A new week of Rust development is underway and - as we approach the middle point of the month (bi-weekly wipe time, bitches!) - we’re very happy to see a familiar face appearing once again next to commit messages...

Welcome back, Garry!

It looks like Garry is back from paternity leave! Working on the prerelease branch, he’s updated to the newest version of Unity beta (5.4.0b21), shifted the health UI back to the old style (the one currently on main), and fixed UI scaling. He’s also added a new map...

New map: Baron

Added to the prerelease branch, Baron is a procedurally generated map aimed at maximizing game performance while not sacrificing game balance. As Garry described on twitter:

"it's procmap without bushes, grass, rocks etc - should be better for lower spec pc's - while keeping it fair" -Garry

So does it actually work? I’m happy to report: It looks like it. My initial tests between the normal procgen map and Baron show an improvement of roughly 10fps. This opens up a whole new realm of servers catered towards maximized performance. Here are some screens:

If you'd like to try it out for yourself, join the prerelease branch and look for a server running the 'Baron' level.

Radiation coming next month

Dungeons will be an even more hostile place after the forced wipe in July as Vince has made  certain areas of each dungeon radioactive. In addition to this, he’s switched radiation to be turned on by default (it’s been off by default for some time now). Expect more on this as we get closer to July.

A new way to view commits

Our friends at rustmonitor.com have introduced a new way to view code commits to Rust. Featuring a clean design, live search, and sorting, I think this view is much easier than scrolling through twitter. So, if you love tracking commit messages throughout the day like I do, go check it out!

2:58pm EST - Update is live and devblog is out!

12:00pm EST - Our update stream is live!

12:01am EST - Update day is here and, although we’re not seeing a ton of changes to the main branch, there has been some great progress on prerelease. Also, Garry is back from paternity leave!

This update will not force a wipe, however, it’s the middle of the month, so all Rustafied servers (except Low Pop) will be wiping when the patch goes live.

Given the updates have been hitting a bit earlier lately, our update stream will go live at 12pm EST (then we might take a break if it’s going to be a later patch). As always, follow @Rustafied for updates throughout the day. Before we get into it, the question on everyone's mind...

When will the XP system launch?

There has been no official word from Facepunch, however, given the current state of the prerelease branch, I think it's very likely we'll see the new XP system launch with the forced wipe on July 7th.

After playing the past week, I’ve found the new character progression a refreshing change to gameplay. With item ownership and various other features planned, I’m really excited to track the progress of this branch over the next few weeks. If you haven’t checked it out, I highly recommend giving the prerelease branch a try.

Edit: Helk has confirmed in the devblog that we'll have a July 7th launch of the XP system!

Deployable decay

There has been an outcry after decay was added to most deployables last week, and for a good reason: Boxes and furnaces started decaying after a day and can't be repaired.

Thankfully, we’re seeing some improvements on the horizon: Deployables won’t start decaying till after two days of inactivity. Also, Andre confirmed with me that repair of deployables is on the list - unfortunately, as of this moment, it is not in.

Edit @ 9:00am EST - Repair for deployables has been added and boxes / furnaces now have a 2 day delay and 4 day decay duration.. nice!

Also coming this week

There are a couple other things going live with the update today...

• River flow is back (but still needs some work)
• Incorrect collision meshes on twig roof sides are fixed
• Various improvements to the ingame anti-hack noclip detection

Radiation making a comeback

Along with progress on the artwork and textures of dungeons, Vince has added rads to various areas, and made radiation enabled by default once again. Not only does this make dungeons an even more inhospitable place, rad gear and pills will once again be relevant.

As with all changes to dungeons, this won't go live till the next forced wipe (July 7th).

Barren

As one of his first actions back, Garry added a new type of procedurally generated map to the prerelease branch. Originally named Baron, now called Barren (which makes more sense, although Baron did have a nice ring to it), this map offers the same procedurally generated terrain you’re used to, minus all the grass, bushes, and various rock formations.

Along with creating a more open environment, Barren boasts improved frames per second - a much sought after commodity, especially for those with less powerful machines. If you’d like to try it for yourself, simply opt into the prerelease branch and type “Barren” into the map filter. 

Here are some pictures:

Other prerelease stuff

Various other things have been completed on the prerelease branch. Here are some highlights...

• UI scale has been fixed
• Show max item condition on icon
• Death / kill messages include steamid (in console)
• Speed improvements for building the code
• Fixed momentarily locking move keys after chat submit
• Health / hunger UI changed back to the old (current) style.

2:55pm EST - Quicker than expected, the client update just hit! Updating our servers now...

2:50pm EST - The server update and devblog are live, however, the client update has not hit yet (thank you steam summer sale!). Follow @Rustafied to get notified when the update hits.

1:00pm EST - Our update stream is live!

12:42pm EST - The update is not quite live yet, however, double click crafting has been added to prerelease, awesome! Stay tuned for our update stream shortly... 

12:00am EST - Another week of Rust development, and one week closer to the launch of the XP system! As expected, we’re not seeing a ton of new things hitting the main branch today - most of the focus is on prerelease in preparation for the July 7th launch. 

Our update stream will go live at 1pm EST today (we keep changing start times, I know...) and follow @Rustafied for news throughout the day. Let's get into it...

Item Ownership

Helk has been hacking away at item ownership. Functionally almost ready to go, this new concept of owning tools and even resources stands to change the way you look at every item in the game.

As I chatted with him earlier, Helk shared the bigger picture of how this'll start to shift earning XP away from simply harvesting and more towards the actual items being used. Long and short: It’s a big pyramid scheme. Little bits of ownership, split between possibly many little pies - all trickling down to the various parties involved. Sound confusing? Don’t worry, it'll soon become a bit more clear.

Expect a more detailed explanation (with some numbers and shit) from Helk in the devblog and stay tuned here for more information as this new feature launches.

Hud changes

Garry has been on a UI frenzy this week - reworking a ton of things with the hud for the XP and crafting menus. Along with modifying the level / XP status bars to make more sense, he’s added a helpful display for upcoming unlocks. Also, locked items now show up each category view. Here are some screens...

Menu changes

Garry didn’t stop there, he’s also retooled the options menu so it doesn’t “look like a hairy bag of dicks.” Not only does it look better, some handy tooltips have been added to clarify what options do. Check it out:

We can craft rocks!

At long last, you’re not completely fucked if you accidentally toss your rock in the grass - they can now be crafted. This most basic of melee weapons and gathering tools costs a meager 10 stones and crafts in 1 second. Available to be crafted at level 1, you won’t need to unlock this blueprint.

Keep in mind, as with pretty much everything this week, this change was added to the prerelease branch, so unless you're already playing on there, it’ll be July 7th before you craft any rocks.

Other things

The team has also completed a ton of miscellaneous changes, here are some highlights:

• Rock hit speed is much faster
• Some shader updates and water tweaks (shits looking nice)
• Motion blur (nauseous mode) is back (and can be turned off in the swanky new options menus)
• Line of sight fixes for caves
• Fixed glowing eyelashes
• Dragging items makes the icon bigger
• More aim throwing progress (not ready to launch yet, though)
• Some new dungeon textures (no visual yet, expect closer to the forced wipe)
• EAC has been updated
• Cleaned up some benchmark stuff (and added benchmark for Barren map)
• Some tweaks to help people from getting stuck on building blocked (known bug)
• Fixed rockets traveling through chain link fences instead of detonating
• Alex is working on more music! Tune into the devblog for some samples.

6/29 @ 1:25pm EST - The ownership functionality is now on the prerelease branch! I also added a picture below of the new quick craft screen on the inventory view.

6/28 @ 9:05am EST - With the launch of the XP system just over a week away, the team is rocking out commits. As mentioned in last week's devblog, don’t expect much of (if any) update launching to main this week. That said, there are some exciting things happening on the prerelease branch…

Bullet hitscan

Garry has made bullets hitscan for the first X meters of travel (exact distance unknown at this point, but it's probably small). If you're not familiar, hitscan means the bullet travels in the straight line immediately instead of having a speed / arc over time (a.k.a. projectile - which is what the game currently has). This could have a huge impact on close range combat, hopefully improving hit registry.

