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ARK: Survival Evolved

A server-side plugin for the Linux ARK: Survival Evolved dedicated server. It connects to Takaro by itself; there is no sidecar and players install nothing.

What works, what doesn’t

Section titled “What works, what doesn’t”

Proven live on staging Takaro with a real client on the pinned build (see the acceptance ledger in the PR).

Feature Status Notes
Connect to Takaro, reachability ✅ Reports not reachable while the game is still starting
Player list, player identity ✅ Steam ID, in-game name
Join / leave events ✅
Chat events ✅ Global chat
Send message (all / one player) ✅ A message to an offline player is refused, never broadcast
Player death events ✅ With position; attacker only when the killer is a player
Kill events (entity-killed) ✅ Creature and the held weapon (empty when unarmed)
Log events ✅ World save and startup lines only
Player location, teleport ✅ Matches the in-game GPS
Map ⚠️ Needs Takaro protocol v1 (not yet on takaro.io; proven on Takaro staging). The Island declared with its bounds; upload a map image in Takaro to see tiles
Locations (spawn points) ⚠️ Needs Takaro protocol v1 (not yet on takaro.io; proven on Takaro staging)
Inventory, give item ✅ Amounts above one stack are delivered in rounds
Item and creature lists ✅ Player-facing names
Console commands ✅ DoExit is refused; use Takaro’s shutdown
Kick, ban, unban, timed bans ✅ Bans survive restarts; timed bans are lifted by the plugin
Shutdown ✅ Saves the world before Takaro gets the answer
Modules, shop, economy, Discord ✅ Through Takaro as usual (use claim delivery for shop listings)
Other ARK maps ⚠️ Work, but only The Island has map bounds
Windows servers, other ARK builds ❌ Not supported; the plugin refuses to load on any other executable

Install

Section titled “Install”

You need an ARK: Survival Evolved Linux dedicated server on public build 21241282 (Steam app 376030) and control over its start command.

  1. Download takaro-ark-native-linux-21241282-<version>.zip from the releases page.

  2. In your ARK install folder (the folder that contains ShooterGame/), make a folder TakaroArk/ and unzip into it, so you get TakaroArk/TakaroArkNative/ (the zip itself holds TakaroArkNative/):

    Terminal window
    cd /path/to/ark && mkdir -p TakaroArk && unzip takaro-ark-native-linux-21241282-<version>.zip -d TakaroArk

  3. Copy TakaroArk/TakaroArkNative/takaro.cfg.example to takaro.cfg in the same folder and set TAKARO_REGISTRATION_TOKEN (Takaro → Game servers → Add → Generic). The other keys are optional.

  4. Start the server through the launcher instead of ShooterGameServer:

    Terminal window
    /path/to/ark/TakaroArk/TakaroArkNative/launch.sh /path/to/ark 'TheIsland?listen?SessionName=My-ARK?Port=7777?QueryPort=27015' -server -log

    The launcher checks the server executable and refuses any other ARK build. In Docker, run the container with --init (Compose init: true).

  5. The server shows up in Takaro within a minute. Keep the folder <ark install>/.takaro/ark-native when you update: it holds the server identity, ban reasons and expiry dates.

To update, stop the server, unzip the new release over the old one and start the server again:

Terminal window
cd /path/to/ark && unzip -o takaro-ark-native-linux-21241282-<version>.zip -d TakaroArk

The zip has no takaro.cfg, so your TakaroArk/TakaroArkNative/takaro.cfg stays as it is. Do not delete TakaroArkNative/ first, or you lose that file. The server identity (.takaro/ark-native/identity-token, or identity-token in your TAKARO_STATE_DIR) and the ban data live outside the plugin folder and are not touched.

To uninstall, stop the server, delete TakaroArk/ and start ShooterGameServer directly again.

This page is generated from the ARK: Survival Evolved connector’s README in the gettakaro/connectors repository. Corrections belong there.

Download the ARK: Survival Evolved connector