Runbook
For when the server is broken and you need it back.
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.
Then, from a shell:
D:\XCSV_GUARD\tools\doctor.ps1 # 22 executable assertions
D:\XCSV_GUARD\tools\doctor.ps1 -Json # same, machine-readable, exit codesCount mission starts before reading a single error.
Select-String -Path <newest .rpt> -Pattern 'Starting mission:' | Measure-Object- 1 — the server started once. Errors after it are probably real.
- more than 1 — you are in a restart loop. Only the first error is real. Everything after it, including every database error, is a symptom.
Two messages that are always symptoms and never causes:
-
extDB2 is already setup & locked— extDB2 locks after a successful init, so this only appears on a second pass, which means a loop. -
Unknown Protocol— same story.
In order of how often it has actually been the answer here:
-
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:No entry may begin withE:\ExileRepo\tools\pbo\pbo.ps1 List -Path <pbo>
\or/. XCSV GUARD's Integrity tab does this for every loaded PBO and refuses to start the server if any fails. -
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. -
Missing
-filePatching. A3XAI readsa3xai_config.sqfas a loose file and silently ends the mission during world init without it. -
Database reachable? MariaDB up, credentials in
extdb-conf.inicurrent. -
A config parse error in the mission. One bad brace in
config.cppends the mission before anything else runs.
XCSV GUARD's log guard watches MB/min and alerts. If it is climbing:
- Confirm the binary is x86 (see above) — this is the usual cause.
- Check the newest RPT for a repeating line; a single addon in a tight failure loop can write hundreds of MB.
- Old RPTs are safe to delete. The live one is not.
Use XCSV GUARD's Restarts tab, which issues #shutdown, not #restart.
#restart reloads the mission inside the same process and never returns memory —
useless on a 32-bit build that idles near half its address space.
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.
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.
- Live player list, kick, ban, message — XCSV GUARD Players tab.
- Who connected — BattlEye connection history is the only local record of who reached a publicly listed box.
- Object count run away? In-game, as an admin, use the scroll action XCSV: World census — it buckets and maps every simulated object, locally to you only.