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thirith

Questions re: setting up a Arma 2 dedicated server at home

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I have a few questions about creating a dedicated Arma 2/OA server that I'm hoping the community can help me with.

I've been hosting the occasional small MP session for 3-6 people, playing on the same computer that hosts the sessions. Recently we've used Evolve to play via virtual LAN, with mixed results - some sessions worked just fine, others much less. However, I've got an E6600 with 4GB of RAM and was wondering if it'd make sense and improve things to use it as a dedicated server for those sessions. My questions are as follows:

1) Is this likely to improve performance (and possibly stability) for myself and the other players compared to launching an MP session on the computer I play on?

2) Is it possible/feasible to use that E6600 to launch a Teamspeak 3 server at the same time, so we can play with ACRE or Task Force Radio?

3) My max upload speed at home is 2 Mbit/s; I take it that's more immediately relevant than the download speed, which is up to 20 Mbit/s. Is this generally okay for coop sessions with 3-6 players?

4) Anything to watch out when setting up the server? I'm aware of some of the tools and possible pitfalls, but I've never yet set up a dedicated server for anything.

Many thanks in advance for your replies!

P.S.: I've also posted this on the server admin subboard, but I wasn't sure which of the two was the better fit for this thread. Mods, please feel free to delete one of the threads if it's a problem to have both!

Edited by Thirith

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1 - yes if your computer is powerful enough to run both the dedi and the client - this means a good CPU mostly and an SSD drive if possible

2 - that or just join a public teamspeak server - you can use ACRE without any TS3 configuration on the server side (not sure about TFAR).. or join ours ts3.veterans-gaming.com

3 - I'm not too sure about bandwidth requirements in Arma3 - from what I've read the last patch seems to have increased required bandwidth on servers. As a general rule expect 128kpbs upload per client.. more for heavy missions that use clients to spawn AI (for example). 2Mbit should be OK for 3-6 players.

4 - check Terox's excellent thread (its for Arma 3 but most will apply)

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?147537-Tutorial-How-to-run-ArmA3-on-a-dedicated-server

From BIS:

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_Dedicated_Server

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Brilliant, thanks a lot for those answers!

I've set up and tested the dedicated server and at least within my home network it works, even when I use the outward IP. Of course, this doesn't mean that it'll work for others, but it's a first step. I'll have to see how the E6600 runs things, but this autumn/winter I'm planning to buy a new computer, which would mean that my current PC (i7 950) would become the new dedicated server. I'll also be changing to a faster internet provider, which again should improve things. If it works in this setup, chances are it'll work better in a couple of months once I've made the changes.

Thanks also for the ts3.veterans-gaming.com offer! I'll try running a TS3 server myself to begin with, but if this doesn't work or if the computer/connection aren't quite up to it, I'm glad that there are other options.

I'll also make sure to check out the Arma 3 dedicated server threads. Good to know there's a good repository of knowledge!

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Make sure you have your steam ports forwarded properly from your router to your dedi... good luck!!

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Thanks!

Question about the Steam ports: do I need to forward these if I don't want the server to show up on Steam and instead give the other players the IP to connect to remotely?

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I don't think so.. I think direct IP connect works no matter what. Easy thing to test though :p

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Yup, should be able to test that soon. It works if I try to connect remotely from my main PC using the external IP address, but I have no idea whether the computer or the network somehow resolves that into the network-internal IP address. I'm pretty much an idiot when it comes to network questions, dedicated servers and the like. Anyway, again, thank you very much for the help! Curious to see how well the old computer and my internet connection fare.

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Just a note about TS3. Using Public TS servers is not likely with ACRE due the TS3 Spamprotection. I tried it few times and i was owerwhelmed with Error messages.

I never tried Public server with TFAR but i gues it would be the same.

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Just to let everyone know: I ran a test session on Saturday with myself connecting from the same network as the server and three others joining from outside. My spare PC managed running the Arma/TS3 servers just fine and pings were at a manageable ~60ms. The only problem we ran into was the TS3 spam protection, which I'll have to tweak for next time. (It was fun to have the TS3 voice going "Error, error" for a few minutes - with perfectly localisable 3D audio coming from one of the other players!)

Thanks to everyone for your help with this!

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Glad to hear - in TS3 right-click on your server name (usually top in the channel list) - there is a setting in there called anti-flood protection... basically just double all the values should be good enough :p

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Yup, that's what I've done (although I think I may have tripled it). Haven't tested it yet, but am planning to do so on Saturday.

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