Dying Light

[getTwitchRail scgame=”Dying Light”]
Created by: Techland
Game Site: Dying Light
ESRB Rating: M for Mature

Hellcat5 Connect: Official Forums

Dying Light makes you feel as though you’re living a zombie apocalypse. Far advanced from previous games the developers created, such as the dead island series, the gameplay and graphics will blow you away. Leveling system keeps you engaged for 100+ hours, with each new advancement giving you a renewed feeling of power and ability, yet never detracting from the danger of surviving in a zombie apocalypse. This is definitely one of my favorite games.

Core Resources

Community Resources

Easter Eggs – Main Game

Outfits – Main Game

Blueprints – Slums (Main Game)

Blueprints – Old Town (Main Game)

Collectables – Main Game

Blueprints – The Following DLC

Outfits, Aliens, and Secret Ending – the Following
To get two of the outfits, it’s necessary to finish the aliens easteregg and the secret ending.

Paintjobs, Bobbleheads, and Charms – The Following
Note about Paint Jobs – While there are 52 total collectable paint jobs, you can get three of those only from participating in community events (golden, lemon, and little rising sun) and at least one (Rocket League) docket code only paint job. One DLC, Crash Test, shows up in the “Collectable Paint Jobs” list, but it’s from DLC.

Collectables

Trolls

“I have no patience for people who are trying to troll or cause trouble on the wiki”Iamacyborg (Curse Inc. Wiki Admin)

I am the hellcat
what do you think of that
your trolling conversations
your weak assertations
from your insuperiority complex
inferiority convexation
such a hallow dissertation
like staring at the inside of an empty bowl
insults so insidious
attempt to subvert my intelligence
for just a second of joy
to think of me like a toy
just because I respond
no I won’t abscond
but I might steal your mind
I think you left it behind
same place you left your humanity
where you forgot your dignity
when you dropped your decency on the floor
and no, people won’t ignore
they’ll shut you down
just like the clown with an hateful face
you’ve got no place among good people
so you stab with your words
subversive insults so absurd
bash on others to give yourself a high
but deep inside you know it’s all a lie
you want to get in a war with me
your mind can’t handle what I’ve seen
you would crumble under the weight of the pain
as you silently mumble, “oh, this is so lame”
then move on …
because this cat has been through hell
and you’ve not even seen the fire

Trolls 2

“if you could put me in touch with someone who manages the wiki and can deal with troll accounts then I’d be happy to talk with them and organize something where someone cannot use variants of my name.”ZiggyD

fucking troll hoes
who don’t know
who can’t flow
you can’t step to me
they can’t fucking see
what I’ve been through
throwin’ all your “boos”
step to me in life
you really wanna fight?
no I don’t mean in the physical
are you fucking mental
cyber delusional
aching for a power trip
just because you’re not hip
jealousy baby?
maybe I guess we’ll see.
You say you make the fire
that’s just your desire
I am the master of the flames
you’re the master of the lame
You think you’re going to master me?
I’m the master of the catastrophe.

Borderlands 2

[getTwitchRail scgame=”Borderlands 2″]
Created by: Gearbox Software
Game Site: Borderlands 2
ESRB Rating: M for Mature

Hellcat5 Connect: n/a

Borderlands 2 is an intense stupidity shooter. Containing much adult humor / slapstick, if you’re tired of the boring old shooter game, and you want to play a shooter game with humor, this is it. Borderlands series has a unique art style, an rpg leveling system, and a huge area you can wonder around. Tons of side missions, tons of loot, tons of cash. Sure, you pay to revive, but you never really run out of money, and if you do happen to die so much that you don’t have any money left, you won’t be left to start over. Get your friends (because you’re going to need them for Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode) and have a blast shooting your way through the storyline many many times, because like potato chips one just isn’t enough.

Core Resources:

Community Resources:

Modding Resources:

Warframe: Eidolons Easily or Trinity or Oberon Only?

[getTwitchRail scgame=”Warframe”]
Created by: Digital Extremes
Game Site: Warframe Website
ESRB Rating: M for mature
Support: Support Website

Hellcat5 Connect: Hellcat5 on Official Forums

Yet another tumbler of a tale, the stories I’ve heard about what’s necessary to successfully do all three Eidolons. In this article I’ll cut down to the meat and bones of Eidolon hunting – what you need versus what others might have told you the requirements are. To do quick runs, possibly getting two full runs in one night cycle, you’ll need the archwing launcher in your gear wheel.

archwing launcher in gear wheel

To obtain the archwing launcher segment, join a clan, and access the dojo’s Tenno Lab menu.

tenno lab

tenno lab menu

I suggest you have a look through the warframe Augment mods to see what your frame might have that could benefit the party, such as Smite Infusion for Oberon or Shock Trooper for Volt. Thanks to Arogorth for bringing this point to mind.

