Arma 3 Headless Client

[slayertom 0]

I thought the hc will work again with the new patch (the one who come out today) but the hc continue to be kicked by the server. There is some settings to change for having the hc working with the new version ?

[phoenix_za 23]

It works for me. The only thing I do differently compared to the last stable branch version is use the new (for stable) dedicated exe in the Arma 3 folder for the server

Edited May 25, 2013 by Phoenix_ZA
clarity

[slayertom 0]

When i am on the server the HC is kicked immediatly, when i am not it's kicked every 2 minutes.

I use arma3server.exe for the dedicated and arma.exe -client for the HC.

I try with custom profil and not, with addon and not but it's doesn't working. I succed one time to have the HC working 2 hours but when the server was restarted, the hc was kicked again.

Please, can you explain what did you do for it can working ?

Edited May 27, 2013 by slayertom

[phoenix_za 23]

Is your Steam GUI online (for HC?) If not, then try that, as it seems to help sometimes with the steamuid kicks.

On a side note, Im very happy with the last patch. I have 2 servers running with 2 HCs connected to both of them and working. Haven't had a kick yet. All 4 Armas have theyre own folders through SteamCMD, and I keep Steam online for the HC's.

The only problem I have is this one: http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=8647 (please let me know if its not just me, and if its not, then please vote up)

Which happens sometimes and causes the HC to kind of desync (from the clients perspective) and drain performance from the clients. It is easily fixable with a mission restart though.

[slayertom 0]

Is your Steam GUI online (for HC?) If not, then try that, as it seems to help sometimes with the steamuid kicks.

On a side note, Im very happy with the last patch. I have 2 servers running with 2 HCs connected to both of them and working. Haven't had a kick yet. All 4 Armas have theyre own folders through SteamCMD, and I keep Steam online for the HC's.

The only problem I have is this one: http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=8647 (please let me know if its not just me, and if its not, then please vote up)

Which happens sometimes and causes the HC to kind of desync (from the clients perspective) and drain performance from the clients. It is easily fixable with a mission restart though.

Steam was in offline mode. If i turn it on online mode, the hc is working but it's me who can't connect to the server now. Do you use another steam account for your hc or you use the same steam account you using for playing ?

[phoenix_za 23]

I have a dedicated Steam account and Arma 3 copy for the server. With that one account, im now running 3 HCs and servers. It is a nuisance buying another copy, but since we will be using Arma 3 for at least 3 years, it may still come in handy even if they remove the requirement.

One thing I noticed, is that if Steam looses its connection, then all the HC's get kicked immediately.

[Tankbuster 1746]

Phew, we got this working at last in our Domination mission.

We were seeing that the HC failed to join the server. It started to connect but was then kicked by the server. We then found that it was better to start the server with the steam client offline and start the HC later with steam online. This worked! The HC was able to connect. We know that the DS doesn't need steam, but we didn't realise the HC does, until now.

But it joined the wrong slot in the mission. Xeno has already coded to allow for the HC, but the client always joined a blufor slot and couldn't be moved by admin. We confirmed that thr HC slot had the forceHeadlessClient=1; but we noticed that the HC always joined the slot with the lowest sqm id. So with some cunning mission merging in the editor we rearranged the sqm so that the HC slot was id=0, it was previously last with id 49.

class Groups
{
	items=17;
	class Item0
	{
		side="EAST";
		class Vehicles
		{
			items=1;
			class Item0
			{
				position[]={6065.0435,6.466332,4164.6245};
				id=0;
				side="EAST";
				vehicle="O_Soldier_F";
				player="PLAY CDG";
				forceHeadlessClient=1;
				leader=1;
				skill=0.60000002;
				text="DCSlot";
				description="Headless Client Unit, can not be chosen by a human player";
			};
		};
	};

We tried again thinking that if it now joins the first available slot it should drop into it's HC slot but no, it still went into a blufor slot - in Domi, that's an arty op slot. :) And admin still couldn't move him.

We then read that the HC client has to be DCSlot. Domis HC slot is called HC_D_UNIT so we changed it. I did a global find and replace across the entire mission directory because a few scripts were looking for HC_D_UNIT and got 14 hits changing them all (including the SQM one) to DCSlot.

But the HC still didn't join his slot. So we thought, well, let's get players in before we fire up the HC. Myself and Champy got in the mission first and then I told the HC to join and he went straight into his slot on OPFOR! Result!

I can't say how much of what we did above is required, nor how many of our problems were mission or server related. I can say that as of now, it's working. Your mileage may vary. I know how our server performs after 7 Domi main targets with a bunch of players - I've checked the FPS and so I plan to do the same again soon and see if the server FPS is any better. I'll report back when I've seen.

Also note that because our server was sharing my steam account, there was lots of faffing about between the two machines taking steam offline and online. All very tedious so we've got an account solely for the HC on the server. That's now online all the time.

I realise that we're in the lucky position of being able to dip into the clan coffers to afford this and that not everyone is able or willing to do this.

