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Hosting a Dedicated LAN server and playing on the same computer(No Port Forwarding needed)
By Chaos
EDIT: GUIDE IS OBSOLETE NOW, USE IN-GAME HOST MULTIPLAYER OPTION TO GET FULL PIXARK EXPERIENCE.
PSA : SINGLE PLAYER PIXARK STILL IS MISSING SOME FEATURES FROM MAP SUCH AS TUTORIAL BOT

This guide is for you if:
★ You want to play the complete single player experience(With portals and loot drops)
★ You don't know how to port-forward or you don't even have a router or switch(Direct ADSL cable line)
★ You want to LAN coop (router or switch required)
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Created by
Chaos
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Category: Gameplay Basics, Modding or Configuration, Multiplayer
Languages: English
Posted
Updated
8 Apr, 2018 @ 3:38am
20 Mar, 2021 @ 5:57am
3,794 Unique Visitors
62 Current Favorites
Guide Index
Overview
1.Getting the server files 
2.Setting up the .bat file for starting Server. 
3.Adding Specific Windows Firewall Exception 
4.Starting the server for the first time 
5.Editing the server configuration to your liking. 
6.Connecting to your server 
7.(Optional) For LAN play 
8.Bonus Settings. 
9.Conclusion 
Comments
1.Getting the server files
Yes yes, I know the server files are already included in the game download it self but its better to have a separate folder with server files only.

Steps:
1.Open steam client and From library menu select Tools

2.Find Pixark Dedicated Server and right click and install it like any other game

Once the files are download, right click the dedicated server from left panel and go to its Local directory
2.Setting up the .bat file for starting Server.
Once you are in the root directory of server installation(eg: \steamapps\common\PixARK Dedicated Server)

Step:
1.Go to \ShooterGame\Binaries\Win64
2.Create a new text file (name it startLAN or anything you want)
3.open the .txt file and there enter this line
start "" /NORMAL "DRIVELETTER:\PATH" "CubeWorld_Light?listen?MaxPlayers=4?Port=27015?QueryPort=27016?RCONPort=27017?SessionName=YOURSERVERNAME?ServerPassword=Password123?ServerAdminPassword=YOURADMINPASS" -NoBattlEye -nosteamclient -game -server -CubePort=14999

Do note:
DRIVELETTER=Drive or partition you installed the server from steam

PATH=complete path to pixarkserver.exe root folder(eg : Steam Games\steamapps\common\PixARK Dedicated Server\ShooterGame\Binaries\Win64\PixARKServer.exe)

YOURSERVERNAME=The name of server you want
YOURADMINPASS=your admin pass(for enablecheats console command)
Password123=Your server pass(not really needed as this is for LAN and singleplayer)

4.Save the .txt file and change extension from .txt to .bat(by renaming)

P.S battle-eye is disabled to help with performance.


3.Adding Specific Windows Firewall Exception
Pixark Automatically created inbound rules however they are not for specific ports so you must create them.
Below are 4 easy lines which you can enter into Powershell running as admin and rules will be created

Steps:
1.Press Win+X and select Powershell (Admin)
2.On the window copy and paste each of these lines and hit Enter key after pasting each line

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName 'PixarkServerT' -Enabled True -Direction Inbound -Action Allow -LocalPort 27015-27018 -Protocol TCP
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName 'PixarkServerU' -Enabled True -Direction Inbound -Action Allow -LocalPort 27015-27018 -Protocol UDP
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName 'PixarkCubeT' -Enabled True -Direction Inbound -Action Allow -LocalPort 14999 -Protocol TCP
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName 'PixarkCubeU' -Enabled True -Direction Inbound -Action Allow -LocalPort 14999 -Protocol UDP

After that close the Powershell window

P.S if using a custom firewall such as any internet security ones, You may have to manually allow access to these specific ports.
4.Starting the server for the first time
Now go to pixarkserver.exe directory and start that .bat file you save on Step 2,

it will start the Server window and a lot of lines of yellow and white text will come up(This is normal)

After about 8-10 mins You should see the confirmation line of a successful session(session name will be the one you set in your server instead of Chaos)
The Confirmation line is the red arrow one :

After you see that line it means your server is fully running
Close the server for now(close it via cross button) and configure the .ini in next section
5.Editing the server configuration to your liking.
After closing the Server window, Go to \steamapps\common\PixARK Dedicated Server\ShooterGame\Saved\Config\WindowsServer
Steps:

1.Open GameUserSettings.ini File in a text editor(I use notepad++)
2.Find line MaxPlayers= and put 3 or 4 beside the '=' sign(The less players, The less RAM usage by server)
3.In [ServerSettings] Para, put a new line: 'ServerPVE=false'(set it to true for a Fury Server)
4.Save the file
5.Important!! : under [/script/engine.gamesession] make sure to adjust 'MaxPlayers=' to 4 or less if youplan on playing coop or just single player play, as default setting of 70 players will take up a huge amount of RAM.

