Pre-Aquatica rollback guide

1 — Back up your data

Back up Epic Games\ARKSurvivalEvolved\ShooterGame\Saved somewhere safe. This protects settings, single-player saves, map data and explorer-note progress.

2 — Update ARK, then disable automatic updates

Update through Epic Games Launcher first. Then disable Auto Update for ARK and completely exit Epic Games Launcher.

3 — Install the requirements

Install the .NET 9 Desktop Runtime, Steam, and the latest TEK Launcher release. Run TEK Launcher as administrator with Epic fully closed.

4 — Point TEK Launcher at the Epic install

Choose Game already installed and select the Epic ARK folder.

5 — Validate the game and DLC

Open Game Options and validate the game. Then validate each installed DLC one at a time.

6 — Enable Pre-Aquatica mode

In Launcher Settings, select Pre-Aquatica Mode.

7 — Roll back the core game and DLC

Return to Game Options and click Update. When the core game is complete, update your DLCs one at a time. If a free DLC errors, clean the TEK Launcher download cache and retry.

8 — Final setup

Close TEK Launcher. In ShooterGame\Binaries\Win64, rename steam_appid.txt to _steam_appid.txt. Restore your Saved backup if needed, then launch ARK from Epic Games Launcher.

Credits: Nuclearist, wanheda and Alessio. Original Bobasaurs guide retained from the previous site.