Aim throwing is in!

After several weeks in the works, Alex has completed the first implementation of the new aim throwing system. Throwing weapons and tools now behaves similar to the bow: hold right click to aim, left click to fire. Not only will this make it much easier to time your shots, it’ll drastically cut down the accidental throwing of items.

UI additions

Garry has been tinkering with the user interface, cleaning up several things with the crafting menu and adding notifications for when you increase levels. Now, when you increase a level, a big star pops up followed by the items which just became available. Watch your ears, however, the 8 bit placeholder sound effects which accompany these notices can take you by surprise.

Edit: A quick craft screen has also been added to the right side of the inventory that shows the items which you currently have the resources to craft.

Ownership progress

Helk is still trucking along on the XP ownership functionality - exploring new ways of gaining XP by adding gains from cooking and eating other people's food. Although this branch is not yet merged into the prerelease branch (meaning you can’t play it), I think it’s likely we’ll be playing with ownership by later in the week.

Edit: The ownership functionality has been merged in along with a small indicator bar underneath the item name, telling you who owns what part of the item you're using.

New admin commands

Andre has added a couple of handy new commands for admins to determine location and teleport to a specific location. Here they are:

• teleportpos - teleport to a specific location
• printpos - print a specific location
• printrot - print rotation (not confirmed)

Dungeon art

Vince has been cranking on some more dungeon art. Along with continuing to skin out existing dungeon parts, he’s also started work on a couple new dungeon elements including an airfield carpark and industrial ruins. It’s not clear at the moment how much of this will make it in by the next forced wipe, but stay tuned as we get closer to July 7th.

Horse riding re-confirmed

Holmzy tweeted an interesting image earlier today. Although horse riding has been confirmed by the devs in the past, we’ve never seen as much as an icon. Well, now we have... Don’t get your hopes up too much, there is absolutely no word on when this will be added.

Graphical overhaul

Petur is continuing his work on graphical overhaul. First introduced in last week's devblog, this body of work aims at improving the overall outdoor environments (trees, biomes, weather, etc.). Although none of this is in the game yet - and probably won’t be for some time now - Petur did post a couple teaser videos in response to a reddit post calling for thicker forests. Here are some of the video links:

• http://files.facepunch.com/petur/2016/June/23/2016-06-23_08-52-20.mp4 Blurred because I had the UI "open"
• http://files.facepunch.com/petur/2016/June/23/2016-06-23_08-45-23.mp4 Night lighting test. This is another big polarizing can of worms, and it makes me wonder whether we should just make individual servers choose either pitch black nights, or nights that are bright enough to make gamma unnecessary. Or perhaps tie it into the moon cycle and simply not have any in-betweens -- because that's where people tend to gamma crank.
• http://files.facepunch.com/petur/2016/June/23/2016-06-23_08-00-29.mp4 More of the same
• http://files.facepunch.com/petur/2016/June/22/2016-06-22_20-12-40.mp4 Five minute fantasy fireflies I added mostly to troll Helk. I don't think we'll have these, but maybe if we do a medieval sword & sorcery spinoff sequel some day?!
• http://files.facepunch.com/petur/2016/June/21/2016-06-21_11-12-42.mp4 Also, because somebody mentioned rain in the thread. It doesn't clip as badly into the ground anymore, nor does it simply follow the camera.

Misc fixes

• Fixed XP bar covering screen after client stall
• Fixed mushroom prefabs

Rustafied Bi-weekly servers wiping

The wipe cycle for our bi-weekly servers is a bit wonky this month because there are 5 weeks between forced wipes instead of the normal 4. Given the current entity counts of our servers, I’m choosing to wipe all Rustafied servers (except Low Pop) when the update hits. This does mean the normal 2 week wipe cycle servers will only have 1 week this time. If there is no update to main on Thursday, we will wipe at 5pm EST.

6/29 @ 2:00pm EST Update - The prerelease branch just had a save++ meaning the map was forcibly wiped. Given this, we will not wipe the prerelease servers again tomorrow.

7/5 @ 5pm EST - It's a huge week for Rust - the XP system is launching along with a bunch of other changes. I'm working on a summary post and XP system guide at the moment - expect both to go live tomorrow.

Prerelease branch no longer being updated
In preparation for the Thursday update launch, the devs have merged prerelease into the staging branch and are now just pushing commits there. As such, to test the latest updates (and play on our 'prerelease' servers), you'll now need to opt into the staging branch.

Christmas in July
Given everything is starting fresh on Thursday, we're going out with a bang on our main server Wednesday night. Starting at 8pm EST, we will be spawning in items for everyone on the server. Starting small, then getting bigger as the night progresses. Join us on our main, 350 slot server!

1:00pm EST - We're doing a short stream to cover the new prerelease stuff.

12:40pm EST - The devblog is out! No patch today.

2:24am EST - It’s Thursday, and with the launch of the XP system only one week away, we’re not going to see an update hitting the main branch today. There has been a bunch of great progress on the prerelease branch this week, including the addition of item ownership.

This article summarizes how the new ownership system works. For more on other changes this week, check out my previous post. Also, we’ll do a brief stream starting at 1pm EST to go over everything. Follow @Rustafied for news through the day.

Keep in mind, this is still a first iteration, so everything is subject to change...

Ownership overview

Every object (resource, tool, clothing, etc.) now has an owner. If you craft it, you own it. You gain XP when people gather with a tool you make or eat food you cook. Not only adding a ton of interesting new dynamics to the game, it actually adds incentive for helping others!

You can view the owner of an item (DUDV2 in this instance) via the inventory screen (in a little bar below the item name). 

Who owns what?

You craft it, you own it. It doesn’t matter where the resources come from, the person who crafts an item receives full ownership. When you use a tool you own, you earn 100% of the XP, and the resources you collect are owned by you. Now, if someone else uses your tool...

Tool sharing

When someone else harvests with a tool you own, you gain 20% of any XP that person earns (and can see it adding to your XP bar). You also own 50% of the resources they gather - even though resource ownership doesn’t seem to impact anything at the moment.

This not only provides incentive to craft tools for others, it creates some interesting new dynamics with groups (power leveling certain members and so on).

Feed the hungry

Another incentive for helping others: you gain XP when someone eats food you cooked. This also goes for any junk food you find around the map. Between crafting and cooking, being base bitch just became much more rewarding!

Resource ownership

In addition to items, every resource gathered in the game now has an owner. As mentioned before, owning a resource doesn’t have much impact - whoever crafts an item, owns the item, regardless of who's resources were used to make it. This could, however, provide some valuable insight when raiding, looting, or various other scenarios.

On a side note: stacks are a bit wonky when dealing with different owners. Long and short: the stack on the bottom takes ownership of what you put onto it (regardless of amounts).

What about offline?

All the XP earned from your various tools and food is added to you while you sleep - no need to be online!

Rustafied server wipes

All Rustafied servers (except low pop and prerelease) will wipe at 5pm EST today.

Note: There was a forced wipe on prerelease yesterday which is why it's not wiping today. All servers will wipe again next week with the monthly forced wipe.

7/8 @ 2pm EST - An update was just released which should fix the crazy XP gains. Given the absolute shit-show this has been since the update, we're doing complete wipes (map and XP) on all of our servers to give everyone a clean start.

7/8 @ 11:55am EST - Well, the XP system is a bit fucked - people leveling up insanely quick. The team is aware and working on some fixes.

8:06pm EST - Another server build hit just a little while ago and performance is improved even more. Looking better!

6:55pm EST - The latest server build has performance a bit better, but still lower than normal. Helk confirmed another hotfix is planned for tonight and another, bigger hotfix is also planned for tomorrow.

5:16pm EST - Shit is still fucked. We're in a holding pattern awaiting a hotfix. Stay tuned to the stream and @Rustafied for updates.

