Documentation

Runbook

For when the server is broken and you need it back.

0. First move, always

Open XCSV GUARD. Its Overview tab runs the pre-flight checks below automatically, every poll. If it is already telling you what is wrong, believe it before you believe the RPT.

XCSV GUARD Overview

Then, from a shell:

D:\XCSV_GUARD\tools\doctor.ps1          # executable assertions
D:\XCSV_GUARD\tools\doctor.ps1 -Json    # same, machine-readable, exit codes

1. Read the RPT correctly

Count mission starts before reading a single error.

Select-String -Path <newest .rpt> -Pattern 'Starting mission:' | Measure-Object

Two messages that are always symptoms and never causes:

2. The restart loop checklist

In order of how often it has actually been the answer here:

  1. PBO entry paths. A PBO whose entries all begin with \ passes a checksum verify and still breaks everything — Arma resolves <prefix> + \path, finds nothing, and the server core never loads. Check the entry table, not the checksum: 
    E:\ExileRepo\tools\pbo\pbo.ps1 List -Path <pbo>

    No entry may begin with \ or /. XCSV GUARD’s Integrity tab does this for every loaded PBO and refuses to start the server if any fails.

  2. Wrong database bridge. Production is arma3server_x64.exe + extDB3. If x64 is running, verify @ExileServer\extDB3_x64.dll, @ExileServer\extdb3-conf.ini, and @ExileServer\sql_custom\exile.ini.
  3. Missing -filePatching. A3XAI reads a3xai_config.sqf as a loose file and silently ends the mission during world init without it.
  4. Database reachable? MariaDB up, credentials in extdb3-conf.ini current.
  5. A config parse error in the mission. One bad brace in config.cpp ends the mission before anything else runs.

3. Disk filling / RPT growing

XCSV GUARD’s log guard watches MB/min and alerts. If it is climbing:

4. Restarting properly

Use XCSV GUARD’s Restarts tab, which issues #shutdown, not #restart.

#restart reloads the mission inside the same process and never returns memory. Use #shutdown so the x64 process exits cleanly and comes back under the current launch parameters.

4.1 x64/extDB3 operating checks

Production is arma3server_x64.exe + extDB3 with -maxMem=12288.

E:\ExileRepo\tools\diagnostics\x64-baseline.ps1
E:\ExileRepo\tools\database\test-extdb3-persistence.ps1
E:\ExileRepo\tools\database\backup-exile-db.ps1 -WhatIf

If the latest server RPT contains No more slot to add connection, the headless client did not claim an HC slot. GUARD doctor reports this as hc-join.

5. Whole-stack start / stop

The Start Everything button brings up, in order: database → integrity gate → server → headless client → local model. Stop Everything takes them down cleanly in reverse.

If the server will not start, the integrity gate is the first thing to check — by design it will block a start rather than let a corrupt PBO produce a loop.

6. After any repack

Repacking is the single most dangerous routine operation here.

E:\ExileRepo\tools\pbo\pbo.ps1 Pack -Path <src> -Out <dst> -Prefix <prefix>
E:\ExileRepo\tools\pbo\pbo.ps1 List -Path <dst>      # ALWAYS. Read the paths.

The packer once used Resolve-Path, which hands a path back in whatever form it was given — so a source path containing an 8.3 short name (C:\Users\ARCHIT~1\…) stayed short while directory enumeration returned the long form (C:\Users\Architect\…). One character of difference left a separator on every entry path. It now uses Get-Item -LiteralPath and refuses to pack a bad entry, but verify anyway.

The corruption is arithmetically visible — broken files are exactly one byte larger per entry.

7. Player trouble