Ark: Survival Evolved cheats and console commands

A T-Rex and player storming through heards of raptors in Ark's Valguero map
(Image credit: Studio Wildcard)

Welcome to your own treasure trove of Ark: Survival Evolved cheats. Let's not stand on ceremony: You're playing a game where you're some kind of time-clone taming dinosaurs. We're already operating outside the borders of reality. Might as well bust the sandbox wide open eventually, yeah? Ark cheats let you enter all sorts of console commands to enable god mode, level up instantly, teleport, spawn items, instantly tame dinosaurs, unlock all the engrams, summon creatures, and more.

Ark cheats are primarily used in singleplayer mode, but you can also use them in multiplayer if you're the server admin or if you've been given access to the server admin password. Otherwise, you can't use cheats while playing online. And if you're looking for other ways to enhance Studio Wildcard's dino survival game, don't forget to check out list of the best Ark mods.

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Fallout 4 cheats: Nuclear codes

Below you'll find cheats for the base game, Survival Evolved, and some for summoning creatures and other goods from Ark's DLC, like the paid Genesis expansion or the free Fjordur, Lost Island, and Crystal Isle updates.

Recent updates

January 2025: While Ark: Survival Evolved sees the occasional event or update for adding new items or dinos, that doesn't change much for how cheats work, so don't expect any major overhauls to the base commands themselves. Maybe save that enthusiasm for Ark 2, whenever that may be.

Ark Cheats: How to use the Ark console

(Image credit: Studio Wildcard, Snail Games USA)

How to use Ark cheats

You can access the console in Ark by pressing the Tab key—you'll see a narrow box open at the very bottom of your screen. That's where you'll be typing in the cheats. To close the console, press Tab again.

  • In singleplayer Ark, simply enter cheats to enable them
  • In multiplayer Ark, admins must enable cheats with 'EnableCheats '

After the server admin enables cheats, multiplayer Ark shortcuts require a few extra information strings here and there. If you have the admin password, use the 'EnableCheats ' command to start using cheats. Some cheats will require the prefix 'admincheat'. In singleplayer, you don't need to worry about a prefix. Just type them and press Enter.

The cheats are written in bold below (and they're not case-sensitive).

Ark cheats: Player commands

(Image credit: Studio Wildcard, Snail Games USA)

Cheats for God mode, unlocking recipes, and infinite stats

First up, player cheats. These are all cheats that are focused on you specifically, whether you're turning on good, old God mode, changing your size, or learning engrams. This is also where we've got your cheats to immediately tame a dinosaur for you.

  • God — Toggles godmode, protects you from all damage (except drowning)
  • InfiniteStats — Refills health, stamina, oxygen, food, and water
  • GMBuff — Godmode plus infinitestats and additional experience points
  • EnemyInvisible — All creatures ignore you, even when attacked
  • LeaveMeAlone — Combines the cheats God, InfiniteStats and EnemyInvisible
  • ChangeSize — Changes your size by this multiplier, the default value is 1
  • Fly — Lets you fly. Use 'Walk' to disable
  • Ghost — Activates noclip mode. Use 'Walk' to disable
  • GiveEngrams — Unlocks all crafting recipes
  • GiveEngramsTekOnly — Gives you all Tek engrams
  • GiveColors — Gives you a quantity of each dye
  • DoTame — Tames targeted dinosaur (if it's tamable)
  • ForceTame — Tames targeted dino, and dino is rideable even without saddle
  • ForceTameAOE — Tames dinos in specified radius (default is 2000)

Ark armor and weapon cheats

(Image credit: Studio Wildcard)

Ark cheats for armor sets, weapon sets, and gear tiers

Let's face it: You're going to end up pissing something off eventually. Best to be prepared, at least. These cheats will help you gear up with weapons and armor.

  • GiveArmorSet  — Gives you full armor set for the specified tier and equips it

Armor tiers options can be entered as a number or word, as follows:

  • 0 (or Cloth)
  • 1 (or Chitin)
  • 2 (or Metal or Flak)
  • 3 (or Tek)
  • And also Hide, Fur, Desert, Ghillie, Riot, Scuba, Hazard

Armor quality options are: Primitive, Ramshackle, Apprentice, Journeyman, Mastercraft, Ascendant, Alpha

  • GiveWeaponSet — Gives you all weapons in specified tier

Weapon tier options can be entered as a number or word, and are as follows: 

  • 0 (or Primitive): Bow, Pike, Spear, Bola
  • 1 (or Basic) Assault Rifle, Shotgun, Longneck Rifle, Sword, Grenade
  • 2 (or Advanced) Compound Bow, Fabricated Sniper Rifle, Rocket Launcher, C4 Charge
  • 3 (or Tek) Tek Grenade, Tek Rifle, Tek Railgun, Tek Sword

Weapon quality options are the same as the options for armor, as listed above.

Ark spawn item cheats

Ark: Survival Evolved - Resources, like gardening plots and automated watering systems, can be crafted and added to bases using cheats

(Image credit: Studio Wildcard, Snail Games USA)

How to spawn items in Ark

These commands allow you to give a specific item to yourself or another player. Setting ForceBlueprint to 'true' or '1' will give the blueprint, while setting it to 'false' or '0' will add the item itself.