Thanks to Champy for brainstorming this with me. A second pair of eyes is often invaluable in situations like this and this is not the first time he's been able to sit back from the code and take a wider view of the issue. Thanks fella.

Hope this helps some. :)

PS to Dirty Haz who came in the server just as we got it fixed and went to sleep. :)

[Tankbuster 1746]

Guys,

Is it a problem if the HC character dies? I'm seeing him die everytime he's alone in the server and someone joins.

Tanky -Paul-

[phoenix_za 23]

The way it works now, if he is auto assigned a slot, then that slot isnt local to the HC anyway.

It really depends on the script.

[Tankbuster 1746]

He is auto assigned a slot, but he doesn't get in it when he joins. In fact, If I join before the HC, I can get in his slot.

[phoenix_za 23]

Sounds right. As I said before, it depends on the script. Mine only consideres hasInterface and not the slot itself, so it doesnt matter where it is, as long as its connected to the server.

[pawelkpl 29]

Guys,

Is it a problem if the HC character dies? I'm seeing him die everytime he's alone in the server and someone joins.

Tanky -Paul-

I can say that I do have some problems with mission ending (capture town) when using HC in xeno domination, i.e. radio tower can't be destroyed...

[stevos758 10]

Does the headless client need to have a certain name in the profile? Right now it's running in my offline profile named "Steve"

Can I run headless client in offline mode?

[phoenix_za 23]

I'm not aware of any profile name requirement, though I call my ones Headless_client.

I need to run my ones in online mode, otherwise they get kicked.

[stevos758 10]

So can I run headless client on a home server and arma 3 on a different PC with the same copy?

[phoenix_za 23]

I haven't tried that with the Beta, but since I last tried, no. You can't have two clients join the same server with the same steam uid.

[byrgesen 1]

I haven't tried that with the Beta, but since I last tried, no. You can't have two clients join the same server with the same steam uid.

Was just looking for answers on this very subject tonight.

I can confirm it still doesnt work on the stable branch in v.0.70.106872

So i need one of my friends to help me, by allowing me to use his account, to test if my HC missions work lol.

I really hope theres gonna be a solution or even just a sloppy workaround soon :( One can only dream of a HC.exe hehe

[chrispottsov1987 1]

Is there any plans in the works by BI to release a dedicated HC the same as we now have the Server.exe? To allow us to run a HC without having to own several copies of the game.

[Vigil Vindex 64]

I was hoping the HC could be rolled in with the dedicated server. I thought I saw that mentioned at some point.

[Tankbuster 1746]

I was hoping the HC could be rolled in with the dedicated server. I thought I saw that mentioned at some point.

Yeah, I mention it last week and promised to looking into what needs to be done, but got sidetracked into doing other things. :(

[Dwarden 1125]

important thread, with 2 solutions to issues with HC client , profiles and BattlEye http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?160029-Headless-client-battleye

[uber3999 10]

Does the HC have to run off the same pc the server is hosted off? My server is hosted a few states over but i get about 16-25 ping. Would running the HC off my pc be effective? I have 6 cores 12 threads.

And i also have 2 copys of the game but since the game requires steam would it kick one account off if i were to log off and log in with another account or would i have to use a Virtual Machine?

[Tankbuster 1746]

Guys, I've made a post on Tophe's DST thread in the hope he can implement HC start functionality into TADST. Can those that are familiar with HC stuff have a read through my post and reply there if I've not got it right, please?

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?104991-Tophe-s-Arma-Dedicated-Server-Tool-%28TADST%29&p=2459937#post2459937

[SavageCDN 231]

Does the HC have to run off the same pc the server is hosted off? My server is hosted a few states over but i get about 16-25 ping. Would running the HC off my pc be effective? I have 6 cores 12 threads.

I would think it would have to be on the same LAN at least to avoid any desync problems... also bandwidth might be an issue depending on your home connection. The benefit of running on the same machine is the 'unlimited' bandwidth between server and HC. Someone may have tried this however and had success.... if you do please post your results!!

Guys, I've made a post on Tophe's DST thread in the hope he can implement HC start functionality into TADST. Can those that are familiar with HC stuff have a read through my post and reply there if I've not got it right, please?

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?104991-Tophe-s-Arma-Dedicated-Server-Tool-%28TADST%29&p=2459937#post2459937

Posted

[mariodu62 5]

important thread, with 2 solutions to issues with HC client , profiles and BattlEye http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?160029-Headless-client-battleye

Hi Dwarden,

i tried the both solution and still have this :

9:24:57 Dedicated client created.

9:25:02 > BattlEye Client: Initialized (v1.202)

9:25:02 > Player DChost connecting

9:25:03 > Player DChost connected

9:25:03 > BattlEye Client: Server requiring client version 1.204. Updating...

9:25:04 > BattlEye Client: Could not connect to BE Master

9:25:04 > BattlEye Client: Update attempt failed

any idea, thx