How to back up your Arma Reforger server and its saves

Two things matter in an Arma Reforger backup: config.json, and the save folder where the game keeps your world. Everything else, the game files and the mods, can be downloaded again. You can back up while the server runs.

What to include

• config.json. Your settings, passwords and mod list. Mods that have a version in the list stay on that version; a mod without one is downloaded at its latest version, so a restored server can come back on newer mods than the backup knew. Pinning the versions you trust keeps a restore predictable.
• The save folder. Saves live in the server’s profile folder, in .save/game, one folder per scenario, then playthroughNNN/savepointNNN. On a Loafhosts server it is /profile/profile/.save/game in Files. This is what persistence writes, see save games.

You do not need the game install or the mods in a backup, which keeps it small. If you do back up the whole server folder, expect a large file.

In the ArthOS panel

You do not need to stop the server: a backup taken while it runs restores cleanly.

1. Open Settings and choose the Backups tab (1).
2. Choose Create (2), then Create Backup.

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3. In the dialog, give the backup a name you will recognise (1), such as before-update.
4. To keep the backup small, add the mods folder to Ignored Files (2), one pattern per line. For example profile/addons. Choose Preview ignored files (3) to check the pattern matched what you meant.
5. Choose Create (4). The backup appears in the list with a Browse option so you can look inside.

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The page shows how many backups you have against your limit, for example “0 of 5 maximum backups created.” At the limit, a backup you start by hand is refused until you delete one. Lock a backup you want to keep for good.

To back up on a timer, use the Schedules tab, also in Settings, and add a Create Backup step. A scheduled backup at the limit deletes your oldest backup that is not locked to make room. Locked backups are never deleted that way, and if every backup is locked, the scheduled backup fails.

Before an update

Create a backup named before-update and lock it, so a scheduled backup cannot delete it. Then update, start the server, and unlock or delete the backup once the world loads as it should.

Restore a backup

1. In Settings, Backups, open the backup’s menu and choose restore. Restoring stops the server and overwrites its files, so do it when nobody is on.
2. Decide the two switches. Do you want to delete all files of this server before performing this action? removes everything first, which gives you exactly the backup’s contents and cannot be undone. Leave it off to put the backup’s files over what is there. The second switch restores the startup command, image and variables from the backup.
3. Choose Restore. The server shows that it is restoring. Start it when it is done.

By hand

On your own host, stop the server and copy these into a folder with the date in its name:

• config.json
• your profile/.save folder, or profile/profile/.save depending on how you set -profile

To restore, stop the server, copy them back, and start it. The game finds the latest save for the current scenario, because loadSessionSave is true unless you changed it.

If it does not work

• The world starts fresh after a restore. The restored config.json has a different scenarioId, so the saves belong to another scenario. Saves belong to one scenario each. See scenario IDs.
• The restore finished but the server will not start. A mod in the list may have been removed from the Workshop, or the file was edited. Check the log, and see config.json explained.
• A save is refused after a restore. A save from an older game or mod version can be refused. It often loads again once mods catch up.
• The backup is huge. It includes the mods folder. Make a new backup with the folder in Ignored Files.
• You cannot delete a backup. It is locked. Unlock it first.

More about running the game on Loafhosts: Arma Reforger servers. If a restart is all you need, see restarting your server.

Sources: Bohemia wiki: Server Config, Bohemia wiki: Persistence System, Bohemia wiki: Startup Parameters

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