Question about mods when running a server

[desertjedi 3]

I'm going to start running my own non-ded. server in ArmA and I have a question concerning mods.

If I'm running mods on my server, does everyone who wants to join have to be running with the exact same mods? Is there any way to indicate that its okay for players not to have the same mods as the server?

I like to play with HiFi, Aimpoint Desert Weapons. I also have lowplants and the vegetation fix and ArmA Effects. It would be a bummer to have to run plain vanilla just to allow people to join!

Regarding mods, I'm coming from a Ghost Recon viewpoint. In that game, you had to have the exact same mods active as the server or you couldn't join.

Last weekend I ran a server for a short time and someone joined but as he joined, messages came up that sounded like he did not have the same mods. Somehow, he eventually joined.

Can someone clarify this for me? Sorry if it's been asked and answered a gazillion times.

[ck-claw 1]

If your server config has:-

equalModRequired=1 then they will have to have the same mods.

equalModRequired=0 then they dont.

Other than that,only addons needed that are in the current mission you are playing.

[walker 0]

Hi DesertJedi

It is possible to join with different addons but it is not a good idea.

While ArmA is capable of running like this because it applies inheritance in configs. So every addon inherits from its parent class; thus if another player does not have that addon instead they see the parent of that class.

The advantage of this is that ArmA is more fault tolerant. And Bugs tend to be more graceful in failure, thus making bug tracking easier. The bugs are listed in the arma.rpt file default location in windows XP:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">C:\Documents and Settings\{your client name}\Local Settings\Application Data\ArmA\arma.rpt

The problems with this are that it can lead to conflicting values being passed from different clients and eventual server crashes or client crashes.

EqualMod is a broad mesh net and stops folders being different but it does not stop addon file PBOs from being different.

The correct things to do are to apply sig checking and BattlEye.

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">verifySignatures=1;

BattlEye=1;

As always the BIS Wiki is your friend; you can read more here:

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/server.cfg

The above page includes a simple example config.

You can also ask the Admin of a server you respect if they can give you an example config.

This thread may prove useful:

http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin....ver.cfg

A search for server.cfg reveals this:

http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin....b7f0665

Kind Regards walker

[desertjedi 3]

Thanks for the info and the wiki link - bookmarking now.

Quick question....does a non-dedicated server use a server.cfg file too? Thought they were only for ded. servers.

And this too...

So what do most admins in ArmA do? Run plain vanilla? or set it so peeps with different addons can join anyway?

It would be a shame not to be able to at least run HiFi sounds or another of the awesome sound packs.

[walker 0]

Hi DesertJedi

I am talking about dedicated servers.

You should not allow people to join the server unless their addons match. As I pointed out doing so will result in errors and most likely a crash on the server or clients. Because of the complexity of addon combinations there is no way of predicting.

A vanilla ArmA server is very easy to do just do not load any mod folders and have:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">verifySignatures=1

For an addon server with mods added again with:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">verifySignatures=1

Just make sure the public keys are on the server.

If you have an addon you like to use that is not signed by the addon maker you can make mod folder for your server DesertJediApprovedMOD or something and then sign the mod folder your self!

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/ArmA:_Addon_Signatures

You can also use this method to put all the addons you want to use signed or unsigned then simply place it all in one folder and sign for DesertJediAcceptedMODS then make the public key available with a copy of your server MOD for download from your server FTP or Website.

Or you can use one of the already completed MOD folders that another clan uses.

If ACE comes out a lot of clans may switch to that but there are others out already.

The advantage here is that you have complete control of addon versions and less problems when an addon gets updated of mismatched addons!

It is also faster as only one signature has to be checked.

This is what most of the big clans do.

You can list the required addons and where to download them in your server welcome message (see config link you favourited) and list them on your website as well.

Kind regards walker

[Sneaker-78- 0]

i need some help with the keys, i downloaded the "DSCreateKey" and the "DSCheckSignatures" files, i drag the "pbo.file" into the "DSCreateKey" and it creates 2 files 1 for privat (store it on a save place) and 1 is for the server in the map "keys" ..doing it right so far ?

wel if i want to join my Deticated server is still saying that i miss thad addon or keys .. what i am doing wrong ?

please help

[Sneaker-78- 0]

sombody please ?

[[kh]jman 49]

You need to sign your addons with your private key then add them (bisigns) to you local machine's '@my_mod/addons' folder. Upload the public key to the server. Read here

[Sneaker-78- 0]

sorry to tell you and maby i am an noob in this but i don`t get it , first : what is an syntax and where must i put that line into ?