How do I install ACE and related mods?
Please make sure you have the latest ArmA 2 patch installed!
Stable Release
- CBA and ACE are always Required
- CBA_OA is only required for Operation Arrowhead Standalone users. Combined Ops users should NOT use it.
- ACEX and ACEX_SM are optional, ACEX_SM should not be installed on dedicated servers. ACEX_RU and ACEX_USNavy are also optional, but are intended only for Combined Ops users.
You can download one of the stable releases from the Releases page.
- Unpack the .7z downloads to your ArmA 2; Operation Arrowhead installation folder.
- Unpack @ACE\store\userconfig.tar
(with WinRAR/7zip/WinZip etc) into your ArmA 2; Operation Arrowhead installation folder. (End result: ArmA 2\userconfig\ACE\**.hpp)- Look below for info on how to start the game with ACE.
You can convert this release to Ongoing Development, and update to the latest any time: Six Updater FAQ.Ongoing Development
- Install the Six Updater (if not already done)
- Start the 'Six Updater - GUI'
- Ensure that the 'A2 OA - A.C.E.' preset is selected. (Click inside the preset field, and select it if not)
- Click the green 'Run Updater' button left up (Says "Install or Update, and Startgame" by default).
This will now install the selected mods. This may take some time, especially on the first run due to a large amount of data being downloaded.
Alternatively, there are also 3rd party Yoma AddonSync mirrors available
How do I configure ACE?
You can change these settings in ..\ArmA2\userconfig\ACE\ace_clientside_config.hpp However you can also use ACE Clippi to change these settings more easily....
How do I start the game with ACE?
Generally it is recommended to use a launcher. But read on if you want to do it manually.
Also check the following thread to find information on how to use ArmA 2 and OA together as Combined Ops:
ARMA 2: CO (how to combine ARMA 2 into ARMA 2:OA and use together)
What mod order should I use for ACE?
CBA should come first, then ACE, then ACEX if you are using that. If using a beta version of ArmA2, include the beta module at the front of your module list - before any of the ACE-related modules. The updater has the option of creating shortcuts for you, using those as a template is always a good idea.
For example:
-mod=@CBA;@ACE;@ACEX;@ACEX_USNavy;@ACEX_RU;@ACEX_SM
How do i start the ACE mod manually?
The old fashioned way to run an addon or several addons is to add them to your ARMA2 shortcuts target line with the mod parameter "-mod=" separated by semicolons ";".
So if you want to run several addons at the same time you have to use a semicolon between each addon. To add your addons to the shortcut you right click your ARMA2 shortcut and chose properties. In the shortcut tab you have the target field wich contains the path to your game. After this path you add the mod-line.
The full line (game path + mod-line) should look like below (note the space between game path and mod-line):
"C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\arma2.exe" -noSplash-mod=@CBA;@ACE;@ACEX;@ACEX_USNavy;@ACEX_RU;@ACEX_SMThe above path is an example. Your game might be installed on another harddrive or partition and therefore show another unit letter (C:). However that is not important. The importance is how the mod-line is added behind it. Dont forget to have a space between the game path and the mod-line.
Also, please make sure if you use the Official ArmA 2 Beta, that your shortcut has the correct "Start in" value set to your ArmA 2 install folder. NOT the beta folder.
I dont have an ARMA2 shortcut!
If you do not have a shortcut you can create one by going to your ARMA2 root directory and find the ARMA2.EXE file. Right click the file and chose "Send to desktop - create shortcut". Now you can add the mod-line to it as explained above.
ARMA Startup Parameters
ARMA2 has a couple of Startup Parameters and two of them are very popular: -nosplash and -world=empty will greatly speed up the start of the game as they stop the splash screens and stops the island from loading at start. The parameters are added to the end (or in front) of the mod-line like this: -nosplash -world=empty.
-showScriptErrors is extremely useful to display script errors, from either; addons or mission.
How to install on Dedicated Servers?
Also see Running an ACE Server
Windows servers
If you have full access to your Windows server via a graphical remote desktop connection, you can install ACE using the Six Updater Suite just like you would do it on your own computer. If you rent a Windows server and don't have remote desktop access, you will have to upload the needed files from your own computer to the server. This requires FTP access to the folder on the server where ArmA II is installed. Just use your favourite FTP client to transfer the following folders to the server: @CBA, @ACE, @ACEX, optionally ACEX_USNavy and ACEX_RU, and the userconfig\ACE folder.
More info on servers Here
Linux servers
To install ACE on a Linux dedi, you'll have to upload the mod folders using eg FTP or SFTP (ssh) to the server. Don't forget to convert all file names in the ArmA II folder to lowercase letters using the tolower utility that comes with the Linux dedi files that BIS provides. (You will need to modify the startup script ("arma2server") to actually load the ACE mod folders. Here's such a file: arma2ace)
You can also use the Legacy Six Updater for linux .
