Most "the game ate my X" reports after a Cryopod or a transfer are the game's rules, not bugs. Use this as a checklist before you pod or move a creature.
What you see
- After a release: its items are on the ground, its paint is gone, an Ovis has no wool, a light pet has no charge, and its buffs are gone.
- After a pod transfer: the passive XP it was due is gone, and a female can't mate for hours after moving maps.
- Structures built on a platform saddle are destroyed with no refund; on ASE, structures carried by a Rhyniognatha are destroyed when it is podded (358.5).
- A pregnant mother put into a pod is no longer pregnant.
Why it happens
These are the game's rules (ARK Wiki, Cryopod):
| What | What happens |
|---|---|
| Items in the creature's inventory | Dropped when it is podded — except the saddle (and Mek modules) |
| Buildings on a platform saddle | Destroyed, without the refund a normal demolish gives |
| Paint, Ovis wool, light-pet charge, buffs | Lost on release; old buffs are not reapplied |
| Folders made inside the creature | Disappear when it is frozen |
| Passive XP | The timer resets on a pod transfer and pending XP is lost — release the creature first to collect it |
| Mating timer | Resets when the pod is transferred; released females enter the mating cooldown |
Putting a pregnant creature into a Cryopod ends the pregnancy (ARK Wiki, Breeding). One player reported 5–7 hours before a creature moved by Tek Transmitter or pod could breed again (Steam, 2019).
What we checked on our maps: a creature's natural colours survive Cryopods, teleports and transfers; Paintbrush dye does not survive a Cryopod, and often not even a relog.
A rarer bug: a pod moved between servers that are not in one cluster can come back at level 1 without its saddle, imprint or mutations (ARK Wiki). That does not apply to moves within our ASA cluster or within our ASE cluster.
What you can do
- Empty the creature's inventory before you pod it; the saddle can stay on.
- Demolish or move the buildings off a platform saddle first.
- Release the creature to collect its passive XP before you transfer the pod.
- Wait for the birth before you pod a pregnant mother.
- Expect a mating cooldown after a transfer and wait it out. For valuable breeders, players move the tame itself, with its saddle, instead of the pod (Steam, 2020).
- Repaint after the release: natural colours are permanent, only paint is lost. Report only if the natural colours changed.
When to ask an admin
Only if something outside this list happened — for example a creature's natural colours changed. The rules above are game behaviour, not faults, and paint cannot be restored. ASE: an admin can read a creature's colour ids to check its natural colours.
Tell an admin the map, the time (the clock in your profile menu shows the server's time), your character's name, what you carried or had uploaded, and the exact message on the screen. For a transfer: both maps and both times. Report the same day — the backups reach back only about two days. Contact admin is in your profile menu; the Guides page has a question box.
Avoid it next time
- Go through this list before every pod or transfer (ARK Wiki).
- Paint a creature after its last Cryopod trip, not before.
Sources
- Cryopod — ARK Wiki, CC BY-NC-SA
- Breeding — ARK Wiki, CC BY-NC-SA
- ASE patch 358.5 — ARK Wiki, CC BY-NC-SA
- Steam (ASE): Argy's won't mate (2019)
- Steam (ASE): Cryopod — moving tames out of the pod (2020)
- Our records: docs/OPERATIONS.md §7 (colours after pods and transfers)