4:25pm EST - There are some serious issues with performance (possibly related to rain collision) - fix incoming shortly.

4:00pm EST - The update and devblog are live!

2:02pm EST - Our update stream is live!

1:50pm EST - The staging branch is working again and the new airfield is in (see pictures below). Our update stream will go live in about 10 minutes!

12:30pm EST - When is the wipe!? As always, the exact time is unknown. @playrust tweeted 6 hours ago that the patch would go live in 8-10 hours. So, we're looking at a launch anytime in the next 2 to 4 hours from now. Given the state of the staging branch, we're planning on starting our update stream at 2pm EST now.

12:10pm EST - We're just hours from the launch of the patch and the team is still cranking out code. It looks like the new airfield art has made it in, along with a couple more ways to gain XP (gutting fish, crafting with leather), and we've also got some item balance (info below). Unfortunately, the staging branch is currently broken, so we may be starting our update stream a bit late. Stay tuned...

12:01am EST - The team at Facepunch has a big one in store for us this week: the new XP system is going live along with a slew of other game changers.

This update will force a map wipe across all servers and set all blueprint knowledge back to zero (or as it’s now known: level 1). Tune in to our update stream starting at 2pm EST (changed from 1pm EST) and follow @Rustafied for news throughout the day. Let’s get into it...

XP system

The new experience system completely changes how character progression works. Instead of finding or researching blueprints, players now gain XP to level up and unlock the items through completing tasks like harvesting nodes, chopping trees, killing animals, shooting the helicopter, and so forth. In addition, every item (including resources) now has an owner - creating many new gameplay opportunities.

Accompanying these changes are a slew of new user experiences. Main thing: the inventory and crafting screens have been separated. 'TAB' brings up your standard inventory - plus a sweet new quick craft, which shows all the items you can craft given your current inventory - and 'q' brings up the actual crafting menu. Also, we've got new escape menus. Here are some screens:

We have a full guide on this new system almost ready to go, stay tuned for a link. In the meantime check out these resources for more information on the XP system:

• Rust Update: XP System Merged by Phaedo
• rustunlocked.com
• List of unlocks per level (tech tree)
• Rust XP - How does it work?
• XP buy order

Also, here are some handy commands for server owners to test things with the new XP system:

• 'data.export' - Exports XP data
• 'xp.add' - Add X amount of XP
• 'xp.reset' - Resets your level to 1
• 'xp.setlevel' - Set your level to X
• 'xp.addlevel' - Adds X level
• 'xp.history' - Shows your XP history
• 'randomowner' - Changes ownership of item in slot 1 (top left) to a random player

Notes work!

Holy shit, after having this item technically in game (just not working) for months now, Garry has added functionality to notes. They work how you would expect: craft or find a note, then transcribe your message.

Notes can be left on corpses, boxes, loot crates - basically anywhere you can store and inventory item. They can be read by anyone and cost one paper (100 wood) to craft. Here's what the interface looks like:

Shifts in craft times

Helk has done everyone a solid by making many craft times 'more sensible.' What does this look like? In most cases, it means shorter time (the exception being high externals, which have been increased by 3 fold or more). Here are a few examples…

Pickaxe
Was
120 seconds
Now
60 seconds

Hatchet
Was
60 seconds
Now
30 seconds

Hoodie
Was
60 seconds
Now
30 seconds

Paper
Was
30 seconds
Now
5 seconds

Stone External Walls
Was
60 seconds
Now
180 seconds

Wood External Walls
Was
30 seconds
Now
180 seconds

Barren map

A new option emerges for those with slower computers: Barren goes live with this update. Offering the same procedurally generated terrain you’re used to, this map leaves out all grass, bushes, and various rock formations to maximize on performance.

Along with creating a more open environment, Barren boasts improved frames per second - a much sought after commodity, especially for those with less powerful machines. If you’d like to try it for yourself, simply type “Barren” into the map filter when browsing servers.

Hitscan added

A huge change to close range combat is also going live - hitscan has been added to the first several meters of bullet trajectory. What does this mean exactly?

Hitscan means the bullet travels in the straight line immediately when a gun is fired - instead of having a speed / arc over time (a.k.a. projectile, which is what the game currently has). After a certain number of meters (depending on the gun being fired) hitscan switches to the normal projectile method.

This improves the overall feel and accuracy of close range gunfights, while still maintaining the necessity to lead your shots from a distance. Based on initial tests, the pipe shotgun and revolver have very short hitscan distances, while the bolt and AK have the greatest.

Heli changes

The biggest PvE adversary in Rust just got a bit gentler on freshies - the attack helicopter no longer targets players wielding a simple hunting bow. In addition to this, experience point gains have been added for damaging the weak points of the chopper.

You’ll now get a couple XP points per weakspot destroyed (the exact points seems to vary each time). Remember: You also get XP for looting the boxes and harvesting the helicopter body.

Raid towers nerfed

There should be less crazy looking structures next to raided bases as of this update - the stability for pillars and roofs has been nerfed, making it much more difficult to build onto the top of someones base.

Item balance

Balance has been performed on several items. Here are the highlights:

• Eoka has been buffed
• Stone spear has been buffed
• Sword and machete now cost less
• Found items now have slightly more condition (you'll get a couple clips out of them now)

Aim throwing

Gone are the days of accidentally throwing your fresh metal hatchet in the grass; aim throwing is here. Behaving similar to bows, all tools and weapons are now thrown by holding right click to aim, then tapping left click to throw. In addition to this, you can now throw while sprinting - at the cost of some accuracy.

Dungeon art

Vince has completed a ton of new art on the dungeons throughout the map. He’s also added new elements to the airfield and other places. Unfortunately, this work has not been merged in yet, so it may not make it in at all this month. Only time will tell, stay tuned here for updates as we get closer to the launch.

Edit: It looks like the new airfield stuff has made it into staging - pictures pending!

Edit 2: Pictures added, it looks awesome!

Radiation is back (maybe)

Tied in with the new artwork, radiation has been added by default to various parts of the dungeons. Given this is on the same branch as the dungeon art, this also may not go live today.

Craftable rocks

You’re no longer totally fucked if you lose / break your rock - they can now be crafted. For the small price of 10 stone, you’ll have a fresh rock in 10 seconds flat.

New admin commands

Andre has added a couple of handy new commands for admins to determine location and teleport to a specific location. Here they are:

• teleportpos - teleport to a specific location
• printpos - print a specific location
• printrot - print rotation

Misc fixes / changes:

There have been a bunch of other miscellaneous fixes and changes. Here are some highlights:

• Overall improvements to graphics
• Motion blur added
• Dropped skinned items show the right skin
• Fixed alignment of crossbow viewmodel when aiming down sights
• Fishing traps ignore minnows as bait

New branches (of code)

With big updates come changes to code structure and organization. Before this week, all the XP updates we’re on the ‘prerelease’ branch. In preparation for the update, that code was merged into the ‘staging’ branch. When this update goes live, the ‘staging’ branch will become the ‘main’ branch.

As if that’s not enough, there is now a new branch, ‘july2016,’ which is the game in its current state (with the blueprint fragment system). This branch will no longer be updated, but will allow people to play the game in its pre-XP system state.

New Rustafied servers!

Given the prerelease branch is no longer being updated (for the time being), I’ve decided to convert our prerelease servers into main branch servers. Our 100 slot EU prerelease will now be 'EU Low Pop' and our 150 slot US prerelease server will now be 'Rustafied.com - Small.' Here’s a description of both:

Rustafied.com - Small
For the avid PvPer
150 slots, 3k map, weekly wipes

Rustafied.com - EU Low Pop
Less people, less wipes, in the EU
100 slots, 4k map, monthly wipes

These servers will both go live when the update hits.

7/13 @ 7:30pm EST - Garry changed the way XP is wiped, allowing server owners not to wipe tomorrow. Therefore, no Rustafied servers will be wiping XP tomorrow! A forced map wipe will still occur on all servers.