Upon entering the Plains of Eidolon at night, to begin the Eidolon hunt, search for at least two Eidolon Lures. The first Eidolon, Teralyst, only requires two charged lures to capture it. To charge the lures, shoot and kill vomvalysts near the lures. The Vomvalysts have two forms, so make sure you kill both forms to energize the lures, and when stopping them from healing the Eidolon.

Vomvalyst first form:

vomvalyst first form

Vomvalyst second form:

vomvalyst second form

Your Eidolon Lure icons will turn blue once you’ve charged them. After you’ve charged your Eidolon Lures, then you can work on capturing your Eidolon. To start this process, you need to remove the Eidolon’s shields. Do this with the operator’s amp. If you’ve not charged your lures, then the Eidolon will run after you destroy one of its appendages, thereby costing your team time and or more archwing launchers.

It doesn’t matter what part of the Eidolon you shoot when taking down the shields with the amp. If you see blue numbers coming off the Eidolon instead of grey zeroes, then you’re shooting a valid point on the Eidolon to damage the shields. You can see the shields remaining in the purple bar in the image below.

shields

After you take out the shields, you want to switch over to one of your Warframe weapons to work on a specific joint in the Eidolon. Teammates should co-ordinate this effort so everyone shoots the same joint to make the Eidolon Capture go fast. Otherwise, you can waste a huge amount of time here without team coordination. Shoot the same Eidolon joint. This is one of the biggest stop points for Eidolon runs. If you have a 4 person squad, you don’t need a critulous Riven mod on your weapon of choice, although you definitely want to have your weapon Orokin Catalyst installed, and maybe a few forma. I suggest you check out warframe-builder.com in the links below for a build specific to your weapon, or at least to give you ideas for how to build.

Eidolon Joint Shot:

armor shot

Teralyst has four joints to destroy, then ultimately the head. You need at least two fully charged Eidolon Lures to capture it. Click the link to learn more about the Teralyst’s skillset.

Gantulyst has 6 joints to destroy, then ultimately the head. You need at least three fully charged Eidolon Lures to capture it. yes, I said it twice because why not save time and just copy paste? Click the link to learn more about the Gantulust’s skillset.

Hydrolyst likewise has 6 joints to destroy, then shoot it in the eyeballs. You also need at least three fully charged Eidolon Lures to capture it. Click the link to learn more about the Hydrolyst’s skillset.

Summoning the Gantulyst and Hydrolyst
Once you’ve defeated the Teralyst, you’ll need to summon the other two Eidolons. To do this, be sure to pick up the Eidolon Shards after the Eidolon Boss Disappears then drops loot.

eidolon shards

Next, find the Summoning Platform in the middle of Gara Toht Lake:

gara toht lake

Place your shard by pressing x:

shard placement

Let the summoning begin:

summoning

How to Survive or Void Walk OP
So you watched a video that showed a team composition with Harrow, Chroma, Trinity, and Volt, and it said that comp is what you should use. Well, maybe, depending on current state of the meta they’re right. But, they’re far from right about what WORKS to successfully and quickly get Eidolons done. The only essential warframes are either Trinity, Oberon, or Limbo with his Banish skill augmented with Haven to heal the Eidolon Lures. After that, just use whatever your best frame is, or what compliments the group the most if you’re playing with friends, and bring your biggest damage weapon. If you all shoot the same joint, kill the vomvalysts, and use void walk to avoid Eidolon skills, you’ll be able to to finish with time to spare.

So, what’s all the talk about Harrow? Harrow has the ability to nullify incoming damage to the party if everyone is close enough to him. This eliminates the necessity of having to run away from the Eidolon when it uses some of its skills. However, there’s a much easier alternative. When the Eidolon sound and animations play their tells (tells are what lets you know it’s going to use this or that skill depending on movement and sound) just go into Void Walk using your operator. To enter void walk while using the operator, press [ctrl] on the keyboard.

Yes, it’s that simple. You can dodge so much damage, and learn to time the waves of damage to where you don’t need to hold the [ctrl] key down during the entire skill, but only during the damaging waves. You can walk up and heal your teammates who’ve not read this, and walk away in the middle of massive destruction, leaving them scratching their heads.

Steps for Capturing Eidolons
To recap, I’ll give you a little list of steps here that I’ve covered in detail in the article.

  1. Archwing Launchers are a must on the gear wheel for fast travel.
  2. get Eidolon Lures then charge them first.
  3. be sure you have enough lures to capture the Eidolon depending on what tier it is.
  4. use your operator and amp to take out the eidolon shields. You can shoot almost anywhere on the Eidolon to drop shields.
  5. Focus fire on the same Eidolon Joint to take it down fast. THIS IS THE BIGGEST FAILURE AREA. COORDINATE FIRE.
  6. Kill all Vomvalysts racing to heal the Eidolon or restore its shields. Just kill them.
  7. Collect the Eidolon loot drops to get the Eidolon Shards to summon the next tier of Eidolon
  8. Use void walk while using the operator to dodge the Eidolon’s skills.
  9. No, you don’t need Harrow. No, you don’t need Volt’s shields. I don’t care what grand master pubah said.

