[How To] Set up an Arma 3 Epoch Server on a Client PC

[Ghostrider-GRG]

Setting up an Epoch for Arma 3 server on your PC.

 

Below is the procedure I have used to set up A3 Epoch servers on my desktop PC. These servers are useful as a test bed when I try out things like the many scripts being released for Epoch. 

 

Updated for Epoch RC 0.3.0.3

 
This How To is based upon the Install.txt provided with the Epoch server files. If your server does not start up you may have missed a step or be lacking essential software.
 
For additional information, please refer to the Epoch developer's Wiki which provides considerable additional information.

http://epochmod.gamepedia.com/A3Epoch:Arma_3_Epoch#Server_Setup_.26_Information

 

For an excellent guide on troubleshooting, refer to the FAQ at

 

For another take on this How To, which provides a more comprehensive discussion of the different things you need to consider for server setup.

 

What you will need:
 
A good text editor like Notepad ++ (freeware)

Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2013:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40784

 

 

30 min
a bit of patience.

Stage I: create a server directory and add all needed files to your server directory.
 
 
1) Create a new directory on the disk you wish  to use for your server.  Mine is on an SSD drive E:
Lets call it: E:\Arma3Server for this tutorial.

2) Open your ..Steam\SteamApps\Common\Arma3 directory. Mine happens to be in E:\Steam\SteamApps\Common\Arma3.

3) Copy everything from that directory to your new server directory E:\Arma3Server.

4) Download Epoch Mod from here http://epochmod.com/download.php. Unpack the .rar file.

5) Copy @Epoch to your new server directory E:\Arma3Server.

6) Download the Epoch Server files https://github.com/EpochModTeam/Epoch/tree/master/Server_Install_Pack.

7) Extract the archive, and copy all files and folders in it to your E:\Arma3Server directory.
 
Stage II: Adjust the settings for your database:
8) Open the DB folder of your E:\Arma3Server directory.

9) Open redis.conf using Notepad ++ or another text editor. It will look like this.
 

bind 127.0.0.1
maxmemory 4gb
save 900 1
save 300 10
save 60 1000
requirepass Changeme9832

10) Change Changeme9832 in the "requirepass" field to a password you wish to use for your database server such as client321.

11) In your E:\Arma3Server folder, find and open @EpochHive.

12) Open EpochServer.ini using Notepad++. In it there will be a section titled [Redis] which looks like this:
 

[Redis]
IP = 127.0.0.1
Port = 6379
DB = 0
Password = foobared

13) now change the password to the one you set above for redis.conf, which for this example was client321.
 
Stage III: Complete configuration of Epoch Server Settings.
14) Next, in EpochHive.ini you need to specify the path to be used when starting the battleye on the serverside. Look for the following section:
 

[EpochServer]
BattlEyePath = C:\BattlEye
InstanceID = NA123

Change the BattlEyePath to the one appropriate for your server.  In our example, this would be E:\Arma3Server\SC\BattlEye
Now save and close EpochHive.
 
Stage IV: Configuring Automatic Restarts and other related issues.

 

In the past automatic restarts have usually been accomplished using BEC, a freeware tool. For reasons outside the scope of this how-to, development and support of BEC was discontinued and Epoch has been moving to integrated Battleye in various ways including providing functions for automatic restarts. If you wish to use BEC, you can download it using the link below:

 

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=15716

 

In order to run BEC, you will need to redirect its efforts to phone home. Instructions on how to do so are listed in the post by Dwarfer in this thread.

 

 

You will also need to set the correct path to your Arma3Server\SC\Battleye folder in the configuration file for BEC which normally would be:  Arma3Server\BEC\Config\Config.cfg.

 

BEC does still provide valuable functionality such as the ability to play certain messages periodically, but you can also schedule server restarts or utilize other features if you wish. .

 

Alternatives to BEC for automated server restarts:

Please see the release notes for Epoch 0.3.0.3 for details on  the built in automated server restart functions. The new method for automated server restarts is recommended if you are setting up a new server.

 

To use the built in server restart functions, open @epochhive\epochconfigs.hpp

In the first line, change

 

serverRestart         = false; // true sends #shutdown command to server after the time specified in ForceRestartTime

 

to

 

serverRestart         = true; // true sends #shutdown command to server after the time specified in ForceRestartTime

 
17) Stage V: Create your server startup file.
18) Open a blank document and past the following into it then save it in your E:\Arma3Server directory as something like A3Epoch.bat. Note that if you are using Notepad++, its default is to save files as text files. Select *.* from the drop down menu for choosing the file type before saving you A3Epoch.bat:  Again, the you will need to adjust the paths in this file to suit those for your server.
 

@echo off
start "arma3" "arma3server.exe"  -mod=@Epoch;@EpochHive; -config=E:\Arma3Server\SC\config.cfg  -port=2302 -profiles=SC -cfg=E:\Arma3Server\SC\basic.cfg -name=SC 

 
 
20) Stage VI: Configure BattlEye
 
21) Open the SC\Battleye folder and rename example-BEServer.cfg to BEServer.cfg and change the RConPassword.
22) Create an empty text file and save it as bans.txt in the SC\Battleye folder. Save and close the above configuration files.
 