7/12 @ 3pm EST - It has been a rocky start for the new XP system. With huge balance issues and poor performance, the team has been scrambling to get everything solid again. Thankfully, they are making some significant strides forward in both categories. There is, however, an impact to these fixes: another full forced wipe is on the way...

Forced wipe incoming (again)

Given the amount of changes to the XP system, Helk has run a save++ (forced map wipe) and a persistence++ (forced XP wipe). That means all maps and levels are going to reset when the next update launches - currently scheduled for Thursday.

Our staging branch server will experience this forced wipe a bit sooner given it’s our testing environment - expect the wipe there to happen sometime later today (or once the staging branch gets a bit more stable).

Edit: No wipe needed anymore!

XP balance

Helk has implemented a bunch of changes to the XP system - nerfing several ways of gaining XP in an effort to find balance. Here are the highlights:

• Max XP you can earn from any one player is limited to 6xp.
• No more xp gained from the usage of resources - instead its from the first few times crafting an item
• XP diminishing is in effect. This means the more someone harvests for you the less xp you get
• Radial XP falloff (working on it ) this means that you will not earn xp for player actions farther than n units from your current position, hopefully meaning you'll have to mentor people or be around them rather than AFK in your base.

Edit: For more on this, check out Helk's post on reddit.

Performance enhancements

In addition to balance, performance has been a big issue since the launch of the XP system. Although it’s gotten better - servers are no longer using 30+ GB of ram like they were this weekend - but there is still much work to be done. Thankfully, Garry is working on several optimizations which should have things running smoother by the Thursday update.

Gunplay reboot

Andre’s gunplay reboot has made it to the main branch (meaning it’ll go live this week). As you may recall from devblog 117, this body of work completely shifts how hits are detected and damage is dealt.

With the emphasis on improved hitbox accuracy (no more clothing meshes counting as hits) and greater consistency (no more tiny vulnerable spots), PvP exchanges should feel more precise and predictable as of this Thursday.

DirectX 12 added (sort of)

You may have noticed something new while launching the game - Directx 12 is now an option. I wouldn’t recommend using it, however, as the whole thing is pretty fucked at the moment (missing textures, low fps, etc). I expect it’ll be a while till the kinks are worked out, so stay tuned over the next couple weeks for updates.

7/15 @ 7pm EST - Ok, servers back up. Pardon the downtime!

7:15 @ 6:55pm EST - Our Chicago location is having connection issues. We're looking into it with our server host now.

4:20pm EST - All of our servers are up to date a live again. Thank you for your patience. Also, I have replenished the VIP stock on all servers - get em while they're hot!

3:40pm EST - The update and devblog are live! Server update process will take a bit longer today given the XP rigmarole. 

2:05pm EST - Our update stream is live!

1:00am EST - It is update day - not much new functionality coming in this week, but we are seeing some significant changes to XP gains, unlock levels, gunplay, and performance. Also, the forced XP wipe announced earlier this week is no longer being forced - maps will still be wiped.

Our update stream will go live at 2pm EST and follow @Rustafied for news throughout the day. Let’s get into it...

Forced XP wipe not required

After a persistence++ and save++ earlier in the week  -which force a XP and map wipe respectively - Garry has implemented a new way for server owners to forgo the ‘forced’ nature of XP wipes. Although it’s not the most straightforward process (instructions below), it allows server owners to retain their XP information after the update today (if they so choose).

This change was only for XP data, so a map wipe will still be forced on all servers.

Changes to the XP system

Helk has made some changes to nerf certain xp gains and provide more of a reason to help new people instead of just your friends. Here are the shifts as he described in a reddit post:

• Max XP you can earn from any one player is limited to 6xp.
• No more xp gained from the usage of resources - instead its from the first few times crafting an item
• XP diminishing is in effect. This means the more someone harvests for you the less xp you get
• Radial XP falloff (working on it ) this means that you will not earn xp for player actions farther than n units from your current position, hopefully meaning you'll have to mentor people or be around them rather than AFK in your base.
• no double xp from breaking lootable objects
• fixed earning xp from eating your own food

New unlocks / leveling time

With these changes, come shifts to some item unlocks and overall time it takes to level. Helk sent me these two images for reference:

Shotgun nerf

Helk also made shotgun bullets have a much shorter raycast range - making them less deadly at mid range.

Other things

• A ton of performance fixes - stay tuned to the devblog for details
• Large furnace no longer placeable in water
• reseteverything - a new command to relock blueprints and refund all spent xp
• Gunplay changes - see previous post
• Fixed bald patch on wolf head dress

Server owners: How not to wipe your XP

1. Shut your server down
2. Run the update
3. Start the server
4. Go to: “/server/[IDENTITY]/”
5. Delete the xp.db and xp.statistics files with the highest number (example: xp4.db and xp4.statistics)
6. Rename the next lower increment of the files (xp3.db and xp3.statistics) to the files you just deleted.
7. Restart the server - levels will be restored

Edit: You also need to change UserPersistence.db to user4 and it turns out you can save the map too. Check out the devblog for better instructions.

Rustafied servers are not wiping XP

We wiped XP last Friday after the fix for people getting massive XP gains went live. Given that, we are not going to wipe the XP again this week.

Edit: So I fucked up. In the heat of the moment, I didn't copy the UserPersistence.db files over. This caused unlocks and experience points not to carry over (levels still did though). Unfortunately, I didn't realize the source of this fuck up till people had already been playing for almost an hour. Rather than shut down and lose all the new progress, I decided to just let it ride. My bad all. 

It’s a fresh week for Rust development and we’re seeing some balance shifts in weapons and loot. Let’s get into it...

Arrow damage tweaks

Andre is tweaking how damage is dealt with bows - giving arrows their own damage type (instead of using the bullet damage type). He’s also increased the arrow headshot multiplier (to 1.5) to maintain one-shot kills when the victim is not wearing any head protection.

The end of bow raids

Along with the changes to player damage, Andre has made it so bows no longer deal damage to structures - essentially putting an end to bow raiding. This has not been very well recieved by the community, which is understandable given the already limited options for early game raids.

Cheaper melee weapons

Helk is doing his own balancing by reducing the crafting cost of mid to high end melee weapons. This means the mace, cleaver, swords, etc will all cost a bit less come the update on Thursday.

Loot shifts

Helk has also made some changes to loot spawns. First, he’s made it less likely to find a high end weapon in rad towns. He’s also made it so trash piles refresh their contents twice as fast - this includes the XP gain on opening.

Cupboards close to walls

Cupboards will once again be able to be placed close to walls as Andre removed the legacy socket mod from them (which was the thing forcing the large distance).

Graphics overhaul progress

Petur is trucking along on his graphics overhaul. As you may recall from the other week, this body of work aims at improving the overall graphics of the environment. No visuals on this yet as it’s on a separate branch, but stay tuned over the next couple weeks for updates on this.

Edit: Check out these two videos from Petur... holy shit, this is looking great! 

6:37pm EST - A server update just hit which fixes broken weapon attachments.

3:40pm EST - Client and server updates are live! Oh, and the devblog is out, too.

2:00pm EST - Our update stream is live!

12:00pm EST - It's been a week of balance and tweaking for the team at Facepunch. Although we're not seeing much of any new features or items coming in today, we do have a bunch of changes to XP gains, weapon damage, and item costs - also some more sneak peaks at the upcoming graphics overhaul.

Our update stream will go live at 2 PM Eastern. Follow @Rustafied for news throughout the day. Let's get into it…

So long, bow raids

In a not so popular decision, Andre has made it so bows no longer damage structures - effectively ending bow raiding as we know it. As a slight counter to this, Helk has made it so wood doors are much more vulnerable to explosives.

Cost changes

There have been a bunch of tweaks to the costs of items. Here is a rundown:

• Mid to high end melee weapons are now cheaper
• Small stash is now 10 cloth
• Roadsign more expensive
• Ceiling lights are cheaper and cast more light (lowgrade fuel keeps lights lit longer)
• Town sign is cheaper

Weapon damage changes

Andre has made a bunch of changes to how damage is calculated. The main change to note is projectile damage falls off linearly with distance (after an initial max damage distance). That means that the farther away your target, the less damage you’ll deal. There’s also been some damage changes to individual weapons. Here are the highlights:

• Shotgun buckshot uses headshot damage multiplier of 1.25 (which is less than before)
• Crossbow now has the same headshot multiplier as the bow (which is less than it had before).
• Bow damage is the same as before - just not as RNG based anymore.