Comment below what crazy party combination you used to take down the Eidolons. I hope I’ve helped you gain mastery over capturing Eidolons. If you learned something, please share this with your friends.

captured eidolon

Core Resources:

Community Resources:

Trading Resources:

Warframe: Tips for Kuva and Kavats for Riven Cycling

[getTwitchRail scgame=”Warframe”]
Created by: Digital Extremes
Game Site: Warframe Website
ESRB Rating: M for mature
Support: Support Website

Hellcat5 Connect: Hellcat5 on Official Forums

As I’ve been learning Warframe, I’ve ran across conflicting information for how to do Kuva runs. Here I’ll give you solid tested information so you can successfully and easily get through your Kuva missions quickly. This will be short because I don’t like to blabber more than I think I need to. If you’re reading this, and you haven’t finished your Second Dream quest, know that there are spoilers within.

To begin gathering Kuva for Riven cycling or weapon building, you must complete the War Within quest. Afterwards the Kuva Fortress will move around the starmap, dropping Kuva on planets it floats near. To run a Kuva mission, find a planet close to the fortress that has Kuva icons on it, then click a mission with the Kuva icon. There are two types of Kuva missions – standard, and one called Kuva Flood which is harder, but also yields twice the Kuva.

Kuva Fortress on Starmap – it moves
kuva fortress

Kuva Icon on a planet (the red teardrop looking thing):
kuva icon

Kuva Flood Icon on a planet (Kuva Tears in the shape of a triangle thing)
kuva flood icon

Common Misconceptions about Kuva Siphons

  • Using Void Dash through the Kuva Siphon damages it. FALSE. If you happen to dash through the Kuva Siphon while a kuva Cloud is close enough to enter the siphon, this could give you the idea that dashing through the siphon damages it. The only way to damage a kuva siphon is by destroying the kuva cloud with either your amp or void dash or other damaging void skill.
  • Void Dash is the only way to damage the kuva siphon. FALSE. You can use any damaging void skill including Void Blast, the amp or Void Dash to destroy Kuva clouds, which destroys each kuva braid.

Kuva and Kavats

  • If you have a Smeeta Kavat, take it with you during the Kuva run. Make sure you have the Charm mod equipped.
  • If you can, wait until you hear the Smeeta’s signature sound when it blesses you with Charm before you shoot the Kuva Cloud.
  • In the least, shoot at least one Kuva cloud with the amp(or other damaging skills while the Smeeta’s Charm skill is activated.

This is what a Kuva Siphon looks like (it’s the hot air balloon with arms):

kuva siphon

This picture shows the braid up, vacuuming the Kuva:

Kuva Braid

This image shows the red and black kuva cloud in motion toward the kuva siphon:

kuva cloud

Tips for Kuva and Riven Cycling

  • Listen for the Kuva Siphoning sound. It’s very unique. Follow the sound to find the direction of the kuva, or look at what direction the kuva braid is pointing in.
  • Remember Smeeta can give double the kuva if you get a charmed shot.
  • Kuva Floods give twice the amount of kuva, so if you smeeta and flood, you get 4x Kuva.
  • This might be a bit obvious, but resource boosters effect how much Kuva you get because they’re a resource. If you have this, then you’ll get 6x Kuva compared to normal. (Thanks to CheezyLama for reminding me to mention that.
  • You get 8 tries to stop the kuva clouds.
  • You must successfully finish the mission goal to get the kuva reward.
  • The minimum amount of Kuva you need to cycle a Riven is 900.
  • The maximum amount of Kuva necessary for a Riven cycling is 3500.

That’s it! With this info you should be walking down the yellow brick road of easy Kuva farming for your Riven rolls! If you’ve learned something from this article, please share it with your Warframe friends!

Core Resources:

Community Resources:

Trading Resources:

Warframe: the Game that Spawned Destiny and Anthem?

[getTwitchRail scgame=”Warframe”]
Created by: Digital Extremes
Game Site: Warframe Website
ESRB Rating: M for mature
Support: Support Website

Hellcat5 Connect: Hellcat5 on Official Forums

This game is hot. You might not know about Warframe, but it’s been growing exponentially. Warframe came out March 25, 2013, the first in a stream of games with guns and specialized suits with skills. While Warframe doesn’t have much of an active pvp element, Warframe excels with PVE play, which has a skill system similar to Overwatch.

Warframe crosses the boundaries of ARPGs like Vindictus through matches set up with a variety of goals, from extermination where you kill everything, to defense where you defend a point as long as you can, and get greater rewards the longer you can hold out because the NPCs become harder and harder.

