So I'm starting a full mission in sahrani to t retake the island. The spawn limit is default at 114 or something. Is a headless ai needed or suggested? Or not needed?

This number is related to the numbers of virtualized units that will spawn at any time. Changing this value can create strange behaviors such as enemies spawning up on your back or front so it is not recommended to change. Active Limiter is not related to HC

I have a method (I do not know if it's the right one) to evaluate if HC is needed. First watch the fps of your server when you are in a medium or large city and induce the enemies to enter combat, you can use Zeus to do this by placing allies or enabling invisibility and fire at any direction without stopping. If your server's FPS drops too much to something like 20, HC will be needed.

I hope it helps in some way

It does thank you

Sorry if slightly off topic; what does HC do for the server loads? I often see/hear the term, but not sure what it is or what it does.

I have a dedicated server I run, w/out HC enabled. Arma runs well as it is, but maybe runs better is HC added?

Headless Client is used to offload server load that is related to AI calculations. When bots go into combat they generate large calculations to make their decisions which in some cases causes the server to slow down in processing because of that load. With HC, you pass these calculations to another machine or core and make the server stay stable and fast, thus ensuring the fast execution of scripts.

This situation where the server starts getting "heavy" because of the bots will only happen if many of them are on the scene and that is where the HC may be needed especially if the fps of the server gets too low as I mentioned above.

ALiVE is extremely optimized in this case thanks to the virtual AI system so you notice little impact on performance but HC may be necessary if your goal is to create cities full of enemies to combat. One of the advantages of HC when it is in another powerful machine is that the bots react and move much faster since the processor is free just for that :)

Thanks for the explanation.

If I'm runnung a quad core server (I rent one from Citadel), does that mean Arma will use more cores?

Game runs pretty smooth under all conditions, with my main Alive campaign; 900 profiles and 870 objective and civs set to extreme (Spyder Addons), on Altis. But always looking for more fps if possible.

It swings between 40-60 fps depending on where and what is happening

@DrDetroit Thanks for the explanation.

If I'm runnung a quad core server (I rent one from Citadel), does that mean Arma will use more cores?

Game runs pretty smooth under all conditions, with my main Alive campaign; 900 profiles and 870 objective and civs set to extreme (Spyder Addons), on Altis. But always looking for more fps if possible.

It swings between 40-60 fps depending on where and what is happening

Server fps? lol O.O

Client side - I think I may try enabling the HC and see how it goes.

@DrDetroit Client side - I think I may try enabling the HC and see how it goes.

Just to clarify you run a dedicated server on another computer, right? If so, log in as adm using the password you specified for admin by opening the chat and typing #login password and then typing #monitor 5. This "#monitor" command will demonstrate the server's FPS every 5 seconds. If the fps is below 25 in populated areas with multiple enemies, HC may be needed.

Ahhh..thanks for another pro-tip. I'm still learning how to run dedi server...yes, I lease a dedicated Arma server.

Thanks again for the info AngusDLX! Very much appreciated. I will use this and see what's what.