Volunteer Community Server Team

[Mojo (DayZ) 66]

So, after doing a lot of leg-work for a few other server hosts, including MrSherenai of EU 21 and Lazer of Chi 10 instituting performance improvements, I came to the realization that even if you have a lot of experience hosting other game servers, ArmA 2 server hosting can often be confusing. Add in the process hooking aspect of the hives, and it can be down-right daunting. Now run it all on Windows Server 2008. Cry.

I had earlier emailed the staff volunteering for a server staff position to alleviate their burden, but I received no reply.

Well, there's only one thing to do when something is wrong in my world: Fix it.

As such, I want to put together a volunteer host support team. This is totally unofficial, has absolutely zero staff sanctioning, and it's my goal that this will consist of hosts helping hosts, learning together to provide the best possible server & play experience, and paying it forward to those hosts among us who still need to earn their stripes.

Right now, for any host, I am available through the forums, through Private Messaging, or on my TeamSpeak at ts3.monolithservers.com, for server setup and support. Availability downtime will be whenever I happen to pass out for four to six hours.

I will show you:

1. How to properly set up FireDaemon, which has a 30-day free trial and a cheap licence cost of $50 USD. If you don't like FireDaemon after 30 days, hopefully by then you will be experienced enough to use whatever alternative program you want, or will have sufficiently high knowledge for us to set you up with batch scripting to handle server restarts, etc.

1a. How to switch to and manage Session 0, the Windows services session.

2. How to properly launch your instance with all parameters designated, without the use of batch files.

3. The hows and whys of why you want to create a sanitized install directory from which you can copy files to the actual instance directory.

4. The pecularities of OA's server, how to mitigate the problems those peculiarities cause, and how to properly configure your instance to create as little overhead as possible for the sake of stability and server up-time.

5. The use of the RCon GUI and BEC, two can't-live-without extensions for real-time game administration.

Additionally, I will either go through it with you live, or, if you wish to grant temporary RDP access, document and explain every change I make so that you can understand what is happening on your server, why we're making those changes, and where you can find them in the future.

Coming to me or anybody who fundamentally agrees with the goals and purposes of this community project means that you will never find your server modified without your permission or knowledge, or left disabled until you're forced to manually intervene. Everything I do, I will explain to you why it must or should be done, and ask your permission to do it.

As I work on this project (the modelling I was directing and the texturing and foley I was doing on permanent hold), I will be collating clean, unified, illustrated, multi-format documentation for server admins to better understand their server environment. This is the ultimate end-goal of this project, a concise compendium of collected knowledge to be shared among hosts.

This documentation will cover:

1. FireDaemon specifically tailored to DayZ (FD documentation otherwise exists)

2. An explanation of server start-up parameters

3. The RCon, RCon GUI, and BEC

4. Common errors or problems and ways to fix them.

And will initially be published in English and French, since those are the only two languages I speak. Any translators for this will be so welcome I'd kiss you. With tongue.

If any other hosts out there are confident in their ability, know that you can always learn more, and want to help out your fellow hosts who may be hosting a server for the first time, or unfamiliar with OA servers, drop me a line.

[fenrix 9]

oh mojo you awesome person you. +1 id help out if I wasnt busy running other servers :P and not arma ones sadly. siigh

[anthony_henson2003@yahoo.com 33]

i would like to gain some firedaemon knowledge i run all my servers simply by launching the .bat

[Mojo (DayZ) 66]

i would like to gain some firedaemon knowledge i run all my servers simply by launching the .bat

Not a problem. FireDaemon is simple and easy to use. I'm compiling some basic documentation on that very subject right now. If you'd like to come on our TS server (see the address above), I can give you some hands-on time with FireDaemon basics. Once you're comfortable with its use, if you're comfortable, we can move on to its more powerful features. I'll be available on TeamSpeak until around 10am Eastern, at which point I will probably do the aforementioned passing out.

[karlnp 0]

I learned how to do Arma2 server admin essentially by wrestling it to the ground. I now have a fantastic server with as little memory creep as I can manage, but it's not completely perfect. I'd be happy to help/accept help.

[anthony_henson2003@yahoo.com 33]

mojo just got done helping me :) Very great guide and helped me a lot with fireDaemon :)

[Mojo (DayZ) 66]

Glad I could help! Sorry we got cut off as we did at the end there, furball.

Things that are great about having a dog: Loyalty, love, companionship.

Things that aren't great about having a dog: She tries to break the neck of one of her chew-toys, throwing it across the room and directly into your router in the middle of a conversation. If you get startled by this, you get the bonus situation of having hot coffee spill directly on your chest and crotch for free!

