Running a Dedicated Server with friends

[KurisuBaka]

so, i'm seeing a lot of outdated info on running a server,
and i'm a little confused as to what it is i should be doing in order to start one.

when i clicked on "host dedicated server" in "your ark settings" it opened up a .exe that seemed like cmd

i kind of just let it sit for a while, and didn't notice anything happening after a while so i closed out, and started looking for info online, which everything i find seems to be from around june

so, if anyone could help me out with some updated info on creating and playing in a dedicated server, i would really appreciate that.
thanks!

[xboct]

run your own dedicated server using that link i believe allows you to set your computer to run it while your computer is running at all times (requires a min of 4 gigs of ram just to get it to run period)
http://comparegamehosting.com/game/ark-survival-evolved/?stph
this link may help you if you would chose to rent a server, also if you are going to run a server i woudl suggest downloading the ark server launcher, very helpful for tweaking most settings (i go in the ini files to change wild and tamed dinos specifications seperatly) and makes installing any mods you may want way easier (ark remote needs to be enabled if you are renting to make any changes with it)

[Karathkasun]

There are tools to do this.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=468312476

The server can take up to 10 minutes to start once you launch it. If you have 16gb of ram running a dedicated server on the same machine as ARK and connecting to it will get MUCH better performance than clicking on "Single Player"

[KurisuBaka]

okay thank you!
I'm actually only running 8gbs of ram on this machine.
and i have noticed the game takes up ALOT of resources.
i'll probably just end up seeing how well i can run it on here, and if not, i'll just rent hosting.

[Karathkasun]

If you use the very low memory option you should be able to host & play on the same box.

The ARK client can only use 2 CPU threads for some dumb reason, when you split out the server back-end to another task by running a dedicated server you are doubling the cores that the game uses.

[margalus]

Download ARK Server Manager as suggested and use it to run the server. The server will run about 2.5GB of ram while running, it uses more when it initially loads and then settles down.

also, make sure your forward your ports to the server computer. Should be 27015 and 7777 if you go with the default.

[Karathkasun]

I see 3.5 usually, but I occasionally have 3-4 people connect on my LAN.