ALiVE.OS · ALiVE 3 Development

Player Persistence

Keeps your gear, health and position with you across disconnects and server restarts

In development · ALiVE 3

ALiVE 3 is in active development. This briefing describes work in progress, and the behaviour it covers is subject to change as testing continues. Check the changelog at the foot of the page for what has moved recently.

On this page

Overview

What Player Persistence does

Player Persistence is the module that remembers who you are between logins. In any mission with the ALiVE Player Options module, the server keeps your loadout, ammo, health, position and score, and restores them automatically when you reconnect during the same session. To carry them across a full server restart, the mission also needs the ALiVE Data module and Save to Database set to Yes. Mission makers add one module to a mission to turn this on, with options controlling exactly what gets saved, whether it follows the player or the slot they take (Persist By), and whether players can reset themselves back to a starting state.

Under the hood it works quietly in the background: on a multiplayer server you're saved every five minutes and when you disconnect, and your data is handed back to you the moment you reconnect and your character appears in the world. Those saves wait until that's done, so an early drop can't overwrite your record. With the ALiVE Data module and Save to Database on, saves can also be written to the database so they survive a full server restart.

How it works

Persist By: player or slot

Player Options' Persist By decides who a save belongs to: each player, whichever slot they take, or each slot, whoever takes it.

PlayerEach player keeps their own kit, position and health, whichever slot they take next time.
SlotThe save goes with the slot, named by its Eden Variable Name, for groups whose players change role from one session to the next. A slot with no name is saved by player.
Switching to Slot mid-campaignThe first time a player takes a slot that has no save yet, their own save from before is carried over to it, once. From then on the slot keeps its own.

Capabilities

What it handles

Automatic save and restore

In multiplayer your loadout, ammo, health, position and mission score are saved every five minutes, on disconnect and when you use Save Player Data. On reconnecting they're applied as soon as you spawn in. With ACE loaded and Store Health on, your wounds, bandages, fractures, blood, pain, medication and tourniquets come back too. If you lead an AI squad, its men on foot are brought back beside you, and men you recruited with the Recruitment module are saved with you and put back in your group with the same kit, skill and damage. A player already on the server when a mission starts, as after an admin's Server Save and Exit, is restored too.

Persist By

Save by player or by slot

Persist By on the ALiVE Player Options module is Player by default: each player keeps their own kit, position and health whatever slot they take. Slot keeps them with the slot instead, for units whose players change role from week to week, so whoever takes a slot gets its kit, position and health. Name and rank stay with the player, scores too, and the different-class check doesn't apply. Slots are told apart by their Eden Variable Name, and an unnamed slot is saved by player. When you switch a campaign from Player to Slot, a slot with no save of its own takes the first joining player's own save, once.

Manual save option

Mission makers can allow players to trigger a save on demand through the ALiVE interaction menu, useful before a risky mission stage or before logging off.

Reset to start

If enabled, players can reset themselves back to their starting state for the session, or to their last manual save, through the ALiVE interaction menu.

Rejoin as a different class

By default reconnecting as a different role than the one you left in is blocked and will kick you back out, keeping saved state matched to your original class. Mission makers can allow different-class rejoins if they want more flexibility.

Database backed persistence

With the ALiVE Data module and Save to Database on, player data is written to the database at Server Save and Exit and, with the Data module set to Local, every Auto Save Interval seconds, so state survives a full server restart, not just a reconnect.

Admin controls

Server admins can flip reset, manual save and different-class rejoin on or off mid-session from the in-game ALiVE menu, without needing to restart the mission.

