Arma 3 Config Editor: server.cfg and basic.cfg settings

The Config Editor shows your Arma 3 server’s settings as cards with a short help line under each one. Open it, change a value, choose Save, then restart the server. The game reads its settings files only when it starts, so nothing changes in a running game until that restart.

It edits two game files, server.cfg and basic.cfg, and a third list called Passwords. For the full list of settings, see every server.cfg card explained and the nine basic.cfg settings. This guide is about how the editor works. More about the game: Arma 3 servers.

What is on the page

The page is called Config Editor: “The game’s settings, file by file, with what each one does.”

• Settings files lists three files: Passwords, server.cfg and basic.cfg.
• A search box finds a setting by its name. If nothing fits, the page says “No settings match your search.”
• Each file is split into cards. server.cfg has 42 settings in seven cards. basic.cfg has nine settings in three cards.
• Under each setting is a help line that says what it does.
• A setting that the file does not carry yet shows Game default, so you can see what the game uses.
• The Advanced card says “(n) more settings are in this file. Most servers never change them.” Choose Show them to see them.
• server.cfg also has one card for each mission in the rotation. Those are locked: see below.

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The three file buttons (1, 2, 3) sit above the cards, with the search box at the top right. The join password is called Server Password under Passwords and Join password on the server.cfg card. It is the same password.

Change a setting

1. Open the Config Editor page of your server.
2. Under Settings files, choose server.cfg or basic.cfg.
3. Find the card, or type part of the setting’s name in the search box.
4. Change the value. A number must be inside its range, and a setting with a fixed list lets you choose only from that list. A wrong number is refused with a line such as “A whole number from 1 to 256.”
5. A bar shows Unsaved changes: (count). Choose Save, or Discard to throw the changes away.

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Server name is the name players see in the game’s server list. Rename Server on Settings changes only the panel’s own name for the server.

Only the values you changed are written. The rest of the file, including its comments, stays as it was.

Make it apply

Saving writes the file. The game uses it at the next start.

• Server running: the page says “Saved. Restart the server to apply the changes.” and shows Restart now.
• Server stopped: the page says “Saved. The changes apply when the server starts.”

If the game cannot read a line, the Crashes page names the file and the line.

Locked settings

Some settings show a reason instead of an input. The panel owns them, because it writes them again every time the server starts. A change made here would be lost.

• The join password and the admin password: “Changed under Passwords, which the panel writes here on every start.” Choose Open Passwords.
• The player limit and the headless client addresses: “Set on the Startup page, which writes it on every start.”
• The mission rotation (every Missions entry): “Kept on the Missions page, which reads each mission’s own settings.” Choose Open Missions.
• The admins list: “Kept on the Players page, which writes the whole list for the next start.” Choose Open Players.

Passwords are under Passwords in this editor, never on the Startup page. Their values are shown only to people whose role may change them. See the locked settings explained.

Edit the file as text

Every file has Edit the whole file as text or Open in the file editor. Use it for something the cards do not cover. The game ignores everything after a mistake in a settings file, so check a hand edit with care. A basic.cfg with a class that never closes is shown as plain text and is not edited in cards.

You do not need to edit the BattlEye file beserver_x64.cfg. The panel writes it before every start, with the remote console port and password.

By hand

On any Arma 3 server the settings are plain text files in the server folder.

1. Open server.cfg in your editor. Each setting is one line that ends with a semicolon, for example hostname = "My server";. A line that starts with // is a comment.
2. Save it, then start the server again. The game reads the file once.
3. The start line names the files: -config=server.cfg is the server settings and -cfg=basic.cfg is the network settings.

On Loafhosts, open Files and choose server.cfg or basic.cfg, or use the Config Editor.

If it does not work

• My change did not show up. The server was not restarted since you saved. Choose Restart now.
• A setting reverted. It is one the panel writes at every start, such as a password. Change it under Passwords or on Startup.
• Save is refused. A number is outside its range, or a list such as motd[] is missing its braces. Read the message under the setting.
• The Config Editor says the file does not exist. Start the server once. The file is made at the first start.
• The server started but ignores later lines. The game stopped reading at a mistake. The Crashes page shows “server.cfg or basic.cfg did not read” with the line number.

Sources: Bohemia wiki: Server Config File, Bohemia wiki: Basic.cfg

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