FPS Boost Guide ✅

The most effective and easiest ways to improve your PC performance in ARK: Survival Evolved.

Introduction

ARK: Survival Evolved is a very unoptimized game. In this guide i'll explain how to get more FPS.

Note: the most of the following methods were found by other players. I'm just collecting all the  useful information in one guide.

1. LAUNCH OPTIONS

               In the following field paste these launch options and click OK:

-USEALLAVAILABLECORES -sm4 -d3d10 -nomansky -lowmemory -high

List of all usefull launch options with descriptions:

• -USEALLAVAILABLECORES - (the game will use all your CPU cores)
  
• -sm4 and -d3d10 - (runs game with DirectX 10)
  
• -nomansky (removes clouds and some sky effects)
  
• -lowmemory (the game will use only 4gb of your RAM)
  
• -w 640 -h 480 - (runs game in 640x480 resolution)
  
• -full - (fullscreen mode)
  
• -window - (windowed mode with borders)
  
• -noborder - (windowed mode without borders)
  
• -low - (runs ARK as a low-priority process)
  
• -high - (runs ARK as a high-priority process)
  
• -noaafonts - (removes fonts anitalising)
  
• -autoconfig - (return default settings)

2. NVIDIA SETTINGS

FEATURE	SETTING
Maximum pre-rendered frames	1
Multi-display/mixed-GPU acceleration	Single display performance
Power management mode	Prefer maximum performance
Texture filtering - Anisotropic sample optimization	On
Texture filtering - Quality	Performance
Texture filtering - Trilinear optimization	On
Triple buffering	Off

 

3. CONFIGS (use it at your own risk)

Go to this folder:

\steamapps\common\ARK\ShooterGame\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor\

In this folder you should replace everything in Engine.ini and GameUserSettings.ini. Open Engine.ini then delete everything and paste the code from this form:

[/script/engine.renderersettings]
r.DefaultFeature.Bloom=False
r.DefaultFeature.AmbientOcclusion=False
r.DefaultFeature.AutoExposure=False
r.DefaultFeature.MotionBlur=False
r.DefaultFeature.LensFlare=False
r.EarlyZPass=0
r.SSAOSmartBlur=0
r.HZBOcclusion=0
r.AmbientOcclusionLevels=0
r.BloomQuality=0
r.DepthOfFieldQuality=0
r.SSR.Quality=0
r.SSS.Scale=0
r.SSS.SampleSet=0
r.DetailMode=0
r.LensFlareQuality=0
r.MaxAnisotropy=0
r.oneframethreadlag=1
r.LightShaftQuality=0
r.RefractionQuality=0
r.ExposureOffset=0.3
r.ReflectionEnvironment=0
r.Atmosphere=0
r.Shadow.MaxResolution=2
r.SimpleDynamicLighting=1
r.UpsampleQuality=0
r.ViewDistanceScale=0.4
r.TrueSkyQuality=0

[/script/shootergame.shooterengine]
bFirstRun=False
FrameRateCap=200
FrameRateMinimum=200

[Core.System]
Paths=../../../Engine/Content
Paths=../../../ShooterGame/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/Experimental/CharacterAI/Content
Paths=../../../Engine/Plugins/TrueSkyPlugin/Content

[SystemSettings]
TEXTUREGROUP_World=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=2,LODBias=0,MinMagFilter=aniso,MipFilter=point)
TEXTUREGROUP_WorldNormalMap=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=2,LODBias=0,MinMagFilter=aniso,MipFilter=point)
TEXTUREGROUP_WorldSpecular=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=2,LODBias=0,MinMagFilter=aniso,MipFilter=point)
TEXTUREGROUP_Character=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=4,LODBias=0,MinMagFilter=aniso,MipFilter=point)
TEXTUREGROUP_CharacterNormalMap=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=4,LODBias=0,MinMagFilter=aniso,MipFilter=point)
TEXTUREGROUP_CharacterSpecular=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=4,LODBias=0,MinMagFilter=aniso,MipFilter=point)
TEXTUREGROUP_Weapon=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=64,LODBias=0,MinMagFilter=aniso,MipFilter=point)
TEXTUREGROUP_WeaponNormalMap=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=64,LODBias=0,MinMagFilter=aniso,MipFilter=point)
TEXTUREGROUP_WeaponSpecular=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=64,LODBias=0,MinMagFilter=aniso,MipFilter=point)
TEXTUREGROUP_Vehicle=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=256,LODBias=0,MinMagFilter=aniso,MipFilter=point)
TEXTUREGROUP_VehicleNormalMap=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=256,LODBias=0,MinMagFilter=aniso,MipFilter=point)
TEXTUREGROUP_VehicleSpecular=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=256,LODBias=0,MinMagFilter=aniso,MipFilter=point)
TEXTUREGROUP_Cinematic=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=128,LODBias=0,MinMagFilter=aniso,MipFilter=point)
TEXTUREGROUP_Effects=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=128,LODBias=0,MinMagFilter=linear,MipFilter=point)
TEXTUREGROUP_EffectsNotFiltered=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=128,LODBias=0,MinMagFilter=aniso,MipFilter=point)
TEXTUREGROUP_Skybox=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=256,LODBias=0,MinMagFilter=aniso,MipFilter=point)
TEXTUREGROUP_UI=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=256,LODBias=0,MinMagFilter=aniso,MipFilter=point)
TEXTUREGROUP_Lightmap=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=8,LODBias=0,MinMagFilter=aniso,MipFilter=point)
TEXTUREGROUP_Shadowmap=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=2,LODBias=0,MinMagFilter=aniso,MipFilter=point,NumStreamedMips=3)
TEXTUREGROUP_RenderTarget=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=128,LODBias=0,MinMagFilter=aniso,MipFilter=point)
TEXTUREGROUP_MobileFlattened=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=2,LODBias=0,MinMagFilter=aniso,MipFilter=point)
TEXTUREGROUP_Terrain_Heightmap=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=2,LODBias=0,MinMagFilter=aniso,MipFilter=point)
TEXTUREGROUP_Terrain_Weightmap=(MinLODSize=1,MaxLODSize=2,LODBias=0,MinMagFilter=aniso,MipFilter=point)