Unlock changes

Helk also modified The level at which two items are unlocked:

• Lasersight at 24 instead of 25
• Sentry 18 instead of 24 (parts now spawn rarely in rad towns too)

Loot changes

Helk has also made some changes to loot spawns. First, he’s made it less likely to find a high end weapon in rad towns. He’s also made it so trash piles refresh their contents twice as fast - this includes the XP gain on opening.

XP changes

Helk has also made several tweaks to XP gains. Here's the rundown:

• If someone kills an animal with your tool, you get xp
• Ownership share for providing resources increased to 50%
• No more barrel sniping (need to be close by to get XP)
• Doubled max xp for finding barrels/loot crates (helps with late game grind, less xp falloff )
• Increased gathering maximum XP by 50%
• Increased max xp from others crafting item
• Increased xp earn rate from others gathering for you (diminishing still in effect)

Graphics overhaul

Petur has continued his work on the graphics overhaul branch. As you may recall from the other week, this body of work in this at improving the overall look and feel of the Rust landscape. Earlier this week, he tweeted two more preview video links.

Check them out here: Video 1, Video 2.

Other things

• Cupboards can be placed closer to walls
• Hoodie armor buffed
• You can no longer put items back in loot crates to prevent respawning.
• More dungeon art progress (expect visuals as we get closer to August).
• Rocket splash is fixed.

5:45pm EST - Our servers are updated and wiped (except the low pops). Just restocked some of our VIP, get em while they're hot! rustaforum.com/vip. Also added numbers for grenades on building parts / doors below.

5:26pm EST - The update is live and the devblog is out! Updating our servers now...

2:00pm EST - Our update stream is live!

1:42pm EST - With the update launch pending, we're seeing a bunch of small fixes and tweaks. Our update stream goes live shortly...

12:00am EST - Update day is upon us. With it comes changes to damage, balance tweaks, improved grenade raids, and a new combat log! I have a hunch we’ll see a couple more things prior to going live, so I’ll add to this post as the day progresses.

Our update stream will go live at 2pm EST. Follow @Rustafied for news as it develops throughout the day. Let’s get into it...

Combat log

You can now track all damage you've dealt and received by typing ‘combatlog’ in console. Added by Andre, this very helpful new command displays all recent damage events including PvP and PvE (buildings, animals, etc).

It provides information on attacker, target, weapon used, bone/area, distance, and health - the most recent 100 events since the last server restart. Here’s an example of the output:

Edit: A new server cvar, "combatlogsize" has been added to allow server owners to control how many lines are saved for each player's combat log (it defaults to 100).

Grenade raiding

Grenade raids have become more viable this week. Not only do they now stack to 5 (instead of 2), they can be dropped with right click. Best yet, when dropped while looking at a building part, they will stick to that building part, yielding optimal damage! No sign of any changes to the actual damage stats at this point.

Edit: Here are some numbers for grenade damage on buildings:

Wood Wall
Beancan: 13
F1: 6

Stone Wall
Beancan: 48
F1: 22

Sheet Metal Wall
Beancan: 58
F1: 26

Armored Wall
Beancan: 84
F1: 35

Wood Door
Beancan: 6
F1: 3

Sheet Metal Door
Beancan: 23
F1: 7

Armored Door
Beancan: 56
F1: 24

Ladder Hatch
Beancan: 18
F1: 8

Floor Grill
Beancan: 18
F1: 7

Projectile damage falloff

Andre has made some tweaks to how damage is calculated. After adding variable damage based on projectile distance last week, he’s ‘reduced the maximum damage falloff over distance’ and ‘increased projectile damage falloff distance.’

What the fuck does that mean? Basically: Bullets won’t lose as much of their damaging power as they travel, and the distance which damage lessens has been increased.

Throwable damage

There have also been some changes to how thrown items do damage. Along with adding a new damage type for thrown objects (which pretty much matches the damage of each melee attack), items now lose condition when they are thrown, and will break if their condition hits zero.

Spear nerf

The damage type of a thrown spear now matches that of an arrow  - meaning they no longer do damage to building parts (except twig, because arrows once again damage twig).

Semi auto rifle buff

The semi auto rifle has been buffed all the way around - distance, projectile velocity, and damage have all been increased slightly.

Double barrel shotgun almost in

A new weapon will be making its way in soon. With the models, animations, and sounds complete, all that's left is the actual implementation into the game. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened yet - and probably won’t make it in this week. Prove me wrong, Helk!

Safe exchange shopfront

A new, more protected way of exchanging goods is in the works - Vince has completed the models, LODs, Gibs, and whatever the fuck else acronyms needed to get this ready for implementation.

It is described as “a new metal shopfront that has a bullet proof collider and bars. Inside and outside counter. One drawer for exchange, possibly animated.” Definitely a welcomed addition to the game, hopefully it’ll be added in the next couple weeks.

Other things

• Arrow’s once again do damage to twig
• Graphics overhaul coming along - only one biome to go!
• Music now enabled by default
• Fixed that flickering which sometimes happens in sleeping state
• Better 3rd person jump animations (and totally ninja admin noclip pose)

Rustafied server wipes

Given the second forced wipe earlier this month, our biweekly wipe schedule was thrown off a bit. All Rustafied servers (except the low pops) will wipe when the update hits today. There will be a 1 week wipe cycle this time as the monthly forced wipe will occur next week (on August 4th).

We are not planning any XP / level wipes unless forced.

Rustafied staff applications open!

We're once again looking to build our team of server moderators and staff members. If you are interested in joining the Rustafied team, head over to rustaforum.com/support and create a new request to the 'Staff Application' department. 18+ only, previous experience a huge plus.

It is a fresh month for Rust development and we are seeing a bunch of welcomed changes along with a new raiding tool! After asking the community for a changes wishlist, the team is on fire, rocking out a ton of improvements.

Given this week is the first update of the month, all maps will wipe when the patch goes live on Thursday (no sign of a forced XP wipe). Let’s get into it...

Satchel charge added

A new, lower tier way of raiding has been added: The satchel charge. Made of 4 beancan grenades and a small stash, this explosive package is good for destroying wood and sheet metal doors. They take 30 seconds to craft, stack to 10, and are unlocked at level 15. They also exhibit beancan behavior (meaning there can be duds, short fuses, long fuses, etc.). Here’s some details and damage stats:

Cost
4 beancans
1 small stash

Unlock level
15

Cost to unlock
12 XP

Stackable to
10

Satchels required to break building parts:

Wood door
2

Sheet metal door
4

Armored door
12

Ladder hatch
4

Wood wall
3

Stone wall
10

Sheet metal wall
13

Armored wall
17

* A special thanks to Katut for these numbers.

Rotation

Top of the wishlist, the ability to rotate has been added! Done by pressing ‘R’, items can now rotate 90 degrees prior to being placed. This functionality has been added to all building blocks (walls, doors, etc.) along with all placeable items (furnace, boxes, etc.).

Crossbow reload buff

The very unpopular nerf of the crossbow has been reversed, you can now once again reload a crossbow while running.

XP changes

Helk has also made some changes to XP. First, you now earn XP from bandaging and syringing other players (max 1.0 per use) along with XP if someone uses your bandage or syringe. Finally, he’s also removed the gather diminishing from others and changed the max XP which can be earned from that to 2.

Bleed changes

Andre has tweaked how bleeding works and is displayed. The bleeding rate is 20 damage per minute and bleed causing weapons add 20 bleeding per 100 damage that was dealt (so if you do 50 damage to someone, they will have 10 bleed). Also, bleeding is now displayed as total damage that will be applied over the bleeding duration.

