Vanilla ARK: Survival Ascended Building Templates
Every template on this page places on a stock install. No cosmetic mods, no official content packs, nothing to install first — which makes this the collection to work from on official servers and on any cluster you do not control.
The vanilla tag is not self-reported. Upload validation reads every object path inside the file and compares it against the declared requirements, so a build that quietly depends on a modded wall set cannot be published as vanilla.
If a build you want is not here, check its requirements block: many templates need only one official content pack, which official DLC maps already provide.
Template pages publish official crafting costs with visible recipe coverage. Modded pieces and files still awaiting an exact breakdown remain clearly uncosted; their requirements are never estimated.
No mods templates
Behemoth Tek Base
A 2,000-structure Tek base laid out around a Behemoth Gateway footprint, sitting exactly on the per-template structure cap. Tek tier means every piece needs the boss-defeat engrams and Element to craft, so this is an endgame PvP build rather than a starter shell - plan the Element budget before you place it. The Behemoth footprint is what makes the count worth spending: gateways that size let a fully grown Rex or Giga walk in without a second door line.
Argentavis Trap
A six-structure Argentavis trap - the smallest build in this library - in stone, for fast setup and a safe exit while the target sleeps. Six pieces means you can carry the materials on a taming run and put it down wherever the Argy is, instead of luring it home. Fully vanilla, no DLC and no mods, so it works on any PC server.
92-Turret Heavy & Tek Tower
A 173-structure turret tower packing 92 Heavy Auto Turrets and Tek Turrets into a single metal-and-Tek footprint, built for PvP offline-protection windows. Mixing the two tiers matters under a soak: they draw different ammunition, so a raider who brought only one counter still has the other tier firing. Fully vanilla - no DLC and no mods. Official crafting costs are shown with visible recipe coverage.
Ultimate Gacha Farm
A three-part Gacha farm totalling 2,206 structures: the main production hall, a compact cubby section, and a centre support pillar so the whole thing snaps together on uneven ground. Built in metal and Tek for a PvE tribe running Gachas at scale. Each part imports separately, so you can place the hall first and extend later instead of committing to the full footprint on day one.
Triple-Stack Vaults
Left and right four-structure alignment variants for building clean triple-stacked vault storage in metal, eight structures across both. Vaults do not stack neatly without a foundation offset, and the two handed variants exist because that offset mirrors depending on which side of the room you build from. Fully vanilla, and near-free in structure count.
Anti-Tank Snap Pack
Three metal snapping variants - 29 structures across the set, 11 at the largest - for placing anti-tank obstacles in repeatable defensive patterns. They are alternatives, not parts: pick the one that snaps to the approach you are blocking. Repeatability is the value, since hand-placing obstacles at a consistent spacing is exactly what goes wrong under time pressure. Fully vanilla.
Underwater Turret Platform
A 1,684-structure underwater PvP platform shipped in two parts: the submerged base and the tower that snaps on top of it. Sixty-four Tek turrets sit in the design, and the bulk of the piece count is doubledoorframe and doorframe layering — the standard way of stacking hitboxes on a structure that cannot be approached on foot. Build your vacuum chambers to the height you want first, snap the base to the lowest one, then remove the chambers running to the seabed.
Dedi, Cryo and Crafting Layer
Twenty-six structures across two alternative layouts of the same floor: sixteen cryofridges, four dedicated storage boxes and the crafting run between them, arranged two different ways so you can pick whichever ordering matches the room you already have. The second layout is three foundations tall, which is the right height if your server runs custom cryofridge or dedicated storage sizes. Vanilla.
Viking Lodge
Two complete variants of a large Viking-inspired lodge, 1,997 structures at their biggest, sharing one wood-and-stone silhouette with different interior and exterior detailing. Both are vanilla - no DLC, no mods - so they place on any PC server. Pick a variant rather than importing both: at this size a single copy already fills most of a tribe's structure allowance on official settings.
Warroom Storage Pack
Thirty-four structures across three parts for kitting out a warroom: a snap guide that gives you the foundation grid, a vault floor, and a triple-stacked vault block. Place the snap guide against the room you already have and connect the ceilings with railings for support, then drop the floors onto the grid it establishes. Vanilla, and every container places empty.
Gazebo & Treehouse Pack
A decorative three-build pack - two gazebo variants and a standalone treehouse - in wood, 5,901 structures across the set with the largest single build at 1,995. Fully vanilla, so nothing here depends on DLC or mods. These are alternatives rather than parts: place the one that fits your spot instead of importing all three into the same base.
Japanese Castle
A 1,600-structure Japanese-inspired castle in wood and stone, with multiple tiers, detailed rooflines and substantial interior space. Entirely vanilla - no DLC and no mods - which makes it one of the larger builds here that will place on any PC server without extra content. Expect the roof detailing to account for a large share of the structure count.
