How to set up a Rust server

On your own Rust server you decide the rules: map size, wipe days, plugins and who gets to play. This guide covers the whole setup, from ordering to your first login.

What you need

• A Headpat Space account with a verified email address and your billing details filled in.
• Rust on Steam.

1. Order the server

1. Sign in to the panel, open Game Servers in the sidebar and click New server.
2. Under 1. Pick a game, choose Rust.
3. Under 2. Pick a variant, choose the variant. If there is only one, the panel selects it for you.
4. Under 3. Pick a location, choose the location closest to your players.
5. Under 4. Configure resources, set CPU, RAM and disk. The recommended values are already selected.
6. Under 5. Name and finalize, give the server a name.
7. Check Game settings. These are the options the server starts with, such as Server Name, Description, Max Players, World Size and World Seed. Replace the preset RCON Password with your own.
8. Click Continue to checkout and pay. You land on the page of your new server, where the installation starts on its own.

2. Start the server

The server does not start by itself after the installation. Watch the Console until the installer is done, then click Start under Server actions.

On the first start the server generates the map, which takes several minutes. It is ready when the console prints Server startup complete.

3. Connect

The Address card on the server page shows the Host and the Port of your server.

1. Start Rust and press F1 to open the console.
2. Type the command below with your own host and port, and press Enter.

client.connect 203.0.113.10:20015

4. Make yourself admin

You need your 17-digit SteamID64. Type these commands into the field below the console in the panel, one at a time:

ownerid 76561198000000000 "YourName"
server.writecfg

Reconnect to the server afterwards. As an admin you can type server commands into the F1 console in the game.

5. Change the server settings

Open Startup. Under Variables, change a value, click Save next to it and restart the server.

Field	What it does
Server Name	The name in the server list
Max Players	How many players can be online at once
World Size	The size of a generated map
World Seed	The number the map is generated from. With 0 the server uses a seed of its own
Custom Map URL	A direct download link to a custom map, replaces size and seed

A different World Size or World Seed gives you a new map with a fresh save. If one of these fields is missing under Variables, your variant does not have it.

6. Add plugins with Oxide or Carbon

1. Open Startup and set Modding Framework to oxide or carbon. Click Save next to it. vanilla means no plugins.
2. Restart the server. If the console shows no lines from the framework while starting, click Reinstall under Server actions and leave Also delete all files switched off.
3. Open Files and upload the plugin .cs files to oxide/plugins or carbon/plugins. Plugins load right away, without a restart.

For many files at once, use SFTP: see Upload files to your game server with SFTP.

7. Wipe the server

A wipe starts the map over. Rust itself forces a wipe with its big monthly update, on the first Thursday of the month.

1. Make a backup first: see Back up and restore your game server.
2. Click Stop on the server page.
3. Open Files and go to server/rust.
4. Delete the files ending in .map and .sav for a map wipe. To reset blueprints as well, also delete the files that start with player.blueprints.
5. Click Start.

With the same World Size and World Seed, the server generates the same map again. For a different map, change World Seed before you start.

8. Update the server

After a Rust update, players can only join when the server runs the new version.

1. On the server page, click Reinstall under Server actions.
2. Leave Also delete all files switched off. The installer then downloads the newest version over your existing files.
3. Start the server again.

9. Restart the server every night

1. On your server page, click Schedules and then Create schedule.
2. Give it a name and click the preset Daily at 00:00. Times are in UTC. For another time, change the Hour field.
3. Make sure Active is switched on and click Create.
4. Click the new schedule to open it and click Add task.
5. Under Action, choose Power signal, enter restart as Payload and click Add.

If something does not work

• Players cannot connect: check that the console shows Server startup complete, that host and port match the Address card, and that the server is up to date.
• Lag: look at Live usage on the server page. If RAM stays close to the limit, give the server more memory under Change plan.

Ready to start? Order your Rust server.