Arma 3 Headless Client

[Gudsawn 93]

I'm having trouble actually launching arma3.exe on our server. arma3server.exe works fine, but simply double clicking on arma3.exe does nothing at all. I assume this is because it's a server and so doesn't have any video capabilities - forcing arma 3 to shutdown instantly. Even with a bat file and the correct paramemters it still will not launch:

start "" "arma3.exe" -client -nosound -localhost=127.0.0.1 -connect=localhost -port=2322 -password=password -name=HC -profiles=HC

Wouldn't we need a "-novideo" as well as "-nosound"? Or this a Steam issue?

How are the rest of you getting around this?

UPDATE: Fixed the issue, Steam wasn't running :o

On another note, its very disappointing that server admins have to purchase a 2nd copy of Arma in order to run the headless client. At the very least a free 'lite' version of Arma should be available to admins in order to run the headless client. Afterall, this is merely a solution to a flaw in Arma's engine.

I sincerely hope that those who have purchased 2nd copies (purely for the sake of being able to run the HC) will be refunded once a proper/official solution has been released. What are the prospects of this?

To be honest it's in BIS' best interest that servers have the best performance. How many threads have you seen of people complaining about bad framerate on MP servers? Bad framerate in MP is mainly caused by servers having bad FPS (due to large numbers of AI). If headless client was easily available, the entire arma communtiy would benefit.

Edited October 25, 2013 by GDSN

[lordprimate 159]

your absolutely right GDSN... but see.. BIS is behind.... Their understaffed and underbudget... they have no interest in giving us better performance for free... that is why you have to BUY another copy of the game under another steam account name... I have said it before and ill say it again..

The Headless Client for Arma 3 is the First of many "Pay to Play" upgrades..... or DLC.... Next will be vehicles or units , and / or maps...

Pay to play baby.. ARMA 3...

as many people bug / post about getting HC... I hope you all realize soon that its NOT GOING TO HAPPEN...

Imagine how much money BIS will be missing out on if they make the HC free... thats $60 bux a pop... JUST FOR A HEADLESS CLIENT...

If they had ANY sense, they would release an ACTUAL headless client... a FREE version of the game that is ABSOLUTELY NOT PLAYABLE... IT CAN ONLY LAUNCH AND JOIN A SERVER.... But these are pipe dreams..

Edited October 27, 2013 by Lordprimate

[Dwarden 1125]

@lordprimate you talk non-sense ...

the reason you need new legitimate copy is security ... engine knows only 1 client, doesn't matter if it's dedicated, hc or normal ...

[lordprimate 159]

your right. I do. I am just Really butt hurt about it. I mean really.. There has got to be a way. got to.

[xeno 234]

the reason you need new legitimate copy is security ... engine knows only 1 client, doesn't matter if it's dedicated, hc or normal ...

David, what's the reason that you can connect with multiple normal clients in LAN loopback mode on a dedicated server on the same machine but not with a headless client?

The HC gets kicked immediately (and that's already happening for quite some time now...). I see no reason why mutliple normal clients work but not a HC.

Xeno

[gagi 10]

Our hc is still dying about a minute after another player jips. Is this normal?

I had this one too !!!

but not anymore

---------- Post added at 10:38 ---------- Previous post was at 10:31 ----------

David, what's the reason that you can connect with multiple normal clients in LAN loopback mode on a dedicated server on the same machine but not with a headless client?

The HC gets kicked immediately (and that's already happening for quite some time now...). I see no reason why mutliple normal clients work but not a HC.

Xeno

Hi Xeno,

I had the HC kicked when I had not activated the battleeyelicence=1 in the .cfg profile if you specify one on the HC command line : this must do the trick.

Also, for you Domina : for the moment I think the HC code is broken with stable 1.02, but your Domina seems ok with dev branch, so, as you say on your Domina thread : we probably have to wait for 1.06 the 31st.

Also another thing :

The HC seems to launch the mission, so you have to connect as admin first, then change parameters if you didn't put them the hard way in description.ext.

Then wait for the HC to connect after, verify the right slot, and launch the mission.

You can verify by doing #reassign and relaunch the mission changing some parameters like time of the mission ... that's what we did yesterday and it seems better this way.

Now the parameters seems to be taken into account.

hope that helps.

[xeno 234]

I had the HC kicked when I had not activated the battleeyelicence=1 in the .cfg profile if you specify one on the HC command line : this must do the trick.

I'm talking about loopback mode and battleyelicence is set to 1 in the HC profile/cfg since the parameter exists... :)

Xeno

[gagi 10]

I'm talking about loopback mode and battleyelicence is set to 1 in the HC profile/cfg since the parameter exists... :)

Xeno

Ho ok

then I didn't understand ! I don't have the HC dying even using 127.0.0.1, it connects, the only problems I had in the past was when steam client was offline or when batteleyelic wasn't set... perhaps I didn't understand the issue here.

