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This guide shows you how to use admin (cheat) commands on your ARK: Survival Evolved server:
- find or set your server's admin password
- open the console in the game
- turn on admin commands for your character
- send admin commands from the control panel instead
Your admin password
Players have to enter the server's admin password before they can use admin commands on a multiplayer server. (In single player you are an admin already.)
Your server's admin password is on the Startup tab of your server in the control panel:
- Sign in to the control panel at panel.chicagoservers.co and open your ARK server.
- Open the Startup tab. Click Show next to Admin password to see it, or type a new one.
- If you changed it, click Save startup, then Restart at the top of the page.
Open the console in the game
Join your server. Press Tab to open the console: a black bar at the very bottom of the screen. It can be hard to see, so press Tab a second time for the larger view.
In the larger view the top half of the screen shows the commands you entered before, with the bar for typing near the middle. It's handy for spotting a typo: cheat works, but cheats (with an s) is ignored.
Press Esc to close the console, or press Tab again to cycle back to the game.
Turn on admin commands for your character
With the console open, enter:
enablecheats YourAdminPassword
Replace YourAdminPassword with your server's admin password, exactly as it is on the Startup tab.
The game usually shows no message when it works. To check, open the console again and enter cheat fly. You should see "You feel much lighter", and pressing jump lifts you into the air. Enter cheat walk to land again.
Admin access lasts until you leave the server. Enter enablecheats again each time you join.
Send commands from the control panel
The Console tab of your server in the control panel sends commands straight to the server as an admin, so you don't need enablecheats or the cheat prefix there. For example: ListPlayers, Broadcast Hello everyone or SaveWorld. It works once the map has finished loading.
For the commands you can use, see What cheat/admin commands can I use?
Need help? Open a support ticket and we'll take a look.