Quality of life improvements

The team has also made a bunch of quality of life changes. Here are some highlights:

• C4 costs 20% less sulfur
• The crafting time for explosives and gunpowder has been reduced by half or more
• Armored door is available at level 17 (was 20)
• Halved crafting time for ladder, bed, campfire, ceiling light, cupboard, bow, crossbow
• Changed how armor absorbs damage (so clothing and armor correctly add up)
• Added ammo type to combat log

Other things

There have also been a handful of other fixes:

• Bean cans are slightly more expensive
• Added hurt admin console command (takes amount of damage as parameter)
• Fixed explosive rounds dealing almost double explosive damage
• Fixed rock box stacking exploits (RUST-1145)
• Fixed high external walls/gates being placeable in foundations (RUST-41)

3:00pm EST - The devblog and update are live!

2:00pm EST - Our update stream is live!

11:45am EST - With just a few hours before the update goes live, the team is still rocking out awesome changes. Here are the latest highlights:

• Increased throwable and arrow headshot multiplier to 1.5
• Increased revolver cylinder to hold 8 rounds
• Increased semi auto pistol magazine to hold 10 rounds
• Loot tables: slightly more chance of ammo, slightly less of weapons
• Full clothing and armor balancing pass (15% more body damage when fully geared)
• Bandage and syringe no longer revive players

12:30am EST - Holy fuck, now this is how you start a month! Facepunch is on point - listening to the community by implementing worthwhile suggestions. This update includes new items along with a slew of improvements and balance tweaks (taken mostly straight from player feedback).

As with all first Thursdays of the month, this update comes with a forced map wipe. There is no forced XP wipe planned (and Rustafied servers will not be wiping XP or levels).

Our update stream goes live at 2pm EST. Follow @Rustafied for news throughout the day.

Double barrel is in!

The double barrel shotgun is here, and oh boy, is it loud! This mid-level beast accepts all shotgun ammo (handmade, buckshot, and slug), fires two rounds (one at a time) before needing a reload, and looks freaking awesome!

Unlocked at level 15, it yields about 150% the damage of the waterpipe. As Helk explained to me, “the idea being you can finish someone off with that second shot before they can reload or switch to another pipe.”

Here are some pictures and details:

Cost
200 frags
5 HQM

Ammo
Handmade
Buckshot
Slug

Level required
15
XP cost
12

Satchel charges added

A new, lower tier way of raiding has been added: The satchel charge. Made of 4 beancan grenades and a small stash, this explosive package is good for destroying wood and sheet metal doors. They take 30 seconds to craft, stack to 10, and are unlocked at level 15. They also exhibit beancan behavior (meaning there can be duds, short fuses, long fuses, etc.).

Cost
4 beancans
1 small stash

Unlock level
15

Cost to unlock
12 XP

Stackable to
10

Satchels required to break shit:

Wood door
2

Sheet metal door
4

Armored door
12

Ladder hatch
4

Wood wall
3

Stone wall
10

Sheet metal wall
13

Armored wall
17

Raiding balance

In additional to the new raiding tool, Helk has shifted the balance of certain raid dynamics. It now only takes 2 seconds to craft 10 gunpowder, and explosives are crafted in half the time (5 seconds instead of 10). Also, C4 now costs 5 fewer explosives (20 instead of 25).

Revive delay

A long wished for nerf, delay has been added to helping wounded players. It now takes 6 seconds to revive someone, during which, the healing player cannot move.

Placement rotation

Placeable objects (furnace, box, etc.) along with building blocks can now be rotated! Simply press ‘R’ while the placement guide is out and the object will rotate 90 degrees.

Shelf shifts

After fixing an (awesome) exploit which allowed for box stacking, Helk has thrown us another bone by making shelves cheaper and available at a much lower level. They now cost 100 wood, 50 metal frags, and are unlockable at level 5.

Unlock nerfs

Shelves weren’t the only things to be made available sooner, a slew of other objects have had similar shifts:

• Waterpipe available at level 13
• Armored door is available at level 17 (was 20)
• Spike trap available at level 5
• Ladder available at level 10
• Wood barricade available at level 8, woodwire 12, metal 14

Turret buff

Raiders watch out! A ‘ying’ to the explosives ‘yang’ this week, The autoturret has been severely buffed. Health and armor have both increased while the damage output has been increased by 50%.

Crossbow sprint

As one of his first actions back from vacation, Helk made it so you can once again sprint while reloading the crossbow. Nothing has changed about the damage dealt.

Edit: The arrow headshot multiplier has now been increased to 1.5!

XP changes

You now earn XP from bandaging and syringing other players (max 1.0 per use). You also gain XP if someone uses your bandage or syringe. Finally, the gather diminishing from others has been removed and the max XP which can be earned from said gather diminish is now 2.

Bleed changes

Andre has tweaked how bleeding works and is displayed. The bleeding rate is 20 damage per minute and bleed causing weapons add 20 bleeding per 100 damage that was dealt (so if you do 50 damage to someone, they will have 10 bleed). Also, bleeding is now displayed as total damage that will be applied over the bleeding duration.

Balance and quality of life changes

The team has also made a bunch of quality of life changes. Here are some highlights:

• Loot tables: can find all types of bullets in groups of 8-20
• Loot tables: can find flamethrower w/ammo, custom smg w/ammo, multiple grenades
• Halved crafting time for ladder, bed, campfire, ceiling light, cupboard, bow, crossbow
• Changed how armor absorbs damage (so clothing and armor correctly add up)
• Bean cans are slightly more expensive

Other things:

• Fixed jumping animation not playing when player repeatedly jumps in rapid succession
• Fixed explosive rounds dealing almost double explosive damage
• Fixed rock box stacking exploits (RUST-1145)
• Fixed high external walls/gates being placeable in foundations (RUST-41)
• Added ammo type to combat log
• Added hurt admin console command (takes amount of damage as parameter) - this basically just allows admins to hurt themselves. You know, 'cause sometimes you just want to know what it's like to feel something again...

Graphics overhaul - not today.

I confirmed with Petur earlier, his work on the graphic overhaul branch will not be making it in this update. Although I’m really looking forward to the beauty this overhaul brings, I’m totally OK with it not launching today. Beauty, prior to optimization, is often accompanied by low FPS, and that's the last thing we need with this update.

Expect this branch to launch to staging / prerelease shortly after the update hits.

New Rustafied server: Barren

I’m happy to announce we are opening a new server! Running the optimized procedurally generated map, Barren, this server will focus on peak performance for those who need every frame per second they can get. In conjunction with the FPS improvements naturally provided by Barren, this 150 slot server will have a one week wipe cycle - because entity counts are a leading cause in shitty performance.

Hosting wise, I've purchased a new dedicated box for Chicago where our Medium server will now live (by itself). The new Barren server will share a box with our Small server. It opens today when the update launches. Stay tuned for specific connect info.

12:40pm EST Edit - Our Barren server is now officially live (on the same IP:PORT medium was on). Medium has moved to a new IP - find it on the official list. Note: the Barren server will wipe again when the update hits, but you can get a head start on farming XP now!

4:00pm EST - It’s a new week for Rust development and the team is working on fixes, tweaks, and optimizations. Let’s get into it…

Player culling

Helk has implemented a new functionality aimed at improving client FPS. Player culling allows players not to render other player models if they are not in sight - providing less strain on the client machine. Initial tests are showing this could improve FPS by 10 to 20 frames (depending on the situation). Some wonkiness still needs to be worked out with certain elements like prison doors and glass, but any change which improves FPS is definitely welcome!

Double barrel tweaks

Mihn is applying some shifts to the newest gun in the Rust arsenal, the double barrel shotgun. Along with adjusting the scale of the viewmodel (so it doesn’t look like the double barrel rocket launcher anymore), he’s shifted the aim down sight position to account for the new size. Here's what it now looks like:

Projectile fixes

Andre has been tweaking a bunch of things about projectiles. One of the goals being to fix certain hits not registering any damage. No word on if this has been definitely fixed yet, but I’ve got my fingers crossed…

Other things

• Bolt & double barrel reload animation tweaks
• Grenade attack & drop animation tweaks

4:44pm EST - The devblog and update are live!

