Ark: Survival Evolved is a game that requires players to put a lot of time, effort, and frequent frustration into it. The game is a constant grind for resources, tames, and gear which means that you’ll never want to lose anything that you’ve worked so very hard for.
Ark, unlike most games, doesn’t have a dedicated “save” key that players can find in the menu. As a result, it can get very confusing trying to figure out how you’re going to make sure that the gorgeous home you just built isn’t about to be lost when you exit the game. The good news is that there’s no need to worry about that.
Usually.
Saving in Single Player or Locally Hosted games in Ark
These game modes don’t require a save function as they automatically save your progress. So when you’re playing by yourself on a non-dedicated server, your game will always save itself in the state that you’ll have left it when you exited. This means your game is effectively frozen in time until you log on again. The only issues that can occur are if your game crashes or your save data becomes corrupted somehow.
Saving on Unofficial, or Official Servers in Ark
Playing on any server means that you will never have control over that server’s data. Your characters tames, and buildings are all at the mercy of the server host, meaning that sometimes if the server crashes, you’ll lose quite a bit of progress when it rolls back. This is true for Wildcard’s own servers and privately hosted ones too.
Another thing to remember with playing on servers is that the game continues, even if you’re not there. This means that your tames, crafting queues, and the rest of the server continues on in real-time even if you quit. This isn’t usually an issue for PvE players if you’re in a safe spot away from roaming Gigas, but for PvP players, it means you’re vulnerable to a raiding force.
