How to Configure Your Arma Reforger Server

You can find the settings of your Arma Reforger server in two places:

• in the dashboard of your server under Settings – here you set the most important values such as the server name, passwords or the scenario
• in the config.json file in the root directory of your server – here you set everything else, e.g. admins, mods, view distances or voice chat

Settings in the dashboard

1. Open dashboard
   Open the dashboard of your server.

2. Open settings
   Navigate to the Settings.

3. Adjust values
   Adjust the desired fields (see table below).

4. Restart the server
   Save the setting and restart your server.

Available fields

Field	Description
Server Name	Name of your server in the server browser
Server Password	Password players have to enter to join. Leave empty for a public server.
Admin Password	Password you use to log in as an admin in-game – see Become Admin. Spaces are not allowed.
Max Players	Maximum number of players on your server
Scenario ID	The scenario your server loads – see Change Scenario
Visible in Server Browser	true = your server is shown in the server browser, false = your server is hidden there
Battle-Eye	true = BattlEye anti-cheat is active, false = BattlEye is disabled. Without BattlEye, your server does not appear in the server browser on PlayStation 5 – see Crossplay.
Disable Third Person	true = all players are restricted to the first-person view, false = the third-person view is allowed
Max FPS	Upper limit for the server FPS (default: 120). Leave empty for no limit.
[Advanced] Log FPS Interval	Interval in seconds at which the server writes performance values such as FPS, memory usage, player and AI count to the log. 0 turns the output off. See Improve Performance and Read Server Log.
Auto Update	1 = automatic server updates are active, 0 = disabled – see Control Automatic Updates
RCON Password	Password for remote access via RCON. The password must be at least 3 characters long and must not contain spaces – see Use RCON.

Note

The RCON port and the A2S port (server query) are set by EmeraldHost for your server. You cannot change these values.

Tip

If you enter a lower Max FPS value, your server uses fewer resources. You can find more about this under Improve Performance.

What the dashboard overwrites in the config.json

On every server start, the dashboard writes the values from the Settings into the config.json.

Warning

The following entries of the config.json are overwritten on every start. Changing them directly in the file has no effect:

• bindAddress, bindPort, publicAddress, publicPort
• a2s (address and port)
• rcon → address, port, password
• game → name, password, passwordAdmin, scenarioId, maxPlayers, visible
• game → gameProperties → disableThirdPerson, battlEye

In addition, game → crossPlatform is always set to true and game → gameProperties → fastValidation is always set to true. Crossplay therefore cannot be turned off via crossPlatform – find out more under Crossplay.

You change the server name, server password, admin password, scenario ID, max players, visibility, third person, BattlEye and RCON password in the dashboard under Settings. Addresses and ports are set by EmeraldHost and cannot be changed.

Note

Bohemia Interactive recommends always keeping fastValidation set to true on public servers and limiting the server FPS. fastValidation is permanently enabled on your server, and Max FPS sets a limit of 120 FPS by default – so do not leave the field empty.

Structure of the config.json

After the installation, the config.json looks like this (shortened). The values in the sections the dashboard overwrites depend on your Settings:

{
  "bindAddress": "...",
  "bindPort": 2001,
  "publicAddress": "...",
  "publicPort": 2001,
  "a2s": { "address": "...", "port": 17777 },
  "rcon": {
    "address": "...",
    "port": 19999,
    "password": "...",
    "permission": "monitor",
    "blacklist": [],
    "whitelist": []
  },
  "game": {
    "name": "...",
    "password": "",
    "passwordAdmin": "...",
    "admins": [],
    "scenarioId": "...",
    "maxPlayers": 32,
    "visible": true,
    "crossPlatform": true,
    "gameProperties": {
      "serverMaxViewDistance": 2500,
      "serverMinGrassDistance": 50,
      "networkViewDistance": 1000,
      "disableThirdPerson": false,
      "fastValidation": true,
      "battlEye": true,
      "VONDisableUI": false,
      "VONDisableDirectSpeechUI": false
    },
    "mods": []
  }
}

Note

Ports, addresses and the other values shortened with ... are set automatically by the dashboard. The numbers for ports and players are only example values here.

