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Change ARK’s cycle in the server’s GameUserSettings.ini file, under [ServerSettings]. Add or edit DayCycleSpeedScale, DayTimeSpeedScale, and NightTimeSpeedScale, save the file, and restart the server. Because player reports disagree about whether larger values make a phase faster or slower, change one value at a time and measure the result on a private test server before applying it to a live world.
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What the three ARK settings control
These settings are commonly used to tune the length of a server’s daylight, darkness, or complete day-night cycle. Community documentation places all three in GameUserSettings.ini, inside the [ServerSettings] section. They may not exist in a newly created file, so you might need to add them manually.
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| Setting | Intended scope | What community reports say | Confidence and caution |
|---|---|---|---|
DayCycleSpeedScale |
The overall speed of the complete day-and-night cycle | Used when you want the entire cycle to run at a different pace. | Its exact interaction with the day and night settings is not consistently documented. Measure any change. |
DayTimeSpeedScale |
The daylight portion of the cycle | One community guide says lowering the value lengthens daytime. | Other player reports describe the opposite direction for speed values generally. Treat the direction as unverified. |
NightTimeSpeedScale |
The nighttime portion of the cycle | A player post says lowering it lengthens night and that night is relative to the day value. | Reports conflict. Do not assume that raising or lowering a value will produce the expected result without timing it. |
Community testing commonly lists 1.0 for all three settings. A hand measurement describes a complete cycle of roughly one hour of real time, but that is an anecdotal, low-confidence measurement rather than a guaranteed default for every ARK edition, patch, host, or configuration.
Before editing the server
- Confirm which server you are changing. If your host runs multiple maps or instances, identify the configuration belonging to the map you want to alter.
- Stop the server cleanly. Do not edit the file while the process is running; the server may overwrite your changes when it shuts down.
- Make a backup. Download or copy the existing
GameUserSettings.inibefore changing it. Keep the original until the new timing has been verified. - Record the patch and edition. Reports from older ARK versions, including threads discussing 179.x builds, may not describe current behavior. Note whether you are running ARK: Survival Evolved or another ARK edition and the server’s patch number.
- Use a private test first. A timing change can alter the practical length of taming windows, crop growth, night visibility, and other time-sensitive activities. Test away from players and important saves.
Locate GameUserSettings.ini
The exact path and control-panel labels depend on whether you self-host or rent a managed server. Use your host’s file manager, FTP/SFTP access, or local server folder to find the file named GameUserSettings.ini. Open it with a plain-text editor, not a word processor.
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Within the file, find the section header shown below:
[ServerSettings]Place the cycle entries beneath that header. If another section appears first, do not put these keys there. If the header is absent, create one line for [ServerSettings] and place the entries below it, preserving the file’s normal INI formatting.
Step-by-step: change the cycle
- Stop the ARK server. Wait until the host panel or process status confirms that it is no longer running.
- Open
GameUserSettings.ini. Locate the[ServerSettings]section. - Find or add the three keys. Do not create duplicate lines for the same key. Edit the existing line if one is already present.
- Start with a small, isolated change. Keep two values at
1.0and alter only the setting you are testing. This makes it possible to tell which key caused an observed change. - Save as plain text. Preserve the exact spelling of each key and the equals-sign format.
- Restart the server. Community guides say a restart is required before the new values are applied.
- Measure in game. Use a test character, note the in-game time, and use a real-world stopwatch. Record the time at sunrise, sunset, and the next sunrise if you are testing a full cycle.
- Adjust again only after recording a result. If the result moves in the wrong direction, restore the backup or reverse the small change and test again.
Example configuration
This is a correctly formatted example, not a guaranteed recommendation for a particular speed:
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[ServerSettings]
DayCycleSpeedScale=1.0
DayTimeSpeedScale=1.0
NightTimeSpeedScale=1.0To test one variable, for example, change only the night line:
[ServerSettings]
DayCycleSpeedScale=1.0
DayTimeSpeedScale=1.0
NightTimeSpeedScale=0.8Do not infer from the number alone whether the night will become longer or shorter. The available player reports disagree about the direction of these multipliers. The value above is useful as a controlled experiment, not as a promised outcome.
Why the direction of the values is disputed
There is no consistent official explanation in the available documentation for the relationship between these multipliers and real-world time. Community reports conflict in several ways:
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- One Steam user says values below
1increase the time a phase takes, while values above1shorten it. - Another Steam discussion says
2speeds the cycle up and0.5slows it down. - A guide claims raising
NightTimeSpeedScalefrom1to1.5makes nights twice as fast, which conflicts with the other reports.
