ARK: Survival Ascended moved to Unreal Engine 5.8 with v97, which went live on November 6, 2026 after slipping from its original October 28 date. Players mostly hear about the Giganotosaurus TLC and the new Enigmasaur. If you run your own server, the engine jump matters more: v97 is a major version for servers and clients, mods had to be recooked, and the patch adds six new INI settings that only unofficial servers can tune.
Here is what changed, what can break on a dedicated server, and what to check before your tribe logs in tonight.
Why an engine upgrade hits servers harder than a normal patch
Wildcard flagged v97 as a major version for both servers and clients. In practice that means an updated client cannot see or join a server still running v96 or older, and the reverse is true too. A server that skipped the update simply disappears from the browser for everyone who patched.
On DoomHosting the ASA egg ships with Auto-update server switched on, so a plain restart from the panel pulls the v97 build through SteamCMD before the game starts. If you turned auto-update off to hold a version, flip it back on for this one: there is no way to stay on v96 and keep players.
Two things are worth doing before that restart:
- Take a backup. Wildcard's notes do not announce a wipe for unofficial servers, and your save should load fine. A backup costs a minute and makes a bad mod update reversible.
- Read the first boot's console. The first start on a new engine build takes noticeably longer while the server finishes its update and loads mods. Give it time before deciding it is stuck.
The rendering work (lower GPU load, better foliage and distant scenery, Lumen Lite on selected PC graphics settings) is client-side. Your players may see higher frame rates; your server's RAM and CPU needs do not change because of it.
Mods: the real risk on day one
Every ASA mod had to be recooked for UE 5.8. Wildcard said on October 23 that 99.9% of mods were already recooked and validated, with about ten edge cases left. That is a good number, but it is not 100%, and it says nothing about mod authors who push their own fixes in the days after a big patch.
This is where a dedicated server behaves differently from single player. ASA downloads every CurseForge id in your mod list on each boot, and if even one of them fails, the server refuses to start at all. The line in ShooterGame/Saved/Logs/ShooterGame.log looks like this:
ASAMods: Error: Not all mods were installed. Check the log for CFCore errors.
Mods not installed: 1307420, 1134371
On our panel that shows up as a server sitting on "Starting" forever, and the diagnostic names the failing ids so you can pull them from the MOD IDs list and boot without them.
The same log line has a second cause that catches people after every big update: crossplay. Our ASA egg starts with -crossplay -ServerPlatform=All by default so console players can join. A mod that is published as PC-only will never install on a cross-platform server, even if it worked on a PC-only server last week. If you move a mod list from an old PC-only setup, check each mod's platform on CurseForge first.
Order still matters too. ASA treats the first id in MOD_IDS as the game data override and merges every later mod on top, so a total conversion or overhaul belongs at the front of the list.
PC players also get an in-game Mod Browser with v97, and Wildcard is running Arkathon 2: Season of the Hunt with CurseForge: a $30,000 prize pool across 44 winning entries, with submissions opening November 11. Expect a wave of new mods over the next few weeks, which is great for unofficial servers and one more reason to keep an eye on that boot log.
Six new INI settings for Gachas, Replicators and Cloning Chambers
This is the part of v97 that only server owners get to decide. Official servers get hard caps. Unofficial servers get the same caps as defaults, plus settings to change them:
[ServerSettings]
NumGachasPerTribeForPenalty=100
GachasOverTribeLimitPenalty=3
LimitReplicatorsPerSaddle=1
LimitCloningChambersRange=10000
LimitCloningChambersInRangeNum=10
LimitCloningChambersInTribeNum=50
What each one does:
- Gacha limit. A tribe with more than 100 deployed Gachas gets a feeding penalty: 60 to 90 seconds between feedings instead of 20 to 30.
NumGachasPerTribeForPenaltysets the limit (-1disables it) andGachasOverTribeLimitPenaltysets how hard the penalty bites. - Tek Replicators on platform saddles. Platform saddles can now hold only one Tek structure.
LimitReplicatorsPerSaddletakes1(one per saddle),0(none) or-1(unlimited). - Cloning Chambers. Officials allow 10 within range and 50 per tribe. The three
LimitCloningChamberskeys set the radius, the per-radius cap (0blocks placement,-1is unlimited) and the per-tribe cap.
Our take: on a small PvE server with a few friends, these limits will never trigger and you can leave them alone. On a busy PvP cluster, the Gacha and Cloning Chamber caps are exactly the tools admins have been asking for to keep a dominant tribe's farm from dragging tick rate down. Edit GameUserSettings.ini while the server is stopped, then start it, otherwise the running server writes its own copy back over your change.
Giganotosaurus TLC and the Enigmasaur
The Giga rework changes how your players will tame and fight it. The old "find a safe ledge and stack tranq arrows" method is gone. The new Apex Challenge uses Apex Offerings crafted from Alpha trophies, and the Giga's torpor caps at 50% until the player triggers its Enrage and survives it. A new passive, Wounded Fury, kicks in below 75% health and grows to 50% extra damage and 30% extra damage resistance, with nearby allied creatures getting half of that bonus.
On a server with boosted taming rates, expect Gigas to show up in tribe armies much sooner than on officials, and expect Alpha creatures to get hunted harder for trophies.
The Enigmasaur closes out Fantastic Tames Season 1. It copies the abilities of creatures it mimics and keeps some of them after it changes form. It is part of a paid pack, so on your server only players who own Fantastic Tames Season 1 can use it.
v97 also brings a long balance list: the Aureliax loses 20% base health and 30% speed while carrying, the Dreadnoughtus takes 50% more damage from turrets and Tesla Coils, and the Basilisk, Gloon, Karkinos, Umbra and Lumina are all toned down. If your server already overrides creature stats in Game.ini, check that your custom values still make sense against the new baseline.
Official servers are being sunset on November 29
In the same Community Crunch, Wildcard announced that a batch of inactive official Island servers will be sunset on November 29. Wildcard says those saves will be offered through a partner afterwards, but if your tribe lives on one of them, this is the natural moment to move to a server you control: your own rates, your own mod list, and no surprise sunset date.
Before your players log in
- Back up the server.
- Make sure Auto-update server is on, then restart.
- Watch the console for
Mods not installed:and remove any failing id. - Decide whether you want the new Gacha, Replicator and Cloning Chamber limits, and set them in
GameUserSettings.iniwhile stopped. - Tell your players to update their client, or they will not see the server.
Need a server that is already on v97? Rent an ARK: Survival Ascended server with crossplay on by default and one-click CurseForge mods, then follow our guide to connecting to your ARK: Survival Ascended server. Planning a new base for your tribe? Our ARK resource map covers every official map.
