I've been running ARK servers in one form or another since the Survival Evolved days, and if there's one constant across the entire lifespan of this game, it's that performance has always been... a topic. ASA on Unreal Engine 5 looked gorgeous from day one but ran like it was rendering every individual leaf on The Island simultaneously. Which, in fairness, it basically was.
That's about to change. Studio Wildcard is upgrading ARK: Survival Ascended to Unreal Engine 5.7, and the performance numbers they're throwing around are genuinely exciting. Here's everything I know about what's coming, what it means for dedicated servers, and what you should be doing to prepare.
What UE 5.7 Actually Changes
The headline improvement is a fundamental rework of how the engine handles foliage rendering. If you've ever wondered why ARK tanks your framerate the moment you look at a forest – congratulations, you've identified the exact problem Epic just fixed.
In previous versions of UE5 (including the 5.5 build ASA currently runs on), Nanite – Epic's virtualised geometry system – handled large static meshes like rocks, buildings, and terrain beautifully. But foliage? Trees, bushes, grass, undergrowth? All of that ran on a separate, older rendering pipeline with its own culling system. It was, to put it charitably, not great. Especially in a game like ARK where half the map is dense jungle.
UE 5.7 extends Nanite's virtualised geometry to cover foliage. That means trees, bushes, and vegetation now use the same efficient tessellation and culling system that rocks and structures already benefit from. Jeremy Stieglitz – Studio Wildcard's co-founder and development director – described it pretty bluntly in an interview: "You turn it on, say, 'Ok, all the foliage, the trees, and bushes and stuff, I want to use the new method of nanite tessellation and not the old method.' And you kind of turn it on and, boom, your performance is way better."
He also called UE 5.7 "largely as close to a magic bullet as you tend to get in videogames." That's a strong claim from someone who's been publicly battling ARK's performance reputation for years. It tells me the internal testing numbers are good enough that he's willing to stake his credibility on it.
The Performance Numbers
Studio Wildcard is claiming approximately 33% performance improvement on existing maps. Some sources report a 30–40% range depending on the specific hardware and map being tested. That's not a marginal improvement – that's transformative.
To put it in perspective, Stieglitz has said that ASA already runs about 40–50% better on the same hardware compared to its October 2023 launch. Stack another 33% on top of that and you're looking at a game that performs fundamentally differently than the one people rage-reviewed two and a half years ago.
The gains aren't uniform across every map, though. Dense vegetation maps like The Island, Fjordur, and Astraeos – basically anything with lots of trees – benefit the most. Sparse environments like Scorched Earth will likely see smaller improvements since it has less dense vegetation to optimise. That makes sense given the fix is specifically about foliage rendering.
For dedicated servers specifically, the rendering pipeline changes are primarily client-side, but the efficiency improvements to collision detection and world streaming absolutely affect server performance too. Nanite foliage uses virtualised geometry that replaces pre-baked collision meshes, which means less memory overhead and faster collision checks in forest-heavy areas. If you've ever watched your server's TPS drop when a bunch of players are fighting in a redwood forest, this is directly relevant.
Rough expectations for server-side improvement, based on what's been shared publicly:
- A server running 30 players at The honest answer is that we don't know the exact server-side impact yet. The UE 5.7 improvements are primarily client-side rendering changes, and dedicated servers don't render Nanite geometry. There may be some benefit from world streaming optimisations, but specific numbers won't be clear until the update ships and we can benchmark real servers. Real-world results will depend on your specific map, mod list, and player activity. But even if the actual gains land at 20–25% instead of 33%, that's still a meaningful improvement for anyone running a populated server.
Timeline
The UE 5.7 upgrade was originally targeted for end of March 2026. As of writing (mid-April), it hasn't dropped yet, which isn't surprising – engine upgrades of this scale rarely ship exactly on schedule. The current expectation is that it'll land sometime in April 2026.
Stieglitz confirmed the upgrade applies to all platforms – PC, Xbox, and PlayStation – so this isn't a PC-only improvement. Console servers will see the same benefits.
Worth noting: the UE 5.7 upgrade is also what's making a Nintendo Switch 2 port feasible. Stieglitz has said they have builds running on Switch 2 hardware, but "it is only doable because of that newer version of Unreal." No release date for the Switch 2 port yet, but the fact that it exists at all tells you how significant the performance gains are.
What Server Admins Need to Do
When the update drops, here's the practical checklist.
Before the Patch
1. Back up everything. This is an engine-level upgrade, not a content patch. Create a complete backup of your world save and all config files (Game.ini, GameUserSettings.ini, and any custom configs). If you're on LOW.MS, your automated backups handle this, but I'd still recommend triggering a manual backup right before applying the update.
2. Document your current performance baseline. Note your typical TPS, CPU usage, and memory consumption during normal play. You want a before-and-after comparison so you can actually quantify the improvement on your specific setup.
3. Check your mods. This is the big one. Engine upgrades can break mods, and UE 5.7 is a significant jump. Mods at highest risk include:
- Spawn modifier mods that hook into wildlife spawner systems
- Structure mods with custom collision meshes (these are directly affected by the Nanite foliage changes)
- UI/HUD mods using Slate or UMG APIs
- Map overhaul mods that modify geometry
Check your mod authors' Discord servers and workshop pages for compatibility announcements in the days leading up to the patch. If a critical mod doesn't have a compatibility update ready, you might want to hold off on updating until it does.
