Every so often a ticket lands that looks like a broken server but is actually a broken Steam. This is one of those. You hit Connect and Steam throws up:
Error: Cannot connect to the server. App ID specified by the server is invalid.
We had exactly this from an ARK customer recently. They'd switched maps, restarted, the panel showed the server online, and every join attempt failed with that message. Nothing was wrong with the server, and nothing was wrong with their map change either. The bug is in the Steam client itself, and it's been there since a Steam update in September 2023. Valve still hasn't fixed it.
What actually breaks
Two things trigger it:
- Clicking Connect on a server inside Steam's server browser (View → Game Servers)
steam://connect/...links, the kind you find on community websites, Discord pins and desktop shortcuts
In both cases Steam tries to launch the game and pass it the connection, gets confused about which app the server belongs to, and gives up with the "app ID is invalid" message. The server is fine. Steam just can't complete the handoff.
The fix: join from inside the game
Launch the game first and connect through its own server browser. The in-game browser does its own connecting and never touches the broken Steam code path.
For ARK:
- Keep the server in your Steam favourites (View → Game Servers → Favorites → add
YOUR.IP:27015– that's the query port, not the game port). The Steam window is still useful for this, just don't click Connect in it. - Launch ARK and pick Join ARK.
- Set the session filter to Favorites, or Unofficial if you'd rather search by name.
- Tick Show Password Protected. Our ARK servers always advertise as password protected because of the admin password, even when there's no join password set, so if the box isn't ticked your server simply won't appear in the list.
- Select your server and join.
If the browser is being slow you can also direct connect: press Tab on ARK's main menu to open the console and type open YOUR.IP:7777 (game port this time).
Not just ARK
We've seen the same error reported for Palworld, Conan Exiles and plenty of other Steam games – anything that gets joined through a steam:// link or the Game Servers window. The fix is the same shape everywhere: start the game yourself, then connect from the in-game browser or console rather than letting Steam launch the game for you.
If you're handy with URLs there's one more workaround: steam://run/<appid>//+connect IP:PORT/ launches the game and passes the connection along in a way that still works (ARK's app ID is 346110). Honestly though, the in-game browser is less faff.
Still can't get in?
If you're joining from inside the game and it's still not working, that's a different problem – wrong query port, server still booting, or a version mismatch after a patch. Our ARK troubleshooting guide covers those, or just open a ticket and we'll check the server from our side.