Arma 3’s server.cfg is the plain-text file that defines how your dedicated server appears, who can join, how files are verified, which mission runs next, and what happens when the server empties. For a normal public server, start with BattlEye = 1;, verifySignatures = 2;, and allowedFilePatching = 0;, then change identity, capacity, voting, and mission-rotation settings to match your community. This guide explains each important directive, the security trade-offs, and a safe way to deploy changes.
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What server.cfg controls
The file is read by the dedicated Arma 3 server at startup. It is separate from mission files and mod configuration: changing it affects server-wide behavior rather than one scenario. A typical configuration controls:
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- The public hostname, join password, administrator password, and player limit.
- Welcome messages shown through the message of the day (MOTD).
- BattlEye, signature verification, file patching, and file-loading restrictions.
- Persistence, voting, duplicate-player handling, difficulty, and minimum client build.
- The mission rotation in a
class Missionsblock.
It is a plain-text file edited on the machine running the server or in a hosting panel. A panel may expose every directive, only a subset, or a generated form that writes the file for you.
Before you edit: a safe deployment workflow
- Stop the server. Do not edit while the process is writing its configuration or rotating a mission.
- Locate the active file. On self-managed servers, confirm the path supplied to the server start command. On managed hosting, open the panel’s server-configuration editor and check whether it labels the file
server.cfg. - Make a dated backup. Keep the last known-good copy, for example
server.cfg.2026-10-14. Back up before every security or mission-rotation change. - Change one group of settings at a time. Identity, security, and mission changes are easier to diagnose when they are not mixed together.
- Keep the syntax exact. Use quoted strings for names and passwords, numeric values without quotes, semicolons after assignments, and matching braces in class blocks.
- Start the server and read the startup log. Confirm that the file was loaded, BattlEye started if enabled, and the intended mission was selected.
- Test from a client. Check browser visibility, password behavior, administrator login, mod/signature behavior, and the mission cycle before announcing the change.
If a restart fails after an edit, restore the backup first. A known-good server is more useful than trying to diagnose several syntax errors simultaneously.
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Core identity and access settings
| Directive | What it does | Operational guidance |
|---|---|---|
hostname |
The public name displayed in the server browser. | Use a recognizable name and include region, game mode, or community information only if it remains readable in the browser. |
password |
The password required to join. | An empty value makes the server public. Set a non-empty value for private tests, events, or staged releases. |
passwordAdmin |
The password used with the in-game #login command for administrator access. |
Use a separate, strong value; never reuse the player join password. |
maxPlayers |
The configured player cap. | The effective limit is the lower of this value and the number of slots defined by the selected mission. Size it for the server’s CPU and RAM rather than choosing a number solely because the software accepts it. |
motd[] |
An array of welcome-message lines. | Put each line in the array in the order you want it displayed. |
motdInterval |
The delay between MOTD lines, in seconds. | Use a short interval for rules that should be seen promptly; avoid flooding players with many lines at once. |
A minimal identity section can look like this:
hostname = "Example Operations Server";
password = "";
passwordAdmin = "replace-with-a-separate-admin-secret";
maxPlayers = 40;
motd[] = {"Welcome to Example Operations", "Read the rules before deploying"};
motdInterval = 6;The empty join password in this example is deliberate: it makes the server public. Replace it when the server should be invitation-only.
Choosing maxPlayers correctly
maxPlayers is not a guarantee that every mission can host that many people. A mission with fewer playable slots remains the bottleneck, so raising the directive cannot create additional slots. Conversely, setting a high cap on underpowered hardware can produce simulation slowdowns, long load times, or instability. Increase the cap only after observing CPU and memory use during a full mission.