While Warframe started off with smaller match-based gameplay, the developers have expanded into a more open-world element with the new Plains of Eidelon content, which gives players a wider sandbox based gameplay. On the Plains of Eidelon, you can do anything from fishing to destroying or capturing Eidelons, the massive guardians of old.

When I first saw Warframe, I thought there would be no way I could possibly play it because of how fast it moves and all the colors flashing. I have a hard time with sounds and lights after my strokes, like an autistic person going through sensory overload. A friend of mine encouraged me to give it a shot, and so I did.

I found that if I didn’t try to think when playing it, I could mostly keep up with other players in movement, and I close my eyes if the colors get too overwhelming. I wish they had a feature that helped people with similar conditions like me, but I don’t know of any way to tone down the colors. So, I don’t usually run many Infested areas due to the coloring.

Overall the Warframe community has been very welcoming, and rarely do I run into trolls, which is great. The experienced players are very willing to help the new guy, and you can easily find groups or help for anything in the chat channels.

While Warframe does have its bugs and quirks, the developers are very active and communicative about what they’re doing, and what they’ve fixed. They focus a lot of energy on bug squashing. Patches come during gameplay. You stay in whatever match you’re in when the patch hits, then finish up after you get a notice that it’s safe to finish and restart the client. A nice feature to not get kicked when fighting a boss battle.

So, if you’re looking for a new action-packed game to try out, that’s free to play, and not pay to win, check out Warframe. And, if you need a hand, shoot me a message in game @h3llcat5. Hope to see you there!

Core Resources:

Community Resources:

Trading Resources:

How Do You Keep Yourself Grounded When Your World is Falling Apart?

This was a conversation I stirred up today in response to the headline:

me – “Get Trump impeached.”

Nathan – “Oh shut up”

me – ” is that a comment to the original poster? me? or the person before me?”
(he didn’t do it as a reply, but it was immediately below my comment.)

(after no response, I looked at his facebook public page to see what he talks about, to see if it gives an idea of what kind of person he is)
me – ” I see you’re totally following your own advice from november – “I urge you all. Start spreading love everywhere!!! I mean be nice to douchebag drivers and peeps. “.”

Nathan – “Someone that pays attention. Well, I’m wrong then. Sorry. A change of opinion. I’ve heard of that.”

Then I post – “Nathan here’s a little something for ya – http://hellcat5gaming.com/communism/”

Nathan – “And what does that prove That maybe you are still ignorant and want your liberal trash pushed on everyone. Leftist”
(sadly, no lack of grammar, but hey, I get what he means, and of course it’s negative.)

Me – “lol. what a troll. I have one for that too. Sorry you’re a selfish little child, who likes to antagonize because he can’t sympathize with others very well I guess it’s all the hell he’s put himself through from the lies inside his mind about people.

Yea, I’m guessing you’ve got nothing to do with the steeple, or maybe someone who’s got a false face, you’d rather show your own disgrace and ignorance bluntly because your emotional growth is stunted. Sorry about that, I guess you didn’t get enough attention as a child, but you dialed the wrong number by messaging me,

you can keep goin’ and we can see exactly just how slow you are to realize exactly how deep your self misdirection goes, where it from flows, the lies in your heart.

Conversation over. It’s dead, leave it be. Stop tryin’ to fuck with me.

http://hellcat5gaming.com/trolls/”

Don – “Wow, how long were you saving that spiel?”
(oh my thank god grammar!!)

me – “@Don lol. saving? That’s amusing.”

Don – “Just looks like you were waiting for the right opportunity to unload that rant!”

me – “it’s not a rant, i incant creativity from off the cuff I guess you didn’t get enough. it’s just how I work. you can think of it as a creative twerk if you like. now go take a hike unless you want to have meaningful polite conversation. :)”

Don – “I was being polite and didn’t call any names or was insulting but I guess you’re the kiing here becasue you feel you have the authority to hijack a thought provoking post and tell people to take a hike. You should look closely in the mirror before you start judging people. Have a nice day.”
(backpedaling, going down the road of wishing me well.)

Nathan – “Maybe your right Doesn’t mean I have to like what u say”

me – “@Don are you serious? you don’t see the sarcasm and sour tone in “how long were you saving that spiel?” You can’t sell that to me. Open your eyes, can you see?