How to use it

Getting started

Place Player Options insteadThere's no Player Persistence module in the editor. Place the ALiVE Player Options module instead: it creates and controls player saving, and its attributes hold the saving options.
Switch persistence on and choose Persist ByUnder PLAYER PERSISTENCE PARAMETERS, Persist Player State is Yes by default. Persist By is Player by default, which keeps each player's own kit, position and health. Choose Slot to keep them with the slot instead, and give every playable unit a Variable Name in Eden, because a slot with no name is saved by player. Switching to Slot later carries each player's earlier save over once, to the first slot they take that has no save.
Choose what gets savedUnder PLAYER PERSISTENCE PARAMETERS, set Store Loadout, Store Ammo Count, Store Health, Store Position and Store Scores to Yes or No for what carries over when a player reconnects. All five are Yes by default.
Set the auto-save intervalAuto Save Interval is in seconds and only controls writing player data to the database, so it needs Save to Database on Yes and an ALiVE Data module with Database Source on Local. The default 0 leaves that write to Server Save and Exit; enter 300 for a write every five minutes. The server still keeps players in memory every five minutes and on disconnect.
Turn on manual save and reset if wantedAllow Player Manual Save and Allow Player State Reset are Yes by default. Leave them on so players can save, or reset to their starting state or last manual save, from Player Options in the ALiVE menu. Set either to No to remove that entry.
Decide on different-class rejoinsLeave Allow Different Class Rejoin on No to block players reconnecting as a different role than the one they left in, or set it to Yes to allow it.
Test in gameJoin as a player, change your gear or take damage, then disconnect and reconnect: your loadout, health and position should come back, with any AI squad you lead beside you rather than walking out from base. If Save to Database is Yes with an ALiVE Data module present, also have an admin use Server Save and Exit, restart the server and rejoin.

Recent work

What's changed lately

Persist By: player or slotA new Persist By setting on Player Options lets a large unit keep a slot's kit with the slot, so a pilot's kit isn't handed to whoever takes the pilot slot next week. Switching a running campaign from Player to Slot no longer sends everyone back to scratch: the first player to take a slot with no save gets their own earlier kit, position and health, once.
ACE wounds are savedWith ACE loaded and Store Health on, a player comes back as hurt as they left: wounds, bandages, fractures, blood, pain, medication and tourniquets.
Timed saves now runThe save every five minutes never actually ran before. It does now, and with Save to Database on the database write follows the Auto Save Interval. Saves wait until a player's earlier save has been handed back, so an early drop can't overwrite it.
Players on the server at mission start are restoredAfter an admin's Server Save and Exit the mission restarts with everyone still connected, and they used to begin at their editor spots. They're put back where they saved now, and the server save stores where players are at that moment, not where they were at the last timed save.
Squad and recruits come back with youA rejoining leader's AI squad on foot is brought to the saved position instead of walking out from base, and men recruited with the Recruitment module are saved and restored with the player.
Reconnecting keeps your view distanceReconnecting used to drop every player to a 1500 m view distance. Your own view settings are left alone now, inside the limits of the View Settings.

Status

Where it stands

Delivered

Save and restore of core player state

In multiplayer, loadout, ammo, health, position and score are saved every five minutes, on disconnect and on a manual save, then restored automatically on reconnect.

Manual save and reset actions

Available to players through the ALiVE menu when the mission maker has enabled them.

Persist By player or slot

Player persistence can follow the slot instead of the player, with a one-off carry-over of each player's save when switching to Slot.

Database-backed persistence across restarts

Works together with ALiVE's data storage module so saves outlive a full server restart.

Fast-reconnect save restoration

The lookup that matches a reconnecting player back to their saved data now retries once, closing the recently reported gap where quick reconnects lost their save.

In progress

Backpack-stored custom gear

Custom weapon attachments or items stored inside a backpack are not fully preserved across a save and restore.

Ammo count accuracy

Saved ammo counts are still being checked for correctness in some loadout situations.

