Arma2 dedicated server howto

[killswitch 19]

I tried to install dedicated server (as the readme.txt said to) for OA but after the ./install (which completed correctly):)

Everything went well until I tried to run the ./server and got lots of errors

Yeah, that readme really needs an overhaul... Disregard the parts that tell you to run the server using "./server" (steps 4, 5 and 6) and instead skip to step 7. Edit the arma2oaserver script to fit your setup and then launch the server using

./arma2oaserver start

Next, you can follow the log output from the text file "log.2302.txt":

tail -f log.2302.txt

[Tactical Destroyer 10]

=====================================================================

Exe timestamp: 2011/06/19 12:27:55

Current time: 2011/08/17 11:42:46

Version 1.59.79384

Warning Message: No entry 'default\arma2.cfg.3D_Performance'.

what is this and how do i fix it

[visceralsyn 10]

IN your arma2.cfg, add:

3D_Performance=0;

and that error will go away.

...Syn...

[Tactical Destroyer 10]

still there even after doing that

[visceralsyn 10]

Edit the arma2.cfg that your server is loading.

...Syn...

[Tactical Destroyer 10]

i did its still giving me the error

[visceralsyn 10]

Copy and paste the contents of the arma2.cfg the server is reading, here, please.

...Syn...

[Tactical Destroyer 10]

already fixed it now i just have to figure out how to unban my self from my own server when theres no ban or bans.txt file

[scarter38 10]

does anyone now where i can get a premade server package i no at one time there was a hole server ziped up u could download dont now where to find it now

[larsiano 12]

does anyone now where i can get a premade server package

Do you mean Windows server or Linux? All you need is the original gamefiles + server.cfg file

look here for the config: http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/server.cfg

Copy the Example Configuration File in a textfile and place it in the A2 folder (and make sure its not called server.cfg.txt). Then you change the servername /password and start the server with a shortcut Arma2server.exe -config=server.cfg in the target :)

[scarter38 10]

windows server

is there some way i can talk to you on like teamspeak maybe you help me get this all set up

[larsiano 12]

sure np, first you gotta try and give it ago and if you fail you can always find me on TS3 ill pm you the details (or press my banner <then> serverpage)

[thedudeabides 40]

Was wondering, how do I set the server to have a default difficulty of veteran instead of regular?

[[kh]jman 49]

In the server's .ArmA2OAProfile file there is a line you need to change, difficulty="".

Make sure that the class Difficulties {} contains the class veteran {}

For example:

difficulty="veteran";

class Difficulties
{
class veteran
{
	class Flags
	{
		Armor=0;
		FriendlyTag=0;
		EnemyTag=0;
		HUD=1;
		HUDPerm=0;
		HUDWp=1;
		HUDWpPerm=1;
		WeaponCursor=0;
		AutoAim=0;
		AutoGuideAT=0;
		3rdPersonView=0;
		ClockIndicator=1;
		Map=0;
		Tracers=1;
		AutoSpot=0;
		UltraAI=0;
		UnlimitedSaves=0;
		DeathMessages=1;
		NetStats=1;
		VonID=1;
	};
	skillFriendly=0.7;
	skillEnemy=0.7;
	precisionFriendly=0.7;
	precisionEnemy=0.7;
};
};

[McSpeed 1]

Hi,

I finally decided to host a ded server after years of playing and so far its all good.

however, i came across one problem.

i wanted to be able to have a scenario with flexible day/night pattern (to be selected in the game lobby)

i managed to have the options listed , including view distance, terrain and such, but whatever we set is not being applied.

i tried it on various missions i built to no avail. i have a feeling the server "forces" a read only state to the files and so it cant be set, is this true?

if so, does anybody know a way to accomplish this in another manner?

[larsiano 12]

Hi,

I finally decided to host a ded server after years of playing and so far its all good.

however, i came across one problem.

i wanted to be able to have a scenario with flexible day/night pattern (to be selected in the game lobby)

i managed to have the options listed , including view distance, terrain and such, but whatever we set is not being applied.

i tried it on various missions i built to no avail. i have a feeling the server "forces" a read only state to the files and so it cant be set, is this true?

if so, does anybody know a way to accomplish this in another manner?

This is not a server issue, What you are looking for is called MP parameters and is part of mission scripting. There is a ton of information about this subject on the BIS-Wiki

[McSpeed 1]

much obliged.

will read up on it.

