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

Open dashboard
Open the dashboard of your server.
Open settings
Navigate to the Settings.
Adjust values
Adjust the desired fields (see table below).
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.

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.

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": []
  }
}

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

Tip

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

Stop the server
Stop your server via the dashboard.
Connect via SFTP
Connect to your server via SFTP.
Open config.json
Open the config.json file in the root directory of your server.
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.
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.
Start the server
Save the file and start your server.

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

Tip

Example

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

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

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How to Configure Your Arma Reforger Server

Settings in the dashboard

Available fields

What the dashboard overwrites in the config.json

Structure of the config.json

Entries you can change via SFTP

Entries in the operating section

How to edit the config.json

Set up voice chat

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