What Changed for Server Admins in Arma Reforger 1.8

Arma Reforger's 1.8 major update landed on 13 August 2026 as build 1.8.0.10. Most coverage of it is about the Far Hide system — grass and camouflage-net occlusion so prone players stop standing out at 750 metres — which is genuinely the headline feature.

If you run a server, though, the interesting part of 1.8 is a set of smaller changes that hand you controls you previously did not have. This is what changed on the admin side, and what is worth acting on.

Update the server first#

Before anything else: a server on the previous build is invisible to updated clients. There is no error on either side, and the server itself looks perfectly healthy. It simply does not appear in the browser.

That is the single most common post-update support report for this game, and it is why the server browser checklist opens with a version check rather than a network one.

Contesting is now configurable#

Previously, contesting behaviour was fixed. In 1.8 the minimum number of players required for contesting can be set through the mission header — and contesting can be disabled entirely.

This is more useful than it first reads. A small milsim server running Conflict has a different relationship with contesting than a full public server does: a threshold tuned for 64 players behaves oddly at 16. Being able to set it, or turn it off, means the mode can suit the size of session you actually run.

Teamkilling no longer has to auto-kick#

1.8 added a faction-specific configuration option to prevent teamkilling from auto-kicking players.

For public servers, the automatic kick is a reasonable default and you should probably keep it. For milsim units it has always been a slightly awkward fit — a unit with its own discipline process does not necessarily want the engine removing someone mid-operation for an accidental friendly-fire incident, particularly in the confused close-quarters situations where it is most likely to happen.

If you run an organised community with staff on the server, this is worth a look. If you run a public server, leaving it enabled is still the safer choice.

The player list became an admin tool#

Several additions here, and together they change how moderation feels in-game:

• Teleport the editor camera to a player from the player-list context menu.
• Promote and demote players from the same menu.
• Add your own context actions via a new framework — SCR_PlayerListBaseAction, with additions declared in PlayerListActions.conf.

That last one is the significant one for larger communities. Moderation actions that previously meant dropping to console or an RCON client can be surfaced as a right-click on the player, and communities running custom admin mods now have a supported extension point rather than a workaround.

The existing console and RCON paths are unchanged — see admins and BattlEye RCON if you have not set those up yet.

Xbox Play Anywhere changes your player mix#

Reforger arrived on the Microsoft Store with Xbox Play Anywhere support in 1.8, so a single purchase covers Xbox consoles and Windows PC.

No configuration change on your side. But if you run a crossplay server, expect a different platform mix than you had in July — and if you have a modlist, that is a reason to re-check platform behaviour rather than assume it carries over. Arma Reforger crossplay covers the platform fields and the PlayStation mod restriction that still applies.

Smaller changes worth knowing#

• Minimum loadout cost is now 1, which stops players spawning at zero-supply bases with free loadouts. If your community had a workaround for that exploit, you can retire it.
• Vehicle arsenals no longer accept refunds, closing another supply exploit.
• AI visibility improved, including grass and camouflage-net occlusion and friendly target marking. AI that sees more realistically also behaves differently under load, so if you run near your performance ceiling, re-check frame time after updating — see performance tuning.
• Replication budget raised from 10 to 100 per frame. An engine-side change, but a relevant one if you run high player counts.
• Crash and memory-leak fixes across the board.

Before you update#

The update itself is straightforward. The thing that breaks servers on patch day is usually not the patch:

1. Check your mods. A major update is when unlocked mods diverge and modlists stop matching client state. If your mods are not locked to explicit versions, this is the week you find out — mod collections and version locking covers why and how.
2. Update the server before you tell players it is available. An updated client and a stale server is an invisible server.
3. Re-check performance after updating. AI behaviour changes and engine changes both shift the load profile, and 1.8 has both.
4. Announce the restart. Scheduled beats surprising.

References#

• 1.8 Update announcement — Bohemia Interactive
• 1.8.0.10 full changelog — Bohemia Interactive
• Arma Reforger: Server Config
• Arma Reforger: Update History