Security settings: the values that matter most
| Directive | Values and meaning | Public-server choice |
|---|---|---|
BattlEye |
1 enables the BattlEye anti-cheat client. The Bohemia Interactive wiki lists 1 as the default and recommended value. |
Use 1. Third-party administration guides commonly describe anti-cheat as necessary for public listing. |
verifySignatures |
0 disables .pbo signature checking; 1 prefers version 2 signatures but accepts version 1; 2 allows only version 2 signatures. |
Use 2 when clients connect over the public Internet and require signed content. |
allowedFilePatching |
0 disallows file patching; 1 allows it for headless clients only; 2 allows it for all clients. The allow-all behavior is documented for Arma 3 version 1.50 and later. |
Use 0 unless a controlled development or testing task needs patching. |
filePatchingExceptions |
Whitelisted clients can bypass the allowedFilePatching and verifySignatures rules. |
Keep the exception list as small as possible; it weakens two safeguards for every client you place on it. |
BattlEye
Set BattlEye = 1; for a normal public deployment. This turns on the BattlEye anti-cheat client. If you disable it for local development, make that an intentional, temporary choice and do not assume a public listing will behave the same way. The wiki’s documented recommendation is 1; claims that every listing service enforces it come from third-party guidance and can vary by service.
verifySignatures
Signature verification checks a client’s .pbo files against their .bisign signatures. The levels are security policies, not performance modes:
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0: no signature checking. This is appropriate only for tightly controlled experiments where you accept the risk.1: prefer version 2 signatures while accepting version 1. It can be useful when supporting content that has not moved entirely to version 2.2: accept only version 2 signatures. This is the usual public-server baseline.
Do not use a configuration generator’s undocumented claim that value 1 is silently converted to 2. The Bohemia Interactive documentation describes the two values differently, so treat 1 as the compatibility mode it documents.
allowedFilePatching
File patching lets a client load files outside the normal packed-and-signed workflow. The documented meanings are:
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The default value is not reliably established in the available documentation excerpts: one reference lists 0, while another focuses on the value meanings rather than a default. Set the value explicitly instead of relying on an inherited default. For a public server, 0 is the conservative choice.
filePatchingExceptions
An exception entry can let a whitelisted client ignore both file-patching and signature-verification rules. That is useful for a developer or a specifically managed headless client, but it is not a general troubleshooting switch. Remove temporary exceptions after testing and review the list whenever staff or test machines change.
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allowedLoad and allowedPreprocess
These file-extension arrays restrict which types can be read by the scripting commands loadFile and preprocessFile. They are an additional allow-list layer. The complete extension list and exact array syntax should be taken from the current security section of the Bohemia Interactive wiki; do not copy an arbitrary list from an old guide, because an incomplete allow-list can break missions while an overly broad one expands what scripts can read.
Runtime, voting, and compatibility settings
| Directive | Meaning | When to change it |
|---|---|---|
persistent |
Keeps the mission running when the last player leaves. | Enable it for communities that want an ongoing operation or scheduled world state; leave it off when an empty server should reset the scenario. |
voteMissionPlayers |
The minimum number of players required before a mission vote can start. | Set it high enough to prevent one early joiner from changing the mission, but low enough that an active group can recover from a bad selection. |
voteThreshold |
The fraction of votes required for a proposal to pass. | Choose a threshold that matches your moderation policy. A fraction near one gives a minority less ability to change the mission; a lower fraction makes changes easier. |
kickDuplicate |
Controls whether duplicate player IDs are kicked. | Enable duplicate-ID kicking when you want one active session per identity and are prepared for users who share or change installations to reconnect. |
forcedDifficulty |
Enforces a selected difficulty on the server. | Use it when every mission must follow the same difficulty policy instead of allowing mission or client preferences to decide. |
requiredBuild |
Prevents clients on a lower game build from connecting. | Raise it when your server depends on a newer build, and communicate the requirement before players attempt to join. |
Keep these directives explicit in a production file. Values can be valid yet still conflict with your missions: for example, a forced difficulty can override assumptions made by a scenario, and a high voting threshold can make recovery difficult on a small evening population.
Mission rotation with class Missions
Mission rotation is declared in a class Missions block. Each entry identifies a mission template and a difficulty. The template is the mission filename without its .pbo extension.
class Missions
{
class FirstMission
{
template = "Example_Island_Coop";
difficulty = "Regular";
};
class SecondMission
{
template = "Example_Island_Defense";
difficulty = "Veteran";
};
};The class names (FirstMission and SecondMission above) label entries; the template value is what must match the mission file. Do not include .pbo in that value. If a mission does not load, verify the template spelling, that the file exists in the server’s mission directory, and that its available slots are compatible with maxPlayers.
