Sorry to be that guy, but

[Solamain]

I am feeling completely lost here. Do I change the variables to put the ini files outside of the container? How do I use the server manager? Where in the world IS Carmen Sandiego? Please, someone help. Treat me like a braindead 10 year old and walk me through what needs to be done. I know much of it already, but this way would ensure I do not miss anything stupid.

[aciddensity]

Something that tripped me up at first was not realizing that the GAME_USERSETTINGS_INI_PATH and GAME_INI_PATH are from the perspective of the container. What I mean by that is, the path will be what the container itself sees and not what your host sees.
In the example presented in the README we have the following values:

  GAME_USERSETTINGS_INI_PATH: "/cluster/myclusterid.GameUserSettings.ini"
  GAME_INI_PATH: "/cluster/myclusterid.Game.ini"

So if you were inside the container you would see a /cluster folder that contained the files myclusterid.GameUserSettings.ini and myclusterid.Game.ini.

The /cluster folder is mapped to the docker volume "cluster" at the bottom of the example:

    volumes:
      - data_island:/ark
      - cluster:/cluster

Now I'm not very experienced or confident in my understanding of docker volumes myself, as a result I almost always will do volume mapping to a folder on my host instead. In my case here is what I use in the "volumes" section:

volumes: 
  - /opt/docker/docker-ark/ark:/ark
  - /opt/docker/docker-ark/cluster:/cluster

On my host I would now place the myclusterid.GameUserSettings.ini and myclusterid.Game.ini files inside /opt/docker/docker-ark/cluster/. The Ark container will now see those files in the /cluster folder. When the server boots, the Ark Manager tool will be given the paths for those config files and will copy them to the correct location for the server to use.

Hopefully this helps you get started!

[Floppy82]

Hi, I want to share my experiences because I have also a problem with loading another ini file.
I created a myclusterid.GameUserSettings.ini into the cluster folder,
If I load the server, the backup is copying these cluster files perfectly into the backup, but the file is not used for the server.
my yaml file for volumes looks like this:

volumes:
      - /home/flo/volumes/ark/data_theisland_family:/ark
      - /home/flo/volumes/ark/cluster:/cluster

the myclusterid.GameUserSettings.ini is saved in /home/flo/volumes/ark/cluster
the docker log when starting the server says:

Copying cluster files 
'/cluster' -> '/ark/backup/2025-03-17_09.19.48/Cluster'
'/cluster/myclusterid.GameUserSettings.ini' -> '/ark/backup/2025-03-17_09.19.48/Cluster/myclusterid.GameUserSettings.ini'

but the server is still creating an own file for the game server.
even when I change the GameUserSettings.ini in the server config itself, (/home/flo/volumes/ark/data_theisland_family/server/ShooterGame/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/) the file will be rewritten (it is not copying over another file, it writes one part after another, checked that by reading the file and reloading).

do I have to change the name myclusterid inside myclusterid.GameUserSettings.ini to my cluster ID? I tested that but didn't changed something.

also there is a folder inside the cluster folder: /clusters/[my real cluster id]/, is that correct?
I tried to put the myclusterid.GameUserSettings.ini and also just a GameUserSettings.ini into this folder, but it didn' changed anything (the backup is copying over these files too)

sorry if this text is not structured well, but please help me to create my own ini files :)

edit, also in my yaml:

GAME_USERSETTINGS_INI_PATH: "/cluster/myclusterid.GameUserSettings.ini"
GAME_INI_PATH: "/cluster/myclusterid.Game.ini"

another edit:
I tried to change the acces rights of the file server/ShooterGame/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/GameUserSettings.ini after editing it. but the file is getting replaced by a new one, even if no one has access to it. I am stuck to a server I cannot change :/

[Floppy82]

update:
changing/adding things in /ShooterGame/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/GameUserSettings.ini IS working, but only if I don't have a "myclusterid.GameUserSettings.ini" ind the /cluster folder. This is because the ini from cluster will replace the ini in the saved folder but then ark seems to build the file new from scratch. I don't know if there are limitations or expectations for the cluster gameusersettings.ini. But without the file I can change my server settings now.
edit;
I forgot, I also had to change/add things into the existing gamusersettings.ini
creating a new one from one of the generators out there result in getting a new file from ark. it seems if there is something missing, it cannot just add the missing lines.