P.S running with just these setting s will put XP,harvest rate etc to default values you will have to add seperate lines under [ServerSettings] para to fine tune your experience

Here is my [ServerSettings] :
[ServerSettings] DifficultyOffset=1.000000 XPMultiplier=3.000000 AllowThirdPersonPlayer=True ShowMapPlayerLocation=True NoNeedReset=True DisableStructureDecayPvE=True AllowFlyerCarryPvE=True ListenServerTetherDistanceMultiplier=1.000000 GlobalVoiceChat=True ProximityChat=True NoTributeDownloads=false PreventDownloadSurvivors=false PreventDownloadItems=false PreventDownloadDinos=false AlwaysNotifyPlayerLeft=False DontAlwaysNotifyPlayerJoined=False ServerHardcore=False ServerForceNoHUD=False EnablePvPGamma=False OnGodMode=False ServerPVE=false CanPVPAttack=true ServerPVPCanAttack=False ActiveMods= ActiveMapMod=0 ServerPassword= ServerAdminPassword= RCONPort=27017 StructurePreventResourceRadiusMultiplier=1.000000 ResourceDropQuantityMultiplier=2.000000 ResourceRefreshPeriodMultiplier=1.000000 BlueprintTimeToCraftMultiplier=3.000000 TimeForFullRepairMultiplier=0.500000 RaidDinoCharacterFoodDrainMultiplier=1.000000 PvEDinoDecayPeriodMultiplier=0.500000 KickIdlePlayersPeriod=3600.000000 PerPlatformMaxStructuresMultiplier=1.000000 AutoSavePeriodMinutes=15.000000 MaxTamedDinos=5000.000000 RCONServerGameLogBuffer=600.000000 AllowHitMarkers=True ShowFloatingDamageText=True DayCycleSpeedScale=2.010000 NightTimeSpeedScale=2.000000 TamingSpeedMultiplier=5.000000 HarvestAmountMultiplier=2.000000 DinoCharacterHealthRecoveryMultiplier=2.000000 HarvestHealthMultiplier=2.000000 PvEStructureDecayPeriodMultiplier=0.000000 PlayerMaxStepHeightOverride=100.0

For additional parameters go to this page : https://nodecraft.com/support/games/pixark/pixark-server-settings

Edit : Setting up the server as chaos or fury or pioneering

By modifying GameUserSetting under PixARK\ShooterGame\Saved\[Player’s Dedicated Server Folder]\Config\WindowsServer

Launching Pioneering Server:
[ServerSettings]
ServerPVE=true

Launching Fury Server:
[ServerSettings]
ServerPVE=false
CanPVPAttack=true
ServerPVPCanAttack=false

Launching Chaos Server：
[ServerSettings]
ServerPVE=false
CanPVPAttack=false
ServerPVPCanAttack=true
6.Connecting to your server
After saving the ini file run the .bat file again(you will have to run it via this every time you want to play SP or LAN) and after seeing the confimation of session line in server

Steps:
1.Open steam client and go to View>Servers
2.Click on LAN tab and your server will be shown there,Right click and see server info
3.Copy just the IP adress(Don't copy the :Port) as seen in image

4.Close that info window and go to Favorites Tab

5.Click Add server button and paste the IP address in IP adress box and click find games, It should show your LAN server(IF IT SHOWS 'SERVER NOT RESPONDING' your Server has not yet fully started or you forgot to add firewall exception at step 6)

6.Click add selected game server to Fav..
7.Close the steam server finder and open up PixArk Via steam
8.Click join Pixark and in the bottom window of PixArk and select Favourites from Drop Down menu
9.You should see your LAN server and you can click join to join the server

P.S. The server world will automatically save whenever you close the server window(not the game)


7.(Optional) For LAN play
for playing with LAN you will need a router or switch and the client computers needs to be under the same routed network.

