Creates ark shortcuts on your desktop to quickly join a server.

refresh_ark_shortcuts.php

<?php

/**
 * The purpose of this script is to create custom ark shortcuts on your desktop that automatically will connect you to the server of your choosing.
 * This avoids Wildcard's dumb menu which is currently bugged out and will sometimes crash your game :(
 * 
 * Another reason for this script's existence is the fact that I can't put a hostname into the shortcut and have it automatically be resolved (it has to be an ip address).
 * 
 * Code Flow:
 * - Get the ip address to elephantbox.net
 * - Generate a custom vbs script for every server
 * - Create the shortcut for that server on the desktop
 * - Clean up remaining files
 * 
 * Things to consider:
 * - Not all Ark servers have a hostname
 * - Variables like server name and ports and user folder data are all hardcoded
 * - This script probably isn't very user friendly to begin with because it's running a php based .vbs wrapper and automation requires
 * using windows task manager.
 * - Maybe I should add in a method to add to windows task scheduler?
 * - Maybe add in a configurable ini file?
 * 
 * vbs code was used from this source. Thank you fellow developer!
 * https://www.giannistsakiris.com/2008/12/03/how-to-create-shortcuts-in-windows-from-the-command-line/
 */

$servers = [
    'TheIsland' => 60101,
    'Extinction' => 60105,
    'Scorched_Earth' => 60109,
    'The_Center' => 60113,
    'Ragnarok' => 60117,
    'Abberation' => 60121,
    'Dev_VM' => 60125
];
$ip_address = resolveHostnameIP();
$password = ''; //Intentionally left blank for now

//Change our working directory to the shortcut folder
$shortcut_folder = 'C:' . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'Users' . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'Peter' . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'Desktop';
chdir($shortcut_folder);

$ark_binary_location = 
    'E:'                . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR .
    'SteamLibrary'      . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 
    'steamapps'         . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 
    'common'            . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 
    'ARK'               . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 
    'ShooterGame'       . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 
    'Binaries'          . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 
    'Win64'             . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 
    'ShooterGame.exe';

foreach ($servers as $name => $port) {
    //Generate the raw .vbs script
    $script_name = 'ark_shortcut.vbs';
    $script_loc = $shortcut_folder . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $script_name;

    //Remove the script if it exists already (should only happen if the script ever fails in the middle of processing)
    if (file_exists($script_loc) !== FALSE) {
        unlink($script_loc);
    }

    $shortcut_name = 'Ark_' . $name;
    $shortcut_location = $shortcut_folder . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $shortcut_name . '.lnk';

    $script = createShortcutScript($ip_address, $port, $password);
    file_put_contents($script_loc, $script);

    //Run the script!
    $shell_cmd = $script_name . ' /target:"' . $ark_binary_location . '" /shortcut:"' . $shortcut_name;
    exec($shell_cmd);

    //Clean up the generated script
    unlink($script_loc);
}

function resolveHostnameIP()
{
    $shell_cmd = 'ping elephantbox.net';
    $results = shell_exec($shell_cmd);
    $result_array = explode("\n", $results);
    $result_line = null;
    foreach ($result_array as $result) {
        if (strpos($result, 'elephantbox.net') !== FALSE) {
            $result_line = $result;
        }
    }
    if ($result_line !== null) {
        $result_line_array = explode('[', $result_line);
        $raw_ip = trim(explode(']', $result_line_array[1])[0]);
    } else {
        //Unable to resolve Hostname so leave the shortcuts alone and exit
        exit();
    }
    return $raw_ip;
}

function createShortcutScript($ip, $port, $password)
{
    $line = 'set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")';
    $line .= "\n" . 'set oShellLink = WshShell.CreateShortcut(Wscript.Arguments.Named("shortcut") & ".lnk")';
    $line .= "\n" . 'oShellLink.Arguments = "+connect ' . $ip . ':' . $port . ' +password " & Chr(34) & "' . $password . '" & Chr(34)';
    $line .= "\n" . 'oShellLink.TargetPath = Wscript.Arguments.Named("target")';
    $line .= "\n" . 'oShellLink.WindowStyle = 1';
    $line .= "\n" . 'oShellLink.Save';
    return $line;
}

?>