Automated Medical Brew Farm
A 62-structure medical brew farm sized for volume rather than for fitting in a corner: fourteen Tek troughs feed three industrial cooking pots inside a metal shell. It is laid out so the harvesting tame does not wedge itself on the return path, which is the failure mode that makes hand-built brew farms stop producing overnight. Vanilla, and it needs a berry cart connected to run.
Automated Medical Brew Station
A 44-structure production module that pairs four small crop plots and a greenhouse section with the storage and crafting run needed to keep medical brews coming out without babysitting. Compact enough to sit inside an existing base rather than needing its own tile. Vanilla — no packs or mods required. Containers and crop plots arrive empty, so seed and fertilise them after placement.
Vault Dropped Generator
A nine-structure module that drops a Tek generator into a vault so the generator sits protected instead of exposed on a floor. The thatch ceiling in the file is sacrificial scaffolding — destroy it by hand once the vault has settled and the generator stays where the template put it. Vanilla, and small enough to place inside a base that is already built.
6x8 Early-Game Base
A 779-structure 6x8 early-game PvE base in stone, with room for crafting, storage and the core progression stations. Fully vanilla. The rectangular footprint is deliberate: 6x8 fits most beach and riverbank flats without terrain smoothing, which is where square designs of this size usually fail to snap.
Flush Dedicated Storage & Cryofridge Floor
A seven-structure metal alignment utility for setting dedicated storage and cryofridges into a clean lowered floor. Almost no structure cost, and purely geometric: it exists to give you the exact foundation offsets, because a flush lowered floor is fiddly to snap by hand and being wrong by one tile ruins the whole run of storage. Fully vanilla, PvE or PvP.
2×2 Stone Taming Trap
A 16-structure 2x2 stone taming trap that goes up in one trip on stone-tier resources, sized for mid-game land tames. Small enough to build on the spot when you find a target rather than walking it back to a permanent pen, and cheap enough to leave behind afterwards. Fully vanilla - no DLC, no mods. Official crafting costs are shown with visible recipe coverage.
Beach Starter Hut
An 849-structure beach starter hut across multiple levels, with room for early crafting, storage and small tames. Wood and stone, and fully vanilla - no DLC, no mods - so it places on any PC server. Sized for a beach tile on The Island or Ragnarok, where vertical space matters more than footprint because the flat ground is contested.
Lowered Flush Floor Pack
Sixteen structures across three alternative floors, each lowered by the exact amount one container type needs to sit flush: one for dedicated storage boxes, one for a mixed dedicated and cryofridge row, and one for vaults. Getting this right by hand is the fiddly part of a storage room, because a floor that is one tier off reads as wrong from every angle. Vanilla, and each floor places independently.
Dedicated Storage Snap Floor
Four structures that give you a clean snap point for a dedicated storage and cryofridge floor on terrain that will not cooperate. The value is entirely in the grid being exact: placing this first means the storage row lands flush instead of a tier too high. Vanilla, and it drops into an existing structure without rebuilding anything.
Medium Dino Trap
A 24-structure stone creature trap with two gates and a rear player exit, for controlled mid-game taming. The rear exit is the part homemade traps usually miss: it lets you leave on foot without opening the gate the target came through. Fully vanilla, and cheap enough to abandon after the tame. Official crafting costs are shown with visible recipe coverage.
Common questions
How do you know a template is really vanilla?
Validation extracts every Unreal object path from the uploaded file and checks the mount points against known official content. A file containing modded paths cannot be published with an empty requirements list.
Will these work on official servers?
Yes. Vanilla templates place on any stock ARK: Survival Ascended install, which includes official servers on any map.
What is the difference between vanilla and official content?
Vanilla means base-game structures only. Official content means the build uses pieces from a paid or free official pack, which is fine on servers running that content but will not place without it.
Do I still need Template Hammer?
Yes. Template Hammer is the in-game tool that reads these files. Vanilla refers to the structures in the build, not to the import method.
Related collections
- ARK: Survival Ascended Stone Base TemplatesStone base templates for ARK: Survival Ascended on PC. Affordable early and mid-game builds, validated with the exact stone and wood cost.
- Small ARK: Survival Ascended Build TemplatesARK: Survival Ascended templates under 200 structures — traps, turret posts, vault blocks and storage modules you can place in one trip.
- ARK: Survival Ascended Dino Trap TemplatesArgentavis, medium-dino and stone taming traps for ARK: Survival Ascended on PC. Small structure counts, fast to place with Template Hammer.
- ARK: Survival Ascended Starter House TemplatesStarter houses, huts and lodges for ARK: Survival Ascended on PC. Small builds you can place on day one and expand later, validated and free.
Guides worth reading first
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