ARMA 2: OA Beta build 125402 - Steam Mp Lobby (1.63 build, Steam only)

[Squadron_2 10]

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/STEAMWORKSquery#Additional_details

What do you want to say with that?

[Viba 1]

He was wondering about the change from the GameSpy query-system to the Steam one?

[OMAC 254]

...but they have to make it so users can choose beta patch version and not be stuck with 1..

I strongly agree with this. Many betas have problems which necessitate reverting to previous beta in order to play the game. This is especially true for me since that Battle Eye file is quarantined by my anti-virus program. Since the ancient 1.62 is completely obsolete, playing with some version of OA beta (112555 or later) is essential. It's high time 1.63 was released to end this preposterousness, for crying out loud! :rolleyes:

[kichilron 10]

I strongly agree with this. Many betas have problems which necessitate reverting to previous beta in order to play the game. This is especially true for me since that Battle Eye file is quarantined by my anti-virus program. Since the ancient 1.62 is completely obsolete, playing with some version of OA beta (112555 or later) is essential. It's high time 1.63 was released to end this preposterousness, for crying out loud! :rolleyes:

Yes, of course. We're not talking about having the ability to play with 1.62 - as that option is already there on Steam.

However - and this is the part we need to have:

the newest Beta-Patch breaks a lot of stuff for mods and any Beta-Patch has done so far. This wouldn't be a problem if I could just chose to stay in a version I know was working (124879) - but there's no way of doing that, because Steam forces me to update and I can't roll back, because I can't download it anymore (not on Steam, and the Retail System isn't used anymore)

It might be alright for the regular ARMA 2 OA player, but us modders have some serious issues with this - and it's the mods that keep it alive after all.

These issues are starting with the playerUID now, go on with the changed BIS_fnc_init some patches ago, etc.

If we could simply to chose to stay on one version we deliver our patches with, it would be cool - but we simply can't.

This doesn't mean we wouldn't update to the newest Beta-patches when releasing a new patch, but there is no such system yet.

There is hardly any project as big as DayZ Mod at the moment - and we have our hands tied because of this.

[gagi2 50]

i said when a patch is working... not when its fucked up... there is no need to choose between ^^

but when is something ever working here at bis... ;)

[kichilron 10]

i said when a patch is working... not when its fucked up... there is no need to choose between ^^

You will atleast have to be able to chose whether to update or not, which is not the case, currently. And you will never be able to tell beforehand. And there's no way of downgrading with Steam to the last Beta Patch.

[yxman 90]

Patch for linux dedicated?

[Scourge012 10]

A lot of people are saying that this patch "Broke the game" so I guess I'm not alone. Is anyone else getting this problem:

When I launch the game with "Play ArmA 2: Operation Arrowhead" a command window dialog box appears for a brief moment (too short for me to even read) then disappears. Then...nothing. The game fails to load and my "Playing ArmA 2: Operation Arrowhead" status disappears on the friends screen. This isn't a crash as the game doesn't load and there is no crash log for me to upload. It simply fails to launch.

The game launches normally if I choose to launch it without BattlEye. I'm guessing this has to do with the "improved" BattlEye implementation feature mentioned in the patch notes.

[cooltrain7 10]

A lot of people are saying that this patch "Broke the game" so I guess I'm not alone. Is anyone else getting this problem:

When I launch the game with "Play ArmA 2: Operation Arrowhead" a command window dialog box appears for a brief moment (too short for me to even read) then disappears. Then...nothing. The game fails to load and my "Playing ArmA 2: Operation Arrowhead" status disappears on the friends screen. This isn't a crash as the game doesn't load and there is no crash log for me to upload. It simply fails to launch.

The game launches normally if I choose to launch it without BattlEye. I'm guessing this has to do with the "improved" BattlEye implementation feature mentioned in the patch notes.

Yep this is the same problem that im getting although my game still runs after launch just no one can see my playing it.

[Axles 10]

Not an issue that it changed but it's now a much longer string of numbers and in the player profile/edit menu the end of it gets cut off.

[Armitxes 36]

Not an issue that it changed but it's now a much longer string of numbers and in the player profile/edit menu the end of it gets cut off.

