Check if your ARK: Survival Evolved server is online
In Survival Evolved the port players join through and the port that answers queries are different, and overlooking the second is the textbook reason a working server is missing from the browser.
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The ports ARK: Survival Evolved uses
They are two different UDP ports, and this tool needs the query port rather than the game port. Older ARK guides also bring up a third raw-socket port; you may or may not need it depending on your setup, but visibility to the outside world hangs on the query port.
Every port a default ARK: Survival Evolved install uses
With the game port left at 7777. If you changed it with ?Port= in the launch line, the other ports move with it.
| Port | What it is for |
|---|---|
| 7777 UDP | Game trafficRequired The port in your connect string. |
| 7778 UDP | Raw socketRequired Survival Evolved silently claims game port + 1 as well. Miss it and the server is reachable but unstable. |
| 27015 UDP | Steam queryRequired QueryPort. Required for the unofficial server list. |
| 27020 TCP | RCONDo not forward RCONPort. Never forward — ARK RCON authentication is a single plaintext password. |
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Still offline? Try this
Query port open and the check still times out? Give it longer. ARK reads its whole save before it will answer, and a big map full of structures can take several minutes, so a check run immediately after a restart will call a server offline that is simply still starting up.
What a ARK: Survival Evolved server needs to run well
- Memory, 20 players
- 8 GB
- CPU cores
- 4+
- Disk
- 40 GB+
Single-thread bound. Large tribe bases hurt tick time more than player count does.
What the checker asks
Survival Evolved answers the standard Steam server query on its QueryPort, 27015 unless the launch line sets ?QueryPort= to something else. The checker sends exactly that query, so type the server's address and the query port, not the 7777 players connect with. A pass here means the unofficial server list can find you too.
Two servers, one query port
Every ARK server on a machine needs its own QueryPort, not just its own game port. Two maps left on the default 27015 means only one of them answers queries, and the other looks offline here and in the browser while players already in it carry on normally. Give each map its own query port, such as 27015 and 27016, and forward each one.