RCon server administration coming to ArmA 2!

[$able 2]

A new feature is now available on BattlEye-enabled servers that will provide a great enhancement to server administrators:

Since BattlEye Server version 1.102 you can control your server remotely (without having to be in-game) from anywhere on the internet with the new BattlEye RCon tool.

All you have to do to enable it is creating a BEServer.cfg file in your BattlEye working directory (in the application data / profiles / BEpath folder, not the install folder) with a line containing "RConPassword [password]" (without [] of course) and (re-)start your ArmA 2 server. That's it. No need to open an additional port in your firewall or anything.

You can now easily connect with the BE RCon tool using the server's IP address, its usual game port and the specified RCon password. Note that this can be done by multiple admins at the same time (unlike ArmA 2's in-game admin feature). When logged in, you can enter BE Server commands and ArmA 2 server commands prefixed with #. In addition you will see all BE Server messages (like information about new players) live in the console.

To log out, simply type "logout". To quickly close the tool, type "exit".

A command to display all available BE Server commands will be added soon. The main commands for now are: "players" (display player list including BE GUIDs and pings), "kick [player#]" (kick a player, his # can be found in the player list), "RConPassword [password]" (change the RCon password), "MaxPing [ping]" (if a player has a higher ping, he will be kicked from the server).

More commands will follow over time.

BattlEye RCon v0.9 beta can be downloaded here: http://www.battleye.com/downloads/BERCon.exe

Keep in mind that this is a beta and changes will still be made. Make sure you always have the most recent version so everything works correctly (especially if there are RCon protocol changes).

Feedback, including bug reports, is welcome. :)

Newly BIKI page added http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/BattlEye#RCon

Edited December 21, 2010 by Dwarden
BIKI entry

[SWAT_BigBear 0]

Excellent, I will start using this asap.

[Taxman 10]

Same here

[whisper 0]

This is huge.

Thanks a lot, $able

[xeno 234]

Wow, superb!

Thank you.

Xeno

[$able 2]

I'd also like to highlight the new ping kicking feature which I briefly mentioned in the first post.

You can put "MaxPing [ping]" in your BE Server config file, which causes all players exceeding this limit to be kicked from the server.

[maddogx 13]

This looks to be a godsend for the MP community. Great work $able. :)

[mosh 0]

Nice job, going to try this today. Thanks.

[Bob.Dob 0]

Interesting... might take a look at this. Thanks for the heads up.

[armatech 8]

is there any command line to auto enter IP port and so on directly to the tool

such as

BERCon IP=123.456.789.101 port=2302 password=1561561155

[cri74 10]

Good news. Thanks for developing :)

I see that there is a command to change passwords for the Rcon, this means anyone logging in to Rcon will be able to change it?

Will there be different account settings to make someone a "superuser" whilst others will be regular admins, possible to assign users of Rcon different settings so to speak ?

Edited February 17, 2010 by cri74

[gossamersolid 155]

Thank you so much Battleye! This is great stuff!

[demon cleaner 1]

Thumbs up $able !

[BigMorgan 11]

Auto-kick for ping is fantastic.

I've seen people banned for having ridiculous pings because they kept rejoining after being told to d/c until they fix their connection, which is really crappy.

Considering how much this game can be screwed up by high pings this is a necessary tool and I am very grateful to the BE folks for delivering it to the community.

[Defunkt 431]

Thanks heaps!

---------- Post added at 12:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:38 PM ----------

Hmmm... does it work for a Linux server? If so, where would one place the .cfg file?

[$able 2]

is there any command line to auto enter IP port and so on directly to the tool

such as

BERCon IP=123.456.789.101 port=2302 password=1561561155

Something like this will be added soon.

---------- Post added at 01:25 ---------- Previous post was at 01:19 ----------

I see that there is a command to change passwords for the Rcon, this means anyone logging in to Rcon will be able to change it?

Will there be different account settings to make someone a "superuser" whilst others will be regular admins, possible to assign users of Rcon different settings so to speak ?

Account control (multiple logins) might be added in the future.

And yes, you are right, being able to change the password may not always be suitable.

---------- Post added at 01:33 ---------- Previous post was at 01:25 ----------

Hmmm... does it work for a Linux server? If so, where would one place the .cfg file?

In the one and only BE folder. :)

Please keep in mind that right now BE loads "BEServer.cfg", in the future it will load "beserver.cfg" on Linux (conforming with the lower-case "beserver.so" file name).

[rundll.exe 12]

This is great for the MP community, thanks!

With a quick test I saw that the tool doesnt resolve hostnames to IP, could that be easyly added?

Its quite a bit more easy to enter your servers hostname (myservername.com) then an IP number.

[Defunkt 431]

In the one and only BE folder. :)

Please keep in mind that right now BE loads "BEServer.cfg", in the future it will load "beserver.cfg" on Linux (conforming with the lower-case "beserver.so" file name).

Ah okay, that's where I went wrong, I lower-cased it. Cheers!

[Mikobiko 10]

So far it seems to work good. Stuff Id love to see added:

*Ability to read in-game chat

*Ability to post to in-game chat through rcon

*Perhaps a webpage front end like how Punkbuster handles theres once the API is complete?

*Removal of ability to change password. It currently makes this tool unusuable. I cannot give people admin and keep control over it due to this. The only way the password should be set-able is if it is done in the config file.

*Ability to assign maxping right in beserver.cfg

Do you plan to publish the API when complete?

[Defunkt 431]

*Ability to assign maxping right in beserver.cfg

Already can...

You can put "MaxPing [ping]" in your BE Server config file, which causes all players exceeding this limit to be kicked from the server.

[snoutmaster 10]

I always get cant connect to server?

[gossamersolid 155]

I always get cant connect to server?

double check the IP and port you are entering...

also make sure Battleye is up to date on the server

[-AIGB-~Steiner 10]

I have the same Problem. Always getting "Can´t connect to Server". BE Server is the latest Version and I checked my IP and Port Twice.

!! Message can be ignored, I solved the Problem !!

The Problem was the Name of my "beserver.cfg". Didn´t read that it has to be in UpperCase by now (BEServer.cfg).

Edited February 18, 2010 by [AIGB]~Steiner

[armatech 8]

would love To have an update notice on program start

[SWAT_BigBear 0]

Stickied would be nice, afterall, we only have 3 in this section.:p