No deal man no deal. those bones you toss at me have spurs, no sir I won’t accept that your intention was good, I can punch through it like rotten wood. You took offense, maybe you misunderstood, when I said “you can take a hike unless you want to have meaningful polite conversation.” Your mind held only “you can take a hike.” well, mike, no, sorry it’s Don, common and check what you’re thinking against what I wrote, you might find you missed the boat on that one, or you’re intentionally rocking it. If so stop it. 😉

(and, this is what I do, I take things people say that have a negative tone and flip them around like a fish to stay on the ground, when the world falls down. winky wink to Stever)

and yea Don, calling it a spiel has a definite negative connotation. It’s a definite implied stipulation that commenting on facebook generates reaction and thought, albeit not what you want, perhaps, but to think that Stever won’t have creative people on her friend’s list, well I’m sorry I guess I missed..

the memo that demanded I give flat dry retort. Now, can we all be good sports and talk about ways you stay on the ground? lets dig into the profound instead of giving me a pound…ing. 😉

my hats off to Stever, a fellow weaver of words.”

don – “I see your point and apologize for not phrasing it better. I was reacting to your “creative” insulting behavior toward another poster. I dind’t meant to be condenscending. People on Karens site are creative and< I’m guessing, don’t wish to have politics brought into the realm of things. There are political forums for that. But I digress. I would think with all of your creativity and intellect that you would have looked at the content of my response instead of the word after all of the “creative insulting” you had just layed out for another on this post. I guess it doesn’t matter to you tho and that’s fine. Our paths will never cross outside of here. Again, I’m sorry if I offended you and will choose not to respond to this discussion between you and also apologize to Karen Stever for this discussion on her post. Yes Karen is a master weaver of words as you put it, but chooses not to use her gift to insult people who show a difference of opinion. I wish you well in all your future endeavors Richard!”

me – “Sitting aside my creative rhyming this time, I’ll comment further. I could get into the Aristotlean thesis / anti-thesis = synthesis, but that’s complex, and involves a study of pure logic and logical fallacies. (here’s a basic list if your interest is peaked – https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/ ) But, I’ll leave it there unless prodded.

Grounding oneself contains within it gaining the ability to, and facing truthfully, without an emotionally distorted slant, all the reality of the ground. I answered the question truthfully, and from my heart when I said “Get Trump Impeached.” This is a place of truthfulness. What’s going on in my country worries me, and brings me to action. I do what I can about it.

I live in a nursing home. I’ve had two strokes, and can’t talk any longer, nor can I sing. In losing that, I lost a part of my heart, but I can still write.

I didn’t become bitingly playful until Nathan attacked / lashed out / tried to claim my first amendment right of speech. At first, I was questioning about his comment. it’s not clear who he’s reacting to exactly, and I had to go off of that his comment rests below mine. Then, I went to see what kind of person he might be by reading over his profile. I found the comment of his that I copied saying that he’s not using his own advice, about treating people kindly. That was the beginning. Then it went on from there, until he called me a “leftist.”

“Leftist” is a derogatory term. People use “leftist” when they want to convey, in a somewhat socially acceptable (at least on the right side), that someone is an unthinking fool. (https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Leftist) That was an attack to which I won’t stand down from, nor should I.

From what you said Don, “I was reacting to your “creative” insulting behavior toward another poster,” I discerned an indication that either: 1. you side with him in what he commented, or 2. you didn’t fully read the conversation between he and I first, and therefore didn’t see that he attacked me first.

Some say it’s childish to attack back when attacked. I disagree. When our beliefs are attacked, we must stand strong. Yet, we must also question our beliefs each moment someone attacks those beliefs to test them against logic and love. I can say that, if you’re Christian, Jesus certainly didn’t hold back in the temple, whip in hand.

I don’t call myself Christian. But, I can certainly use context from any source, philosophical, religious, mythological, scientific, or current.

So many people feel they can’t effect the situation, that they’ve lost power. One guy above said that directly, that he always feels that way before he lashes out. People don’t want to “bring politics” into any discussion area because they feel powerless against it. But, we’re far from powerless.

So, ground yourself. Do a push up or two, and realize you just pushed away the weight of the world.”

Don – “Understood! Peace to you!”

Nathan – “Ok let’s talk. I’m listening / Very well spoken. I’ll give you that but I still don’t like you / Wisdom is better than knowledge. Faith is better also. You sir are wrong.”

me – “Nathan I shall question first my assertion, then I shall question your doubt.”

Nathan – “You win / Excellent points”

me – “nathan a place in your heart? then gg. If not, then all for nothing. I think they said that somewhere differently, something about being a clanging cymbal or resounding gong. ;)”

Nathan – “Don’t ever be cocky when you win an argument”

me – “to speak with arrogance after building a bridge would soon after turn the bridge into a wall.”

Nathan – “U think your so smart don’t you. Gloating is a sign of ignorance”

me – “Nathan perhaps I’m as ignorant as you believe me to be, perhaps more. Something to question, isn’t it?”

Nathan – “Something I can’t reasonably respond to. Nice / U are showing your colors”

me – “I sure hope so.”

Nathan – “I really don’t like you. But I respect you either way”

———————————-
Then I say in a different thread:

me – “How many people here realize that we’re doing the exact thing necessary to stay on earth when our world falls apart? What are we doing by commenting on facebook? Reaching out, communicating, sharing, discussing. Connecting.

Some people, though, you gotta punch them before they’ll give you a hug. I guess that’s just how they like it. Or, at least, that’s what they’re used to.”