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A practical public-server baseline
Community guidance, rather than a single official preset, generally converges on the following starting point:
hostname = "Example Public Server";
password = "";
passwordAdmin = "use-a-long-unique-admin-password";
maxPlayers = 40;
BattlEye = 1;
verifySignatures = 2;
allowedFilePatching = 0;
filePatchingExceptions[] = {};
persistent = 1;
voteMissionPlayers = 3;
voteThreshold = 0.5;
kickDuplicate = 1;
requiredBuild = 0;
motd[] = {"Welcome", "Check the rules before joining"};
motdInterval = 5;
class Missions
{
class RotationEntry
{
template = "Your_Mission_Template";
difficulty = "Regular";
};
};The numeric values for capacity, voting, and difficulty in this sample are policy examples, not universal defaults. Replace them with values appropriate for your hardware, missions, and community. The security choices are the important baseline: anti-cheat enabled, version 2 signatures required, and file patching disabled unless there is a documented reason to relax it.
Development and headless-client exceptions
A development server may need to test unpacked files, while a headless client may require the headless-only file-patching mode. Those are different from a public production policy:
- Use
allowedFilePatching = 1;when the requirement is specifically for headless clients. - Use
allowedFilePatching = 2;only when all clients must be able to patch files, and understand that it broadens the exposure. - Use
filePatchingExceptionsfor narrowly identified clients rather than opening patching for everyone. - Keep
verifySignatures = 2;wherever possible, and document any temporary relaxation. - Return to the public baseline before exposing the instance to untrusted players.
Because the default for allowedFilePatching is disputed in secondary references, an explicit value is especially important on development machines that later become production servers.
Troubleshooting by symptom
The server is visible, but players cannot join
- Check that
passwordis empty if the server is meant to be public, or distribute the exact password if it is private. - Confirm that the client’s build meets
requiredBuild. - Check signature and mod errors against
verifySignatures. A value of2requires version 2 signatures. - Ensure the selected mission has slots and that its template name is correct in
class Missions.
Clients are rejected for file or signature reasons
- For a public server, keep
verifySignatures = 2;and require clients to install correctly signed content. - Check whether a test client needs a controlled exception rather than changing the policy for everyone.
- Review
allowedFilePatching; value0intentionally blocks patched client files. - Do not assume changing
verifySignaturesto1means the same thing as2; value1accepts version 1 signatures as well.
The mission ends when the last player leaves
Set persistent so the mission remains running after the final player disconnects. If you want a fresh mission on the next session, leave persistence disabled instead.
The wrong mission or difficulty starts
- Check each
templateagainst the mission filename without.pbo. - Check the
difficultyvalue in the rotation entry. - Look for
forcedDifficulty, which can enforce a server-wide choice over mission or client preferences. - Restart after saving; mission-rotation changes are startup configuration changes.
Players report duplicate-session kicks
Review kickDuplicate. When enabled, duplicate player IDs are subject to removal. Keep it enabled if identity uniqueness is part of your policy, but provide a support path for legitimate users whose installations or sessions produce an unexpected duplicate.
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- The hostname is the name you intend to publish.
- The join password is empty only when the server should be public.
- The administrator password is separate from the join password.
maxPlayersdoes not exceed the selected mission’s slots or what the hardware can sustain.BattlEye = 1;is present for a normal public deployment.verifySignatures = 2;andallowedFilePatching = 0;are used unless a documented exception is required.- Any
filePatchingExceptionsentry is deliberate and narrowly scoped. - MOTD lines and their interval are readable in-game.
- Voting, persistence, duplicate-ID handling, forced difficulty, and required build match your community policy.
- Every mission template omits
.pbo, exists on the server, and offers enough slots. - The server starts cleanly after a restart, and a real client can complete the intended join and mission cycle.
Defaults and version caveats
Do not treat an old configuration generator or third-party guide as authoritative for every default. In particular, references disagree about the default for allowedFilePatching, and the safest practice is to set it explicitly. The Bohemia Interactive wiki documents the meanings of the security values and maintains the broader parameter reference; consult the live version of that documentation when you need the complete allowedLoad or allowedPreprocess extension lists, or when a newer Arma 3 build changes behavior.
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