Genesis Ascended Part 1 landed July 3, 2026, and the single most-needed fact isn't in the usual places yet: the dedicated-server map code is Genesis_WP. It's free DLC on the standard ASA server app — no extra depot, nothing to buy server-side. This is the full setup: the launch line with ASA's two infamous gotchas, the three new settings patch 89.24 added, cross-ARK clustering so your tribe can hop between maps, and the patch-day fix for a server that goes invisible.
levelname_ASA = Genesis_WP) and live server trackers confirm it, and it's what our own server boots. If a guide tells you Genesis "isn't hostable in ASA," it's quoting a stale table.
Two things released together on July 3, 2026, and knowing which is which saves you money and confusion.
| Release | Price | Server impact |
|---|---|---|
| Genesis Ascended Part 1 | Free | The map itself — Genesis_WP, one map, five biomes (Bog, Arctic, Ocean, Volcanic, Lunar), with the Ocean biome heavily overhauled. Arrives via server patch 89.24 on the standard app. |
| Tides of Fortune | Paid (Bob's True Tales) | None. Ships, pirates, and its creatures gate per player, not per server — details below. |
Genesis Part 2 did not ship and has no ASA map code yet — anything claiming otherwise is guessing. And it's one map: the five biomes are zones within Genesis_WP, not separate level files.
ASA servers are heavy — this is the one part of the hobby where "a PC you already own" needs an asterisk.
ArkAscendedServer.exe). On Linux it runs under Wine/Proton — that's not exotic; our own Genesis server runs under Wine and completed full startup in ~47 seconds, 12 mods loaded.-port — see the gotcha) plus an RCON port if you want remote admin.If you've hosted any ASA map before, Genesis is the same dance with a new name — plus the two launch-line gotchas that bite everyone once.
steamcmd +force_install_dir C:\asa-server +login anonymous +app_update 2430930 validate +quitAlready have an ASA server? The same command pulls the Genesis patch (89.24, ~15.6 GB). Watch the output for Success! — and if you ever see state is 0x6 instead, go straight to the invisible-server fix; that update silently failed.
ArkAscendedServer.exe "Genesis_WP?listen?SessionName=My Genesis Server?RCONEnabled=True?RCONPort=27020?ServerAdminPassword=pickabetterone" -port=7777 -WinLiveMaxPlayers=20The map name goes first, then ?option pairs, then the -flag arguments. -ServerPlatform=ALL on the flags side opens the server to all crossplay platforms.
?Port= does nothing. ASA ignores it and binds 7777 regardless. The game port is set only by the -port=NNNN command-line flag. (?RCONPort= and ?RCONEnabled= as URL options work fine.)?ServerAdminPassword= goes last. ASA swallows everything after it into the password — any ?option you put behind it silently becomes part of your admin password. Both of these are verified on our own servers, not folklore.Rates, breeding, structures and the several hundred other knobs live in GameUserSettings.ini and Game.ini under ShooterGame\Saved\Config\WindowsServer\. Our GameUserSettings.ini generator and Game.ini generator build both files from toggles — including the new Genesis vessel settings.
Ships arrived with Genesis Ascended and Tides of Fortune, and three new [ServerSettings] keys arrived with them — straight from the official 89.24 patch notes.
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| MaxAnchoredVesselsInRange | 50 | Caps how many anchored vessels can sit within the check radius of each other — the anti-harbor-sprawl knob. |
| AnchoredVesselCheckRadius | 30000 | The radius that cap counts within, in Unreal Units (30000 ≈ 300 m). |
| NeedsPowerToActivateAquaticCompartments | True | Aquatic compartments require power before they activate. Flip it off for PvE-comfort free activation. |
All three are in the GUS generator's new Vessels & Ships section, flagged with our verify badge until we've exercised them on a live server — the defaults above match the official notes.
The paid half of the July drop gates at the player, not the server — which makes hosting decisions easy.
Your server needs no purchase and no extra content to run Genesis_WP with Tides of Fortune players on it. Per the wiki: players who don't own the DLC can use Tides items that others craft, but can't learn its engrams or tame its creatures. That check runs per player. Practically: a mixed tribe works fine, the non-owners just can't tame the Tidepup or Parrot themselves.
The good news about ARK transfers: the rules are launch-line and INI config, not map magic. Two flags turn separate servers into a cluster.
# add to EVERY server in the cluster (Island, Genesis, whatever else)
-clusterid=mytribe-cluster -ClusterDirOverride=C:\asa-cluster[ServerSettings] has the transfer dials — the PreventDownload* / PreventUpload* family and friends — in the GUS generator's Cross-ARK section. Defaults allow everything.The most demoralizing ASA failure isn't a crash — it's a server that runs perfectly and shows up for nobody. Genesis launch week is prime season for it.
The mechanism: Steam updates your players' clients silently. If the server is still on the old build, the version filter hides it from the in-game browser — it looks deleted, but it's just stale. Restart the server so it pulls the update and it reappears.
Error! App '2430930' state is 0x6 after update job — and the server then happily boots the OLD build. The fix that actually works: stop the server, delete steamapps/appmanifest_2430930.acf and the Steam appcache folder from the server install, and start again. SteamCMD re-detects the install and pulls the patch cleanly (for Genesis, that's the full 15.6 GB). We hit exactly this on Genesis patch day; that recipe is how our server came back.Also worth knowing: ASA's unofficial server list just flakes sometimes — servers drop off the browser while being perfectly joinable. Direct-connect by IP bypasses the listing entirely and is the fastest way back in while the browser sorts itself out.
Genesis Ascended brought one free headliner, two paid companions, and a school of X-variants. The spawn classes are live in our per-dino pages.
| Creature | DLC side | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Palaeoctopus | Free | The headline new tame — knockout tame, prefers Exceptional Kibble, saddle at level 65. |
| Tidepup | Tides of Fortune | Passive tame. Its internal class is literally Axolotl — which is why the spawn command doesn't say Tidepup. |
| Parrot | Tides of Fortune | Breedable from day one. |
| X-variants | Free | X-Acrocanthosaurus, X-Archelon, X-Cryolophosaurus, X-Deinosuchus, X-Helicoprion, X-Xiphactinus — plus Astrocetus is now breedable. Their spawn classes are still settling on the wiki; we add them to the spawn builder as they verify. |
Genesis_WP — same _WP suffix as every ASA map. The wiki's server-setup tables still say "unavailable" as of launch week; they're stale. The map's own infobox, live server trackers, and our own running server all agree on Genesis_WP.2430930) with patch 89.24. No extra depot, no server-side purchase. Tides of Fortune is the paid half and gates per player, not per server.state is 0x6 SteamCMD failure — the invisible-server section has the exact fix.-clusterid= on both, shared -ClusterDirOverride= folder, transfer at obelisks. The cluster section has the exact flags. We run precisely this pairing ourselves.Server's up? The rest of the ARK kit — settings, spawns, colors, and where the artifacts hide.