Nathan – “I like this guy Richard Miller. Even though he’s an asshole”

ARK: Survival Evolved – a Steam Guide to Multi-Map Server Cluster Setup from Scratch

[getTwitchRail scgame=”Ark”]
Created by: Studio Wildcard
Game Site: Official Website
ESRB Rating: T for teen
Support: Support Website

Hellcat5 Connect: Hellcat5 on Steam

I’ve spent a ton of time searching for a step-by-step guide for how to setup an ark server. Most of what I found lies along the path of Indiana Jones on one of his expeditions – very cryptic and, unless you’ve experience with setups before (Indiana Jones faced plenty of setups), might be daunting, discouraging, and bring you to give up, or try using one of the tools created by some people to deal with server setup, which could open you up to holes in your network security.

You don’t need third party tools to easily setup an Ark server. You don’t need to pay high fees for an Ark server. This guide will show you not only how to create your own server but, if you want, also how to create your own multi-map server cluster, where you can jump between maps seamlessly using the obelisk transfer. The one catch – the computer you’re going to use as the server must have at least 16gb memory to host 3+ map servers in a cluster.

Imagine having Ragnarok, the Island, and Scorched Earth all connected. The world just became 3x bigger. You can transfer your gear, materials, dinos, and building crafting parts all through the obelisk, then turn off the server you left until you want to go back. If you want to have the ability to do this, then you’ve got to add a few things to the command line for the map servers to operate in the same cluster. I’ll cover all the steps, from nothing to triple map server cluster.

Part 1 – How to Install and Configure Ark Survival Evolved Dedicated Server or Cluster through Steam

You can download the files from my github.

  1. open steam.
  2. click Library from the main menu to expose the Library dropdown, then select ‘tools’.
  3.  
    steam ark server 1

  4. type ‘ark’ in the searchbox to find ‘Ark Survival Evolved Dedicated Server’ from tools.
  5.  
    steam ark server 3

  6. right click ‘Ark Survival Evolved Dedicated Server’ then select ‘Install Game’.
  7. after the installation finishes, right click ‘Ark Survival Evolved Dedicated Server’ again, this time selecting ‘properties’ toward the bottom of the drop-down menu.
  8.  
    steam ark server 4

  9. from ‘properties’ select ‘local files’ then click the button ‘browse local files’ at the top.
  10.  
    steam ark server 5

  11. after explorer opens, click ‘ShooterGame’ folder
  12.  
    steam ark server 6

  13. then go to Binaries > Win64.
  14.  
    steam ark server 7

  15. then move the explorer window over so you can see your desktop.
  16. right click the desktop, then select ‘New > ‘text document’
  17.  
    steam ark server 7a

  18. Rename the file according to the image below – example: startArkServer_theIsland.bat, then click ‘yes’ when you get the prompt
  19.  
    steam ark server 7c

  20. then right click the file so you can select to edit with the default notepad, or install notepad++
  21.  
    steam ark server 7e

  22. add this text as one line (except exit, it goes on it’s own line) to your batch file (NOTE: you can change SessionName to the name you want to give your server. You should also make sure to give different SessionNames for each server in your cluster):
  23.  
    start ShooterGameServer.exe "TheIsland?listen?Port=7777?QueryPort=27015?MaxPlayers=10?SessionName=Katmandu The Island" -UseBattleye -NoTransferFromFiltering -clusterid=katgod

    exit

  24. this is what the file should look like:
  25.  
    steam ark server 8

  26. for the other servers you want to run, you should add to the start line ‘?AltSaveDirectoryName=SaveRag’ to create save files in different directories. below are some examples:
  27.  
    start ShooterGameServer.exe "Ragnarok?listen?Port=7782?QueryPort=27017?MaxPlayers=10?SessionName=Katmandu Ragnarok?AltSaveDirectoryName=SaveRag" -UseBattleye -NoTransferFromFiltering -clusterid=katgod

    start ShooterGameServer.exe "ScorchedEarth_P?listen?Port=7779?QueryPort=27016?SessionName=Katmandu Scorched?AltSaveDirectoryName=SaveScorch" -UseBattleye -NoTransferFromFiltering -clusterid=katgod

    Remember to change the SessionName to what you want, and change the clusterid also. If you plan to only run one map server, then you might want to remove the clusterid property from the command line options. You can change the AltSaveDirectoryName also if you wish. The server will create the directory upon launching if it doesn’t already exist. I don’t add the server password to the batch file, but you can set that on the command line if you wish. Refer to the “Core Resources” section to find more details about what options you have for the command line.

    After you’ve created all the batch files, copy those over into the explorer window you moved to the side above. The directory location is: Ark Survival Evolved Dedicated Server\ShooterGame\Binaries\Win64. If you closed the window, just follow steps 5-7 above to locate and reopen the directory. The directory should look like this when you finish:

    steam ark server 7

    Part 2 – Advanced Configuration

    Here I’ll get into how to customize your servers with detail. First, I’ll give you this reference to look over regarding both the GameUserSettings.ini file and the Game.ini file. This way you can take a look at the settings you can modify, then decide what appeals to you:

    Wiki – Server Configuration Files

    I’ve included as reference some useful properties to set for the server in the process below. You can take a look at the reference to see what you’d like to add or remove.