Well it causes problem with my saving systems -.- bahhhhhhhhhhh must update all my DB based mods

[Viba 1]

Same here, since the original player uid can still be calculated it would be better if there was still a command to retrieve it.

[rn_max 4]

From what I can gather, wasting far too much of my time reading forums round in circles, is that servers will need reconfiguring again.

The main problem is the "oh this wiki entry might help" responses and other half-answer not-actually-helpful comments from those who have made the changes to ArmA2 OA.

What they consistently fail to realise is that they are talking to "non-combatants", who have not coded anything ever, let alone these changes in the game, have no experience of what they are talking about and don't do this for a living.

How to set up a server with Steam ... which has been changed every other patch ... needs explaining COMPLETELY, in CLEAR, SIMPLE terminology ... and IN ONE PLACE.

We just want to spend a few minutes populating the relevant details, so that we can run a game server and invite our friends to blast pixels on Sundays. We're not stupid, as we have previously set up servers, but we're not egghead developers and have not had a clear explanation of the changes and how to deal with them.

For example, a wiki page containing the functions of the STEAMWORKSquery might look nice and pretty, but without a simple explanation of how we actually use those variables with our servers and what config or script they go in, that page is of no use to us mere mortals whatsoever.

Many of us don't want or need to learn how to use API protocols, code queries, or scripting. We just want to know what variables to set, what they do and in which script and config files they are saved.

No more of this "read this wiki and that wiki and this forum comment that nobody has stickied" crap. Just get it all down in one place and make it clear for non-developer people to read!

Edited June 29, 2014 by RN_Max
thinking on the fly ..

[Squadron_2 10]

And when saying we want the option to choose beta patch it doesn't mean we want to be able to choose between latest and 1.62 patches. (noticed this had been added to the droplist on steam.)

We want to be able to choose between different 1.63 patches

[Dwarden 1125]

new beta 1.63.125548 http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?179740-ARMA-2-OA-Beta-build-125548-Steam-Mp-Lobby-(1-63-build-Steam-only)

[rn_max 4]

It turns out that I was in a tail chase the whole time ... with something nobody has mentioned yet, let alone confirmed and I have only even seen the question asked tonight.

it is either too complicated, or simply not possible, to run a dedicated server and a client from the same computer any more.

With the GameSpy server system running a server and client on the same machine wasn't an issue, but the Steam system does not appear to like running both.

As soon as I fired up one of my other machines with a server build on it, I could join it from another machine running the client. Fortunate that I have "other machines" to experiment with.

Really bloody annoying. Like many things throughout this whole pantomime. I find it increasingly difficult to show the gratitude I should for the otherwise great support that BIS provides.

[Viba 1]

I didn't have any problems running a dedicated server and a client from the same machine? Do it like you normally would, just start your client through steam.

[OMAC 254]

It's high time 1.63 was released to end this preposterousness, for crying out loud!

My wish was granted, and quickly, too! :rolleyes: :)

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?179732-Arma-2-Operation-Arrowhead-Update-1-63&p=2719776&viewfull=1#post2719776

[rn_max 4]

I have no idea what was stopping my client and server from running together, but I switched both to 125548 beta, then later back to 125402 stable (the 1.63 release), now they happily coexist on the same machine.

Other than that I changed nothing. The Armaverse, where software defies logic.

[Sawakodo 1]

Regarding the UI and the squad.xml I have the problem that it does not work anymore even though the URL is stored in the .ArmA2OAProfile file and the squad.xml file has got the new UID.

[skydive 1]

It turns out that I was in a tail chase the whole time ... with something nobody has mentioned yet, let alone confirmed and I have only even seen the question asked tonight.

it is either too complicated, or simply not possible, to run a dedicated server and a client from the same computer any more.

With the GameSpy server system running a server and client on the same machine wasn't an issue, but the Steam system does not appear to like running both.

As soon as I fired up one of my other machines with a server build on it, I could join it from another machine running the client. Fortunate that I have "other machines" to experiment with.

Really bloody annoying. Like many things throughout this whole pantomime. I find it increasingly difficult to show the gratitude I should for the otherwise great support that BIS provides.