[eliott 10]

sorry i've put on the wrong post :/

[Belbo 462]

I have a second PC set up as a dedicated Server for A2. Problem is: AI is way too inaccurate.

My startup line is:

Expansion\beta\arma2oaserver.exe -ip=192.168.2.8 -port=2306 -beta=Expansion\beta;Expansion\beta\Expansion -profiles=defaultserver -name=defaultserver -cfg=defaultserver\basic.cfg -config=defaultserver\serverACRE.cfg -mod=@CO;expansion;expansion\beta;expansion\beta\expansion;@CBA_Co;ACR;BAF;PMC;@BWMod;@AMT;@PRACS;@EHJ_INF;@ADV_Maps;@ADV_Objects;@ACE;@ACEX;@ACEX_USNavy;@ACEX_RU;@ACEX_PLA;@st_lb_enhance;@st_interact;@T1_Airfix;@BWMod_ACE;@ACRE;@JayArma2Lib;

and my defaultserver.Arma2OAProfile contains this:

class Difficulties

{

class Recruit

{

class Flags

{

3rdPersonView=1;

armor=1;

autoAim=0;

autoGuideAT=1;

autoSpot=0;

cameraShake=1;

clockIndicator=1;

deathMessages=1;

enemyTag=0;

friendlyTag=1;

hud=1;

hudGroupInfo=1;

hudPerm=1;

hudWp=1;

hudWpPerm=1;

map=1;

netStats=1;

tracers=0;

ultraAI=0;

unlimitedSaves=1;

vonID=1;

weaponCursor=1;

};

skillFriendly=1;

precisionFriendly=1;

skillEnemy=0.60000001;

precisionEnemy=0.30000001;

};

class Regular

{

class Flags

{

3rdPersonView=1;

armor=1;

autoAim=0;

autoGuideAT=1;

autoSpot=0;

cameraShake=1;

clockIndicator=1;

deathMessages=1;

enemyTag=0;

friendlyTag=0;

hud=1;

hudGroupInfo=1;

hudPerm=0;

hudWp=1;

hudWpPerm=1;

map=1;

netStats=1;

tracers=0;

ultraAI=0;

unlimitedSaves=1;

vonId=1;

weaponCursor=1;

};

skillFriendly=1;

precisionFriendly=1;

skillEnemy=0.9;

precisionEnemy=0.5;

};

class Veteran

{

class Flags

{

3rdPersonView=1;

armor=0;

autoAim=0;

autoGuideAT=0;

autoSpot=0;

cameraShake=1;

clockIndicator=1;

deathMessages=1;

enemyTag=0;

friendlyTag=0;

hud=1;

hudGroupInfo=0;

hudPerm=0;

hudWp=1;

hudWpPerm=0;

map=0;

netStats=1;

tracers=0;

ultraAI=0;

unlimitedSaves=1;

vonId=0;

weaponCursor=1;

};

skillFriendly=1;

precisionFriendly=1;

skillEnemy=0.8;

precisionEnemy=0.6;

};

class Mercenary

{

class Flags

{

3rdPersonView=0;

armor=0;

autoAim=0;

autoGuideAT=0;

autoSpot=0;

cameraShake=1;

clockIndicator=0;

deathMessages=0;

enemyTag=0;

friendlyTag=0;

hud=0;

hudGroupInfo=0;

hudPerm=0;

hudWp=0;

hudWpPerm=0;

map=0;

netStats=0;

tracers=0;

ultraAI=0;

unlimitedSaves=0;

vonID=0;

weaponCursor=0;

};

skillFriendly=1;

precisionFriendly=1;

skillEnemy=1;

precisionEnemy=1;

};

};

shadingQuality=7;

shadowQuality=3;

singleVoice=0;

maxSamplesPlayed=32;

sceneComplexity=300000;

viewDistance=1600;

terrainGrid=10;

volumeCD=6.5;

volumeFX=8.5;

volumeSpeech=5.5;

volumeVoN=6.5;

vonRecThreshold=0.029999999;

As you might see, I play on regular. But no matter how I change the AI skill settings, they start to shoot straight into the ground (with a very low frequency), turning extremely slowly towards me and hitting me (at a distance of 50-300m) maybe once out of 15 shots fired. If I change the server setting to expert in the mission selection screen, they hit me once out of 8 shots maybe, but beside that nothing changes. I've tried ASR_AI, Zeus_AI and whatnot, but there wasn't any change either... The difficulty settings do apply, if I put in map=0; in regular, I don't get the mapinfos on my dedicated server. Just the skill settings don't want to work properly.

