Arma 3 Save Location & How to Upload Your World

So you have been running Arma 3 off your own box, and now you are moving the operation over to a LOW.MS dedicated server. Good call. Before you start firing up a new mission, you will want to bring your existing files across: your mission PBOs, your server config, your difficulty profile, and (if you are running something like Exile or Altis Life) your persistence database. This guide walks you through exactly where those files sit on your current machine, and the two ways to get them onto your LOW.MS server.

"Saves" in Arma 3 is a bit of a misnomer. Unlike a singleplayer sandbox, there is no one save file. What you are really moving is a handful of configs, your mission PBO, optional mod folders, and any persistence data your framework writes out.

Where Arma 3 Server Files Live on Your PC

On a Windows machine running the Arma 3 dedicated server, most of what you care about sits inside the server install folder (often C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Arma 3 Server\). Grab these:

• server.cfg — hostname, password, admin list, mission cycle, difficulty.
• basic.cfg — network tuning (MaxMsgSend, MaxSizeGuaranteed, bandwidth).
• mpmissions\ — all your .pbo mission files. This is the big one.
• @YourMod\ folders — any server-side mods (ACE, CBA_A3, Exile, task force radio, etc.).
• userconfig\ — per-mod config (ACE, extDB3, etc.).
• Your profile folder — usually set via -profiles= in the startup line. Contains Users\<admin>\<admin>.Arma3Profile (difficulty settings) and Users\<admin>\Arma3.cfg (video/UI settings that the server mostly ignores but some frameworks read).

If you are running a persistence framework, also grab:

• @ExileServer\extDB3\ or @extDB3\ — contains extdb3-conf.ini with your DB credentials.
• Your MySQL/MariaDB dump — export with mysqldump before you shut the old box down.
• iniDB\db\ folders if you used the older iniDB plugin.

Before You Do Anything

Stop the old server. Arma 3 writes profile and persistence data on shutdown, so a clean stop matters — do not just kill the process. Then, on the LOW.MS side, log in to control.low.ms, open your Arma 3 service, and stop it too. A running server holds locks on config files and can silently ignore uploads.

While you are there, take a Cloud Backup of the fresh LOW.MS install. If anything goes sideways with your upload, Cloud Restore will put you back to a clean Arma 3 server in a couple of clicks.

Uploading via File Manager

For anything under a few hundred megabytes — configs, a single mission PBO, a small mod — File Manager is the fastest route.

1. In control.low.ms, open your Arma 3 service and click File Manager.
2. Navigate to the server root. You will see folders like mpmissions, keys, and the @ mod folders.
3. Drop your server.cfg and basic.cfg into the root, overwriting the defaults.
4. Open mpmissions and upload your .pbo files directly.
5. For mods, create the @YourMod folder (if it does not exist) and upload the contents.
6. If you use a profile folder, find the path in your startup parameters, open it, and upload your .Arma3Profile.

File Manager handles drag-and-drop and shows progress per file. It is not great for thousands of small files, which is where SFTP comes in.

Uploading via SFTP

For mod packs, large mission suites, or full server migrations, SFTP wins. LOW.MS exposes SFTP on port 8822.

1. In control.low.ms, open Service Settings and note your SFTP username. Your password is your panel password.
2. In FileZilla (or WinSCP, or Cyberduck), create a new site:
   • Protocol: SFTP
   • Host: your server IP (shown in the service overview)
   • Port: 8822
   • Username and password from above
3. Connect. The remote root is your Arma 3 server folder.
4. Drag the mpmissions, @mod, userconfig, and config files across in one go.

SFTP preserves file timestamps and handles resume on dropped connections, which matters when you are pushing a 5 GB mod pack.

Pointing the Server at Your Mission

Upload is only half the job. Edit server.cfg and update the class Missions {}; block to reference your uploaded PBO. The name inside the block should match the PBO filename without the .pbo extension — so BMR_Insurgency.Altis.pbo becomes BMR_Insurgency.Altis.

If you run mods, update your startup parameters in Service Settings to include -mod=@CBA_A3;@ace;@YourMod and, for server-only mods, -serverMod=@ExileServer.

Starting Up

Back in control.low.ms, run a Steam Update to make sure the base server binaries match current Arma 3, then start the service. Open the Web Console and watch the boot log — you are looking for Dedicated host created. and Host identity created. lines, followed by your mission loading. If the log complains about a missing PBO or a mod key, stop, fix, and restart.

A Few Things to Know

Arma 3 is picky about signature keys. Every mod folder has a matching .bikey file that needs to end up in the server's keys\ folder, otherwise clients will not be able to join when verifySignatures = 2 is set.

If you run Exile, Altis Life, Wasteland, or King of the Hill, your real "save data" is in a MySQL database, not in the server folder. extDB3 reads its credentials from @extDB3\extdb3-conf.ini. Export your database with mysqldump on the old host, then point extDB3 at a MySQL instance on the new side — LOW.MS can spin one up for your Arma 3 server, just open a support ticket and the team will set it up, or you are welcome to use any MySQL host you already run elsewhere. Once the dump is imported, update the IP, Port, Username, Password, and Database values in extdb3-conf.ini to match. Old iniDB persistence stores flat files under @YourMod\iniDB\db\ — copy that whole folder across and you are good.

Finally: mission PBOs compiled against specific mod versions can break when mods update. Keep the server on a known-good Steam branch until you have confirmed everything loads, and take a Cloud Backup the moment players are happy.