Important Note: The default user-limit for open-files might be too low, please see:
http://ace.armastack.info/index.php/109/why-does-my-linux-server-crash-show-problems-when-ace-loaded
I think I found a bug. What do I do?
Please head over to our Support page.
Install ACE on your Server
How do I install ACE and related mods?
Please make sure you have the latest ArmA 2 patch installed!...Stable
Let us know about your server so it can be listed over at Servers
Configure your Server
Settings for dedicated server features may be adjusted in the ..\ArmA2\userconfig\ACE\ACE_serverconfig.hpp file. Also see Running an ACE Server...Lock
Recommendations
See also Biki Dedicated Server for general ArmA server setup, modfolder principle. (Additional read: BIKI "Addons").
Add version information to your Servername
Add the ACE version to your servername, example:
MyServername @ACE Stable or MyServername @ACE Dev
Make sure that users connecting to your server, actually have ACE installed
All users connecting to a server running ACE should have ACE installed, and preferably be on exactly the same version.
If this is not the case, severe issues can arise!
This is a tricky one. One way is to make sure that all missions on your server
.To require ACE in your missions, usually adding some ACE unit or vehicle should add some ace_*** addons to your mission.sqm addons and addonsAuto arrays, ...You can use the ACEify_Missions tool to mass-update missions to require ACE Mod.
Make your users aware of ACE information
ACE Documentation is pretty useful!
Especially Installation (& Update methods) are useful.
Ingame Help is useful too!
If you run the Ongoing Development version, the Update Schedule is pretty useful too!
Support too!
Other mods and Compatibility
It is recommended to always use the latest versions of Mods, as especially incompatibility issues tend to get fixed. It is important to verify the ...Also see Community for Compatible Mods and Missions.
Difficulty Settings
For realism, it is recommended to disable Enhanced Armor, Enemy Tags, Autoreport, auto guided AT, 3rd Person View, Crosshairs.
For Accuracy and Skill tweaking please see the howto of
+image AI parameters including accuracy, how fast they will fire weapons, ability to detect enemy forces, reload speed, endurance, courage when attacked, command ...
Streamlining addon management
There are software tools that ease the use of addons and mods on server and client machines.
Turn on Signature checking
Signature verification will verify if your players are only running addons that you have allowed by the usage of Keys.
It is recommended to use this, as you can force equality of mods, possibly mod versions, and therefore control and hopefully limit the amount of issues.
Please see BIKI Signature Verification
How can I disallow ACE mod on my server?
- BIKI Signature Verification
- BIF Thread - Kick players with ACE addons this snippet is confirmed working) (Please also see this post for extended info)
It is recommended to always use the latest versions of Mods, as especially incompatibility issues tend to get fixed.
It is important to verify the correct working of the ACE mod, and all other mods that are used in combination.
Recommended is to start with only the ACE mods, then add a single mod at a time, and playtest several situations in MP.
Especially buggy scripts, can cause severe degradation of scripting performance, which in turn cause all sorts of malfunctions and delays.
By default, script errors are not shown on screen, this usually means most errors are overlooked.
Please see -showScriptErrors startup parameter
The ArmA 2 RPT is particularly useful in discovering issues. Delete the RPT, run the game without the mods, and run the game with the mods, compare!
Please see Compatibility for more info and Compatible mod for verified compatible mods.
Updating Base classes
This occurs once the config inheritance tree used by said addon, is different from the original.
By itself it is not a cause for alarm, however, if you make a so called 'override' config, or only want to inherit from certain classes,
it is important to keep the original class inheritance tree intact. Differences can lead to big problems in MP
Example:
Updating base class B_9x18_Ball->BulletBase, by hifi_sonic_cracks\config.cpp/CfgAmmo/B_9x18_SD/
This simply says:
The original config class defines:
class B_9x18_SD: B_9x18_Ball {
/// blablbalba
};
but mentioned addon changes the tree to:
class B_9x18_SD: BulletBase {
/// blablbalba
};
Redefining magazines, weapons or muzzles arrays
muzzles[], weapons[], magazines[] arrays, amongst other things, should never be touched by SoundMods.
Problem
All events (eventhandlers, display (key) handlers etc), and conditions (e.g FSM, trigger condition etc) in ArmA are unscheduled, but spawned script instances are scheduled, as well as the states in FSM.
Scheduling is disasterous for interactive features, like steering a vehicle (parachute) etc, on top of the fact that sleep time isn't a (reasonable) constant anymore, but in fact a variable,
that will need to be taken into account in the calculations of effects.
Still, for interactive systems, a combination of event-based (handling the interactivity), and loop (scheduled script instance, handling general processing), might be a solution to the problem.
Measuring
Enabling the diagnostics addon: In the main @CBA folder called: "cba_diagnostic_enable_perf_loop.pbo"
Copy the PBO to @CBA\Addons folder, start the game and run the tests you usually do.
Please let the mission run for at least 15 more seconds after testing is done, to make sure all log entries are written to rpt.
Then check the rpt and share it in a ticket, so we can read back the results.