2:00pm EST - Our update stream is live!

12:32pm EST - With the update just hours from going live, the team is still rocking out some changes. Most notable are:

• Code locks can finally be unlocked from both sides of external gates!
• supply signal drop position has a random offset of 20 units
• Fix for corpse 'flash' when hit
• Can no longer interact with stuff while wounded

12:00am EST - It’s been kind of a slow week from a new content standpoint. I don’t care though, because we’ve got FPS improvements and a double barrel buff. Along with that, there are some much needed fixes to hit registry, less garbage in airdrops, and progress on the highly anticipated graphics overhaul.

Our update stream goes live at 2pm EST. A special treat this week: We’re raffling off all 7 games from the Humble Survive This Bundle! As always, follow @Rustafied for news throughout the day. Now, let’s get into it...

Player culling

No, it’s not a gamemode where you selectively slaughter Newmans - although that does sound cool - this is a new client side command which causes player models outside of your direct line of sight not to render. Less rendering equals less resources, so this feature stands to increase those precious frames per second.

Given culling only happens in the vicinity of players, it stands to make the most difference around a high density of players or sleepers. Be it spawning on a beach after a fresh wipe or walking around a bunch of huge bases a week in (with 10+ sleepers in each) - this feature will really come in handy. 

Initial tests show between 10 and 20 fps improvement in certain situations.* Enabled by default, you can toggle this command in console via 'playercull.enabled 0'. And for you developer types, there are several other cvars to play with, just run 'find playercull' in console after the update to get a list.

* As with your meds, results of client side optimizations may vary.

Double barrel buff (and downsize)

The double barrel shotgun has been buffed to yield the same damage as the waterpipe! Spread has also been increased (more damage up close, less far away) while fire rate decreased from 1 second to 1/2 a second.

It has been reined in a bit size wize. The view model has been scaled down and the aim down sight position has been shifted. Sounds have also been tweaked. Here are some before and after pictures:

Projectile fixes

Over the past several weeks, players have experienced the frustration of shooting someone and not dealing any damage. Thankfully, Andre has made a bunch of tweaks with regards to projectiles - and specifically, invalid ones - which should result in more accurate hit detection.

Graphics overhaul

Yesterday, Petur merged the long awaited graphics overhaul branch to prerelease. As you may recall, this body of work features some stunning visual updates to various aspects of the Rust landscape. Unfortunately, the versioning control system freaked out after the merge, leaving the branch unplayable for the time being.

Thankfully, a fix should be out soon - so hopefully we’ll be able to experience this new eye candy later today. Slated to go live at the next forced wipe (Sept. 1), expect to see more progress on this over the next few weeks. In the meantime, here are some teaser screens Petur just sent me... looking great!

Other stuff

• Removed garbage from airdrop loot table
• Tweaks to the built in antihack system
• Animation tweaks to the double barrel shotgun, bolt action, and grenades
• Progress on various dungeon art (will launch next month with the forced wipe)
• Fix for disappearing ragdolls
• Semi auto rifle support hand position updated on view model

If ever you wanted to pick up a copy of Rust for a friend - now is the time. The new Humble Bundle lauched this week, featuring Rust and several other survival games.

In case you're not familiar, you name the price (currently need to spend at least $5.48 to get Rust) and dictate where the proceeds go - including thousands of charities.

I encourage you to support this great cause.

The graphics overhaul is live on the prerelease branch, and it is beautiful. After weeks of work, Petur has released this massive visual revamp for testing. With numerous shifts to flora, atmosphere, and lighting, this body of work is a great step forward for the Rust landscape.

Don't expect to see these changes live in the game till next month, there is more needed before this is ready to hit the main branch. To see this for yourself, simply opt your client into the prerelease branch and join a server!

I got a little screenshot happy...

8:11pm EST - The devblog is live and client update just hit!

7:40pm EST - The server update just went live! Devblog and client update should follow shortly.

7:27pm EST - Still waiting, no update or devblog yet...

6:48pm EST - "All builds succeeded, now just testing to make sure the game isn't ruined and servers aren't wiped and we will push to main" -Helk

6:30pm EST - Looking good... "Staging server has compiled! Updating our staging servers to make sure nothing is wrong, and hopefully client compiles also!"

5:51pm EST - Another progress update: "Client is building, but server is not, trying to roll back one feature that may be to be blame (mesh decals)"

5:04pm EST - Latest from Helk: "The build server is having some problems and we're still waiting on a working build.. I'll keep you guys posted, sorry about this!"

4:40pm EST - Still no word on the update, stay tuned...

4:01pm EST - Looks like the update is delayed. There is an issue with procedural map generation which needs to be fixed prior to the patch launching, and that fix is taking longer than expected. In light of this, we shut our stream down, but follow @Rustafied to get notified when the update hits. Also, check out our stream replay if you'd like to see these changes in action.

2:00pm EST - Our update stream is live!

1:10pm EST - With the update just hours away, we're still seeing some commits come in. Here are some highlights from the last several hours:

• Increased effective distance of rifle bullets
• Adjusted bolt action damage so coffecan helmets let you barely survive one headshot
• Hopefully fixed a case where the player view direction was not shown correctly to clients
• fixed candlehat/minerhat not being visible in first person
• removed darkening on holosight lens
• moved most barricades to common/uncommon tier (instead of rare)

1:30am EST - It is update day, and with it, the return of research - with a slight twist. We've also got ammo damage balance and some peaks at the upcoming graphics overhaul. There is no forced wipe with this update, however, some servers may wipe anyway (see bottom of the post for Rustafied wipe info).

Our update stream goes live at 2pm EST, follow @Rustafied for news throughout the day. 

Research bench is back!

After disappearing into blueprint abyss with the XP system launch, the research bench is back - with some changes. Unlocked at level 10, it mostly works like it did with the old blueprint system: put the item you’d like to research along with some blueprint fragments (to up the odds) and roll the dice. You either end up with a blueprint or a broken item.

Here’s where it differs...

Research paper

Instead of blueprint fragments, we’ve now got research paper. Same basic concept - it’s a gambling token found in loot around the map - the more you put in, the better your odds of research. Here’s the new breakdown of what's needed to secure that 100% chance per blueprint type:

Common
1 paper

Uncommon
3 paper

Rare
5 paper

Very Rare
10 paper

That’s not all...

Single use blueprints

Gone are the days of studying a blueprint once and being able to craft that item for eternity. We now have single use blueprints - a stackable item which allows for one craft. Say you have an AK blueprint and the resources required, once you craft said AK, the blueprint disappears along with the resources.

What size stacks do you get? It depends on the item. Here's some examples Helk gave me:

Bullets
~30-100 blueprints

Metal hatchet
10 blueprints

AK
5 blueprints

Note on re-researching to get more BP's: Items with a condition crafted from a single use BP start at 50% health. This is to decrease the researching odds, making it harder for people to continually make new single use blueprints off the same item.

Handmade and buckshot buff

In the wake of last week's boosts to the double barrel, Andre has doubled the projectile radius for buckshot and handmade shells. This means they’ll do more damage when you're close up, but less at a distance.

Rifle and pistol shifts

As a counterweight to the recent shotgun buffs, base damage for rifle and pistol ammo has been increased from 40 to 50. For more details, check out Andre's explanation:

"To clarify: This affects all weapons that use pistol or rifle ammo. So weapon A won't be better relative to weapon B, but both A and B will do more damage to both naked and geared players.

This for example means that AKs kill naked players with a single headshot, but even the most basic headgear will require a second hit.

It's meant to be a modest buff to overall weapon damage that should start moving us in the right direction without overshooting our target. Naturally none of this is set in stone."

Other projectile changes

Andre also did a bunch of backend changes to projectiles, damage types, and a slew of other things. I’m frankly not really sure what it all means, so let’s wait for his explanation on the devblog.

