Best Ark Single Player Settings

The world of Ark may be conventionally stylized to be played with others online. There is a separate single-player mode for people like myself who like to tell themselves single-player campaigns are not dead yet. However, the offline mode and its unoptimized default mechanics made for a sour experience for gamers worldwide.

So, below is a guide for Ark Single Player Settings that will mitigate the grind, make for a more enjoyable play-through, and guarantee a far fairer and balanced run that sometimes even the Online Mode struggles to achieve.

ARK Single Player Settings

We will be covering both the General and Advanced settings in this guide. Following these steps will ensure the best offline experience for you!

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Restore the Default Settings

Clear any existing settings you might have, as we will only be changing a handful of those, and setting all of them manually is time lost that would be better spent fighting Dinos eight times your size.

Difficulty to 1.0

This does not change the overall difficulty of the game. Rather, it increases the maximum level of dinosaurs that spawn (which should be 150 if you followed this guide correctly)

This might make the bosses a bit tough, but who doesn’t enjoy a good challenge occasionally?

XP Multiplier to 1.5

This is one of the settings the developers have patched yet still managed to turn out inconvenient! Setting the XP multiplier to 1.5 will make the XP gain more bearable without breaking the game.

Taming Speed to 5.0

This will allow you to tame Dinos at 5x and save you a lot of food!

Harvest Amount to 1.5

This increases the number of trees and shrubbery around. This will allow for more resources to build walls and shelter from and keep your world from looking bland.

Dino Character Recovery to 2.0

The bigger boys in your collection with a greater amount of health take too long to heal. This increases their healing speed by 2x and makes the pace noticeably consistent.

Disable Your Crosshair

You can leave this setting checked, but it is HIGHLY advised that you don’t.

The player is provided access to various attachments and iron sights that serve as crosshairs so enabling the game’s own crosshair ruins the immersion aspect and renders quite a few in-game items useless for your Ark Single Player run.

Enable “Max Difficulty”

This will ensure that all the Dinos on the map are Level 150, which we want. The loot, the challenge, and the flow of the combat are made moderately better.

Use Single Player Settings

Checking this option will automatically optimize some of the Ark Single Player settings later on since it is tailored specifically for single-player runs.

Use Corpse Locator

A green light will linger about in the sky for some time that you can use to track the location of your unfortunate demise. It’s a neat little addition that saves you the time and effort to tame some Troodons.

Disable Structure Placement Collision

Checking this makes for a more accurate building where nothing is overlapping or being intertwined. It looks neat!

Allow Unlimited Respecs

This setting will grant the player access to Mind Wipe Tonic, allowing infinite respecs. If you choose to leave this option unchecked, you can only respec once.

Allow “Override Structure Platform Prevention”

Moving on to the Advanced Settings will allow you to place irrigation pipes and Tek Generators on platform saddle buildings, which is crucial if you intend to play Ark Single Player.

Mating Interval to 0.5

The Dinos in your collection will mate twice as fast, so you have more time to enjoy your Ark Single Player run!

Egg Hatch Speed to 3.0

Depending on the type of dinosaur, eggs will hatch faster, about 17-20 minutes on average. This fits in well with the other settings’ pacing, and your playthrough will not feel inconsistent.

Harvest Health to 2.0

This setting is mainly for immersion and realism purposes. This setting makes your game pace more natural by altering the number of hits it takes to down Harvest.

Baby Cuddle Interval Multiplier to 0.15

Who wouldn’t want to cuddle small, deadly lizards? Setting the Cuddle Interval Multiplier to 0.15 along with the Use Single Player Settings box checked, you can cuddle the babies about every 10 minutes for imprinting.

Baby Cuddle Grace Multiplier to 10.0

This option sets the chance/rate of imprinting to 100%, granted that you utilized all of your cuddles. This means better stats for your Dinos.

No Resource Radius

Set Player to 4.0 and Set No Resource Radius: Structures to 2.0. This saves the player from any annoying and unfortunate spawns. Personal space is important!

Set Crop Growth Speed to 2.0

Crops will grow faster and fit in with the overall pace

Allow Custom Recipes

Disabling this means you won’t be able to make and savor your favorite dish!

Allow Raid Dino to Feed

This setting ensures unofficial Raid Dinos do not starve to death like usual. However, it is hard enough to tame these beasts. Treat yourself and ensure they stick around in Ark Single Player!

The above-stated settings have been derived with a stabilized playthrough in mind that still serves as a decent challenge for all those who desire to enjoy Ark Single-Player mode to the fullest.

The descriptions of each set are available, and the respective settings can be tweaked if the players want to simplify or amplify their Single-player experience. 

Other ARK Guides: Ark Caves Guide: All Island Cave Locations And Rewards