What you will need to do is change the port on your client to use a steam port other than 27016. Use 27017 or some other number. It's the same if you are running multiple server instances on a box; you need to open a range of ports so that each instance uses a different range and does not overlap. Here is how I have my dedicated box set up for ArmA 2 & ArmA 3 so that they can each use different ports:

Ports open for both TCP and UDP:

2300-2400, 8766-8866, 27016-27116, 47624, 28800-28900

This was taken from a steam help thread on this subject: "If you intend on playing on your dedicated server from the same computer, you will need to change the server port in which your client listens to. The simplest way to do this is to right click on the game in your Steam games list, select Properties, select Launch Options, and add +port 27095 to the text box -- or any number of your choice really, providing it is different to what your server is using."

[Schatten 289]

Why did wheeled vehicles not become to move off-road as slowly as in ACR DLC? I need to disable DLC, otherwise players without DLC will have advantage over me.

[rn_max 4]

What you will need to do is change the port on your client to use a steam port other than 27016. Use 27017 or some other number. It's the same if you are running multiple server instances on a box; you need to open a range of ports so that each instance uses a different range and does not overlap. Here is how I have my dedicated box set up for ArmA 2 & ArmA 3 so that they can each use different ports:

Ports open for both TCP and UDP:

2300-2400, 8766-8866, 27016-27116, 47624, 28800-28900

This was taken from a steam help thread on this subject: "If you intend on playing on your dedicated server from the same computer, you will need to change the server port in which your client listens to. The simplest way to do this is to right click on the game in your Steam games list, select Properties, select Launch Options, and add +port 27095 to the text box -- or any number of your choice really, providing it is different to what your server is using."

I've been running client and server on the same machine since my post above last week, changing to 125402 stable without giving client and server different ports. In fact I'm now running 125548 stable with client and server on the same machine with no port changes, or any other changes apart from updating versions.

My A2OA client is not and never was using UDP 27016. I've used TCPview to monitor ports since first starting to dabble with server builds. Only 2304 UDP and a few 50000+ UDP ports are active at the moment, all opened on client launch.

The difference between 125548 beta and stable? Apart from the executable files for client and server being downloaded again, I have no idea.

The Armaverse, where software defies logic. Or appears to do so in the absence of relevant information.

Just as an aside ... opening three one hundred port ranges for a total of five ports is a little excessive for a game server. Like opening the garage door to put the cat out.

Even more so when opening them in TCP as well, which I have not seen the server use at all. Like opening the garage door, the house doors and all the windows to let the cat out.

[malaspina 10]

I've been running client and server on the same machine since my post above last week, changing to 125402 stable without giving client and server different ports. In fact I'm now running 125548 stable with client and server on the same machine with no port changes, or any other changes apart from updating versions.

My A2OA client is not and never was using UDP 27016. I've used TCPview to monitor ports since first starting to dabble with server builds. Only 2304 UDP and a few 50000+ UDP ports are active at the moment, all opened on client launch.

The difference between 125548 beta and stable? Apart from the executable files for client and server being downloaded again, I have no idea.

The Armaverse, where software defies logic. Or appears to do so in the absence of relevant information.

Just as an aside ... opening three one hundred port ranges for a total of five ports is a little excessive for a game server. Like opening the garage door to put the cat out.

Even more so when opening them in TCP as well, which I have not seen the server use at all. Like opening the garage door, the house doors and all the windows to let the cat out.

Now in my seventies, ARMA nicely balanced the gardening duties, ........................till last week!

Steam tells me I spent 45 hours playing Operation Arrowhead in various flavours last week, with a new account that was started to check out a dedicated sever, not one hour of playing was managed.

At least most you have a router to play with as opposed to my WIMAX port forwarding issues,

Anyway big thanks to RN_Max for softening the madness.

[skydive 1]

Just as an aside ... opening three one hundred port ranges for a total of five ports is a little excessive for a game server. Like opening the garage door to put the cat out.

Even more so when opening them in TCP as well, which I have not seen the server use at all. Like opening the garage door, the house doors and all the windows to let the cat out.

Meh, I'm not really concerned. If by some huge stretch the server got hacked, I would have it back up with a fresh image in a matter of a couple of minutes.