join us because of what I think is the culprit; he only has the base game.

This, to me, seems logical, if regretable. However, this post is created out of the fact that on many forums, people have asserted over and over that the DLCs of the host shouldn't matter to the people joining as long as you are using the vanilla map of The Island, which my session does.

What we want to do is have a private match without trolls. Making the match private effectively removes the ability to find the session in the in-game search browser. Passwording the server and making it open seems to be a moot point because the search browser doesn't seem to find my session even if it isn't set to "private". I have no idea why.

So inviting or having friend B join my session seems to be the only way, however, he can't click my invite when I invite him, and he can't join either. So I am thinking it MUST be the absence of the DLCs that is preventing him.

Can anyone shed some light on this please? I'd be really grateful.

11 of the 12 dlcs are maps. People have to have those maps downloaded on their side in order to play those maps.

So the answer is yes, they need em. That's the architecture of the game now for 7+ years.

[zerassar]

Originally posted by 🦊 Hermit:

The OP isn't asking 'can I host a DLC map and get my friends who do not own the DLC to join it?'. They are asking 'If I have the DLC and my friend doesn't, but I host a session on the game's base map, The Island, will that cause problems for my friend joining?'.

And the answer is no, it will not cause problems. Their friend cannot join a DLC map, that is true. But they can join The Island, because that map is in the base game. Owning the DLCs or not will make no difference to that.

Ahh right I misread!

[Egobyte83]

Originally posted by Valhalla Awaits:

Yes, if you have the DLCs enabled as the host, everyone needs them. (As DLC content is backwards compatable with older maps/dlc. However if the host disables/removes the DLCs he can join till you enable them again.

Interesting. How do I disable the DLCs? I am not really familiar with that.

[Egobyte83]

Originally posted by 🦊 Hermit:

@OP: Are you using any mods in your game, at all? And also, are you appearing online on Steam when you host? I know in the past when I hosted sessions and I was in 'invisible' mode, my friends could not join me, but when I switched to appear online they could.

Another thing to try - tell your friend to add your server via Steam's server browser, and see if it shows up in-game then, or even if they can join right from Steam's browser itself. In your Steam browser, go to View > Servers, click the Favourites tab, then 'Add A Server' inputting the IP address along with port number. That should make it show up in the Favourites menu selection in-game, and you can even select to join the server from the Steam browser and it should launch the game to do so.

Mods are used, but only two, "Dino Tracker" and "Explorer Note Tracker - Universal", and he downloaded them both. Though, I don't know if you are supposed to activate them in any way on the client side in-game, friend A didn't do that so I assume it's enough to just download them from off of Steam's Workshop for them to be active in a session where they are being used...

Yeah, I switched to Online status only for this reason. ^^

Oh really? :O so... I guess it's "ipconfig" in cmd? and then just a matter of finding my port number?

[🦊 Hermit]

Originally posted by Egobyte83:

Interesting. How do I disable the DLCs? I am not really familiar with that.

Right-click Ark in your Steam Library, select Properties, and go to the DLC tab. You can tick or untick boxes next to the DLCs you want to install or remove.

As to mods - you should not have to activate them if you are joining a session which uses them, no. However you do have to wait for the game to install them first. Subbing in the Workshop just downloads the files ready for install, but when you boot up the game you should see some white text in the bottom right of the main menu screen 'Installing Mods # of # (Modname)'. You have to wait at the main menu for that text to go away before trying to join said session - if you don't wait, the mod will not be installed properly and could cause issues.

And yes, you can find your IP. And by default Ark always uses the port 27015, so just add ':27015' after the IP with no spaces, and it should register correctly in the browser.