If you’ve ever tried to round up your whole friend group for an Ark: Survival Evolved play session only to hit a hard player limit when hosting from your own device, you know how disappointing that can be. Default non dedicated servers lock you to a tiny player pool, even if your PC has the power to handle more people exploring, taming, and raiding together. Learning how 2 raise player cap on ark non deicated sever opens up way more fun group play opportunities without the cost of renting a dedicated third-party server. We’ve tested every method across multiple Ark maps to make sure these steps work without corrupting your save or tanking performance for everyone connected.
Prep Steps Before You Raise Player Cap on Ark Non Dedicated Server
Jumping straight into editing settings without prepping first is the easiest way to ruin hours of hard work you’ve put into your playthrough. Non dedicated servers run directly off your local gaming device, so any changes you make to server settings can impact your save file if something goes wrong. Take these quick steps first to avoid unnecessary headaches:
- Back up your existing save file first. You can find saves in your Steam/steamapps/common/ARK/ShooterGame/Saved folder, just copy the whole folder to a separate location on your PC before making any changes.
- Test your PC’s performance with 2-3 players first before cranking the cap too high. Each extra player uses roughly 1-2GB of extra RAM, plus additional CPU power, so make sure you have enough overhead to avoid lag.
- Confirm all players have the same mod list if you’re running modded Ark. Mismatched mods will cause connection errors even if you’ve adjusted the player cap correctly.
Most players skip these steps and end up with corrupted saves or constant disconnects, so taking 5 minutes to get this right saves you hours of headache later. We’ve had to recover 3 different saves for friends who jumped straight to editing settings without backing up, so trust us on this one. If you’re running a heavily modded playthrough with 10+ mods, you’ll want to cap your player count at 6 or 7 max even if you have a high-end PC, since mods add a lot of extra load for every connected player.
Editing Server Settings Via the In-Game Menu
This method is perfect for casual players who don’t want to mess with hidden game files, and it takes less than a minute to complete. It works for all official Ark maps, and you don’t have to exit the game to make changes. First, launch Ark and select “Host/Local” from the main menu, then pick the map you want to play on. Before you hit start, look for the “Max Players” slider on the right side of the screen, under the general server settings tab. Default is usually set to 2 or 4, depending on your game version, but you can slide it up to 10 for most base game playthroughs.
Note that the in-game slider has a hard limit of 10 by default, so if you want more than 10 players, you’ll have to use the config file method we cover next. Also, make sure you toggle off the “Host Connection” restriction that prioritizes your connection over other players, that will reduce lag for everyone else if you have a strong enough internet connection. I’ve used this method dozens of times for casual 6-player playthroughs on The Island, and it works perfectly with zero extra setup needed. The only downside is you can’t go above 10 players, and you have to adjust the setting every time you host, unless you save your server profile as a custom preset.
Editing Config Files for Higher Player Limits
If you want to host more than 10 players, or you want the setting to stay saved permanently so you don’t have to adjust it every time you launch, editing the game’s config files is the way to go. First, close Ark completely to avoid conflicts when you edit the files. Navigate to your Steam folder, then go to steamapps/common/ARK/ShooterGame/Saved/Config/WindowsNoEditor, and open the GameUserSettings.ini file with Notepad or any basic text editor. Use the search function to find the line that says “MaxPlayers=” – if you don’t see that line, you can add it under the [ServerSettings] section.
Change the number after the equals sign to whatever cap you want, though we don’t recommend going above 16 players even on a high-end PC, since non dedicated servers still have performance limits compared to official dedicated servers. Save the file, then right click it, select Properties, and check the “Read Only” box to make sure the game doesn’t overwrite your changes the next time you launch. A lot of people forget the read only step, and end up confused when their player cap resets to default the next time they host. This method also lets you adjust other related settings at the same time, like tether distance, so players don’t get pulled back to you when they wander too far across the map.
Troubleshooting Common Issues After Adjusting Player Cap
Even if you follow all the steps perfectly, you might run into a few common issues when you first launch your server with a higher player cap. The most common one is players getting disconnected immediately when trying to join. If that happens, first double check that all players are on the same game version as you, and that no one has extra mods installed that you don’t have. If that doesn’t fix it, lower your player cap by 2 or 3, since your PC might not have enough power to handle the number you set.
Another common issue is extreme rubber banding or lag for all players except the host. That usually happens if your upload speed is too slow to handle the extra data from multiple players. Most home internet plans need at least 5Mbps of upload speed per connected player to run smoothly, so if you have 8 players, you’ll need 40Mbps upload minimum to avoid lag. The last issue you might run into is save file corruption, which is why we stressed backing up your save first. If your save gets corrupted, just replace the corrupted save folder with the backup you made earlier, and adjust your player cap to a lower number before trying again. I’ve had this happen once when I tried to run a 12-player modded Fjordur server on a PC with only 16GB of RAM, so sticking to the recommended limits based on your hardware will help you avoid this.
Raising your player limit lets you enjoy Ark’s chaotic, fun group gameplay without paying for an expensive dedicated server, and the process is way simpler than most players think. Whether you stick to the easy in-game slider for small groups or edit config files for larger play sessions, following the prep and safety steps we covered will keep your save intact and your server running smoothly. Next time you’re planning a group play session, you won’t have to leave anyone out now that you know how 2 raise player cap on ark non deicated sever. Just remember to adjust your cap based on your PC specs and internet speed, and you’ll be taming dinos and raiding bases with your whole crew in no time.