EDIT: I have a tale to be told below, but I found the simplest answer to getting mods installed on your Linux server. In your arkmanager.cfg file or in your “instance” config file just add the modid to the line of mods to load (ark_GameModIds) and then restart the server. This will inform you to use arkmanager to download the mods, but it will also just do it for you. That is the simplest method. Everything else is noise. Yes, it does pay to understand how it all works, but the path of least resistance is always the best. The developers did a good job of making this program and arkmanager is a great tool, however, when it is as simple as adding the mod the mod line in your config file and then restart the server, well, that’s the best overall experience. To add a map, that’s done similarly but in a different spot in the config file. That is described below.
I searched in Google 100s of times about how to add maps and mods to a dedicated Linux server and came up with virtually no answers. Most results pointed to sites that rented Ark Survival Evolved servers making those site specific answers. Other results covered using Windows (not what I asked Google). Other search results were convoluted youtube videos that absolutely failed to address the issues, as they start out telling you how to set up a server etc.
NOTE: I find it impossible to believe that after all the applause this game had that no one has provided a simple solution to how to get this done!
One search result was close. It talked about SteamCMD program and how you can download mods and maps. This wasn’t the answer because SteamCMD knows nothing about the server that’s installed.
With steamcmd you can download mods and maps using the game ID and the mod ID (yes, you use the mod ID for custom maps). This at least gives you a hint of what you need to get started.
I tried this. I was able to get SteamCMD to download mods. I had to manually copy the mods over to where arkmanager (thus the ark survival evolved server) expected the files to be. Using this method, after adding the mod to the configuration and restarting the server the server did recognize the mod and re-downloaded the mod indicating that it was performing updates. Not sure why this is, as SteamCMD should have provided the latest mod. Apparently not.
The best answer, the real answer, the only viable answer is to use the “arkmanager” program.
Once you have the server setup — lots of guides for that — and the arkmanager program is installed you need only know the mod ID (the arkmanager knows the game ID). It also knows about all the configs that you have that point to the root of the ark survival evolved server.
So, all that is left is to execute the arkmanager command to tell it to install the mod based on the mod ID.
sudo arkmanager installmod <mod ID>
NOTE: I’m using sudo because I am logged in as a regular user and the ark survival evolved folder is under a different account. If you log into that account instead of a regular user you likely may not need to use sudo. Also, because I’m using sudo I need to provide the sudo password.
Arkmanager will then download the mod and put the files in the appropriate place. Arkmanager knows the appropriate place because it knows which configs are in use and where they point to for the root of the ark server.
There are still a couple of things that need to be done after the download is finished in order to make the mod active.
If you want to use the mod you must still manually add it to the proper config based on the mod ID. This means you just have to edit a simple text file with your terminal text editor such as nano.
NOTE: There is a parameter to the arkmanager to activate a mod however, even when executed as root it still gets a permission denied error. An example would be “sudo arkmanager enablemod <mod ID>” and “sudo arkmanager disablemod <mod ID>”.
In there is a line that lists all mods that you want to have active.
In my case these are loaded from the /etc/arkmanager/arkmanager.cfg file.
ark_GameModIds=”1380777369,1314441674,1764189171,2212177129,3026347525,558651608,633215081,710880648,751991809,910561391,1404697612,1679963934,1785800853,2984407853,504122600,609380111,708807240,715028562,749466101,889745138,970855993″
Put them all on one line separated by a comma.
Then you need to restart the server
sudo arkmanager restart
Wait the 10 minutes and then access the server from your Ark Survival Evolved client.
This works for the basic mods. Those things such as the super spyglass, etc. It does not work for the custom maps. To activate that you need to modify a different line in the same config file.
In the following example I downloaded the mod for the Olympus map. The following line changes will allow it to be loaded as the map the server is serving.
serverMap=”Olympus” # server map
serverMapModId=”970855993″ # ID of the map
Comment out all the other maps using the #.
Then restart the server.
You’ll have that map being served as your default.
In my case I have a /etc/arkmanager/instances/main.cfg
That is where my maps are loaded from.
A few other things to note. I have a Proxmox VE server which runs this in a container. My router has port forwarding of the appropriate ports to that container. What I get as a benefit is that I can increase/decrease the amount of RAM and the number of CPU cores as needed. The other is that if I need more space I can just allocate more space without redoing anything. I have a backup job using the Proxmox VE backup feature so I have a compress image of the container on another server. I can stop the container, remove it when I’m not playing for a long time, and then I can restore it from the image if I ever want to play again.