[Oculus.Settings]
bChromaAbCorrectionEnabled=True
bYawDriftCorrectionEnabled=True
bDevSettingsEnabled=False
bOverrideIPD=False
bOverrideStereo=False
bOverrideVSync=True
VSync=True
bOverrideScreenPercentage=False
bAllowFinishCurrentFrame=True
bLowPersistenceMode=True
bUpdateOnRT=False
FarClippingPlane=0.000000
NearClippingPlane=0.000000

[WindowsApplication.Accessibility]
StickyKeysHotkey=False
ToggleKeysHotkey=False
FilterKeysHotkey=False
StickyKeysConfirmation=False
ToggleKeysConfirmation=False
FilterKeysConfirmation=False

Save it and do the same with GameUserSettings.ini

[/script/shootergame.shootergameusersettings]
MasterAudioVolume=0.107143
MusicAudioVolume=0.039683
SFXAudioVolume=0.409387
CameraShakeScale=0.037899
bFirstPersonRiding=False
bThirdPersonPlayer=False
bShowStatusNotificationMessages=True
TrueSkyQuality=0.000000
FOVMultiplier=1.250000
GroundClutterDensity=0.000000
bFilmGrain=False
bMotionBlur=False
bUseDFAO=False
bUseSSAO=False
bShowChatBox=False
bCameraViewBob=False
bInvertLookY=False
bFloatingNames=True
bChatBubbles=True
bJoinNotifications=False
bCraftablesShowAllItems=True
LookLeftRightSensitivity=1.000000
LookUpDownSensitivity=1.000000
GraphicsQuality=4
ActiveLingeringWorldTiles=10
bUseVSync=False
ResolutionSizeX=1920
ResolutionSizeY=1080
LastUserConfirmedResolutionSizeX=1920
LastUserConfirmedResolutionSizeY=1080
WindowPosX=-1
WindowPosY=-1
bUseDesktopResolutionForFullscreen=False
FullscreenMode=0
LastConfirmedFullscreenMode=1
Version=5
bHideServerInfo=False
LastServerSearchType=2
LastServerSearchHideFull=False
LastServerSearchProtected=False
HideItemTextOverlay=False
bDistanceFieldShadowing=False
LODScalar=0.000000
HighQualityMaterials=False
HighQualitySurfaces=False
bTemperatureF=False
bDisableTorporEffect=True

[ScalabilityGroups]
sg.ResolutionQuality=100
sg.ViewDistanceQuality=2
sg.AntiAliasingQuality=0
sg.ShadowQuality=2
sg.PostProcessQuality=2
sg.TextureQuality=2
sg.EffectsQuality=0
sg.TrueSkyQuality=0
sg.GroundClutterQuality=0
sg.IBLQuality=0
sg.HeightFieldShadowQuality=2

[SessionSettings]
SessionName=ARK #563569

[/script/engine.gamesession]
MaxPlayers=70

[AdminPassword]
Password=
ServerPassword=

Done. That should add you ~10-20 FPS which is a good result.

Notes

 
 
I hope this guide was helpful for you. You can rate it and add to the favorites if you want :D
 


 
 
 

 

[terrariasgood]

Will this help me be able to run mods? My pc barely meets the requirements for ASE (Its a mini pc) And I've only ever played on console and always have anted to play online and or with mods, I ran it recently only to find out, Its extremely laggy.

[Mike Loeven]

All I am going to say Is I got this laptop to play Star Citizen initially so as far as optimized games If it can run that it should be able to brute force any quirks of a game this old

[Mike Loeven]

Specific to ARK have not observed it in other titles. I did leave Superposition Benchmark running overnight to be sure but did not see any signs of a hardware issue in the logs

[NOLAND3R]

@Mike Loeven
Does it happen in any game or just ARK?

[Mike Loeven]

If any of you have encountered this please reach out to me via DM I am desperate for any info on to the possible cause of this issue

[Mike Loeven]

MY issue does not seem Graphical? Running on a 8 core 16 thread Ryzen 6900HX 64 Gigs of ram and a 16Gig 3080TI. Even on max settings the game runs smoothly at 60FPS This is capped at the refresh rate of my TV. The issue Is a recurring fps drop lasting 10-20 seconds to about 10FPS. GPU mostly hangs around 57% usage with 60-70C temps. however when the stutter occurs the core clock on the GPU tanks to 210Mhz which is the cards idle clock indicating that whatever is causing the issue is occurring before the render thread and starving the gpu causing it to enter idle state in the middle of the game. hopefully someone has seen this behavior before I cannot reproduce it in other games and just finished running a benchmark for about 2 hours without fps drops. HW / Driver seems ruled out. I cant imagine a cpu bottleneck. something in the engine must be getting stuck somewhere for a few seconds before sorting its self out again. I want to find some sort unofficial patch that can resolve this.

[GeeNinja]

Any reason why we can't just turn the dam game on and play and not have to play around with settings 😔 game is fun but instead of trying to grab more money of people with DLC how about make it work perfectly

[Bèta Wolf]

Launch settings don't seem to work anymore for Ark.

[McJayEmCee]

Cool you took the time to write this for people, and with that, a tip of my own: don't use Steam Proton, use GE or Wine. It's an almost mind-boggling difference in this particular instance, from my experience.

[NOLAND3R]

Yeah use them at your own risk after this patch