Run an ARK cluster across several maps

A cluster is two or more ARK servers that share a cluster ID and a transfer folder, so your players can take their survivor, their tames and their gear from one map to the next.

6 min read · Updated Oct 21, 2026 · By GuavaHost Team

What a cluster actually is

There is no single ARK server that holds several maps. A cluster is a group of completely separate servers, each running its own map, each with its own save, settings and memory. What ties them together is two things:

1. The same cluster ID. A short string you choose, passed to every server in the group. Servers only recognise each other as part of the same cluster if this matches exactly.
2. A shared transfer folder. When a player uploads a survivor, a creature or an item, ARK writes it as a file into this folder. The destination map reads it back out. If the two servers cannot see the same folder, nothing transfers.

That second point is the one people trip over. Transfers are a file handoff, not a network call between servers. Both servers have to be able to reach the same directory, which in practice means they need to live on the same machine.

So before you order the extra maps, come and talk to us in Discord or open a ticket and say you are building a cluster. That way your servers can be set up somewhere they can share a transfer folder from the start, rather than being moved afterwards. Our team is online 24/7.

The settings involved

Each server in the cluster needs a cluster ID and the shared transfer directory set as launch options. These are command line options rather than config file values, so they go in the startup options for the server: see startup parameters in the panel for where those live and how to add them.

The options you are working with are:

-clusterid=mycluster
-ClusterDirOverride=/path/to/shared/cluster
-NoTransferFromFiltering

• -clusterid is your chosen name. Keep it simple: lower case, no spaces. It must be identical on every map.
• -ClusterDirOverride points at the shared folder. Identical on every map.
• -NoTransferFromFiltering is optional and worth knowing about. Without it, players can download things that were uploaded on servers outside your cluster. With it, only uploads from inside your own cluster can be downloaded, which is what most private groups want.

Then there are the permission settings in the [ServerSettings] section of GameUserSettings.ini, which control what players are allowed to move. Our guide to GameUserSettings.ini and Game.ini covers how to edit that file safely. The ones that matter here decide whether survivors, items and tamed creatures can be downloaded on a given map. A common setup is to allow everything inside the cluster, and to block downloads onto a map you want players to start fresh on.

Set the same values on every map unless you deliberately want one map to behave differently. Mismatched permissions are the usual reason a transfer vanishes: the upload succeeded, the download was refused.

What moves between maps, and what does not

Moves with the player:

• The survivor, with their level, stats and learned engrams.
• Items placed in the transfer inventory, within the slot limits ARK applies.
• Uploaded tamed creatures, with their levels and imprint.

Stays behind:

• Everything you built. Structures do not transfer, ever. A player moving maps starts with empty ground.
• Your tribe as a thing. Tribes are per server, so the group has to form a tribe again on each map, and tribe-owned items need to be uploaded by a tribe member rather than inherited.
• Anything the destination map blocks. Some items and some creatures cannot be brought onto certain maps, and that is the game's rule, not a setting you missed.

Uploads and downloads happen at an obelisk, a supply drop or a Tek transmitter, through the transmit tab. Uploaded data is held in the transfer folder with an expiry, and the length of that expiry is configurable, so check your own config rather than assuming it is forever. Tell your players to download reasonably promptly after uploading.

Mods have to match

Every server in a cluster needs the same mod list, in the same order where order matters. A creature from a modded map arriving on a server without that mod is a creature the game cannot build, and that can mean a lost tame or a failed load. The rule for clusters is simple: change mods on all maps or none.

The same applies to game versions and to Ascended versus Evolved. You cannot mix ARK: Survival Ascended and ARK: Survival Evolved in one cluster, because they are different games with different saves. Ascended versus Evolved explains the differences if you are choosing.

The resource cost, honestly

This is the part worth being blunt about. Each map in your cluster is a full ARK server. It needs its own RAM, and it uses that RAM whether anybody is on that map or not, because an empty ARK server still loads its world.

ARK is already one of the heaviest games you can host. Our ARK RAM guide has the per-server numbers, and a cluster is that figure multiplied by the number of maps. Three Ascended maps is three times the memory of one Ascended map. There is no cluster discount on resources, because there is no shared workload to discount.

That means a cluster costs several times what a single server costs. Check our pricing with that multiplication in mind before you commit. For a lot of groups the better answer is one well-sized map that runs beautifully, rather than four maps that each struggle.

If you do want several maps, a couple of things keep it manageable:

• Start with two. Add a third when players are actually running out of things to do.
• Keep the small or quiet maps small. A low-population map does not need the same RAM as your main one, and plans are configurable per server from Manage plan in the server menu.
• Schedule restarts on every map. ARK's memory use climbs with uptime, and a cluster multiplies that too.
• Back up every map. A cluster is only as safe as its least backed-up member, and the transfer folder itself is worth including. Backing up and restoring an ARK save walks through it.

Common questions

Do I need a separate ARK server for every map in a cluster?

Yes. Each map is its own server with its own save and its own RAM, and the cluster is just the shared ID and transfer folder that lets players move between them. There is no way to host two maps on one ARK server.

Can players take their base with them to another map?

No. Structures never transfer. A player can bring their survivor, their tames and the items they carry in the transfer inventory, but they will be rebuilding from scratch on the new map.

Why is nothing appearing in the download list on the other map?

Almost always one of three things: the cluster ID differs between the two servers, they are not pointing at the same transfer folder, or the destination map has downloads of that type switched off in GameUserSettings.ini. Check those in that order.

Can I cluster an ARK: Survival Ascended map with an Evolved map?

No. They are separate games with incompatible saves and creature data, so a cluster has to be all Ascended or all Evolved. If you run both, run them as two unrelated servers.

Still stuck? Jump into our Discord at discord.gg/GuavaHost and the team will help you out.

• ark
• cluster
• maps
• transfers
• multiple servers

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