  28. go back to the ‘ShooterGame’ directory. If you closed explorer, follow steps 5-7 above.
  29. from ‘ShooterGame’, choose the ‘Saved’ directory this time.
  30.  
    steam ark server 8

  31. from here, go to Config > WindowsServer
  32.  
    steam ark server 9

  33. right click ‘GameUserSettings.ini’, then choose ‘edit’.
  34.  
    steam ark server 10

You can change quite a few things from ‘GameUserSettings.ini’ and ‘Game.ini’. ‘GameUserSettings.ini’ handles broader server settings, while ‘Game.ini’ covers more gameplay specific settings you can adjust. I’ve not made changes to the ‘Game.ini’ file, but I will provide resources so you can add what you need, such as adjusting how many points you get to spent per level.

I’ve added these lines to ‘GameUserSettings.ini’ highlighted below:
 
steam ark server 10

I suggest you change the password fields to what you want to use. Alternately, you can set your password in the batch file if you want your server cluster to have different passwords for each server. You can copy these lines into your .ini file if you’d like:

TamingSpeedMultiplier=10.0
XPMultiplier=5.0
ResourcesRespawnPeriodMultiplier=0.5
StructureResistanceMultiplier=0.0
HarvestAmountMultiplier=10.0
HarvestHealthMultiplier=2.0
alwaysNotifyPlayerJoined=true
alwaysNotifyPlayerLeft=true
NightTimeSpeedScale=4.0
DayTimeSpeedScale=0.25
globalVoiceChat=true

Now, I’ll break down what each of these does.

TamingSpeedMultiplier – decreases the amount of time it takes to tame dinos. Who doesn’t want that?

XPMultiplier – gives more experience for each thing you do.

ResourcesRespawnPeriodMultiplier – you want to use a decimal for this to decrease the amount of time it takes. ex: 0.5 to take half the amount of time it would normally.

StructureResistanceMultiplier – this sets now much resistance to damage structures have. setting to 0.0 gives it indestructible status. So, you can have thatch houses that not even a giga can destroy.

HarvestAmountMultiplier – setting this to a higher number means you’ll get more per swing of pickaxe, axe, etc. And harvesting dinos will get more too.

HarvestHealthMultiplier – This means trees, rocks, etc., can take more hits, thus yielding more materials.

alwaysNotifyPlayerJoined – I always want to get a notice when someone joins my server in game.

alwaysNotifyPlayerLeft – I always want to get a notice when someone leaves my server.

NightTimeSpeedScale – to make the night shorter, make this greater than 1.

DayTimeSpeedScale – to make the daytime longer, make this less than 1.

globalVoiceChat – this is far better than the walkie talkies you get in game, and doesn’t require you to use a third party program, such as discord, to talk to people you’re playing with.

Part 3 – Firewall and Port Forwarding: How to Let the Ark Server Services Know Your Server Exists

So, we’ve got the server all prepped and ready. You added all the settings you want to try out. But, the door’s closed. You can’t get out the front door because locks bar your way. But, you’ve got the keys in a drawer, just need to find them. Those two locks on your internet door exist in the firewall and with port forwarding. Let’s get those keys.

Depending on which firewall you use, if it’s the built in windows defender firewall, or a third party program, find out how to allow the ports you’ve set in the batch files through your firewall. Search Google for “how do I open ports in windows defender firewall?” Or search instead for whichever firewall program you might use. If you want more info about what you’re opening up on your system, check out this article: Required Ports for Steam. Here’s directions for windows (overhauled from Official Wiki Firewall and Port Forwarding Info and improved for clarity):
 

  1. If you use Windows 10, click on Cortana search (the circle) in the lower left corner next to the start button, then type in “Firewall”. When “Best Match” shows, Click on “Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security” at the top, then this window will open:
  2.  
    ark firewall 1

  3. Click “Inbound Rules” on the left panel
  4.  
    ark firewall 2

  5. Scroll down the middle panel to see if you can find anything named Ark: Survival Evolved Dedicated Server.
    If you’ve started the game before, you should see some entries for Ark: Survival Evolved because Windows Defender Firewall prompts you to give access to new programs you launch that want to access the internet. The rules you see here for Ark: Survival Evolved, in the middle pane, are program specific, and should have a path set on the programs and services tab to ShooterGame.exe.
  6. If you find entries for Ark: Survival Evolved Dedicated Server you’ll see two. If you decide to check what’s in programs and services tab you should find a path to ShooterGameServer.exe.
     
    ark firewall 5

    In the center panel, right click the first entry for Ark: Survival Evolved Dedicated Server then go to properties.