[anthony_henson2003@yahoo.com 33]

i was wondering were you had gone lol. But yea thanks again :)

[demine0 43]

Mojo,

I'm glad someone finally came out and said this. The development team, although they have been helpful in solving alot of server issues, it's painfully obvious the large amount of work they have piled up on their plates. I think a Volunteer Server support group would be a HUGE step in the right direction, considering the amount of issues that tend to pop up when running a DayZ server. It'll help the developers get back to whats really important. Fixing issues that the server hosts can't. :)

If your looking for Volunteers, I would like to help. I may also know someone else who is currently developing a tool to ease DayZ server administration who might want to join up as well.

[howichrgelazer 69]

I can assist as well, and thanks for sharing those config numbers with me mojo. It helped out.

[ExWizzard 0]

Thanks to Mojo for helping me setup FireDaemon, this program saves lives!

A notice to all server hosts that want to use beta patch with FireDaemon, you have to set the executable to the beta .exe, and the working directory to your arma OA folder like this:

[Mojo (DayZ) 66]

Thanks to Mojo for helping me setup FireDaemon' date=' this program saves lives!

A notice to all server hosts that want to use beta patch with FireDaemon, you have to set the executable to the beta .exe, and the working directory to your arma OA folder like this:

[img']http://i.imgur.com/wOnDs.jpg

And thanks to ExWizzard for patiently troubleshooting with me as I set up a beta server in FireDaemon for the first time, and finding the solution to our problem. Ah, young hosts, learning together... and loving together.

Lazer, Syk, hop on TeamSpeak when you get the chance. If I'm asleep, well, hop on eight hours later or something. We'll figure out how to divide up the workload or pick each other's brains for documentation.

In other news, I discovered today that I was the worst server admin in all of DayZ. Ever, in fact:

Guys, I want you to know, first of all, obviously I should just go die. Second, this documentation, it's my way of atoning for my crimes against humanity. If ever you see DayZ Zombie RPG - CD 1 (v1.5.8) dayzmod.com - hosted by Thomas Lubanga, know that his server is better administered than mine. Again, I apologize. Mea culpa.

[demine0 43]

I'm at work ATM, but I'll hopfully get a chance to hop on in 7 or so hours.

[dizzymagoo 19]

I also can donate my spare time.

Guys, Mojo is great with his shit. He knows what is up when it comes to this stuff. Take his advice! However, he is an aweful person ;)

[Mojo (DayZ) 66]

Oh hello everybody. I'm cross-posting today, so I can get the documentation a little more views for people who might be interested.

Here it is if you're being a baddie and following this thread instead:

You can download it here (PDF, 591Kb)

It's just a sample, and fuck me if I felt like spending more than 45 minutes in InDesign slapping something together, but it gives you a quick thumbnail of what this project is aiming to provide.

[demine0 43]

I also can donate my spare time.

Guys' date=' Mojo is great with his shit. He knows what is up when it comes to this stuff. Take his advice! However, he is an aweful person ;)

[/quote']

^^ Dizzymagoo was the guy I was going to suggest. Guess I don't need to now. :D

I'll be on your TS sometime tonight Mojo :P

[demine0 43]

Hey Mojo, do you know much about setting up rcon? I'm not sure if my rcon is properly setup. I found a few different battleeye config files, and I'm not sure which one is the one thats actually being used.

[Mojo (DayZ) 66]

Yeah I can help you out with that for sure. Which RCon are you setting up, out of curiosity?

[anthony_henson2003@yahoo.com 33]

Do you happen to know why battleye wont initialize. I am having this issue on a brand new machine i just got in. I installed battleye and it still fails to initialize The beserver.dll in the battleye folder just gets removed when the server starts.

[demine0 43]

This one:

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=9647

I set my rcon password in both the configs in the ARMA II AO BE directory and the profile directory. I'm essentially having the same issue that this guy is:

http://dayzmod.com/forum/archive/index.php?thread-1904.html

[Mojo (DayZ) 66]

Alright, hop on the TS address I posted in the thread. I actually used to get the same error too. Can't guarantee that what worked for me will work for you, but dammit I'll try.

[demine0 43]

I'll hop on in a few hours once i'm back from work.

[Mojo (DayZ) 66]

Alright, sounds good. Make it a few few hours. I just got through setting up a few other users and was waiting on your reply (not blaming you, mind), as it's been another 22 hour day for me, so I'm going to get some sleep. Come on around prime time (if you're still having the problem) and I'll help you out.

Don't worry, I don't sleep much.

[cm. (DayZ) 28]

Honestly guys if you struggle to setup firedaemon I have no idea how you can run a server. It's SUPER easy and took me about 10 minutes to figure it out...

[demine0 43]

Honestly guys if you struggle to setup firedaemon I have no idea how you can run a server. It's SUPER easy and took me about 10 minutes to figure it out...

I heard that servers are actually giant spaceships' date=' and the game is brought to me by those space ships shooting "game lazers" into my computer. Does Firedaemon make sure my computer doesn't catch fire from the lazers?

[hr']

I just got rcon working. Strangly the rcon application won't connect to a host if it's on the same box. I can connect externally fine.