Rust Build 0.14

First run: splash, Rust folder, start screen

What happens the first time you start Rust Build, and how to point it at your Rust install.

1. The animated splash plays for about 3 seconds (any key or click skips it). Its picture stays up as the loading screen, with the progress panel along the bottom.
2. Rust Build looks for the Rust client: first the folder you picked last time, then your Steam libraries (steamapps\common\Rust in every Steam library folder).
3. Shortcut: put RustBuildEditor.exe straight into your Rust folder (next to Bundles\) and it uses that Rust install without asking. Its settings folder RustBuildData is then created there too.
4. If it can't find one, a folder picker opens: choose the folder that contains Bundles\ (normally Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Rust) and click Use this folder.
5. The progress panel shows the steps (asset bundles, game objects, string pool, interface). The first start takes longest.
6. On the very first start Rust Build tests your PC for a few seconds and picks graphics settings for it (see Graphics on the first start).
7. The Start screen appears with a big button for every way to start: a procedural map, a .map, a height map, a demo, a server save, PNG to Prefab, Monument Breaker, the Custom Prefab Editor, the CopyPaste Editor, the Skin Editor, co-op and the relay server; next to them a new empty map and your recent maps (click once to select, again to open).

Load Height Map: a playable map from a height map

Turn a height map into a map in a few steps: terrain, topology, biomes, ground textures and water; then add rivers, rocks and beaches with the generator.

1. On the start screen click Load Height Map and pick the file: PNG (8 or 16-bit, grey or a coloured topographic map), RAW / R16 (16-bit, square), TIFF (grey 8 / 16 / 32-bit or float heights; uncompressed, LZW, Deflate or PackBits), terrain data (.redata height layer) or a topographic colour picture as JPG or BMP.
2. A blank map is made and the Import Heightmap window opens straight away with a live 2-D and 3-D preview: the land share and the lowest and highest point, blue is under the sea (sea level is 0 m). Set the Map size at the top (a different size makes a new blank map of that size when you click Import), the Mode (Island shapes the coast and sea floor, Raw maps grey to height, As is uses the file exactly) and the other options. Float TIFFs suggest their own height range.
3. Click Import.
4. Set Up the Terrain opens next. Tick what to paint and press Run: Topology (ocean, beach, cliffs, mainland and the monument tiers with their shares and a Loot (tier) angle: the compass direction of the hardest tier), Biomes (arid, temperate, tundra, arctic and jungle weights, a Biome angle: the compass direction of the cold side, plus snow above a height you choose), and Ground textures (Rust's own textures by biome, slope and height, or simply by height and slope with a snow line). Both angles can come from the seed like in the game (From seed) or be set from 0 to 360° (0° = north, 90° = east); an arrow on the Topology and Biomes previews shows the direction.
5. The preview switches between Height, Topology, Biomes and Textures. Change a setting or the seed and press Run Again: the last run is replaced. Undo Run goes back to the imported terrain. Done closes the window; save with File ▸ Save Map As….
6. Set Up the Terrain only sets up the ground. For rivers and lakes, cliffs, rocks and decor, spawn beaches, roads and monuments, run Rerun Generation Steps (Tools ▸ Generation) on the map next, or use New Procedural Map: they are made once there, not twice.

Demos, server saves and PNGs from the start screen

Open a demo or a server save without making a map first: Rust Build opens or makes the right map for it.

1. Open Demo (.dem): if the demo's map is in your Rust maps folder it opens; a demo recorded on a procedural map generates that map (same size and seed). Otherwise you choose: pick the .map file, or play the demo on a blank map of the same size (players and buildings in the right places, flat ground). Then the Demo Player opens.
2. Open Server Save (.sav): a save named <level>.<size>.<seed>.<version>.sav generates that procedural map; a save named after a custom map uses the newest matching .map next to the save, in the Rust maps folder or among your recent maps. If none is found you choose the map file or a blank map of the size the save's entities cover. Then the Server Save panel opens.
3. PNG to Prefab: a blank 1000 m map is made and the Create Prefabs from PNG window opens.

Monument Breaker: make your own monument from a game one

Pick any game monument and get it in pieces on a new map, ready to change and save as your own custom prefab or monument.

1. On the start screen click Monument Breaker. Search the list by name or folder (each kind of monument has its own picture); double-click a monument, or select it and click Break onto a New Map.
2. A blank 1000 m map is made and the monument is placed in the middle with its ground: the height, textures, biome, topology, holes and water it brings in the game. Its no-building areas become prevent building volumes and a map marker carries its name (both can be unticked; Ground height sets the height of the blank map).
3. The monument is then broken into its parts (as Break Prefab into Parts), grouped and selected. If some meshes have no exact prefab, you are asked which to use (the Airfield asks about 22 times: Use selected takes the best match; with Remember this choice for the session ticked the next break asks nothing). Click a part to select the whole group; double-click a part to select only that one.
4. The Monument Breaker panel offers the next step: Create Custom Prefab (draw a region and keep the ground too), Save Selection as Custom Prefab (the parts only, see Custom prefabs) or Save Map As….

Custom Prefab Editor: change every part of a custom prefab or monument

Open a custom prefab (or a monument you broke into parts) on a blank map of its own and change everything in it with the normal tools: its prefabs, paths, height, splat, biome, alpha and topology, and the anchor it is placed by. Save puts it back in the same file.

1. On the start screen click Custom Prefab Editor (or File ▸ Custom Prefab Editor… with a map open).
2. Pick a custom prefab from the list (search by name), Open File… for a .prefab anywhere, New Empty to start from nothing, or Break a Monument… to start from a game monument. Set the Ground height of the blank map round it.
3. It is placed in the middle of a map just big enough for it, exactly as saved (every terrain layer texel for texel), with every part on its own: move, rotate, scale, sculpt, paint and add prefabs and paths as on any map.
4. The Custom Prefab Editor panel shows the Anchor (the orange pin: the point the prefab is placed by; type it, Pick on Map or Centre on Prefabs) and the Region that is saved (the cyan outline: its own outline or a width × depth rectangle, Fit Region to Prefabs), and how many prefabs are inside and outside it.
5. Choose what is saved (Prefabs, Paths, Height, Splat, Biome, Alpha, Topology) and click Save (the same file) or Save As… (a new name in your custom prefabs folder).

CopyPaste Editor: raidable bases, loot, locks, turrets and IO

Edit a base saved by the Oxide CopyPaste plugin (oxide/data/copypaste/*.json, also what Raidable Bases loads) on a map of its own: grades and skins, doors and locks, the loot in every box, turrets, traps and IO wiring; or generate a random raidable base. Save writes the file back with every setting it does not change kept as it was.

1. On the start screen click CopyPaste Editor (or File ▸ CopyPaste Editor…). Choose Folder… once (for example your server's oxide/data/copypaste) and pick a base, or Open File…, New Empty or Generate Random….
2. The base is pasted in the middle of a flat map exactly as in the file, with its IO wires; nothing outside the editor is added.
3. Whole base: set the Grade of the selected or of all building blocks, Lock All Doors with one 4-digit code (or Remove All Locks), pick a Difficulty and Fill Loot (every box gets random loot of that tier and the tool cupboard building resources) or Clear Loot (empty boxes: Raidable Bases fills them from its own loot tables), and Arm Turrets & Traps (turrets get the chosen gun with a full magazine and ammo, shotgun traps handmade shells, flame turrets and generators low grade fuel, SAM sites rockets).
4. