How to Roll Back an ARK Survival Ascended Server to an Earlier Save

To roll back an ARK: Survival Ascended server, stop it, open ShooterGame/Saved/SavedArks/<Map>_WP/, rename the current <Map>_WP.ark out of the way, and rename the timestamped backup you want (for example TheIsland_WP_05.10.2026_18.30.12.ark) to TheIsland_WP.ark. Start the server and the world loads from that point. Player characters and tribes are stored in separate files, so you decide whether to roll them back too. This guide covers the whole process, including a single player or tribe restore.

When a rollback makes sense

• A wild dino glitch, a meteor or a bug killed your best tames.
• A mod update or removal wiped structures or items.
• Someone raided or griefed in a way the rules do not allow.
• The world file is damaged after a crash and the server will not load it.

A rollback rewinds everyone, not just the person with the problem. Tell your players before you do it, since anything they did after the backup time is lost.

What ARK saves and where

On a dedicated server, everything for one map lives in a single folder:

ShooterGame/Saved/SavedArks/TheIsland_WP/
  TheIsland_WP.ark                          the world: map, dinos, structures
  TheIsland_WP_05.10.2026_18.30.12.ark      a timestamped world backup
  <long number>.arkprofile                  one file per player character
  <long number>.profilebak                  that character's previous save
  <tribe id>.arktribe                       one file per tribe
  <tribe id>.tribebak                       that tribe's previous save

The folder name matches the map you run, like ScorchedEarth_WP, Ragnarok_WP or Astraeos_WP. Timestamped backups are written automatically as the server saves, with the date as day.month.year and the time as hour.minute.second. ARK cleans up old ones over time, so do not count on backups from weeks ago being there.

Single player saves are in SavedArksLocal instead, but this guide is about servers.

Step 1: Save and stop the server

If the server is running and the current state matters at all, save it first so you keep a copy of "now" to come back to:

SaveWorld

Run it from the server console, or in game with cheat SaveWorld after EnableCheats <adminpassword>. Then stop the server. Never swap save files while the server is running. It holds the world in memory and writes it back over your restored file at the next save.

Step 2: Back up the whole folder

Download or copy the entire SavedArks/<Map>_WP/ folder somewhere safe before you rename anything. If the rollback picks the wrong time, you can put everything back as it was.

Step 3: Pick the backup

Sort the timestamped .ark files by name or date and pick the last one from before the problem. Check the file size too: a backup that is much smaller than its neighbors is often a sign of a bad save, so skip it.

Remember the format is day.month.year. 05.10.2026 is 5 October, not 10 May.

Step 4: Swap the world file

1. Rename TheIsland_WP.ark to something like TheIsland_WP.ark.broken.
2. Copy the backup you picked and rename the copy to TheIsland_WP.ark.
3. Leave the other backups alone.

Step 5: Decide about players and tribes

This is the step most rollback guides skip. Player characters (.arkprofile) and tribes (.arktribe) are separate files, and they are not rolled back by Step 4.

• Leave them as they are when only the world needs rewinding, for example dinos lost to a bug. Players keep their current levels, engrams and inventory.
• Roll them back too when the problem involved players, like duped items in inventories or a rule breaking raid where the loot is now in someone's inventory.

To roll back all of them, restore the copies from your own earlier backup. To roll back one player, replace their .arkprofile with their .profilebak:

1. Find the player's file. It is named after their ID, which you can match with ListPlayers in the console while they are online.
2. Rename <id>.arkprofile to <id>.arkprofile.old.
3. Copy <id>.profilebak and rename the copy to <id>.arkprofile.

A tribe works the same way with .arktribe and .tribebak. The .bak files only go back one save, so for anything older you need your own backups.

Step 6: Start and check

Start the server and watch the console until it finishes loading. Then join and check the thing you rolled back for: are the tames there, is the base standing. If the server fails to load the restored file, stop it, try the next older backup, and repeat.

Clusters: watch for duplicates

If your server is part of a cluster, players may have uploaded items, dinos or characters to the shared cluster storage after the backup time. Rolling back one map brings back the original while the uploaded copy still sits in the cluster folder, which duplicates it. When you roll back a clustered map, roll back the cluster storage from the same time as well, or tell players not to download anything uploaded during the lost period. The cluster guide shows where that storage lives.

Make the next rollback easier

• Take a manual backup before every ARK patch and every mod change. The update guide covers that routine.
• Keep a few copies off the server, since ARK clears its own timestamped saves over time.
• Write the time down when something goes wrong. It makes picking the right backup quick.

On a GamezServers ARK server, the panel has a Save world button, one click backups that cover the whole save folder, and a file manager plus SFTP for the renaming in Step 4. Restoring a backup from the panel puts every file back together, which avoids the player and tribe file question entirely. If you would rather not do this by hand at 2 a.m. after a bad patch, see the ARK game page.

FAQ

Where are ARK Ascended server backups?

In ShooterGame/Saved/SavedArks/<Map>_WP/, next to the live save. They are the .ark files with a date and time in the name.

Will a rollback reset player levels?

Not unless you restore the .arkprofile files too. The world file holds the map, dinos and structures, while levels and inventories live in the player files.

How do I restore one player's character?

Stop the server, rename their .arkprofile, and copy their .profilebak in its place with the .arkprofile name. It only goes back to their previous save.

Can I roll back without losing everyone's progress?

No. A world rollback rewinds the whole map. For one player's problem, restore only their files or use admin commands to replace what they lost.