¶ Arma Reforger: Getting Started
¶ Arma Reforger is a tactical military simulation game developed and published by Bohemia Interactive. It serves as a tech showcase and spiritual successor to Arma 3, and more importantly, as a testing ground for the upcoming Arma 4. Built on Bohemia’s new Enfusion engine, Reforger aims to deliver improved graphics, better performance, and more flexible modding support.
¶ Introduction:
On first boot, your server will start by installing the core files needed for the server. This can take up to 10 minutes to complete, during this avoid stopping or attempting to restart the server. You can start setting up your server settings while this process is ongoing, once the server finishes installing it will boot with whatever settings you have setup. It is advised to completely shutdown your server until you have fully configured it.
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¶ Navigating the interface:
We currently use a pre-built paid control panel - AMP by CubeCoders. This panel is the best solution we have found so far to run servers beyond creating our own(which may come in the future).
Image 1 is an example of what you can expect to see upon first login to the control panel. As can be seen in the image, it gives you a nice and clear interface to view all of your servers on the host you have logged into. To get started managing your server, click the “Manage” button seen for the server instance you want to manage.
This page gives you a basic overview of server stats and usage along with the ability to start, stop and restart your server. There is currently a bug with the connection info so it can be ignored, at this point your server should be available in server browser so it is not needed. If for some reason you do need the IP address for your server, that should have been given to you by the support member that setup your server or you can retrieve it from the server configuration file found in the file manager.
Image 3 is a snippet from the Arma Reforger configuration page, here you are able to setup your server anywhere from the server name down to adding additional server startup flags.
Once on this page, it is recommended to at minimum setup the follow:
- Server Name
- Scenario
- Server Password(If needed)
- Admin Password - A randomly generated one is set upon creation but a more user friendly version is advised.
- Supported Cross Platform - Currently, if you plan to use mods you either select PC and Xbox or just PC since PlayStation doesn't currently support mods.
¶ Arma Reforger: Mod Loader
Mods allow server owners to build a fully custom experience for their players but it can be tricky to setup if you're new to the process. This tutorial will give you a rough example of how to setup and do some basic troubleshooting.
The mod loader can be found under Configuration > Arma Reforger within the instance, approximately mid way down the list of options. You will be pasting JSON containing the name and modid for the mods you would like to run.
Currently, the recommended tool is the RGH JSON editor made by the founder of Hendrix Services | https://json.robotsgaminghub.com
This tool is specifically built to help build out a working JSON mod list for servers and make the process significantly easier than working with the json by hand. To use the editor, you can search or browser page by page to find mods you would like to have in your server. By clicking “Add” it is accumulated into a list that can easily be copied at the bottom of the page.
You can see the mods you have selected at the bottom of the page, here you can paste in an existing mod list and edit it however you would like. Once you're done with your mods, you can click “Copy JSON” which can then be pasted into the “Load Mods” section back in the server control panel. Reboot your server and the mods will automatically download and be ready to go!
If you will be using a modded map, you must click “View” on the JSON editor website for the map and go to the “Scenarios” tab to retrieve it. When setting it up in the control panel, you set “Server Mission/Scenario” to custom and paste the copied scenario into the “Custom Mission/Scenario Name” then restart your server. After that you should be good to go, if you have any issues feel free to open a support ticket in the Discord or send an email to support@hendrixservices.us.
¶ Arma Reforger: Troubleshooting mod issues
Arma is notorious for having issues related to mods. The game is seen as a test for Bohemias' new game engine so it's bound to have its bad days. This section will cover a few of the most common issues related to mods and hopefully give you an idea of how to troubleshoot game breaking issues if you were to encounter them.
Some basic steps to troubleshooting:
- Is it me? - Did you make a typo or configuration error when adding/removing mods? Trace your steps, possibly reverse what you have done to see if that's the cause of the issue
- Is the mod broken? - Are there error messages showing console? If so, are they new? Seeing errors in console while using mods is not uncommon as mods are created by the community so mistakes can happen.
- Are mods conflicting? - Typically if a mod works on it's own but not with others its a conflict issue. Having multiple mods that attempt to do the same thing is never recommended because it can be game breaking. Try removing any recently added mods to resolve the issue.
- Does the server work without mods? - This game is a test of the new arma engine as mentioned before, things can break sometimes. Try running the update function in the control panel to repair broken mods.
