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Parallel Processing: Headless Clients

Arma 3 is heavily bound by single-core CPU performance. A Headless Client (HC) is essentially a transparent player process that connects to the server and takes ownership of AI units. By moving the heavy calculations of AI pathfinding and behavior to a separate CPU core, you free up the main server thread for critical tasks like networking and physics, resulting in a much smoother experience for your players.

Difficulty

Advanced

Time

10 Minutes

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Configuration & Authorization

You must first authorize the server to accept connections from local Headless Clients.
1

Open server.cfg

In the Game Panel File Manager, locate and open your server.cfg.
2

Add IP Whitelist

Add the following lines to allow the HC process (running locally) to connect:
headlessClients[]={"127.0.0.1"};
localClient[]={"127.0.0.1"};
3

Panel Activation

Navigate to the Headless Client tab in your Game Panel and click Enable Headless Client. The panel will now automatically spawn a secondary process whenever you start your server.

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Mission Support Requirements

Simply enabling a Headless Client does not automatically move AI units to it. Your mission file must be specifically designed or modified to offload units.
Popular scenarios like Antistasi, Liberation, and KP Liberation have built-in HC auto-detection. They will automatically transfer AI ownership as soon as they detect an active HC.

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Need Extra Help?

If you encounter any issues, our support team is ready to assist:

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Last Updated: January 2026 | Arma 3: Load balanced.