Steps:
1.Start the pixark server through .bat file
2.On the client computers do the same thing as you did when connecting to server in step 6(Using steam server viewer)

3.In client computers pixark games, Join the server from favorites

P.S port-forwarding for LAN play is not needed as far as i have tested with my router, but if it is required then you can do so from your Router config page
And yes you need separate game copies to play LAN.(not sure if family sharing works)
8.Bonus Settings.
In the GameUserSettings.ini, there are some bonus settings that can be enabled/modified.

1.Changing the date of pvp in Fury server :

under [/game/mods/cubeworld/blueprints/cw_gamemode.cw_gamemode_c]
you can find these lines :
bCanPvPAttack=True AutoPvPAttackStartDateTime=(PVPAttackDayOfWeek=Saturday,PVPAttackHour=0,PVPAttackMinute=0,PVPAttackSecond=0) AutoPvPAttackStopDateTime=(PVPAttackDayOfWeek=Sunday,PVPAttackHour=23,PVPAttackMinute=59,PVPAttackSecond=59) IncreasePvPRespawnIntervalMultiplier=1.000000 IncreasePvPRespawnIntervalBaseAmount=30.000000 bPassiveDefensesDamageRiderlessDinos=True
in there, change AutoPvPAttackStartDateTime= 'change date to whatever you like instead of saturday'
change AutoPvPAttackStopDateTime= 'change date to whatever you like instead of sunday'

2.Tweak to auto step on 1-block height landscapes

Game has a built-in auto jump function but jumping can be tedious,
under the [/script/shootergame.shootergameusersettings]
add this line :
PlayerMaxStepHeightOverride=100.000000
Now your charecter will auto step on 1 blocks just like tames and mounts.
you can change the value to 150 to auto step on 2 block heights
9.Conclusion
This guide was designed to mostly play singleplayer with all the features pixark has to offer.

ATM I do not have all the necessary [ServerSettings] config lines to fully control the server(like how much engram points you get after each level,Amount multiplier for mining like copper,flint)

So if you have some additional and helpful parameter lines to add in the [ServerSettings], Please post them in the comments or contact me,

Untill pixark adds Non-Dedicated session hosting and fixes single player, I will continue to maintain and update this guide.

Thanks for reading !!! ^_^
40 Comments
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liberator65853 23 Jun, 2022 @ 5:25pm 
Thank you for this! I tried 6 or 7 other guides like this and couldn't get any to work. While the singleplayer in game is better than it was it still doesn't have transfers so this lets you get all creatures from both maps on singleplayer
Bananaaa 7 Feb, 2021 @ 10:11am 
I can't do it I host my own server but I can't join, it says unable to query server for invite what can I do?
Chaos  [author] 3 Jun, 2020 @ 1:18am 
The guide maybe outdated as I have not checked on Pixark for a while now, Please just use pixarks vanilla single player if you want to play singleplayer pixark
Tess On Da WaE 2 Jun, 2020 @ 9:54pm 
i can't get the config to work (HarvestAmountMultiplier and else)
Seul il 31 May, 2018 @ 12:47pm 
Steam still reads this serwer as "not ready"
Chaos  [author] 30 May, 2018 @ 9:16pm 
@Seul il,
You can see the line Server: "Gigantopia" has successfully started!

means your server is ready, search it in steams LAN server tab
Seul il 29 May, 2018 @ 11:23pm 
....and all I get is :



Setting breakpad minidump AppID = 593600

[2018.05.30-06.20.01:772][ 0]ARK Version: 1.16
[2018.05.30-06.20.22:318][ 0]Primal Game Data Took 20.14 seconds
[2018.05.30-06.20.31:966][ 0]Server: "Gigantopia" has successfully started!
[2018.05.30-06.20.32:252][ 0]Commandline: "CubeWorld_Light?listen?MaxPlayers=4?Port=27015?QueryPort=27016?RCONPort=27017?SessionName=Gigantopia?ServerPassword=Password123?ServerAdminPassword=1234" -NoBattlEye -nosteamclient -game -server -CubePort=14999
[2018.05.30-06.20.32:253][ 0]Full Startup: 32.26 seconds (BP compile: 0.00 seconds)
[2018.05.30-06.20.32:253][ 0]Number of cores 4


not sure what I do wrong...ports are open via my firewall/bitdefender rules aded...and stem still sees server not ready
Seul il 29 May, 2018 @ 1:52pm 
Waiting about an hour...still last line was aboit my PC cores...😔
Chaos  [author] 27 May, 2018 @ 1:45am 
@Seul il , The recent pixark update disabled all log information, now you should just wait for the massage server started successfully at the terminal
Dler 25 May, 2018 @ 3:17pm 
try restarting steam and the server again. I have this issue at times