- Still not working? - Checkout the rest of this section for more troubleshooting and diagnostic tips, if all else fails you can open a support ticket in Discord or send an email to support@hendrixservices.us
Example 1:
| 18:25:31.390 BACKEND (E): Fragmentizer: Can't load manifest file '$profile:../addons/EveronEvolvedPVENATO_650427359D740053/resourceDatabase.rdb_1.0.12_manifest.json' 18:25:31.390 BACKEND (E): Fragmentizer: Can't load manifest file '$profile:../addons/WW2_Bicycle_62B4A8E40D31F94B/data.pak_1.0.0_manifest.json' 18:25:31.390 BACKEND : Addon Download started 651D290C8664C5DF - Usable bayonets..knifes.. 18:25:31.390 BACKEND : Downloading 651D290C8664C5DF version 1.1.1 18:25:31.390 BACKEND (E): Fragmentizer: Can't load manifest file '$profile:../addons/MagObfuscation_647D306A5C65CD3A/data.pak_1.0.0_manifest.json' 18:25:31.390 BACKEND : Addon Download started 64B42E9FABA61904 - Huey Sound Replace 18:25:31.390 BACKEND : Downloading 64B42E9FABA61904 version 1.0.2 18:25:31.390 BACKEND : Addon Download started 596330D9AF34AF38 - ToH ReCharacters Man 18:25:31.390 BACKEND : Downloading 596330D9AF34AF38 version 1.0.3 18:25:31.390 BACKEND : Addon Download started 64C912EF952E1075 - ToH ReCharacters Core 18:25:31.390 BACKEND (E): Fragmentizer: Can't load manifest file '$profile:../addons/Usablebayonets..knifes.._651D290C8664C5DF/resourceDatabase.rdb_1.1.1_manifest.json' 18:25:31.390 BACKEND : Downloading 64C912EF952E1075 version 1.0.4 18:25:31.390 BACKEND (E): Fragmentizer: Can't load manifest file '$profile:../addons/HueySoundReplace_64B42E9FABA61904/data.pak_1.0.2_manifest.json' 18:25:31.390 BACKEND : Addon Download started 64AB5D83872CCF87 - Realism Overhaul - Weather 18:25:31.390 BACKEND : Downloading 64AB5D83872CCF87 version 1.0.1 18:25:31.390 BACKEND (E): Failed to fetch addon details from workshop API! Repeat later or try different mods. 18:25:31.390 BACKEND (E): Fragmentizer: Can't load manifest file '$profile:../addons/ToHReCharactersMan_596330D9AF34AF38/resourceDatabase.rdb_1.0.3_manifest.json' 18:25:31.390 BACKEND (E): Fragmentizer: Can't load manifest file '$profile:../addons/ToHReCharactersCore_64C912EF952E1075/resourceDatabase.rdb_1.0.4_manifest.json' 18:25:31.390 BACKEND (E): Fragmentizer: Can't load manifest file '$profile:../addons/RealismOverhaul-Weather_64AB5D83872CCF87/data.pak_1.0.1_manifest.json' 18:25:31.589 ENGINE (E): Unable to initialize the game |
This is an example of an issue with downloading mods from the workshop, most of the time this is due to an issue with the workshop but can also be caused by issues with force stopping servers while downloading mods. When this happens, most of the time a mod has become corrupted locally and needs to be deleted, if this is the case you can navigate to File Manager > AReforgerMaster > addons which is where all mods are stored for the server. You may either attempt to located the specific mod that is having issues(Observing the console may give you some clue) or just remove the addons folder completely. It will be re-created once you start the server again.
Another cause for this issue can be the number of dependencies that a single mod has. If a mod has 20 dependencies, it seems to overload the network controller for the server and cause fragmentation or for the server to crash completely. This issue can appear in many ways in the console, at times it may state it is starting to download the mods then say “Unable to initialize the game" it is recommended to clear mods and try again before attempting to dig through mods searching for an issue.
|
16:38:18.821 WORLD : UpdateEntities 16:38:18.821 RPL : rpl::Pip::ProcessNetToGame 16:38:18.821 RPL (E): IReplication::JIPError: Inconsistent item table on Slave connection. Item is missing or different item was loaded in its place. (con=0x0) 16:38:18.853 WORLD : UpdateEntities 16:38:18.853 RPL : rpl::Pip::ProcessNetToGame 16:38:18.853 RPL (E): IReplication::JIPError: Terminating connection. (identity=0x00000000) |
This is an example of a broken mod causing crashes. In this instance, it appears that an entity is not being loaded correctly but we cannot be sure unless you are testing mods you have created.
¶ We plan to add more detail to this section as time goes on, if you're ever stuck feel free to contact support for help!
- Arma Reforger: Scheduler - Coming Soon
- Arma Reforger: Analytics - Coming Soon
- Arma Reforger: Backups - Coming Soon