23) Stage VII: Starting and joining your server.
 
24) In your E:\Arma3Server folder find and open the DB folder then click start-redis.

24) If you will be using BEC, go to your E:\Arma3Server\BEC folder find BEC, and start it.

25) Start Arma 3, select Play, then multiplayer and finally in multiplayer select remote. Enter the IP and port for your server, which in our example is 127.0.0.1:2302.

 

26) Also in your E:\Arma3Server directory should be the A3Epoch file you created above under step 18. Find it and click it.
    When you do, the Arma3server console should open after slight delay, and you should see information including the port number you used above in your A3Epoch startup file.  If you are using BEC, once the   Arma3server is running, BEC should go through a few steps then indicate it has successfully connected to the server.
   
27) You should now be able to join your server.

[Nakama Mind]

Mmm I followed the guide pretty well to a T but I am having issues getting BEC to connect getting "No Valid response.Trying to reconnect"...I have tried changing 127.0.0.1 in the BEC config to my IPv4 address but still no luck connecting. Ports are all open and set across BEC config

Any suggestions?

**Resolved by starting over from scratch, no idea why it works now and not before, maybe I missed something in the guide.

I have it on my SSD so yeah less used space would make a difference and you could just as well make multiple copies of the arma server install for testing would even save more space then having multiple copies of the arma client instal.

To your post, I symlink everything across and it works fine (always did for A2 and other game servers, A3 should be no exception) My Server folder is about 2GB in size F.Y.I to save space. Python works well for making the process automatic, I have a script I use to do this. If you would like to use it instead of writing your own I would need to ask my friend who wrote the script if I can pm to you however.

[Ghostrider-GRG]

Mmm I followed the guide pretty well to a T but I am having issues getting BEC to connect getting "No Valid response.Trying to reconnect"...I have tried changing 127.0.0.1 in the BEC config to my IPv4 address but still no luck connecting. Ports are all open and set across BEC config

Any suggestions?

 

To your post, I symlink everything across and it works fine (always did for A2 and other game servers, A3 should be no exception) My Server folder is about 2GB in size F.Y.I to save space. Python works well for making the process automatic, I have a script I use to do this. If you would like to use it instead of writing your own I would need to ask my friend who wrote the script if I can pm to you however.

 

I had the same issue as did Riche right after release of the public server files. The error occurs when BEC can not find the BattlEye server, either because of an error in a path or incorrect IP or port, as far as I understand it. I wrestled with this for about a day running BEC from within a BEC directory in my Arma3Server directory, then tried moving BEC and its config directory to the root of my server (Arma3Server) which sovled the problem.

[diablo10001]

I am getting an issue where my BEC doesn't respond after I start the server it keeps saying "Waiting for server startup" then after a minute it says "Problems connecting to the server" any way to fix this?

[uniflare]

Is anyone using the server install help sub forum? And is anyone checking the FAQ in there? Surely it would be quicker to find the solution posted several times rather than waiting for a reply on the forums...

[Nakama Mind]

Is anyone using the server install help sub forum? And is anyone checking the FAQ in there? Surely it would be quicker to find the solution posted several times rather than waiting for a reply on the forums...

Is anyone using the server install help sub forum - Yes

and is anyone checking the FAQ in there - Yeap

Surely it would be quicker- mmm not when no solution is found there,

waiting for a reply on the forums - who knows maybe some people are going over guides multiple times, or just afk *shrugs*

 

[Nakama Mind]

EDIT resolved

Problem - Stuck at Server Initializing / Server not Ready (Error 02)

Fix (epochAH) - I was missing { } on

 adminMenu_Owner[] = {{"STEAMID","ADMINNAME"}}

[Firedragon]

Mmm I followed the guide pretty well to a T but I am having issues getting BEC to connect getting "No Valid response.Trying to reconnect"...I have tried changing 127.0.0.1 in the BEC config to my IPv4 address but still no luck connecting. Ports are all open and set across BEC config

Any suggestions?

 

To your post, I symlink everything across and it works fine (always did for A2 and other game servers, A3 should be no exception) My Server folder is about 2GB in size F.Y.I to save space. Python works well for making the process automatic, I have a script I use to do this. If you would like to use it instead of writing your own I would need to ask my friend who wrote the script if I can pm to you however.

Just running server sometimes for me and some friends to try out the building part witch can be bid hard to do on busy server with players trying to kill you around every corner.

So i,m fine coping and running the server manually for now have no system to run it 24/7 anyway still hoping for epoch linux version one day witch is my main desktop and also my servers OS.

 

The "Waiting for server startup" has kept me busy also for a while trying BEC going but for some reason a reboot seemed to have fixed that for me booted to linux went to bed next day i booted into windows BEC was working.

