Ark Survival Ascended, like its predecessor Ark Survival Evolved, has faced its fair share of crashing and fatal errors during early access. While Studio Wildcard works on fixing their game, this guide aims to provide you with some helpful fixes to minimize crashes and improve your gameplay experience.
How to Fix Fatal Errors in Ark Survival Ascended
Check Your Internet
A stable internet connection is crucial, especially when playing on multiplayer or PvP servers. If you’re experiencing crashes while playing with friends or on official/unofficial servers, make sure your internet connection is solid. If you’re using WiFi, ensure that your router is functioning properly and that your device has a strong connection to it. For the best possible internet connection, consider using an ethernet cable connected directly from your router to your device.
Run the Game as Administrator
Running Ark Survival Ascended as an administrator has proven effective in reducing crashes upon startup. To do this, go to Ark Survival Ascended on Steam and open the settings. Select “Browse Local Files” and navigate to ShooterGame > Binaries > Win64 > ArkAscended.exe. Right-click on the ArkAscended.exe file and choose “Run as administrator.” This simple step can significantly minimize crashes for some players.
Verify Your Files
Frequent crashes may be caused by corrupted game files. To ensure that this isn’t the case for you, verify your game files on Steam. In your Steam library, right-click on Ark Survival Ascended and select “Properties.” Go to the “Local Files” tab and click on “Verify Integrity Of Game Files.” Steam will automatically scan and fix any corrupted files associated with Ark Survival Ascended, helping eliminate fatal errors.
Update Your Graphics Card
Although system specifications don’t directly impact crashes in Ark Survival Ascended, an outdated graphics card can still cause stability issues. To update your graphics card drivers, open the Device Manager on your PC. Locate your graphics card under the “Display adapters” drop-down menu, right-click it, and select “Update driver.” This will ensure that you have the latest drivers for your graphics card.
Lower Graphics Settings
Lowering your graphics settings has proven to be an effective workaround to avoid crashes in Ark Survival Ascended. While it may not offer the best visual experience, setting your game’s graphics to a lower level can help reduce crashes. You can explore optimal graphics settings for Ark Survival Ascended or simply set them to low as a temporary solution until Studio Wildcard releases a patch.
Restart Your Game
The first and easiest step to try when experiencing crashing issues is to restart your game. Sometimes a quick restart can resolve minor problems and get you back into the game without any issues.
Restart Your Console or PC
If restarting the game doesn’t solve the problem, rebooting your console or PC might help. While this isn’t a guaranteed fix, it’s a simple and quick solution that can potentially resolve crashing problems.
Verify Your Game Files
Verifying game files through Steam is another way to address crashing issues in Ark Survival Ascended. Right-click on the game in your Steam Library, go to “Properties,” then choose the “Local Files” tab and click on “Verify Integrity Of Game Files.” This process will scan and fix any corrupted files associated with Ark Survival Ascended, helping resolve crashing problems.
Drop the Graphics Settings
Crashes can occur if your system’s graphics settings are too high for its capabilities, especially on PC. Lowering these settings within the game’s Graphics Settings menu can help alleviate crashing issues. Focus on reducing resolution, shadows, and texture quality. Additionally, disable Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), a feature known to cause performance problems.
Install the Latest Graphics Card Drivers
If none of the previous fixes work, it’s essential to check and update your graphics card drivers. Open the Device Manager, search for your graphics card under “Display adapters,” right-click on it, and choose “Search automatically for updated driver software.” This will ensure that you have the most up-to-date drivers installed on your system.
Final Notes
While Studio Wildcard is working on fixing the crashing issues in Ark Survival Ascended, there are steps you can take to minimize crashes and improve your gameplay experience. By checking your internet connection, running the game as an administrator, verifying your files, updating your graphics card drivers, and adjusting your graphics settings, you can significantly reduce crashes until a patch is released.