A cluster is what lets your tribe upload a dino on the Island and download it on Genesis. The surprise: it isn't a map feature or a mod — it's two flags on the launch line. Get -clusterid and -ClusterDirOverride right and separate servers start sharing characters, items, and tames. Here's the exact config, the same-machine-vs-separate-machines catch that trips people up, the dials that block specific transfers, and the Island + Genesis pairing we run — with transfer verified working both ways.
-clusterid and point them all at one shared -ClusterDirOverride folder, and they become a cluster. No mod, no special map, no separate server download. Everything below is just detail on those two flags. Already setting up a specific map? See our Genesis Ascended server guide.
A "cross-ARK cluster" is just a set of dedicated servers that agree to share a stash. Nothing about the maps themselves changes.
Every server keeps running its own map, its own world save, its own settings. What clustering adds is a shared drop box: when a player uploads at an obelisk, their survivor / items / dinos get written to a folder both servers can see; when they download on another map, that server reads them back. Two things have to line up for that to work — the servers have to agree they're the same cluster (that's -clusterid) and they have to read and write the same folder (that's -ClusterDirOverride). That's the entire concept.
Add both to the command line of every server in the cluster. Not the INI — the launch line, next to your other -flag arguments.
# on EVERY server in the cluster — Island, Genesis, whatever else
-clusterid=mytribe-cluster -ClusterDirOverride=C:\asa-clusterThat's it. No entry in GameUserSettings.ini is required to form the cluster — the INI only comes in when you want to restrict what transfers. Boot the servers with both flags and the cluster exists.
This is the one place a working single-box cluster quietly fails to become a working multi-box cluster. The flags look identical; the requirement isn't.
| Setup | What -ClusterDirOverride needs |
|---|---|
| All servers on one machine | Easy mode. One ordinary local folder. Put the same path (e.g. C:\asa-cluster) on every server's launch line and you're done — they all write to the same real directory because it is the same directory. |
| Servers on separate machines | Same path string is not enough. Each box would just write to its own local C:\asa-cluster, and an upload on one would be invisible to the other. You need a genuinely shared filesystem — an NFS or SMB share that every server mounts — so all of them read and write the one real folder. |
Once the cluster exists, transferring is an in-game action at a familiar spot — no console, no admin.
Players walk up to an obelisk or a transmitter on one map and use its upload tab to send their survivor, items, or dinos into the cluster. On another map in the same cluster, they walk up to any obelisk or transmitter and download. Character, inventory, and tames all carry across — nothing is stripped by the transfer itself. Uploaded data sits in the shared folder until it's downloaded (subject to ASA's upload timers), so you don't have to have both survivors online at once.
The default cluster lets everything move. If you want to lock down a category — no dinos in, no items out — that's an INI job.
The [ServerSettings] block has a family of transfer switches — the PreventDownload* / PreventUpload* keys plus relatives like NoTributeDownloads. Each one blocks a single category of transfer. Because the defaults allow everything, you only touch these to restrict.
| Setting | Default | Effect when enabled |
|---|---|---|
| PreventDownloadSurvivors | False | Blocks downloading a transferred character onto this server. |
| PreventDownloadItems | False | Blocks downloading transferred items. |
| PreventDownloadDinos | False | Blocks downloading transferred dinos. |
| PreventUploadSurvivors / Items / Dinos | False | The mirror image — blocks uploading that category from this server. |
| NoTributeDownloads | False | Blanket switch that disables tribute (obelisk) downloads of items and dinos on this server. |
All of these live in our GameUserSettings.ini generator's Cross-ARK section, so you can toggle them and copy the block straight into your config rather than hand-typing key names.
The freshest map plus the oldest map, in one cluster, is the case people are unsure about. We tested it directly.
Our own live setup is an Island server and a Genesis server on the same machine, sharing one cluster dir. As of July 6, 2026, obelisk transfer between them is verified working both ways — Island → Genesis and Genesis → Island, survivor and dinos intact.
Running your ASA servers in containers — Pterodactyl and friends — adds exactly one wrinkle to a same-machine cluster: the shared folder has to be visible inside each container.
By default each container only sees its own filesystem, so -ClusterDirOverride pointing at a container-local path gives every server a private cluster dir — same failure as the cross-machine case. The fix is a bind mount: mount one host directory into each server's container (e.g. host /srv/asa-cluster → /home/container/cluster in every container), then set -ClusterDirOverride=/home/container/cluster on each server's launch line. Make sure the directory is writable by the container user (the same UID your panel runs servers as), or uploads will silently fail to write. With the mount in place, containerized servers cluster exactly like bare-metal ones.
-clusterid=<yourid> (identical on all of them) and -ClusterDirOverride=<shared folder> (a folder all the servers can read and write). That's the whole mechanism — clustering is launch-line config, not a map setting. Players then transfer at obelisks or transmitters. See the two flags.-ClusterDirOverride is just one local folder, same path on every launch line, done. Separate machines: the same path string isn't enough — each box would write to its own local copy. You need a genuinely shared filesystem (NFS/SMB) that all servers mount, so they hit the same real folder. This is the #1 cause of "transfers vanish." More here.[ServerSettings] PreventDownload* / PreventUpload* family — PreventDownloadSurvivors, PreventDownloadItems, PreventDownloadDinos, NoTributeDownloads and relatives — each block one category. Defaults allow everything, so you only need these to restrict. They're in our GUS generator's Cross-ARK section.-ClusterDirOverride folder; downloading on another map reads them back out. Every server must be able to read and write the same folder, or an upload on one map won't be visible on the other.2430930) clusters — the cluster is created entirely by the two launch-line flags. There is no separate "cluster" build, mod, or DLC. If a map runs a dedicated server, it can join a cluster.Cluster's up? The rest of the ARK kit — server setup, settings, spawns, and colors.