Where Are ARK Survival Evolved Saves Located?
ARK single-player saves in SavedArksLocal inside the install folder, with Steam Cloud limited to about 10 MB.
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ARK: Survival Evolved keeps single-player saves inside the game install directory, under ShooterGame\Saved\SavedArksLocal. Dedicated servers use a separate SavedArks folder, so a guide that points there is describing a different setup. Config files sit in ShooterGame\Saved\Config.
Steam Cloud has about 10 MB, which is a tight fit for a survival game with large maps. Manual backups are the safer option. Copy the whole ShooterGame\Saved folder if you want maps, config and local profiles together.
Where ARK: Survival Evolved stores this, by platform
<SteamLibrary>\steamapps\common\ARK\ShooterGame\Saved\SavedArksLocal
Single-player saves. Dedicated servers use SavedArks instead. Config is in Saved\Config. Steam Cloud offers about 10 MB.
Frequently asked questions
Where are ARK single-player saves?
In ShooterGame\Saved\SavedArksLocal inside the ARK install folder. Dedicated servers use ShooterGame\Saved\SavedArks instead.
Does ARK: Survival Evolved have cloud saves?
Steam Cloud is supported with about 10 MB. That is small for large worlds, so keep local backups as well.
Why is my save not in the SavedArks folder?
Single-player uses SavedArksLocal. SavedArks is for dedicated servers, which is why the two paths are often confused.
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