{"id":2356,"date":"2023-02-05T14:24:27","date_gmt":"2023-02-05T14:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xgamingserver.com\/blog\/?p=2356"},"modified":"2026-06-15T19:23:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T19:23:43","slug":"how-to-spawn-dinos-in-your-ark-server","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xgamingserver.com\/blog\/how-to-spawn-dinos-in-your-ark-server\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Spawn Dinos in your ARK Server"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Spawning creatures on your own ARK server is one of the most useful things an admin can do \u2014 whether you’re testing a boss arena, gifting an event mount, debugging a breeding line, or just dropping a level-150 Rex into the world for a fight. But “spawn a dino” isn’t a single command. ARK gives you three different commands, and they do three genuinely different things: one spawns a wild<\/strong> creature at a random<\/strong> level, one spawns a wild<\/strong> creature at the level you choose<\/strong>, and one spawns a tamed, rideable<\/strong> creature with a taming bonus baked in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This guide covers all three in depth for ARK: Survival Ascended (ASA)<\/strong> \u2014 the Unreal Engine 5 remaster that is now the primary game \u2014 and flags where things differ on legacy ARK: Survival Evolved (ASE)<\/strong>. You’ll learn how to become admin first, the exact syntax for summon<\/code>, SpawnDino<\/code>, and gmsummon<\/code>, the admincheat<\/code> prefix quirk on ASA, and where to pull the exact class strings for every creature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 0: Become an Admin First (enablecheats)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

None of the spawn commands work until your account has admin rights for the current session. The gate is your admin password<\/strong>, which is set by ServerAdminPassword<\/code> in GameUserSettings.ini<\/strong> under the [ServerSettings]<\/strong> section. You can also set it on the command line with ?ServerAdminPassword=<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once that’s configured, becoming admin in-game takes three steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Press Tab<\/strong> to open the console.<\/li>
  2. Type enablecheats <\/code>, where <\/code> exactly matches your ServerAdminPassword<\/code>. It is case-sensitive<\/strong> and must have no trailing spaces.<\/li>
  3. The console confirms, and your account now has full admin rights \u2014 but for that session only<\/strong>. You must re-run enablecheats<\/code> after every relog.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    enablecheats YourSecretAdminPassword<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    If you’re managing a hosted box and need the full walkthrough for setting that password and adding admins, our ARK: Survival Ascended documentation<\/a> covers it screen-by-screen. The process is nearly identical on legacy ARK \u2014 see how to set the admin password on an ARK: Survival Evolved server<\/a> if you’re still running ASE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    The admincheat prefix (ASA)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    On ASA, admin actions are typically run with the admincheat<\/strong> prefix from the console \u2014 for example admincheat fly<\/code> or admincheat god<\/code>. The cheat <\/code> form also works once enablecheats<\/code> is active. In practice, the spawn commands below work with either cheat<\/code> or admincheat<\/code> in front of them; if a command seems to do nothing, swap the prefix and try again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    There’s also an ASA-specific launch-argument gotcha worth knowing: ASA has a launch-arg parsing bug where ?ServerAdminPassword=<\/code> should be the last ?<\/code>-style argument<\/strong>, placed before<\/em> any -<\/code> dash arguments in your startup command. Get the ordering wrong and the password may silently fail to apply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    The Three Spawn Commands at a Glance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    Before diving into each command, here’s the quick mental model. The difference comes down to two questions: do you want it wild or tamed?<\/em> and do you want to pick the level?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Command<\/th>Spawns<\/th>Level control<\/th>Classname format<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
    summon<\/code><\/td>Wild creature<\/td>Random (you can’t choose)<\/td>Short classname (e.g. Rex_Character_BP_C<\/code>)<\/td><\/tr>
    SpawnDino<\/code><\/td>Wild creature<\/td>Chosen level<\/td>Full blueprint path<\/td><\/tr>
    gmsummon<\/code><\/td>Tamed, rideable creature<\/td>Chosen pre-tame level (+ taming bonus)<\/td>Short classname in quotes<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    cheat summon \u2014 Wild, Random Level, Short Classname<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    cheat summon <\/code> spawns a wild<\/strong> creature at your exact location, at a random level<\/strong>. You cannot specify the level with this command \u2014 whatever the game rolls is what you get. It uses the short “melee” classname, which usually ends in _C<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    cheat summon Rex_Character_BP_C<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    This is the fastest way to get a creature into the world. The catch: the dino spawns directly on top of you<\/em>. For something the size of a Rex, Giga, or Titanosaur, that can be lethal or trap you inside the model. If you’re summoning anything large, fly up first (admincheat fly<\/code>) or be ready to admincheat god<\/code> through the spawn. Because the level is random, summon<\/code> is best for quick tests where you don’t care about stats \u2014 for anything you want to keep, use SpawnDino<\/code> or gmsummon<\/code> instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    cheat SpawnDino \u2014 Wild, Chosen Level, With Offsets<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    SpawnDino<\/code> also spawns a wild<\/strong> creature, but it gives you two things summon<\/code> doesn’t: you can specify the exact level<\/strong>, and you can control where<\/strong> it appears relative to you using spawn offsets. The trade-off is that it requires the full blueprint path<\/strong> rather than the short classname.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    The syntax is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    cheat SpawnDino \"\"    <\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    A real, working example for a level-150 wild Rex:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    cheat SpawnDino \"Blueprint'\/Game\/PrimalEarth\/Dinos\/Rex\/Rex_Character_BP.Rex_Character_BP'\" 500 0 0 150<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    Breaking down the arguments after the blueprint path:<\/p>\n\n\n\n