Testing

How you can help

Place the ALiVE Player Options module in a test mission, since there is no separate Player Persistence module to place and the saving options live on Player Options, then join as a player, change your loadout or take damage, then disconnect and reconnect to confirm your gear, health and position come back as expected. To test a dedicated server restart as well, place the ALiVE Data module, set Save to Database to Yes and have an admin use Server Save and Exit before the restart. Try a fast reconnect immediately after mission start to check the recent fast-join fix. If manual save or reset is enabled, test both from the ALiVE interaction menu. If different-class rejoin is left off, confirm that switching to a different role before reconnecting is blocked as expected. To test Persist By, set it to Slot, give two playable units Variable Names, change the kit on one, disconnect, and have a different player take that slot: they should get the kit, and keep their own name and rank. Then switch an existing Player campaign to Slot and check the first player into a slot with no save gets their own earlier kit once.

Spotted a problem? Please report it on the ALiVE issue tracker on GitHub, with the map, rough location and what the units were doing so it can be reproduced.

Changelog

Updates to this page

2026-10-30
Player persistence saves and restores unit traits: medic, engineer, explosive specialist, UAV hacker, camouflage, audible and load coefficients, and custom traits.
2026-10-25
Loading a single player save made while playing a different unit no longer ends in Mission Passed. The save goes onto the unit you are playing.
2026-10-22
Switching Persist By from Player to Slot no longer starts everyone from scratch: the first player to take a slot with no save of its own gets their own save from before, kit, position and health, once.
2026-10-19
Typed number settings now show their unit in the label, for example Auto Save Interval (s).
2026-10-17
New Persist By setting: Player (the default) keeps each player's own kit, position and health; Slot keeps them with the slot played, named by its Eden Variable Name, so whoever takes a slot next session gets its kit, while name, face, rank and scores stay with the player.
2026-10-17
A player save now keeps what each recruited soldier cost, so Group Manager can still refund them after a reload.
2026-10-16
With ACE loaded, a player's wounds, bandages, fractures, blood and pain are saved with them and come back on reload. ACE applies them a few seconds after you spawn, so give it a moment. No setting needed.
2026-10-12
A player save that brings recruits back runs the Recruitment module's code on them again.
2026-10-11
A player's recruits from the Recruitment module are saved with them and come back in their group, with the same kit, skill and damage, when the player is restored. A save keeps only that player's own recruits.
2026-10-09
A Player Persistence module created by script starts with the same defaults as one placed in the editor, instead of throwing errors over settings it was never given.
2026-10-08
A group that opted out of C2ISTAR's automatic orders stays opted out after a save and reload.
2026-10-03
An admin's server save now stores where players are at that moment. It used to store where they were at the last timed save, up to 5 minutes earlier.
2026-10-03
Players already on the server when a mission starts are now restored. After an admin's server save the mission starts again with everyone still connected, and they used to begin at their editor spots.
2026-10-03
A rejoining player's AI squad is now brought back beside them. It used to start at base and walk out, and a squadmate of the player's class looked like a copy. In one test the squad went from 400 m away to within 16 m.
2026-09-28
Reconnecting no longer puts players back to a 1500 m view distance. View distance and terrain detail aren't saved now, so each player keeps their own.
2026-09-26
Players are saved every five minutes now, and to the database every Auto Save Interval when ALiVE Data is on Local. No timed save ever ran before.
2026-09-26
A save waits until a joining player's earlier save has been handed back, so an early drop can't overwrite their record.
2026-09-26
Saving no longer switches the player's weapon: they stay on an underbarrel launcher.
2026-09-25
Allow Different Class Rejoin and Store Loadout now have tooltips that match what they do.
2026-08-18
Closing the game or timing out now saves your state; a real drop used to save nothing, leaving you up to a full save interval stale. A state you wouldn't want kept, dead or downed, is left alone so the last good save stands.
2026-08-18
A player who drops before their first save no longer breaks their own next connect.
2026-08-06
Corrected the description of the save key fix: the problem was one mission copied onto a second map sharing the first map's saves, not two missions sharing a map.
2026-08-06
Page corrected: this is not a module you place. Player saving is created and configured by the ALiVE Player Options module.
2026-07-27
Page first published.