Using RCON Commands on a Quake 3 Arena Server

Set up and use RCON remote administration on your Quake 3 Arena dedicated server to manage maps, kick players, and run commands.

RCON (Remote Console) lets you manage your Quake 3 Arena server by sending commands remotely. This guide covers how to enable RCON and use it effectively.

Enabling RCON

By default, Quake 3 Arena servers have remote administration turned off. You need to set an RCON password to activate it.

Open the Console

Access the XGamingServer Panel and go to the Console for your Q3A server.

Set the RCON Password

In the console, type:

\seta rconpassword "your_password"

Sending RCON Commands From In Game

There are several ways to send remote commands to your server:

With password each command: Send the password alongside each command, for example: \rcon "your_password" status
Set password once on your client: Set the rconpassword on your game client (similar to the server setup), then subsequent commands can omit the password: \rcon status
Remote management without connecting: Set the rconaddress variable to the server's IP address to manage a server without being connected to it.

Common RCON Commands

With remote access configured, you can issue commands to manage the server:

Change the map: \rcon map "map_name"
Kick a player: \rcon kick "user_name"
Add a bot: \rcon addbot "bot_name" "skill_level [1-5]"