4. Notify your community. Let your players know the update is coming, that there may be a brief downtime window, and that they should expect things to look and feel different (in a good way) when they log back in.
When the Patch Drops
1. Update during off-peak hours. If you can, apply the update during your server's lowest-traffic window. For most EU servers that's 4–7 AM. For NA servers, similar.
2. Apply the update. On LOW.MS, Steam updates apply through the control panel – stop the server, trigger the update, and start it back up. Self-hosted servers will need to run SteamCMD as usual.
3. Verify the server loads correctly before opening to players. Check the server logs for any errors, especially mod-related ones. Make sure the world save loaded properly and your configs are intact.
4. Monitor closely for the first session. Watch your TPS and resource usage during the first 30 minutes of normal play. Compare against your pre-update baseline. If something looks wrong, check the logs – most post-upgrade issues will show up as mod compatibility errors.
Config Changes
Based on what's been shared so far, no mandatory config file changes are expected. Your existing Game.ini and GameUserSettings.ini should carry over cleanly. Existing tamed creatures will receive new visual models automatically – no admin action needed – though it's worth verifying your DinoStatMultipliers settings if creature stats change with any accompanying TLC updates.
If Wildcard introduces new server-side settings specific to UE 5.7 (like options to toggle the new Nanite foliage mode), I'll update our ARK server configuration guide as soon as we have details.
Save Compatibility
This is the question everyone asks first: will my existing save work after the upgrade?
Based on past engine upgrades (the 5.4 to 5.5 transition kept saves intact), this is expected. The UE 5.7 upgrade is a rendering and engine-level change, not a world format change. Your save data, tamed creatures, structures, and player progress should carry over without issues. That said, this is an engine upgrade on a live game, so I'd still keep that pre-patch backup handy. Better to have it and not need it.
Genesis Part 1 is Coming Too
While we're talking about what's on the horizon, Genesis Part 1 Ascended is now confirmed for June 2026. And it's not just a straight port of the Survival Evolved version – Wildcard is doing something significantly more ambitious.
The Ascended version of Genesis Part 1 introduces a full ocean biome with real water physics, customisable pirate ships, semi-procedural islands and fortresses, and large-scale naval battles. The community-voted creature The community-voted Palaeoctopus creature will be part of the expansion – details on its exact mechanics are still thin, but it's one of the more anticipated additions.
It releases alongside "Bob's True Tales: Tides of Fortune," which is part of the standalone paid DLC. Genesis Part 1 itself is free DLC.
For server admins, Genesis Part 1 means a new map option. If you're already thinking about running it, our guide on switching maps or DLC on your ARK server covers the process. The ocean-heavy nature of the map could also mean different server resource requirements compared to land-based maps – I'll have specific recommendations once we've had a chance to test it.
The Bigger Picture: ASA's 2026–2027 Roadmap
The UE 5.7 upgrade and Genesis Part 1 are just the start. Wildcard has laid out an aggressive content roadmap:
- Q1 2026: ARK: Survival of the Fittest (battle royale mode, developed by Studio Siren)
- Late March/April 2026: Unreal Engine 5.7 upgrade
- June 2026: Genesis Part 1 Ascended + Bob's True Tales: Tides of Fortune
- Q3 2026: ARK: World Creator (in-game creation tools)
- December 2026: ARK: Dragontopia (paid expansion)
- Q2 2027: Genesis Part 2 Ascended + Bob's True Tales: Galaxy Wars
- Early 2027: UE 5.9 upgrade (another engine bump)
- Q4 2027: ARK: Legacy of Santiago – Part 1
Wildcard has stated that ASA will continue to be updated even after ARK 2 launches, as long as player demand exists. That's reassuring for anyone investing time and money into an ASA server right now.
What This Means for LOW.MS ARK Hosting
A few things specific to us.
Updates are handled for you. When the UE 5.7 patch drops, you can trigger the Steam update from your control panel. Your saves and configs carry over automatically.
Existing saves are compatible. You won't need to wipe or start fresh. Your world, structures, tames, and player data should all survive the engine upgrade intact.
Performance headroom. If the 33% improvement claim holds up – or even lands at a more conservative 20–25% – servers that were previously running tight on resources will have meaningful breathing room. That might mean your current plan handles more players comfortably, or that you can run more complex mod stacks without hitting TPS issues.
We'll update our guides. Once the patch lands and we've had time to test it, we'll update the ARK server configuration guide and troubleshooting guide with any UE 5.7-specific notes.
If you're not already running an ARK server and the performance improvements are what's been holding you back, this might be the time to give it another look. Check out our ARK: Survival Evolved hosting page for current plans, or the getting started guide if you want to see what the setup process looks like before committing.
I'm genuinely looking forward to this one. ARK's performance has been the elephant in the room for as long as I can remember, and having the lead developer call a specific engine update "a magic bullet" – with actual numbers to back it up – is the most optimistic I've been about it in years. Here's hoping the patch notes live up to the hype.