Your ARK: Survival Ascended server is running but won't appear in the browser — or you get "unable to query server info for invite." Nine times out of ten it's the query port, a firewall, or port forwarding — not the server itself. Here's how to find which one, fastest first.
27015) open and forwarded — separately from the game port (7777)? This is the cause ~90% of the time.7777 and 27015 allowed through the firewall (UDP) and forwarded on the router?"Unable to query server info" is literal: your game tried to ask the server for its details and got no answer. ARK listens on two different UDP ports, and people forward the wrong one constantly:
| Port | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Game port | 7777 / UDP | Carries actual gameplay once you're connected. |
| Query port | 27015 / UDP | The server browser reads this to show name, players and map. If it's closed, the server "won't show up." |
| RCON port | 27020 / TCP | Only if you use remote admin tools. Not related to the listing. |
If the game port is open but the query port isn't, you'll often get the maddening case where you can connect by direct IP but the server never appears in any list. Make sure your launch command line and config set the query port explicitly and that it matches what you forwarded.
Port, QueryPort and RCONPort fields (under Network Ports). Set them there so your config and your forwarded ports agree — mismatched query ports are the #1 cause of this error.
If you're self-hosting behind a home router, the ports have to be open in two places — the machine's firewall and the router:
7777 and 27015 (add 27020/TCP if you use RCON). The quickest test is to temporarily disable the firewall — if the server appears, you've found it.Even a perfectly configured server can fail to show up simply because the in-game list is enormous and gets truncated or filtered. Don't fight the list — add the server directly:
View → Game Servers → Favorites → Add a server, then enter IP:QueryPort (e.g. 203.0.113.10:27015). Use the query port here, not the game port — this trips everyone up.IP:QueryPort and they can favorite it the same way.
ASA runs crossplay through Epic Online Services, and the error "unable to query server info for invite" tends to show up specifically when joining via a Steam invite rather than the server list.
These don't usually cause "unable to query" specifically, but they're the next things to fail once the server is visible and you're trying to actually join:
If the server vanished right after an ARK update, it's almost certainly running an older build than the client. ASA clients hide servers on mismatched versions. Update the server to the current patch and restart it — on patch day this is the single most common "my server disappeared" cause, and it has nothing to do with your ports.
27015) is wrong, closed, or not forwarded — it's a separate port from the game port (7777). Fix the query port and the listing comes back. Set it in the GameUserSettings.ini generator so your config matches what you forwarded.
7777) for gameplay, and the query port (default 27015) that the server browser uses to fetch name, player count and map. Both must be open; the query port is behind most "won't show up" problems.
7777 (game) and UDP 27015 (query), and allow them through the firewall. Add 27020/TCP for RCON. Rented/hosted servers handle this for you — there your issue is the config or a version mismatch, not the network.
7777 UDP (game), 27015 UDP (Steam query / server browser), and 27020 TCP if you enable RCON. ASA no longer needs the old 7778 raw-socket port that ASE required.