Arma 3 Wasteland Server Hosting

What A3Wasteland Is

Wasteland is one of the oldest multiplayer modes in the Arma world. The A3Wasteland mission for Arma 3 describes itself as a survival-like combat sandbox that folds team deathmatch and sector control into one package. You spawn with very little, scavenge weapons and vehicles from towns and missions, team up and try to take control of the landscape.

Its family tree is long. A3Wasteland grew out of GoT Wasteland, which came from 404 Wasteland, which in turn built on Sa-Matra's Wasteland and, at the root, Tonic's Wasteland. Team A3W, credited as AgentRev, JoSchaap, MercyfulFate, His_Shadow, Bewilderbeest, Torndeco and Del1te among others, rewrote much of the code and added territory capture, player and vehicle saving, vehicle stores and new side missions.

Players pick one of two factions, BLUFOR or OPFOR, or play independent. The independents are the wild card: the mission briefing lets them engage anyone and team up with anyone, while team players must not shoot or rob their own side. That three-way tension is why the team recommends 50 or more players; with too few, the map feels empty between fights.

Maps and the Mission File

Team A3W maintains four versions of the mission, one per terrain: Altis, Stratis, Tanoa and Malden. Altis is the large classic island and the one most public servers run. Stratis is small and fast, Tanoa brings jungle and islands, and Malden sits in between.

The repositories hold source code rather than a ready mission file. The team's own Release_Files readme explains that the PBO has to be compiled with a tool such as Addon Builder, BinPBO or MakePBO. Once built, the PBO goes into the server's MPMissions folder and is named in the mission cycle of server.cfg.

The Settings That Shape Your Wasteland

A3W keeps its defaults inside the mission, but it looks for an external file first: A3Wasteland_settings\main_config.sqf in the Arma 3 folder. If that file is there, it wins. Edit it rather than the mission, so a recompiled or updated mission does not wipe your choices. The file is read at start, so stop the server before you change it.

Other lines decide whether weapons and supplies spawn in buildings, how much loot vehicles carry, how far from a store explosives may be placed, and whether the global voice channel is switched off for non-admins. Change a few at a time and watch how your players react.

Saving: Profile, iniDB or extDB3

Persistence is what turns Wasteland from a match into a server people come back to. By default A3W saves into the server's profile, which needs no database at all. It keeps player position, health, inventory and money, purchased and captured vehicles, locked base parts, crates, static weapons, mines, warchests and spawn beacons, and saves vehicles and objects every 60 seconds.

• profile: the default. Nothing extra to install.
• iniDB: file-based saving through the iniDBI addon, used automatically if it is installed.
• extDB3: MySQL saving. Team A3W's instructions are to import the a3wasteland_db SQL script, put the MySQL details in the [A3W] section of extdb3-conf.ini, and start the server with -filePatching -serverMod=@extDB3 and allowedFilePatching = 1 in server.cfg. It needs extDB3 version 1025 or later.

extDB3 unlocks private parking, global player stats across servers, and saving on a headless client, and lets the save interval relax to 3 to 5 minutes. It is also more to look after. extDB3 is a DLL, which our SFTP service blocks for security, so our support team installs it and can tell you about a database for your server.

Choosing Slots and RAM

Start from how many players you expect at your busiest hour, not on a quiet morning. A clan running a private island can live on 20 slots. A public server needs room to grow into the 50 player mark the team recommends, so 40 or 60 slots is the sensible start, and 80 or 120 suits an established community.

Memory grows with the world rather than the player count alone. Every saved base part, parked vehicle and crate stays loaded, and long object lifetimes mean more of them. That is why each of our plans steps up one RAM tier: 5GB on 20 slots, 8GB on 40, 12GB on 60, 16GB on 80 and 20GB on 120. If you raise A3W_vehicleQuantity or set object lifetimes to 0, move up a tier.

Headless Clients on a Busy Server

Arma's server does most of its work on one CPU core. A headless client is a second Arma instance that takes jobs off it. A3W can hand two kinds of job to up to two headless clients: object caching, and cleanup and saving. The first headless client to connect gets ID 1 and the second ID 2, and both jobs can run on the same one.

Saving on a headless client only works with iniDB or extDB3, because profile saves live in a separate profile per machine. Our Arma 3 Headless Client is a separate server you add when your Wasteland is busy; the knowledge base explains how to connect it.

Upkeep, Updates and Wipes

Because the mission rarely changes, most upkeep comes from Arma 3 updates and from your own world filling up. After a Bohemia update, run Steam Update, start the server and check the log before players arrive. Keep a backup from the Backup Manager before any mission change.

Some owners wipe on a schedule, for example monthly, so new players are not shut out by years of fortified bases. A wipe on profile saving means clearing the saved data in the server profile; on extDB3 it means emptying the A3W tables. Announce it well in advance, and our support team can help with either.

What to Compare Before You Rent a Wasteland Server

A Wasteland lives for months, so look past the slot price.

1. Single-core CPU speedArma servers lean on one core; a fast clock matters more than many cores.
2. RAM that grows with slotsSaved bases and vehicles need memory as the world fills up.
3. File accessYou will upload missions and settings, so SFTP and a file manager matter.
4. Headless Client optionBusy servers benefit from moving work off the main server.
5. BackupsMonths of player bases deserve offsite backups.
6. Arma-aware supportDLL extensions and database setups need someone who knows Arma.

Arma 3 Wasteland Server Glossary

A3Wasteland (A3W)

The open source Wasteland sandbox mission for Arma 3 by Team A3W.

main_config.sqf

The external settings file in A3Wasteland_settings that overrides the mission defaults.

Territory

A map sector a side can capture and hold for rewards.

Independent

A player outside the two factions, alone or in a small group.

profileNamespace

Arma's per-profile storage, A3W's default way to save data.

extDB3

An Arma 3 extension that lets the mission save to a MySQL database.

Headless client

An extra Arma instance that takes AI and object work off the server.

PBO

Arma's packed file format; the compiled mission is one PBO.

Arma 3 Wasteland Server Help

The mission's own sources and our guides.

• A3Wasteland Altis on GitHubThe mission source, with links to the Stratis, Tanoa and Malden versions.
• A3Wasteland Release_FilesSettings folder, BattlEye filters and the iniDB and extDB3 packs.
• Our Arma 3 server setup guideServer.cfg, the launch line and mods for any Arma 3 server.
• How to configure your Headless ClientFor servers that outgrow one machine.
• Contact support24/7 help with missions, extDB3 and wipes.