Sniper Elite 3 is a sniper action game. The dedicated server component can be run as a Windows Service using FireDaemon Pro, which allows you to start the dedicated server automatically at boot prior to login, start multiple instances of the dedicated server and more. This HOWTO will show you how to set it up. You can also use FireDaemon Fusion to manage FireDaemon and other Windows services via a web browser.


Sniper Elite 3 Setup Under FireDaemon Pro

First download and extract SteamCMD. The download is small (< 2 MB).


Go to the directory where you installed SteamCMD and create a shortcut to "SteamCMD.exe". Next edit the properties of the shortcut and in the target box, at the end of it (with a space before the following), put:

+login USERNAME PASSWORD +force_install_dir "C:\Sniper Elite 3" +app_update 266910 validate +quit

Replace USERNAME and PASSWORD with your Steam username and password. The Target box should now look like:

C:\SteamCMD\steamcmd.exe +login USERNAME PASSWORD +force_install_dir "C:\Sniper Elite 3" +app_update 266910 validate +quit


Now click the shortcut you created and let it run to download the Sniper Elite 3 server files. It might take a few hours to update everything. You should also run the shortcut every week or so to grab the latest server updates. Make sure to stop your server first.


Sniper Elite 3 uses several configuration file for its settings. By default, the server will look for a file named default.cfg in the directory where you installed the dedicated server software; however, you may specify a config file of a different name when you run the server. Several example config files are included in the Docs directory for use in various game modes. Edit one or more of these files to suit your preferences, and then move or copy these files to the Sniper Elite 3 home directory. If this file is your default file, you may want to rename the file to default.cfg. You should also edit and move RelaxedSettings.cfg and HardcoreSettings.cfg files to the Sniper Elite 3 home directory, as the other configuration files refer to these files.


Download and install FireDaemon Pro into the directory of your choice, typically C:\Program Files\FireDaemon.


Next start the FireDaemon GUI from the desktop shortcut. Click on the "Create a new service definition" button in the toolbar (or type Ctrl+N) and enter the information into the fields as you see below. Adjust the paths to suit your installation. Note the required parameters.



  • Executable: The path to your Sniper3_PC-CLI_Submission_Win32.exe file. The path for the purposes of this HOWTO is C:\Sniper Elite 3\bin\Sniper3_PC-CLI_Submission_Win32.exe.
  • Working Directory: The directory containing your Sniper3_PC-CLI_Submission_Win32.exe file. The path for the purposes of this HOWTO is C:\Sniper Elite 3\bin.
  • Parameters: -exec configfile.cfg
    • -exec configfile.cfg - This specifies a configuration file in the Sniper Elite 3 directory if you do not wish to use the default.cfg configuration file.


Now click on the Settings tab. If you DON'T want to see your dedicated server running, uncheck the Interact with Desktop check box & select “Hidden” from the “Show Window” dropdown. You may optionally run Sniper Elite 3 as the user you installed it as. In the Logon Account field type your username (e.g. Administrator) and then enter the user's password twice in the Password and Confirm fields. You can change the Process Priority to allocate more CPU time to the dedicated server or specify which CPU or core the dedicated server will run on (in the case of multi-processor, hyperthreaded or multi-core CPUs).



Now click on the Lifecycle tab. Uncheck Graceful Shutdown as Sniper Elite 3 doesn't respond to it.



Now click OK to finish setup and start Sniper Elite 3!