For a full list of Ark item ID numbers, see this list

  • GiveItem
  • GiveItemNum
  • GiveItemToPlayer
  • GiveItemNumToPlayer
  • GiveResources — Add 50 units of each resource to your inventory.

There's also the GiveItemSet cheat, which gives you a convenient package of consumables from a given item tier.

  • GiveItemSet - Gives you all items in specified tier

Item tiers can be a number or word, and are as follows:

0: 90 Cooked Meat, 200 Stimberry, 2 Waterskin
1: 2 Water Jar, 200  Stimberry, 90 Cooked Meat, 100 Medical Brew
2: 100 Medical Brew, 100 Energy Brew, 100 Cactus Broth, 60 Cooked Meat Jerky, 2 Canteen
3: 5 Shadow Steak Saute, 5 Enduro Stew, 5 Focal Chili, 5 Lazarus Chowder, 100 Medical Brew, 100 Energy Brew, 100 Cactus Broth, 90 Cooked Meat Jerky
Food: 30 Cooked Meat Jerky, 30 Prime Meat Jerky
Water: Canteen Refill
Brews: 100 Medical Brew, 100 Energy Brew

Ark dinosaur cheats

Ark Genesis Megachelon Giant Turtle

(Image credit: Studio Wildcard)

How to summon dinosaurs with creature IDs

If you're not playing Ark for the dinosaurs—well, frankly, I'm confused. If you're feeling underserved on the dinosaur front, these cheats will help. These cheats summon a specified creature, either tamed or untamed, using its creature ID. For Ark creature ID numbers, see this list.

  • Summon Spawns a specified creature at your location.
  • SummonTamed Spawns a tamed creature at your location.
  • GMSummon Spawns a tamed creature of a set level
  • GiveDinoSet Spawns set of dinos with saddles.

Tier options can be entered as a number or word, as follows:

  • 0 — Raptor, Dilo, Trike
  • 1 — Raptor, Carnotaurus, Thylacoleo
  • 2 — Rex, Spino, Paracer, Therizinosaur
  • 3 — Rex, Rex with Tek Saddle, Daeodon, Yutyrannus, Therizinosaur
  • Flyers — Pteranodon, Tapejara with Tek Saddle, Argentavis, Quetzal
  • Mek — 3 Meks, one with each module
  • SiegeMek — Mek, M.S.C.M., Element, Cannon Shell (Extinction)
  • MissleMek — Mek, M.R.L.M., Element, Rocketpod
  • ShieldMek — Mek, M.D.S.M., Element
  • Argent — Argentavis
  • Extinction — Enforcer, Gasbags, Snow Owl, Gacha, Managarmr, Velonasaur

Ark Genesis dinosaur cheats

There are new dinosaurs and creatures in Ark: Genesis. To summon them, use the Summon or SummonTamed command, and the bolded creature ID below.

For example, to summon a small ferox, you'd type: summon shapeshifter_small_character_bp_c

  • spacewhale_character_bp_c — Astrocetus
  • bogspider_character_bp_c — Bloodstalker
  • shapeshifter_small_character_bp_c — Small Ferox
  • shapeshifter_large_character_bp_c — Large Ferox
  • cherufe_character_bp_c — Magmasaur
  • giantturtle_character_bp_c — Megachelon
  • insectswarmchar_bp_c — Insect Swarm

Ark teleport cheats

A player on a dinosaur climbing a tree in Ark

(Image credit: Studio Wildcard, Snail Games USA)

Ark cheats for quickly navigating around the map

These cheats teleport you or a player of your choice to specified locations.

Ark creative mode cheats

The Ark Creative Mode gives players access to all recipes and tools, so they can make big sprawling bases without all the grinding

(Image credit: Studio Wildcard, Snail Games USA)

How to unlock unlimited resources in Ark's creative mode

Creative Mode removes weight restrictions and crafting requirements, unlocks all engrams, and grants godmore and infinitestats. Also lets you toggle flight by double-tapping your jump key.

  • GiveCreativeMode — Sets you in creative mode
  • GiveCreativeModeToTarget — Toggles creative mode for players you are targeting
  • GiveCreativeModeToPlayer — Toggles creative mode for a player using their ID

Ark weather and time cheats

One of Ark's maps, The Island, with the player exploring one of its hotter areas surrounded by lava

(Image credit: Studio Wildcard, Snail Games USA)

How to change the weather and pause time in Ark

These cheats start or stop the desired weather effect. Different maps have different cheats for weather.

The Island:

  • starttime
  • stoptime
  • heatwave
  • coldfront
  • makeitrain
  • fogitup

Scorched Earth expansion:

  • start_superheat
  • stop_superheat
  • start_sandstorm
  • stop_sandstorm
  • start_electricalstorm
  • stop_electricalstorm
  • start_rain
  • stop_rain

Ragnarok expansion:

  • start_superheat
  • stop_superheat
  • start_sandstorm
  • stop_sandstorm
  • start_electricalstorm
  • stop_electricalstorm
  • start_rain
  • stop_rain

Aberration expansion: 

  • startquake
  • stopquake

Extinction expansion: 

  • start meteors

Valguero expansion:

  • SpawnRainbow
  • TestNorthernLights
Christopher Livingston
Senior Editor

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.