[Nakama Mind]

I had the same issue as did Riche right after release of the public server files. The error occurs when BEC can not find the BattlEye server, either because of an error in a path or incorrect IP or port, as far as I understand it. I wrestled with this for about a day running BEC from within a BEC directory in my Arma3Server directory, then tried moving BEC and its config directory to the root of my server (Arma3Server) which sovled the problem.

Thank you for the tip.

Any ideas how to fix this error.

 

Solved: Changed redis.conf from "maxmemory 4gb" to "maxmemory 2gb"

[SadBoy1981]

Having wrestled a bit with this I thought I would share the procedure by which I got an arma 3 epoch server running on my PC. It is not difficult, but takes a bit of time. The guide follows below. If I missed anything, please let me know.

 

Setting up an Epoch for Arma 3 server on your PC (client server).

 

 

 

Step by step and i run my test server

Thanks a lot.

[uniflare]

Is anyone using the server install help sub forum - Yesand is anyone checking the FAQ in there - YeapSurely it would be quicker- mmm not when no solution is found there,waiting for a reply on the forums - who knows maybe some people are going over guides multiple times, or just afk *shrugs*

Your solution

Is anyone using the server install help sub forum - Yesand is anyone checking the FAQ in there - YeapSurely it would be quicker- mmm not when no solution is found there,waiting for a reply on the forums - who knows maybe some people are going over guides multiple times, or just afk *shrugs*

Your solution was in server install help forum in the FAQ!!!! :/

[skittles]

This should be pinned. Deserves it, it helped me instead of the other pin. When we have an error, the other pin is helpful.


Admin... Please pin this. This thread is what Epoch is all about. Helping the community. It is being dropped a few pages back when we come to find how to install a server.

[Armored_Code]

Im running the server, but I do not have the admin tool panel to spawn in items. Would love to test building mode. If someone could tell me how to activate it.

[GeekyHuff]

I have followed the guide and i think i did everything correct, but i keep getting "kicked by BattlEye: PublicVariable Restriction #0", when i try to connect to the server.

 

I did try disabling BE and it did nothing. 

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Ghostrider-GRG]

Im running the server, but I do not have the admin tool panel to spawn in items. Would love to test building mode. If someone could tell me how to activate it.

 

You need to add your steam player ID and player name to the appropriate places in epochah.hpp. See the FAQ linked below for details.

 

[Ghostrider-GRG]

@GeekyHuff,

 

Did you install BEC watchdog? I did not see anything about it starting in the screenshot you posted. It must be running to avoid this error. Alternatives to just get your server going are to delete publicvariable.txt, or disable  battleye. How did you disable it ?

[dishner2013]

Well, I got everything setup great except that when i connect to the server it will make me choose the mission and map, how do i stop it from doing this and just make it default to epoch altis ? Also, where is the cfg file that I can change the name of the server at? This is vastly different than what I'm used to on arma 2 servers. Thanks in advance!

 

 

ReconRecker

[GeekyHuff]

@Ghostrider-DbD- I guess i didn't install BEC watchdog cause i don't remember reading about that in the guide, what exactly is that? But i did get the server to work by deleting publicvariable.txt

[Ghostrider-GRG]

@GeekyHuff,

Watchdog is an addon to BEC that was contained in the \BEC\plugins folder that you probably copied from the extracted file you downloaded with the server files. It allows you to modify certain BEC configurations while your server is running. It is also being used to make it more difficult for hackers. See the information on the latest update for how the new server side hotfix for more information as the approach the devs are taking has changed a little.  It is probably best to post any specific questions about watchdog and the new update in a separate post with that topic, possibly under general discussion.

Cheers,

Ghost

[Stefan26dk]

Hi I have problems starting bec.exe when it starts it says:

Error BE Bans, txt file does not exist, create a new Bans.tx in your BePath or Recheck settings.

What can it be?

[Ghostrider-GRG]

 

Hi I have problems starting bec.exe when it starts it says:

Error BE Bans, txt file does not exist, create a new Bans.tx in your BePath or Recheck settings.

What can it be?

 

 

You need to create an empty file in your text editor and save it as bans.txt in your SC\Battleye folder.  The guide was edited to include this step.

[SadBoy1981]

My test server on  pc stop working. Updated to last version also epoch mod updated. When i join, server just closing.

Dont have any errors on rpr file

 

Fixed, i just reinstall server

[Stefan26dk]

You need to create an empty file in your text editor and save it as bans.txt in your SC\Battleye folder.  The guide was edited to include this step.

 

 

Is it just an empty file I need to do?

 

Would be great if one would make a video with the guide, when I am not good at English

[Ghostrider-GRG]

 

Is it just an empty file I need to do?

 

Would be great if one would make a video with the guide, when I am not good at English

 

Yes, all you need is an empty file.

[Stefan26dk]

Yes, all you need is an empty file.

 

Okay, I hope and thanks for help

 

good work with guide

[paku]

Hello!

 

Thank you for this guide, is very helpful. :D

 

But anybody can explain how run this server with Chernarus map ? 

I have mods: All in ARMA Terrain Pack 1.4.1, Emod, MAS, etc.

I tried different methods, but I can not. I can run it with Altis without any problems but not with Chernarus