fractal_void

Just make sure that you have MaxDifficulty=True on your Game.ini and DifficultyOffset=1.0 on your GameUserSettings.ini. Don't forget to execute the command admincheat destroywilddinos and all creatures on The Island and Scorched Earth should spawn up to level 150. A good way to know it's working properly is that you will see creatures with levels in multiples of 5 (5,10,15,20...145,150 etc.).

Just rename your save folder to the corresponding save local folder. For example copy your "SavedArk#####" from the server to your local save folder and rename it to SavedArksLocal for The Island, RagnarokSavedArksLocal for Ragnarok and so on (depending on the map). Then inside that folder rename your steamID.arkprofile to LocalPlayer.arkprofile and you should be set.

Just rename your save folder to the corresponding save local folder. For example copy your "SavedArk#####" from the server to your local save folder and rename it to SavedArksLocal for The Island, RagnarokSavedArksLocal for Ragnarok and so on (depending on the map). Then inside that folder rename your steamID.arkprofile to LocalPlayer.arkprofile and you should be set.

What are your specs? I hadn't notice an improvement until I started troubleshooting a different problem yesterday and renamed my local Saved folder in order to force the game to create a new one. Mainly you will want to delete PlayerLocalData.arkprofile under ARK\ShooterGame\Saved\LocalProfiles and your config files ARK\ShooterGame\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor. You may also just try just resetting your game resolution first by using the menu when launching Ark from the Steam client. You'll know that you did it right if the next time you launch the game it runs in windowed mode at 720p. From there choose the video settings that are appropriate to your computer specs.
 
After I did this I noticed 10-15 fps improvement overall. I have a GTX 970, 16GB Ram and a six years old i5-2500k, not running on an SSD. I get 35-45 fps on my base and 40-55 in the wild on 1920x1080, High Settings, Post Processing on Epic, Ground Clutter Max, Light Shafts and Bloom ON. Also if I'm not mistaken the developers mentioned that so far the improvements impact High and Epic settings while Medium and Low settings are still being worked on.

You want the beacon and fishing loot quality multipliers set to 1.0 if you're want Ark default values. The server configuration tool on the control panel is set to 5.0 as default so change it back to 1.0.

ShowFloatingDamageText=True does work on gameusersettings.ini
 
 
If you want to edit your game.ini I suggest doing it via FTP. Also always make sure that the server is stopped before making any changes.

Custom launch params can be revealed by marking your map as 'Custom'.