Entries you can change via SFTP

All entries that are not in the list above are kept on server start. You can adjust these yourself in the config.json:

Entry	Description
game → admins	List of permanent admins (SteamID64 or IdentityId, at most 20 entries) – see Add Admin
game → mods	Mods that players automatically download when joining – see Add Mods
game → gameProperties → serverMaxViewDistance	Maximum view distance on the server (500 to 10000) – see Improve Performance
game → gameProperties → serverMinGrassDistance	Minimum grass distance in meters that is forced on the players (0 or 50 to 150). With 0, no distance is forced.
game → gameProperties → networkViewDistance	Maximum range in which objects are transferred to the players over the network (500 to 5000)
game → gameProperties → VONDisableUI, VONDisableDirectSpeechUI, VONCanTransmitCrossFaction	Voice chat settings – see Set Up Voice Chat
game → gameProperties → missionHeader	Overrides settings of the scenario – see Change Scenario Settings
rcon → permission, blacklist, whitelist	Permissions and allowed or blocked commands for RCON – see Use RCON
operating	Optional section for further server settings – see Entries in the operating section

Entries in the operating section

The operating section is not included in the config.json after the installation. You can add it yourself as a separate top-level section if needed, i.e. next to game and not inside it.

Entry	Description
joinQueue → maxSize	Size of the join queue when the server is full (0 to 50, default 0 = disabled)
playerSaveTime	Interval in seconds at which the server saves the player data (default 120)
slotReservationTimeout	How long in seconds a slot stays reserved for a kicked player (5 to 300, default 60). The reservation only applies to so-called replication kicks.
disableAI, aiLimit	Disable the AI completely or limit it – see Disable or Limit AI
disableNavmeshStreaming	Loads the entire navmesh into memory – see Improve Performance
disableServerShutdown, lobbyPlayerSynchronise	Behavior when the connection to the backend is lost and synchronization of the player count – see Troubleshoot Common Problems

Example

This is what an operating section looks like that enables a join queue for up to 10 players:

"operating": {
  "joinQueue": {
    "maxSize": 10
  }
}

Mind the comma after the closing bracket } of game so that both sections are separated correctly.

How to edit the config.json

1. Stop the server
   Stop your server via the dashboard.

2. Connect via SFTP
   Connect to your server via SFTP.

3. Open config.json
   Open the config.json file in the root directory of your server.

4. Adjust entries
   Change the desired values. Make sure you only change entries that are not overwritten by the dashboard.

   Warning

   Entry names are case-sensitive. VONDisableUI works, vonDisableUI does not. Write numbers and true/false without quotation marks.

5. Check the file
   Check the content of the file for errors before you save it.

   Tip

   To do this, copy the content into a JSON formatter like JSONLint – a single missing or extra comma is enough to prevent the server from starting.

6. Start the server
   Save the file and start your server.

Important

If the config.json contains errors, your server will not start. Ideally, create a backup before making larger changes so you can return to the previous state at any time.

Set up voice chat

You adjust voice chat (VON) in the gameProperties section inside game in the config.json:

Entry	Default	Description
VONDisableUI	false	true hides the voice chat UI for all players
VONDisableDirectSpeechUI	false	true hides the direct speech UI for all players
VONCanTransmitCrossFaction	false	true = players can transmit on radios of other factions, false = they can only listen there

Example

"game": {
  "gameProperties": {
    "VONDisableUI": false,
    "VONDisableDirectSpeechUI": true,
    "VONCanTransmitCrossFaction": false
  }
}

Add the entries to your existing gameProperties section and leave the other entries there unchanged.

Note

VONCanTransmitCrossFaction is not included in the config.json after the installation. Add the entry yourself if needed. If it is missing, the default value false applies.