All the people are complaining about too accurate AI, I've played against too accurate AI and in hosted games I have too accurate AI. But I can't even make them halfway decent shots on my dedicated server...

Any suggestions how I could resolve that?

Edited April 21, 2014 by Pergor

[larsiano 12]

This is not realy a server problem so you are in the wrong tread ofcource. If you use an AI enhancing mod like ASR_AI do you also add the userconfig file to the userconfigs folder? This is required for the mod to get his basic settings. Also in this profile you can change a lot of difficulty settings to make it better for you? and if all asle fails i would ask your question in the ASR_AI topic: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?107526-ASR-AI-Skills

[Belbo 462]

This is not realy a server problem so you are in the wrong tread ofcource. If you use an AI enhancing mod like ASR_AI do you also add the userconfig file to the userconfigs folder? This is required for the mod to get his basic settings. Also in this profile you can change a lot of difficulty settings to make it better for you? and if all asle fails i would ask your question in the ASR_AI topic: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?107526-ASR-AI-Skills

You're missing the point: ASR_AI is not the issue (as it's not active - I tried ASR_AI to solve my issue, but it didn't work. So no ASR_AI). It's about the dedicated server not recognizing the AI skill settings from the .Arma2OAProfile-file linked to the server profile.

On another note: Even deleting the .Arma2OAProfile and let the server create a new one or copying over the difficulty-classes from my own User.Arma2OAProfile does not resolve this. The AI doesn't hit squad. Something must be wrong with the server files or an addon, but I have no clue, what's causing this.

I've tried -mod=@CO;expansion;expansion\beta;expansion\beta\expansion;@CBA_Co;ACR;BAF;PMC;@ADV_Maps;@ADV_Objects; now (so basically a vanilla-modline, @CO being the content of Arma2 as I've got A2 and CO on steam.). Now the AI is dead-accurate, so it has to be an addon from the following mod line that's causing this problem:

-mod=@BWMod;@AMT;@ACE;@ACEX;@ACEX_USNavy;@ACEX_RU;@T1_Airfix;@BWMod_ACE;@ACRE;@JayArma2Lib;

But none of these addons alter the AI skills (except for ACE - and I have no reason to believe that ACE would dumb the AI down that much).

#edit: I've managed to get them at least a bit decent, by creating a new profile for the server and setting the values way higher than usually necessary. I'm not quite sure if it's supposed to be like that though...

Edited April 21, 2014 by Pergor

[zunnie 10]

Hey larsiano, i will be sending you a personal message about setting up a server if i can.

BTW: Does anyone have some really detailed setup guide with example files perhaps?

Thanks.

[zunnie 10]

I'll reply my problem here, i haven't heared back from lars yet.

===============================================

Hello everyone, i seem to have a problem running a Coop server for ArmA2...

I've uploaded my whole steam installation of ArmA2 to the serverpc.

I created a basic.cfg and a server.cfg which reside in the ArmA2 server main folder (where the .exe to start server is at).

The ArmA2Server.exe i acquired through the Steam Tools tab and uploaded that as well.

Further i created a Profiles folder where the server profile is stored.

Whenever i startup the server the console window pops up and everything.

But when i go to Multiplayer in ArmA2 and look for the server it is in status "Creating" and when i join it it says "Wait for Host"??

Here are my configs:

startserver.bat batch:

start ArmA2Server.exe -server -ip=64.31.59.50 -port=2302 -cfg=basic.cfg -config=server.cfg -BEpath=BattlEye -profiles=Profiles

basic.cfg contents:

language="English";
adapter=-1;
3D_Performance=1;
Resolution_W=800;
Resolution_H=600;
Resolution_Bpp=32;
MaxMsgSend=128;
MaxSizeGuaranteed=512;
MaxSizeNonguaranteed=256;
MinBandwidth=131072;
MaxBandwidth=99999999;
MinErrorToSend=0.001;
MinErrorToSendNear=0.0099999998;
Windowed=1;

server.cfg contents:

