The Island is a map included with the base game. It is the first known ARK and is the first map that follows with the storyline. It consists of multiple climatic and geological regions. There are five larger mountains in the north and plains in the south, while three large Obelisks form a triangle on the Island.
The Island is a large landmass with several smaller islands surrounding the central island. Resources become more common as one travels farther inland, but so do the dangers. Some temperatures fluctuate depending on the area and weather, which can be life threatening.
On the Island there are 4 types of weather, rain,fog,heatwaves and coldfronts. When it rains, you will hydrate and can fill your Waterskin, Water Jar, or Canteen with rainwater. When fog rolls in, it is hard to see very far. Heatwaves makes the map higher temperature for some time and coldfronts lowers the temperature for sometime.
As The Island is part of the story of the ARKs, Explorer Notes can be found across the map. These Explorer Notes document the ARK lore. For more in-depth information, see Explorer Notes.
Dossiers
In addition to the Explorer Notes, Dossiers can also be found on The Island, written by Helena Walker to document the research of The Island's creatures. For more in-depth information, see Dossiers.
Many of the dossiers involving the ocean creatures on the island have various misconceptions.
Within the Megalodon dossier, it is stated that "Were it not restricted to the waters, the carcharodon ultramegalodon would be one of the most dangerous creatures on the island." This statement is greatly exaggerated considering its stats are lower than creatures such as the rex or spino by a considerable amount, and even then, it is not nearly as strong as other oceanic predators such as mosasaurus, tusoteuthis and even plesiosaur despite the dossier's claims that the megalodons hunted such species and that the megalodons were the apex predators before Helena discovered the mosasaurus.
In the Mosasaurus dossier, it is accidentally called tylosaurus which is a related species, however it's likely a mistake, as in the actual text for the Mosasaurus it is just called mosasaurus and not tylosaurus.
In the Plesiosaur dossier, it states that plesiosaurs only hunt smaller creatures like humans. However, in game they will attack just about anything, including megalodons and mosasaurus.
In the Tusoteuthis dossier, it is given a incorrect size as it's stated to be 30 feet long, while in the mosasaurus dossier the mosasaurus is stated to be 50 feet long. In game the tusoteuthis is actually larger than the mosasaurus - there is an explanation for this inconsistency, however, as the Tusoteuthis was originally intended to be smaller but was changed last minute to the size it is today.
In the Cnidaria dossier, the creature is described as being "not generally aggressive" due to their "lack of normal perceptive senses". This is contradicted by the Cnidaria's behaviour in the game and later in the dossier itself, as it states that "[The Cnidaria] generally just floats along on the current until something gets close enough to sense, at which point it attacks." This may be explained by a confusion in the definition of "aggressive", as the word defines a willingness to attack rather than a capability to do so.
Finally, within both the Mosasaurus and the Plesiosaur dossiers, it's stated that they make fantastic bases. However, this could not be farther from the truth as the structures built on them are not water proof and do not provide oxygen, meaning that unless the player uses scuba gear they will drown eventually.
On Xbox since v757: If you would like to play The Center map without advancing through The Island, launch the Island and then open the command menu. Type in cheat playercommand Ascend2. Once finished you'll be able to load The Center as normal.
On PS4 since v510: If you would like to play The Center map without advancing through The Island ascension, launch the Island and then open the command menu. Type in cheat playercommand Ascend1. Once finished you'll be able to load The Center as normal.
Every single story ark has their own themes with The Island ark in particular being mostly based around prehistoric animals.
In lore, Helena notes about many things about the Island's abnormal ecology.
The Island almost has a 2 to 1 predator to prey ratio, the complete opposite of how an ecosystem works where prey always outnumbers predators.
Obelisks dot the Island in different colors.
Creatures of different time periods are coexisting.
Once tamed, most creatures are obedient to the survivors (with the exception of the Giganotosaurus).
Gestation rates of all the creatures are abnormally quick.
Tames of different species never fight amongst each other (although in lore Mei Yins tames were terrified of the Giganotosaurus).
Dead Island and the South Haven Island should likely not exist due to them having only predators and herbivores populations respectively. Helena notes that predators are prone to carry parasites in their meat and herbivores overpopulating an area results in a significant reduction in vegetation, which in turn leads to large human populations starving.
Unversioned Hotfix: Fixed erroneous Inventory keypress closures. Fixed crash some people were getting with an old TheIsland_Seasonal sublevel hanging around.
All-new Caves on The Island, redesigned with proper shipping-quality layouts and graphics & increased challenge (ALL Cave Structures will necessarily be wiped in this version). (Still to come beyond this are the Underwater Caves & Tek Cave.)
Fixed various lighting issues on The Island and The Center.
Fixed low landscape LODs on both the Center and the Island when using low viewing distance (certain landscape will stream in better quality from further away, e.g. skull island on the Center).