We got other problems like the parameters (I think description.ext).

This is what I'd like to share with you. You opened a bug about parameters not going to clients, and preinit/postinit, So I'd like to understand. Was it with a headless client?

Cause I encounter a problem when you set parameters at lobby : it was to late because HC already connected before admin, launching the mission. And you cannot change parameters.

I have many problems with the way the HC connects and after : the way the AI are spawned : No clue to understand if they are spawned on the HC or not ...

I encounter much problems due to the way I was launching this damn HC.

But as you said : domi 2.99q do not work with stable branch so I decided to wait for the 31st.

thanks

[fred41 42]

@gagi, just a hint:

There is a parameter loopback=true (loopback mode, server.cfg), which probably still not work for HC in A3.

This parameter is meant to allow developers testing HC with steam offline, without the need for extra licence.

Some users (me included) have reported (months ago) that this doesn't work. But we didn't get useful answers to this issues.

So i am assuming that this issue still exists and this is what xeno is asking for.

Reference:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?148288-Dedicated-server-status/page18

Post 180#

Greets,

Fred41

[Tankbuster 1746]

So i am assuming that this issue still exists and this is what xeno is asking for.

Reference:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?148288-Dedicated-server-status/page18

Post 180#

It is what Xeno is talking about and he's absolutely right. It was a feature that was put in in a half arsed way and never actually worked.

[xeno 234]

There is a parameter loopback=true (loopback mode, server.cfg), which probably still not work for HC in A3.

This parameter is meant to allow developers testing HC with steam offline, without the need for extra licence.

Exactly what I'm talking about (though it doesn't matter if steam is offline or online as you can connect with multiple normal game clients, just not with a HC which worked fine some months ago).

Xeno

[ramius86 13]

Before buy my second license I found a trick to got server working on 2 pc. First I installered steam and arma in my server , put steam offline, battleye off and start server and hc. Then I go on my pc with steam offline, enter server and got kicked once, I try again and I join and play without errors. Dont know if this works again

[gagi 10]

@gagi, just a hint:

There is a parameter loopback=true (loopback mode, server.cfg), which probably still not work for HC in A3.

This parameter is meant to allow developers testing HC with steam offline, without the need for extra licence.

Some users (me included) have reported (months ago) that this doesn't work. But we didn't get useful answers to this issues.

So i am assuming that this issue still exists and this is what xeno is asking for.

Reference:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?148288-Dedicated-server-status/page18

Post 180#

Greets,

Fred41

Understood and thank you for the explanation !!!

Perhaps we can buy Xeno an extra licence for all his efforts since years !!!

[Tankbuster 1746]

I had this one too !!!

but not anymore

So what have you done/has changed to make this happen? Are you on dev branch?

[gagi 10]

Just put the battleeyelic=1 in the .cfg and ensure steam client is up.

Connecting to admin first then hc set parameters launch the mission. That´s all

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tankbuster 1746]

Hmmm. My HC doesn't have a profile.

[gagi 10]

Ok then it looks for the default profile in mydocuments arma3otherprofile usernameofurHC usernameofurHC.Arma3profile

It must contain :

battleyeLicense=1;

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[gagi 10]

I've got a tuned Hardcore Insurgency by code34 with headless client running.

Some bugs in the mission but AI seems impacted by asrai3 and tpwcas : debug balls are active

The server can be found filtering "atch".

Cannot test Domina with such a configuration until dev/stable rejoin I think (hope that it will fix HC issues).

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[lordprimate 159]

Curious how my stupid rant got a response, however, Xeno, posts a very valid and legitimate question and it goes unanswered. A question that has been posed before with similar results...

Can we get an update to the LOOPBACK function Please..... maybe, a little info, is this desired behavior??

Edited October 30, 2013 by Lordprimate

[gagi 10]

Too much concentration on the SP campaign nobody cares about :)

[Koj 10]

Hi !

The HC wrong password bug from early Alpha seems to be back on our server, does anyone has encountered this today ?

I've tried with several pass, only letter, only numers, both... it only works when there's no password.

Thanks for any info !

Edited December 11, 2013 by Koj

[gagi 10]

With 1.08???

[Koj 10]

Yes, just after the last update.

[gagi 10]

I just did a test and you're right :

HC is broken again !!!

for me since 1.08 update :

Password's always incorrect !!!

Come on BIS waitin' for an HOTFIX for this one !!!

[LondonLad 13]

I can confirm that the 'Incorrect Password' is occurring on my HC client, when connecting to the latest 1.08 dedicated server exe

HC Console

<time> Cannot join session. Wrong password given'...

Edited December 12, 2013 by LondonLad