// GLOBAL SETTINGS
hostname = "MultiPlayerForums.com Coop";			// The name of the server that shall be displayed in the public server list
password = "";						// Password for joining, eg connecting to the server
passwordAdmin = "HIDDEN";					// Password to become server admin. When you're in Arma MP and connected to the server, type '#login xyz'
reportingIP = "arma2pc.master.gamespy.com";		// For ArmA2 publicly list your server on GameSpy. Leave empty for private servers
//reportingIP = "arma2oapc.master.gamespy.com";		// For Arma2: Operation Arrowhead
logFile = "server_console.log";				// Tells ArmA-server where the logfile should go and what it should be called


// WELCOME MESSAGE ("message of the day")
// It can be several lines, separated by comma
// Empty messages "" will not be displayed at all but are only for increasing the interval
motd[] = {
"Welcome to MPF's ArmA 2 server!"
};
motdInterval = 60;					// Time interval (in seconds) between each message


// JOINING RULES
checkfiles[] = {};					// Outdated.
maxPlayers = 64;					// Maximum amount of players. Civilians and watchers, beholder, bystanders and so on also count as player.
kickDuplicate = 1;					// Each ArmA version has its own ID. If kickDuplicate is set to 1, a player will be kicked when he joins a server where another player with the same ID is playing.
verifySignatures = 2;					// Verifies .pbos against .bisign files. Valid values 0 (disabled), 1 (prefer v2 sigs but accept v1 too) and 2 (only v2 sigs are allowed). 
equalModRequired = 0;					// Outdated. If set to 1, player has to use exactly the same -mod= startup parameter as the server.
//requiredBuild = 12345					// Require clients joining to have at least build 12345 of game, preventing obsolete clients to connect


// VOTING
voteMissionPlayers = 0;					// Tells the server how many people must connect so that it displays the mission selection screen.
voteThreshold = 0.33;					// 33% or more players need to vote for something, for example an admin or a new map, to become effective


// INGAME SETTINGS
disableVoN = 0;						// If set to 1, Voice over Net will not be available
vonCodecQuality = 25;					// since 1.62.95417 supports range 1-20 //since 1.63.x will supports range 1-30 //8kHz is 0-10, 16kHz is 11-20, 32kHz is 21-30
persistent = 1;						// If 1, missions still run on even after the last player disconnected.
timeStampFormat = "short";				// Set the timestamp format used on each report line in server-side RPT file. Possible values are "none" (default),"short","full".
BattlEye = 1;                           // Server to use BattlEye system


// SCRIPTING ISSUES
onUserConnected = "";					//
onUserDisconnected = "";				//
doubleIdDetected = "";					//
//regularCheck = "{}";                                  //  Server checks files from time to time by hashing them and comparing the hash to the hash values of the clients. Causes heavy I/O, uncomment to disable feature - READ WARNING ABOVE - makes cheating possible!


// SIGNATURE VERIFICATION
onUnsignedData = "kick (_this select 0)";		// unsigned data detected
onHackedData = "ban (_this select 0)";			// tampering of the signature detected
onDifferentData = "";					// data with a valid signature, but different version than the one present on server detected


// MISSIONS CYCLE

class Missions
{
class COOP_Paradrop
{
	template = "MP_Paradrop.Chernarus";
	difficulty = "mercenary";
};
};

Any help to get a working dedicated Coop server so i can play with our friends online would be much appreciated!

Do you guys spot any errors?

Thanks for your time :)

Greetz zunnie

[larsiano 12]

strange that i would be the one who can fix this above others but here is my humble advice: have you tried to start the server with just a basic -config=server.cfg ? does the server name show up in the server browser? and have you setup the router ports needed to play arma2 on a server etc...?

[zunnie 10]

I tried starting up like that just now, it still says "Creating" for status.

I also made absolutely sure that the ports are unblocked, and the server still says "Creating". ;(

Edit: yes the servername is shown in the browser.

This is shown in the console window:

15:17:22 BattlEye Server: Initialized (v1.126)
15:17:22 Host identity created.
15:17:58 Player zunnie connecting.
15:17:58 Player zunnie connected (id=MYidHere).
15:17:59 BattlEye Server: Player #0 zunnie (217.121.*.*:2304) connected
15:17:59 BattlEye Server: Player #0 zunnie - GUID: myGUIDhere (unverified)
15:17:59 BattlEye Server: Verified GUID (myGUIDhere) of player #0 zunnie
15:18:03 Player zunnie disconnected.

Edited May 16, 2014 by zunnie