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Developed by Studio Wildcard, ARK: Survival Evolved is an action-adventure survival video game that guarantees hours of entertainment every time people play it. That being said, it’s not uncommon for the game to act up out of the blue and cause all sorts of hassles in the process. You keep getting the “lost/timeout connection to host” error as you play Ark on your computer? Read to the end to learn what must be done once it comes to “lost/timeout connection to host” Ark.
“Lost/Timeout Connection To Host”: Solutions
Think About Internet Connection
All in all, if your Internet connection is unstable, the “lost/timeout connection to host” error is one of the consequences. Hence, it’s wise to give Internet connection some thought.
- Step 1: Right-click the network connection icon then pick “Open network and sharing center”.
- Step 2: Go to “Change adaptor settings” and disable all the other connections except the one you’re using.
- Step 3: For good measure, you should disable and enable your connection too: right-click the connection you’re using, hit Disable and repeat the process but choose Enable. That will help you reset your connection adapter and get rid of network errors in most cases.
Update GPU Driver
There is a good chance that you will experience issues as you play ARK if your laptop’s graphic card drivers are outdated. Examples include the game not launching, lost/timeout connection to host and so on. Hence, it’s strongly recommended that you take the GPU driver into account while troubleshooting “lost/timeout connection to host” ARK.
- If you are using Nvidia or AMD cards, open the AMD or Nvidia companion application and scan for driver updates.
- If you’re using generic cards, follow the steps below to determine whether your graphics card driver is up to date:
- Step 1: Go to the Search bar, Device Manager and hit Enter.
- Step 2: In Device Manager, expand “Display Adapters” and right-click your card
- Step 3: Pick Update driver then follow the instructions.
Verify Integrity Of Game Files
You play ARK via Steam? In that case, you should verify the integrity of game files at the earliest opportunity.
- Step 1: In the beginning, launch the Steam app and navigate to “Library”.
- Step 2: Locate, ARK: Survival Evolved, right-click it and pick “properties”
- Step 3: Select “Local files”, choose “Verify integrity of game files” and a small box should pop up to show the progress of the verification.
- Step 4: After the verification finishes, you’ll see a message that informs you of the result. If corruption exists in the game files, the message is going to say, “x file(s) failed to validate and will be reacquired” (“x” represents the number of corrupted files).
- Step 5: Proceed to hit “close” to dismiss the message.
If files must be reacquired, Steam is going to replace the corrupted files soon after you close the message. The length of the process depends on the number of corrupted files. Your Internet speed also determines how long it takes for Steam to deal with corruption in the game files. It could be a while so be patient.
Get Rid Of Mods
- Step 1: Open your Steam app and go to Community.
- Step 2: Select ARK: Survival Evolved and choose Workshop.
- Step 3: Proceed to hit “subscribed items” and click “unsubscribe from all.” By doing so, you could remove mods that may have been corrupted. (gabapentin) Corrupted mods would complicate the connection to servers as long as you keep them around.
- Step 4: Open “My computer” and navigate to Steam > SteamApps > Common > ARK > Shooter Game > Content > Mod. You’ll see a list of all your mods and you have to delete all of them.
- Step 5: Go back to Steam and verify the integrity of the game files of ARK again.
Uninstall And Reinstall
If none of the above work, uninstallation and reinstallation should be the last resort to “lost/timeout connection to host” Ark. To be through, you need to delete every single ARK file on your system before reinstalling the game.
Tips And Tricks
- If you have been playing ARK: Survival Evolved with a mi-fi or a regular WiFi connection, you might want to consider switching to high-speed Internet connectivity to ensure your gameplay is smoother.
- Examine the minimum specifications required to run the game before playing the game. If your laptop only meets the minimum specifications required to run the game, you should launch it under low settings to ensure you enjoy smoother gameplay.
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. Since 2019, he started providing game reviews & tips for Grateful Dead Game. 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.