Moving a single-player ARK: Survival Ascended world to your server works much like it did in Evolved, with one structural difference that catches people: Ascended keeps each map's save in its own subfolder, and the folder name matters as much as the file name. Get both right and your buildings and tames come along.
Where your single-player world lives
On your PC, Ascended's saves sit in:
Steam\steamapps\common\ARK Survival Ascended\ShooterGame\Saved\SavedArksLocal\
Inside is one folder per map you have played, such as TheIsland_WP or ScorchedEarth_WP (all Ascended map names end in _WP). That folder holds:
- The map save, for example
TheIsland_WP.ark, the world itself. - Profile files (
.arkprofile) and tribe files (.arktribe).
Close the game before copying anything.
Step 1: Stop the server
In the game panel, open your server and press Stop. Files uploaded while the server runs get overwritten by its next world save.
Step 2: Upload the map folder's contents
Go to the Files tab and navigate to:
ShooterGame/Saved/SavedArks/
Create the map's folder there if it does not exist, matching the name exactly, for example SavedArks/TheIsland_WP/, and upload your .ark, .arkprofile and .arktribe files into it. Ascended saves are large; for anything above a few hundred MB, SFTP is the faster road, and the connection details are on the same page.
Step 3: Set the server to the same map
On the Startup tab, set Server Map to the map's name without extension, for example TheIsland_WP. This must match both the folder and the .ark file. A mismatch does not error, it silently generates a fresh world on whatever map is configured.
Step 4: Start and verify
Start the server and join. The world, structures and tamed dinos should be exactly as you left them.
What about your character?
This is where Ascended differs from Evolved. Characters are tied to your platform account ID rather than a file you can simply rename, and single-player characters do not transfer cleanly onto a dedicated server. Expect to create a fresh character when you first join. Your tribe's buildings and tames are still there; if ownership looks off, joining or recreating the tribe and using the admin commands to reassign is the practical fix.
If the world came up fresh instead
- Folder or map name mismatch is the usual cause. Folder, file and the Server Map variable must all use the same name,
_WPsuffix included. - Files loose in
SavedArks/instead of inside the map's subfolder. - Modded world: install the same mods on the server (the Mod IDs field on the Startup tab) before the world can load correctly.
Once everything checks out, take a backup from the Backups tab so the moved world has a restore point. Stuck? Open a ticket from the support page.