  7.  
    ark firewall 3

  8. click on Protocols and Ports
  9.  
    ark firewall 4

  10. look for the Protocol type: drop-down.
  11.  
    ark firewall 6

    If the protocol type drop-down shows UDP, then:
     
    a1. then in the drop-down next to Local port: select Specific Ports
    a2. enter the game ports 7777, 7779, 7782 in the text field below the drop-down, along with the steam query ports 27015, 27016, and 27017 if you’re going to setup the triple map server cluster. Otherwise, just add 7777 and 27015.

     
    ark firewall 8

    If the protocol type drop-down shows TCP, then:
     
    b1. then in the drop-down next to Local port: select Specific Ports
    b2. enter the RCON port 27020 in the text field below the drop-down.

     
    ark firewall 9

  12. be sure to change both rules, for TCP and UDP.

If you don’t find the two rules for Ark: Survival Evolved Dedicated Server, then follow the directions below to create them with the settings shown above.

  1. Click “Inbound Rules” on the left panel, then click “New Rule…” on the right panel.
  2.  
    ark firewall 10

  3. When the New Inbound Rule Wizard opens up, select Port, then next.
  4.  
    ark firewall 11

  5. The setup will now ask you if you want to allow TCP or UDP, and what port it will be. Select TCP. Then, make sure you have “Specific local ports” selected and then put the port you plan to forward into the box (default 27020 for RCON).
  6.  
    ark firewall 12

  7. Select “Allow the connection”, and continue with the wizard.
  8.  
    ark firewall 13

  9. Make sure all of the boxes are selected for where the rule applies.
  10.  
    ark firewall 14

  11. Enter a name (required) and a description (optional).
  12.  
    ark firewall 15

Repeat these steps for UDP. Make sure to enter your steam browser/query port (27015 default) and game port (7777 default). You also need the raw UDP socket port (7778 default, always your game port +1) if using the ?bRawSockets command line option.

After finishing, you have two Ark Survival Evolved Dedicated Server firewall inbound rules. Close the advanced firewall window, and open Windows Firewall again.

Now, the wiki states this:

Click “Allow an app or feature through Windows Firewall”. Scroll down to ShooterGame. Make sure all apps named ShooterGame have the Private and Public boxes checked.

I’ll tell you that’s the worst idea possible. Doing so would open you to the possibility of giving a virus open access to your computer. Windows defender firewall will ask to give ShooterGame.exe (Ark: Survival Evolved) permission to access the internet the first time you run it. If you can play Ark, you don’t need to set anything for ShooterGame.exe for the ShooterGameServer.exe to have access. Whoever wrote the entry didn’t fully understand.

For server setup, you need to make sure that the Program and Services tab on the inbound rules shows a path to ShooterGameServer.exe
 
ark firewall 16

You don’t want to open anymore ports than necessary for hackers and cyber theft. Now on to port forwarding!

This part might seem the most daunting, because I can’t give you screenshots. It’s not a good idea to advertise what router you’re using. But, I can walk you through general steps for doing this. If you want to know more about port forwarding, read this article on wikipedia.org. Here are the steps:

  1. Find the Make and Model for your router.
  2. search google for ‘manual for xx xxx xxx’ router. put your router’s make and model instead of x’s.
  3. download your router’s manual
  4. find out how to login to your router from the manual if you don’t already know.
  5. find in the manual where it talks about how to setup port forwarding. If you’re new to this, read it a few times.
  6. login to your router, then follow the directions for setting up port forwarding from your router’s manual.
  7. select the protocols you want to forward (typically TCP and UDP)
  8. forward only the ports necessary (27015, 27016, 27017, 7777, 7779, 7782 if you follow my cluster setup exactly)
  9. make sure you forward the ports from the correct ip address on your network – the server’s local ip address.
  10. apply the settings, then you’re done!

Part 4 – Starting the Server

Now you can create shortcuts on your desktop to the batch files to start your server cluster easily. It’s best to start one map server at a time, and know that each will take about 3.5 gb of memory, so unless you have at least 32 gb of memory on your server, you might want to stay to 2 instances running in the cluster at a time. Watch your memory resources by pressing ctrl+shift+esc to open the task manager, then select performance.

Finally, double click on the short cut to start your first server. you should see something like this once the server finishes loading:

steam ark server running

Part 5 – Finding your Server in the Game Client List

  1. start the game client
  2. click ‘join ark’ button from the main menu.
  3. .
    ark main menu

  4. type part of the server name you gave your server in the ‘Name Filter’ search box.
  5. .
    searching the server list

  6. select the server, then click join. enter your server password, then click ‘accept’.
  7. .
    searching the server list

You’re on your way into your own lands! After you finish, and everyone logs out of the server or cluster, to close the server, just click on the server window, then press ctrl+C one time.

Core Resources:

Community Resources: