Version: 1.5.1

Server Management

• Importing an Existing Config
• Using Beacon with Ark Single Player
• Updating Your Nitrado Server
• Updating Your Server With FTP
• Updating Your Server Manually
• Ark Config File Reference
• The Difference Between Deploy and Export

Core Features

• Using Config Sets
• Using Presets to Automate Item Set Creation
• Adding Unsupported Engrams, Creatures, or Spawn Points to Beacon

Config Groups

• How to Design Loot Drops Effectively
• How to Edit Crafting Costs
• Changing the Level Cap and Required Experience
• How to Change Stack Sizes
• Using Custom Config Content with Beacon
• Adjusting Breeding Multipliers and Finding the Perfect Imprint Multiplier
• Changing Creature Damage and Resistance
• Setting Harvesting Rates While Avoiding Server Lag
• Editing Creature Spawn Points
• Adjusting Server Day and Night Length
• Changing Player, Tamed, and Wild Creature Stats
• Setting Item Maximum Stats
• Controlling Engram Level Requirements, Auto Unlocks, and Earned Engram Points.

User Accounts

• Create or Recover Your Account
• Sign Into Beacon
• Activating Beacon Omni
• Sharing Beacon Documents with Other Users
• About User Privacy

Troubleshooting

• Item Quality Is Different Than Expected
• Some Drops Are Edited, Others Are Not
• How to Stop Using Custom Config Content
• Solving Connection Problems to Beacon or Nitrado
• Beacon System Status

For Developers

• Registering Your Mod With Beacon
• Beacon API Documentation

The Difference Between Deploy and Export

Beacon's deploy and export features are both designed to help update the files on a server, but they each do the job very differently.

Deploy

Think of deploy as the automatic option. If you've imported your config from Nitrado or via FTP, deploy becomes an option to perform the reverse action.

The deploy button looks like a rocket ship: .

For Nitrado servers, deploy is able to fully control the server. Beacon will stop the server, make a config backup, enable expert mode if not already enabled, update the files and settings as necessary, and start the server again if Beacon stopped it. This happens fully automatically, so you can go a coffee while it works.

For FTP servers, Beacon won't be able to control the server, but can automatically update the Game.ini and GameUserSettings.ini files.

In both cases, deploy fully preserves existing content. Beacon's smart rewriter is able to blend your new changes with your existing files.

Having deploy support for more providers in Beacon would be wonderful, but that requires other hosting providers to have an API that Beacon can use. So far, only Nitrado has that.

Export

For other servers, deploy won't be an option. That's where export comes in. Export will build the Game.ini and GameUserSettings.ini files as if your existing files are empty. But realistically, your files won't be empty. Once again, Beacon's smart rewriter comes to the rescue. The "Update File" and "Rewrite Clipboard" buttons allow you to blend your new changes with your existing files. "Update File" allows you to choose a file on your computer to update, and "Rewrite Clipboard" will update the content you've copied and copy the new content for you.

The export button looks like a box with an arrow facing to the top right: .

For more detailed information about using export, see Updating Your Server Manually.