How to add admins and Commands
How to Add Admins and Commands
ARK admin access lets you spawn creatures and items, control the weather and time, moderate players, and test settings. This guide covers the two ways to grant admin, how to authenticate in-game, and the commands you will actually use.
For the settings these commands relate to, see Configuration Overview.
Set the Admin Password
Admin access is gated behind the ServerAdminPassword set in GameUserSettings.ini, under [ServerSettings]:
[ServerSettings] ServerAdminPassword=YourStrongPassword
Stop the server, edit the file in the File Manager, save, and start the server. Anyone who knows this password can grant themselves admin, so keep it private.
Authenticate In-Game
- Connect to your server and create a character.
- Press Tab to open the console (a black bar at the bottom of the screen). Press Tab again to expand it, which is handy for spotting typos.
- Type
enablecheats YourStrongPasswordand press Enter.
You now have admin powers for this session. From here, prefix commands with cheat (or admincheat when in chat).
Whitelisting Admins (Permanent Access)
If re-entering the password each session is tiresome, you can whitelist a player so they get admin automatically on every login. Create the file ShooterGame/Saved/AllowedCheaterSteamIDs.txt and list each admin's SteamID64, one per line:
76561197960287930
Whitelisted admins do not need to run enablecheats, and with a whitelist in place an admin password is not strictly required at all, though you can still set one for staff who are not on the whitelist.
Keeping Admin Activity Private
By default, admin commands can broadcast to every player in chat. To stop that, set AdminLogging=False under [ServerSettings] in GameUserSettings.ini, then restart.
Commands You Will Actually Use
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
cheat SaveWorld | Force an immediate world save. Run this before anything risky |
cheat DestroyWildDinos | Wipe wild creatures so they respawn under new settings. Never touches tames |
cheat ListPlayers | List connected players and their IDs (needed for kick/ban) |
cheat KickPlayer <id> | Kick a player |
cheat BanPlayer <id> | Ban a player |
cheat SetTimeOfDay 12:00:00 | Set the time of day |
cheat Broadcast <message> | Send a server-wide message |
cheat GiveItemNum <id> <qty> <quality> 0 | Give yourself items for testing |
cheat Summon <DinoID> | Spawn a wild creature |
cheat SummonTamed <DinoID> | Spawn a pre-tamed creature |
cheat God, Fly, Walk, Ghost, InfiniteStats | The usual testing toggles |
Warning: cheat DestroyAll <class> and similar destructive commands also affect tamed creatures. Use DestroyWildDinos when you only mean to clear wild ones, and always SaveWorld first since these are irreversible.
To find creature and item IDs, ARK ID reference sites list every spawnable entity.