In this section I’ll walk you through installing and configuring the free version of Crosschat Ascended for Ark: Survival Ascended.
The free plugin gives you cross-map chat inside the game using a shared MySQL/MariaDB database. It does not require an account key or a paid license.
Before you drop the plugin into your server, you need a few things ready:
Ark:SA API installed and working
You should already have the ASA API loader in place and at least one simple plugin running.
When everything is correctly installed, you’ll see a line in your console or log similar to:
Loaded plugin CrossChatAscended ... (Free crosschat system with MySQL) when the plugin loads.
MySQL or MariaDB server
arkdbarkuseryourStrongPassword3306You can safely reuse the same database you already use for ArkShop or Permissions; Crosschat creates its own tables.
Basic firewall & connectivity
Download the free build
Download the CrosschatAscended free plugin from my release channel / resource page:
https://ark-server-api.com/resources/crosschat-ascended.60/
Plugin folder structure
The general layout (exact paths can vary based on your ASA API installation) is:
ShooterGame/
Binaries/
Win64/
AsaApiLoader.exe
ArkApi/
Plugins/
CrosschatAscended/
CrosschatAscended.dll
CrosschatAscended.json
Copy the plugin files
CrosschatAscended folder into your API Plugins folder.Open the plugin config file (usually CrosschatAscended.json or similar) in a text editor that preserves UTF-8 and indentation (Notepad++, VS Code, etc.).
The versions I ship usually include comments, so the config looks like JSON with // comment lines. At the top you’ll see something like:
{
"MySQL": {
"Host": "localhost",
"User": "root",
"Password": "",
"Database": "test",
"Port": 3306
},
"General": {
"FetchChatInterval": 0.25 // How often to fetch chat in seconds
},
"Premium": { /* Premium features */ },
"Commands": { /* Player commands configuration */ },
"Messages": { /* Localized texts for commands and UI */ },
"ServerNames": { /* Custom server key → name mapping */ },
"Platforms": { /* Custom platform display names */ },
"MapColors": { /* Colors per map */ },
"WordBlacklist": { /* Blocked words and auto-mute behaviour */ }
}
For the free version, the main thing you must set are the MySQL section.
"MySQL": {
"Host": "127.0.0.1",
"User": "arkuser",
"Password": "yourStrongPassword",
"Database": "arkdb",
"Port": 3306
},
Host – IP/hostname of your DB server.User / Password – credentials that have permission to create tables in that DB.Database – the name of the DB Crosschat will use.Port – usually 3306 for MySQL/MariaDB.All maps you want to cross-chat must share the same settings here, so they all talk to the same database.
"General": {
"FetchChatInterval": 0.25 // How often to fetch chat in seconds
},
FetchChatInterval – how frequently the plugin pulls and sends messages to the DB.
0.25 = 4 times per second (smooth but a bit more DB traffic).0.5 or 1.0 seconds.For most setups, the default is fine.
You should see something along the lines of:
[API][info] Loaded plugin CrossChatAscended ... (Free crosschat system with MySQL)
[CrosschatAscended][info] MapName: <YourMap>
You should not see any fatal errors referring to CrosschatAscended.dll.
Once the server is fully started, type something in global chat on one map, and verify that it appears on at least one other map that shares the same DB.
For a simple 3-map cluster (TheIsland, ScorchedEarth, Aberration), here’s a minimal setup:
MySQL settings pointing to the same DB.-serverkey=<ServerKey> per server:
-serverkey=TheIsland_WP-serverkey=Scorched_WP-serverkey=Aberration_WPIn config, you can map those to friendly names:
"ServerNames": {
"TheIsland_WP": "The Island",
"Scorched_WP": "Scorched Earth",
"Aberration_WP": "Aberration"
},
Now any {map} placeholder in chat formatting can show The Island, Scorched Earth, etc.
Checklist:
If none of the maps are writing messages to the DB, the issue is usually credentials or connectivity.
Some ASA plugins use older MySQL client libraries that don’t play nicely with SSL-only configurations on MySQL 8+. If you see related errors:
When in doubt, start with a simple local MariaDB install with default settings and get Crosschat working there first.
Error code: 126 when loading the pluginIf you see errors like this when loading CrosschatAscended.dll:
[API][warning] Failed to load plugin - CrosschatAscended
Error code: 126
That typically means some dependency DLLs are missing (often OpenSSL). Common fixes:
CrosschatAscended.dll.If you think you’ll eventually buy the premium plugin or the bot, don’t worry: the free config already contains most of the premium fields.
When you purchase premium, you usually only need to:
AccountKey (and any license-specific fields) to the config.Premium section to take advantage of new features (formatting, tags, tribe logs, etc.).All of those steps are covered in the Setup (Paid Plugin) page.
Last updated: 2025-11-25 13:50:13