Carcharodontosaurus and 
Rhyniognatha dossiers now are on The Island map.
Gigantoraptor, 
Deinosuchus, 
Ceratosaurus, 
Archelon and 
Xiphactinus spawn on The Island.
Waterskin, 
Water Jar, or 
Canteen with rainwater. When fog rolls in, it is hard to see very far. Heatwaves makes the map higher temperature for some time and coldfronts lowers the temperature for sometime.
Achatina
Allosaurus
Alpha Carnotaurus
Alpha Leedsichthys
Alpha Megalodon
Alpha Mosasaur
Alpha Raptor
Alpha T-Rex
Alpha Tusoteuthis
Ammonite
Anglerfish
Ankylosaurus
Araneo
Archaeopteryx
Argentavis
Arthropluera
Attack Drone
Baryonyx
Basilosaurus
Beelzebufo
Brontosaurus
Broodmother Lysrix
Carbonemys
Carcharodontosaurus
Carnotaurus
Castoroides
Chalicotherium
Cnidaria
Coelacanth
Compy
Daeodon
Defense Unit
Dilophosaur
Dimetrodon
Dimorphodon
Diplocaulus
Diplodocus
Dire Bear
Direwolf
Dodo
Doedicurus
Dragon
Dung Beetle
Dunkleosteus
Electrophorus
Equus
Eurypterid
Gallimimus
Giant Bee
Giganotosaurus
Gigantopithecus
Hesperornis
Hyaenodon
Ichthyornis
Ichthyosaurus
Iguanodon
Kairuku
Kaprosuchus
Kentrosaurus
Leech
Leedsichthys
Liopleurodon
Lystrosaurus
Mammoth
Manta
Megalania
Megaloceros
Megalodon
Megalosaurus
Meganeura
Megapithecus
Megatherium
Mesopithecus
Microraptor
Mosasaurus
Moschops
Onyc
Otter
Overseer
Oviraptor
Ovis
Pachy
Pachyrhinosaurus
Paraceratherium
Parasaur
Pegomastax
Pelagornis
Phiomia
Piranha
Plesiosaur
Polar Bear
Polar Purlovia
Procoptodon
Pteranodon
Pulmonoscorpius
Purlovia
Quetzal
Raptor
Rex
Rhyniognatha
Sabertooth
Sabertooth Salmon
Sarco
Spino
Stegosaurus
Tapejara
Terror Bird
Therizinosaur
Thylacoleo
Titanoboa
Titanomyrma
Titanosaur
Triceratops
Trilobite
Troodon
Tusoteuthis
Unicorn
Woolly Rhino
Yeti
Yutyrannus
ARK: Survival Ascended exclusive:
DodoRex
GachaClaus
Super Turkey
Explorer Notes can be found across the map. These Explorer Notes document the ARK lore. For more in-depth information, see Explorer Notes.
Megalodon dossier, it is stated that "Were it not restricted to the waters, the carcharodon ultramegalodon would be one of the most dangerous creatures on the island." This statement is greatly exaggerated considering its stats are lower than creatures such as the rex or spino by a considerable amount, and even then, it is not nearly as strong as other oceanic predators such as mosasaurus, tusoteuthis and even plesiosaur despite the dossier's claims that the megalodons hunted such species and that the megalodons were the apex predators before Helena discovered the mosasaurus.
Mosasaurus dossier, it is accidentally called tylosaurus which is a related species, however it's likely a mistake, as in the actual text for the Mosasaurus it is just called mosasaurus and not tylosaurus.
Plesiosaur dossier, it states that plesiosaurs only hunt smaller creatures like humans. However, in game they will attack just about anything, including megalodons and mosasaurus.
Tusoteuthis dossier, it is given a incorrect size as it's stated to be 30 feet long, while in the mosasaurus dossier the mosasaurus is stated to be 50 feet long. In game the tusoteuthis is actually larger than the mosasaurus - there is an explanation for this inconsistency, however, as the Tusoteuthis was originally intended to be smaller but was changed last minute to the size it is today.
Cnidaria dossier, the creature is described as being "not generally aggressive" due to their "lack of normal perceptive senses". This is contradicted by the Cnidaria's behaviour in the game and later in the dossier itself, as it states that "[The Cnidaria] generally just floats along on the current until something gets close enough to sense, at which point it attacks." This may be explained by a confusion in the definition of "aggressive", as the word defines a willingness to attack rather than a capability to do so.
ARK: Survival Evolved Changes
HiRes Map texture.
HiRes Map Grid texture.
HiRes Map UI texture.
HiRes Map UI Grid texture.
empty map
empty map with coordinate-grid
Blank World Map (stitched together by yuyu)
A Trike head and Raptor claw, visible in the design of The Island
Custom Map by Kronix, edited by PiTi (a-calc.de)
island view from height
An map of the island with regions marked (outdated)
Adventure Packs
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