FAQ

YARK is a Windows desktop app for managing local ARK: Survival Ascended dedicated servers — profiles, SteamCMD install/update, CurseForge mod IDs, backups, logs, clusters, and INI configuration in one place.

No. Public builds are an unsigned prerelease. Expect rough edges and breaking changes between versions. Treat it as early tooling, not a finished product. Prefer backups before risky updates or restores.

A Windows PC that can run ASA dedicated servers, enough disk for installs and backups, and SteamCMD pointed in Settings. YARK itself is a desktop manager — it does not replace SteamCMD or the ASA server binaries.

No. YARK is not a cloud host and not an official Wildcard product. You run dedicated server binaries on your own Windows machine; the app manages them locally.

Yes. Create one profile per install path. Give each profile unique game, query, and RCON ports. Clusters share a Cluster ID and directory when you want transfers between maps.

Server profiles and app settings stay on your PC (local SQLite). There is no YARK cloud account. Network use covers SteamCMD, Wildcard’s public status CDN for the displayed network version, and CurseForge metadata via a small Cloudflare Worker proxy.

Safe update can stop the instance, take a fail-hard pre_update backup, run SteamCMD, then restart or roll back if something goes wrong. Restart follows a stop → pre_restart backup → start path under one lock. If a required backup step fails, the operation stops instead of continuing blind.

No. The Mods tab manages CurseForge Project IDs and enable/disable state. Enabled IDs are passed at launch as -mods=. YARK wires launch IDs and metadata — it does not download or install mod files for you.

Yes. Enable the map pack on the Mods tab, then choose it under Server Information → Map (Map mods group, or Custom… with the author launch token such as Svartalfheim_WP). Enabling a Maps mod does not change your current map — you pick when to switch. Start is blocked if the custom map’s linked pack is missing or disabled. See Mods → Maps / custom worlds.

Backups are ZIP archives per server for world, players, and INI. You can create them on demand, schedule world backups, and restore from history. Safe update / restart also create pre-operation backups on the critical path.

Yes for unsigned prereleases. The installer is not code-signed yet, so Windows may warn on first run. Prefer downloading only from the official GitHub Releases page or the download button on this site (same release assets). Before running it, compare the file's SHA-256 with the digest GitHub shows for that release asset; the Getting started guide has the PowerShell command.

YARK itself: Settings → YARK updates (or click the accented sidebar version when an update is waiting). Check, download, then restart to install. Packaged builds use GitHub Releases; you can still grab the installer from Releases manually if needed. Windows may warn about an unsigned build until code signing ships. ASA dedicated files: use Update / Verify inside the app — that talks to SteamCMD and can run the safe-update path with backups.

Yes. Use Copy configuration from a server card or workspace Quick actions. Select stopped targets and the categories to copy (INI, mods, launch args, backup policy, optional passwords). Identity, ports, cluster, and world saves are never copied. See the Copy configuration guide.

Members share a Cluster ID and shared directory. The Clusters page can create a cluster, add or remove stopped members, and manage optional INI templates (Promote / Restore / Seed). Create-server can also join an existing fleet cluster. Compliance checks are profile math — not a live in-game transfer probe. See Clusters.

Open an issue on GitHub Issues. Include the YARK version, what you tried, and relevant logs (avoid pasting admin/RCON passwords). Operator guides live under Docs.