Graphics overhaul on prerelease

Peturs long awaited graphics overhaul branch has gone live on prerelease this week. It’ll be going live into the game (main branch) on September 1 with additions, tweaks and fixes expected between now and then. For a more indepth look at this exciting new visual update, check out my previous post.

Other stuff

• Large wood storage unlocks at level 9 instead of 10
• Combat log also contains rejected attacks (including reason for rejection)
• More progress on dungeon art

Rustafied server wipes

Given it is the middle update of the month, the maps on all Rustafied servers (except the low pops) will wipe when the update hits today. No XP wipe is planned until forced or otherwise warranted.

5:30pm EST - Helk just dropped a bombshell: You can now pick up sleeping bags and re place them! Will add more below once tested, but seems pretty straightforward - and awesome!

5:10pm EST - It is a fresh week in Rust development and we’re tracking progress on several upcoming items and features...

LR-300 Assault Rifle added

The newest high power weapon in the Rust arsenal is on its way. Mihn continues his work on the viewmodels, sounds, animations, and everything else needed to get this gun ready. This rare loot drop which can't be crafted (think the M249, but this is essentially a tricked out M4) has just been implemented on the staging branch and will make its appearance in the game with the update Thursday. 

Graphics overhaul progress

In preparation for the September 1 launch, Petur continues work on the graphics overhaul. Still on the prerelease branch, this body of work features some stunning updates to the Rust environment. Along with fixing several errors, Petur has been touching on the non-procedural maps...

Conventional savas

After fixing some issues with the Savas map, Petur has created a normal game mode version of the map. This means instead of the high loot, limited building normally seen on Savas, players will now be able to get the traditional, vanilla Rust experience on the bite-size map. As Petur told me, “not sure if such a tiny map is any fun in the conventional game mode, but only one way to find out.”

This is also happening on the prerelease branch, so expect to see it in action after the forced wipe on September 1st.

Upcoming hair shader

Diogo has been doing his thing - nuking deferred reflection shaders and improving the handling of skin deferred surface scattering. As usual, I’m not going to try and translate what that means beyond “making shit look better.”

Most exciting, however, was this commit:

Awesome, the day’s of all bald Newmans are numbered!

3:10pm EST - The update is live and devblog is out!

2:10pm EST - Our update stream is live! 

1:40am EST - Update day is upon us and, although we are still one week from the forced wipe, we’ve got a new rare weapon and the resurgence of a legacy game dynamic: sleeping bag pickup.

Our update stream goes live at 2pm EST. Follow @Rustafied for news throughout the day. Let’s get into it...

LR-300 Assault Rifle added

A new military grade weapon makes its entry this week: The LR-300 Assault Rifle. Similar to the M4 of legacy, this gun packs a high damage per second, combined with more manageable recoil than the AK - a sort of SMG on crack, if you will.

Don’t expect to see every Tom, Dick, and Newman wielding one post update though - it cannot be crafted or researched. Like the M249, the LR-300 can only be found. Unlike its Rambo-esque cousin - which is only in helicopter crashes - this bad boy can be found in heli loot along with weapon crates and airdrops. 

Ammo
5.56 (any type)

Rounds per clip
30

Fire rate
Fast

Recoil
Low

Sleeping bag pick up

A functionality not seen in Rust since the days of Legacy has re-emerged: picking up sleeping bags. Players can now hold ‘E’ on their bag and select 'Pickup' to place it back in their inventory. This only works on bags you’ve placed or one’s assigned to you.

Other stuff

Various other changes and fixes have taken place this week. Here are some highlights:

• New sounds when collecting mushrooms, stones, and stumps
• New research table sounds
• Materials for weapon mods and M249 tweaked to look more metallic
• Fixed distorted water reflections in rivers
• A bunch of entity pooling stuff (expect more details from Andre in the devblog)

Forced map wipe next week

What we’re seeing today is only a fraction of what the team has in store. Next week's update, along with a forced map wipe, will include the much anticipated graphics overhaul, stunning new dungeon art, a normal game mode for Savas, and various other things still in process. Stay tuned as we get closer to September 1st for more details.

Update summary videos are back!

If you've been tracking Rustafied for a while, you probably recall a series of update videos we did last year. I'm happy to report, Puddy has returned to start making these videos again. Here's the first fresh one:

12:10am EST - It is a huge week for Rust! With the forced map wipe coming Thursday, we’ve got a ton of new eye candy, reworked bone armor, awesome changes to Savas, and more. It's still early in the week, so this is all still in process, and some stuff isn't quite in game yet. Follow @Rustafied for news as the week progresses.

The forced wipe is only for maps - there is no sign at the moment of a forced XP wipe. Rustafied servers are not planning on wiping XP, however, if you’re looking for a fresh start experience, check out our new 300 slot EU server opening when the update hits - more info at the bottom of this post. Let’s get into it...

Graphics overhaul

Petur's long awaited graphics overhaul is set to go live with the update! As you may recall, this body of work features some stunning changes to the overall landscape and environment of Rust.

Not only are these changes visually appealing, they feature new functionality like tall grass to hide in and cacti which yield cloth when hit. I’m also happy to report these improved visuals do not appear to come at the cost of frames - most people polled are reporting the same FPS as they are currently getting on the main branch.

Here are some teaser screens - you can check it out first hand on by opting into the prerelease branch.

Savas: Conventional mode and mine shafts!

The small, non procedural map Savas is no longer just about being king of the hill - Petur has created a conventional gameplay version of this PvP oriented terrain. That means boxes and crates now have the standard loot, and building is not limited to that small square of land.

In conjunction with this new version, he’s also added an exciting new element: an underground network of tunnels. Styled by Vince to look like mine shafts, this low light series of tubes spawns rock nodes for your farming needs. We can’t quite experience this first hand yet, however, as the build is currently not working. Thankfully Petur told me this should be fixed today, so check back here and follow @Rustafied for more details as this becomes playable.

Edit: Petur just gave me the heads up the new Savas map is now playable. I hopped in to take some pictures... it looks incredible!!

Anti Gamma

Petur, who is just killing it, has also started on a new branch aimed at bringing an end to gamma boosting. The first commit? No gamma for u.

We won't be able to test this out till it is merged into main, but Petur told me he's shooting to get it in before the update.

LR300 accuracy?

After its entry into the game last week, the LR-300 has received some complaints about accuracy. Petur has swooped into action to make it more accurate, although that apparently was a lie. We’ll be getting confirmation and doing some tests prior to the update, so expect more on this as Thursday approaches.

Dungeon art

Vince has continued his work on dungeon art over the past few weeks. Along with fixing various issues like holes in the terrain, he’s made progress on elements of the train yard, military tunnels, and more. Not all of this is available to show at the moment given the state of prerelease, however, expect some visuals soon.

New Lighthouse

Accompanying the dungeon art, it looks like we’ll be seeing the new, bigger version of the lighthouse making its way in this week. Although you will eventually be able to travel to the top of this behemoth, Vince has closed the inside off for the time being, pending more progress. At the moment it appears the art has been added, however, it is not spawning on the maps so we can't test it out. More on this later.

Bone armor rework

As mentioned in last week's devblog, the new and improved bone armor is due to make its appearance with the update. No details yet as Helk has not implemented, but check back on Thursday for the specifics.

Rustafied.com - EU Main launch

I’m happy to announce we are launching a new server when the update hits: EU Main. This 300 slot server will wipe weekly and hopefully make it a bit easier to join a Rustafied server on wipe day if you’re in Europe. This is a brand new server, so for all of you wanting an XP wipe, this is a great place to get that fresh start.

I’ve also opened VIP for presale so you can get a guaranteed spot come update time.

Rustafied.com - EU Medium name change

If you play on our EU servers, you may have noticed ‘Rustafied.com - EU’ is now named ‘Rustafied.com - EU Medium’. This is nothing more than a change of name in preparation for the launch of the new 300 slot EU server. The map and XP is all still there, and it’ll continue to be a 200 slot, bi-weekly wipe server.