These statements may reflect different patches, editions, interactions among the three keys, or simple measurement errors. They should not be combined into a single formula. The reliable method is empirical: change one key, restart, measure, and keep a written record of the observed result.
A practical test protocol
Test daytime
- Set
DayCycleSpeedScale=1.0andNightTimeSpeedScale=1.0. - Choose a small change to
DayTimeSpeedScale. - Restart and record the real-world time from sunrise to sunset.
- Compare that result with the baseline. If the change is opposite to your goal, undo it and try the other direction.
Test nighttime
- Restore the tested daytime value and leave it unchanged.
- Change only
NightTimeSpeedScale. - Measure sunset to sunrise with the same stopwatch method.
- Repeat once if the difference is small or the result seems inconsistent.
Test the whole cycle
- After the phase tests, change
DayCycleSpeedScaleby a small amount while leaving the phase settings fixed. - Measure from one sunrise to the next, rather than timing only daylight or darkness.
- Compare both the total cycle and the individual phase lengths. A total-cycle change can mask an unexpected change in the day/night balance.
Use the same map, server hardware, time display, and test procedure for every run. Community measurements do not always match the documented or expected math: one user timed a cycle and found it 18 minutes shorter than expected, and several discussions report similar mismatches. Treat your server’s measured behavior as the practical answer for that patch.
Choosing which setting to change
| Your goal | First setting to test | How to validate |
|---|---|---|
| Make the complete day-night loop different without intentionally targeting one phase | DayCycleSpeedScale |
Time sunrise to the next sunrise and check that both phase lengths remain acceptable. |
| Change only how long daylight feels | DayTimeSpeedScale |
Time sunrise to sunset while leaving the other two values unchanged. |
| Reduce or extend darkness | NightTimeSpeedScale |
Time sunset to sunrise and verify that daytime did not change unexpectedly. |
Changing two or three values at once makes troubleshooting difficult. Tune one variable, record the result, then move to the next only when the first behavior is understood.
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Values and combinations to treat cautiously
Zero values
One player reported that setting both NightTimeSpeedScale and DayTimeSpeedScale to 0.000000 froze time completely. This is a single report, not a verified feature. Avoid zero and near-zero experiments on a live server because a frozen cycle can leave the world in permanent day or night and make recovery inconvenient.
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A forum user suggested DayCycleSpeedScale=0.5 with NightTimeSpeedScale=2 to keep nights the same length while doubling days. The interaction is unverified. If you test it, do so on a copy of the server and measure both phases; do not assume the claimed balance will hold.
The claimed 0.035 setting
One guide associates DayCycleSpeedScale=0.035 with a real-time 24-hour cycle, but no cited page confirmed that figure. It should not be presented as a dependable recipe. If a real-time cycle is your goal, start from a backup, test incrementally, and measure an entire cycle before opening the server to players.
Troubleshooting after a restart
The server ignores the change
- Confirm the server was stopped before editing and restarted afterward.
- Check that the lines are under
[ServerSettings], not under a different header. - Check spelling, capitalization, equals signs, and duplicate entries.
- Verify that you edited the configuration for the correct map or instance.
- Download the file again after startup to see whether the host rewrote or replaced it.
The result is opposite to what you wanted
That outcome is possible because the direction of these values is disputed. Restore the backup or reverse only the last change, restart, and measure again. Do not compensate by changing all three keys at once.
The timing changes between tests
- Use a stopwatch and the same in-game landmarks every time.
- Measure a complete phase or cycle rather than estimating from a brief glance at the sky.
- Record the patch version and any other time-related server settings.
- Repeat the test before deciding that a small difference is real.
The world is stuck in one phase
Remove any zero or near-zero values, restore the known-good backup, save, and restart. Verify normal time progression on a private test character before reconnecting players.
Patch and edition compatibility
These keys are discussed across community guides, hosting articles, and Steam threads rather than a single authoritative developer reference. Older threads may describe behavior from a different ARK patch, including discussions about 179.x versions. An update can change timing or how the multipliers interact. Keep a copy of the working configuration and re-test after a major server update instead of assuming an old value still behaves identically.
A safe rollout checklist
- Back up the original
GameUserSettings.ini. - Stop the server before editing.
- Put the keys under
[ServerSettings]. - Change one value by a small amount.
- Save, restart, and confirm the server loads normally.
- Time the relevant phase with a real-world stopwatch.
- Repeat until the measured result matches your goal.
- Only then apply the tested values to the public server.
- Keep the measured values and patch number with the backup for future updates.
The dependable part of the procedure is the file location, section name, restart requirement, and controlled testing. The exact direction and real-world duration of a multiplier must be verified on your own server because community reports do not agree.
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