Rented Server Setup Tutorial

[Wolfy]

Hello person reading this!
Ive recently noticed the increased amount of new players in A3 that have rented a server but have 0 idea how to set it up.
So here is a simplified tutorial on how to do it. Please comment if you need any help with something and I will reply as soon as I can. Anyways, this is long enough as it is. So lets get started!!

-First of all, log into your gamepanel/server panel

MAKE SURE YOUR SERVER IS OFF BEFORE YOU EDIT ANYTHING!!

-Now that you're logged in, you should have access to some basic tools like: Command line/Start line manager, Workshop mod downloader, Server configuration, and last but not least the File Manager. you will ALWAYS have access to these tools, they might be hidden in some places but they ARE there.

-Let us start off with the "server.cfg"
.EVERYTHING inside the server.cfg is self-explanatory. If you dont know what something is then just leave it the way it is.

-Missions:
.To upload a mission to your server go to your file manager and find the MPmissions folder. Open the mpmissions folder and there should be a "upload" button somewhere in there. Click on that and find the mission you wanted to upload then click ok.
1.To select your mission, simply hop on the server.
2. Login as admin by typing in "#login adminpass" into the chatbox
NOTE: To have a mission automatically loaded up: Go to your server.cfg, scroll all the way down till you find a missions section. There will be a -template = random%mission.Altis
Change out "random%mission.Altis" to whatever mission you uploaded or want to be loaded on start then save.

If you are going to play vanilla arma then you are good 2 go. If you plan on playing modded theres alot more to this tutorial.

ALWAYS add ONE mod at a time:

Adding mods:

-Now, as I said, there should be a "Workshop downloaded" or something of the sort. Select it and you will be asked about the id. The id for a mod is listed in the link on the steam workshop.
For example

.This link "https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=450814997" is the steam link for cba. The part "id = "450814997 is what you're looking for". now copy the numbers and paste them into the workshop downloader then click go.
Once the download is done, move on to the next step:

-Now that you've added a mod, go to your file manager.
.Inside your file manager find the mod you downloaded. Since we are using CBA as an example look for the id number which is 450814997 in this case.
.Rename your mod to ANY name you want. make SURE there are NO spaces(replace spaces with _ instead if you really want spaces) and that the mod name starts with @. For example I have mine set to @CBA

-Now, off to something easy. Once you add a mod, you still cant join the server with it. You can change that by adding a .bikey to the server. Go back to your file manager and open up the keys folder. Then click on "upload" and find the .bikey for the mod you want to add. 90% of the time, the .bikey will be inside the mod folder. You can easily get to the mod folder by right clicking the mod inside the A3 Launcher.

-Saving the best for last, here comes the commandline setup. This is very easily done although some people like to overact about it.
.Go to your commandline tool. Now alot of server hosting companies have very different setups, but what ALL of them have is a -mod = and a -servermod =

-mod =
Okay, so for your -mod = you want to add ALL the mods the people MUST load in with. Make sure these mods have the exact same name as the file manager. Seperate mods by a ; and always end with a ; for both -servermod and -mod. -mod = is mainly for things like clothing,vehicles, etc...

-servermod =
For -servermod = , you want to add ALL the mods that the server needs. So basically the mods that add configurations and/or any maps. These mods sometimes need to be both in -mod = and -servermod =.

My commandline: Lets keep using CBA as an example.

-mod = "@CBA;"

-servermod = "@CBA;"

If I want to add more mods then I must follow the previous steps to add and rename them. Only add mods to the commandline if they are already downloaded, renamed, and have the keys on the server.
-mod = "@CBA;@RHSUSAF;"

-servermod = "@CBA;"

Another way to know which mods need to be on -servermod = is to try them on -mod = first, and if they dont work add them to -servermod = aswell.


And that is it, if I miss anything out and/or need to rexplain some stuff please let me know. Also, I understand that the commandline can be hard. So feel free to paste your command line as a comment if it doesnt work and ill see what I can do.

[Rekkless]

Good article, don't forget to mention mods CAN NOT have spaces in them. Use _ if you need to put a space. For example you can not use @RHS USAF; you need to use @RHS_USAF; or @RHSUSAF;

https://youtu.be/DmRq8CqqLqY

[Wolfy]

Originally posted by Rekkless:

don't forget to mention mods CAN NOT have spaces in them. Use _ if you need to put a space. For example you can not use @RHS USAF; you need to use @RHS_USAF; or @RHSUSAF;

Yeah.... forgot about that tbh since I just shorten the names. But yeah, NO Spaces!

[Rekkitboi]

I tried uploading a mission but its not working, some people say I have to change the mission file into a pbo and all but I have no idea what they're talking about.

[Wolfy]

Originally posted by Rekkitboi:

I tried uploading a mission but its not working, some people say I have to change the mission file into a pbo and all but I have no idea what they're talking about.

Download something Called pbo manager then use it to convert the mission file to a .pbo

[Gunter Severloh]

Dont need pbomanager the editor will pbo your mission if you export it.