AutoBroadcast

AutoBroadcast sends timed server and Discord messages on interval, clock time, or cron schedules, with line rotation and a full send log kept on your own box.

Typing the same announcements by hand gets old fast. AutoBroadcast takes that chore off your plate. Write each message once, give it a schedule, and it turns up in game and on Discord right on time. Every message picks its own timing, its own words, and where it lands, from a quiet chat line to a big notice across the middle of the screen. Timing can be a plain interval, a list of clock times, or a cron string.

Supported Features

• Three ways to time a message: run on an interval, from every few seconds up to weeks, on set clock times each day, or on a full cron string. Pick what fits each message.
• Line rotation: give a message more than one line and I work through them in order or at random, so the same tip never reads the same way twice.
• Three in game styles: a chat line from a sender name, a coloured server message down the side, or a big notice in the middle of the screen. You pick the colour.
• Discord at the same moment: the same words go to a Discord webhook as a tidy embed, with its own title and colour, the second they fire in game.
• Live text tags: drop {online}, {server}, {time}, {date}, {day} or {uptime} into any line and I fill them in as the message goes out.
• Days and quiet hours: hold a message to certain weekdays with Days, or to a daily window with ActiveFrom and ActiveTo. The window may run past midnight.
• Fire on boot, or spread them out: FireOnStart sends a message the moment the server is ready, and JitterSeconds keeps two messages off the very same second.
• A record of every send: I write a row each time a message goes out, into a local SQLite file that needs no setup, or into MySQL to share it across servers. LogSends turns it off.
• One switch per message: flip Enabled on any single message to park it while the rest carry on.
• Fine without the extras: Discord, MySQL and Permissions are all optional, and I load and run happily when none of them are there.
• Your words, your language: set a language in the config and every line a player or a staff member reads comes out of a plain text file you own, so your server can talk German, Spanish, or whatever suits.

Console & RCON Commands

From the server console or over RCON:

Player Commands

There is one chat command. Its name sits in config.json, so you can rename it or switch it off there.

Permissions

Without the Permissions plugin the admin check lets everyone through, so any player could run /broadcasts. Install it and give the node to your staff group to close that gap. Console and RCON never need a node, since they already belong to you.

Config

To see every configuration option, visit our docs. To edit your config files the easy way, open our configuration editor.

Requirements

• AsaApi v2.01 or newer
• A Windows server running ArkAscendedServer through the AsaApi loader
• Permissions (optional, works without it, only needed to keep /broadcasts staff only)
• A Discord webhook (optional, works without it)
• MySQL (optional, works without it, since the SQLite send log needs no setup)

Installation

1. Unzip the download and put the AutoBroadcast folder inside ArkApi/Plugins/. Leave the folder name alone, because AsaApi only loads a plugin when the folder and the DLL share a name.
2. Open AutoBroadcast/config.json and write your messages, their schedules, and your server name.
3. Want the same lines in Discord? Set Discord.Enabled to true and paste your WebhookURL.
4. Start the server through AsaApiLoader.exe.
5. Watch ArkApi.log for the line that says the plugin loaded, and your first message will land on its next due time.

Support & Help

Got a schedule that will not fire, or anything else on your mind? Come and find me in Discord and we will sort it out together: https://discord.gg/8GGaEzWk9p

Frequently Asked Questions

What does AutoBroadcast do?

AutoBroadcast sends your server messages for you, on whatever schedule you set. You write each message once in config.json with a timing, a style and a colour, and it turns up in game and in your Discord channel at the right moment, over and over, without you typing a thing.

How do I install AutoBroadcast?

Unzip the download and drop the whole AutoBroadcast folder into ArkApi/Plugins/, keeping the folder name as it is so it matches the DLL. Write your messages in config.json, then restart the server through the AsaApi loader and watch ArkApi.log for the loaded line.

Can it send restart warnings?

Yes, and that is what most owners set up first. Give a message a times schedule and list your warning clock times, like 03:30, 03:45 and 03:55, then pick the notify style so the warning fills the middle of the screen in red. Each time the clock reaches one of those times the warning fires once.

I changed config.json. Do I have to restart?

No. Run AutoBroadcast.Reload from the console or over RCON and every message rebuilds on the spot. New messages start, deleted ones stop, and your players never notice.

Can a message run only at weekends, or only at night?

Yes. Add Days to a schedule, like ["Fri", "Sat", "Sun"], and it skips the rest of the week. For a nightly window set ActiveFrom and ActiveTo, and the window is allowed to cross midnight, so 22:00 to 02:00 works fine.

Do I need Discord or MySQL?

Neither. AutoBroadcast keeps its send log in a local SQLite file with nothing for you to set up, and Discord ships switched off. Turn Discord on when you want the same lines in a channel, and reach for MySQL only when several servers should share one log.

Was any AI content used in the making of this?

The source code itself was fully created by myself. I do use ChatGPT occasionally to generate product images, and I do use ChatGPT to generate the website descriptions. I do this because I don't speak native English perfectly. I am natively from Sweden, so I use GPT to help translate and write product descriptions. I also will sometimes use GPT to write better English logs. Majority of my Free plugins are open source, so you can review the code yourself and freely fork and edit it to your liking.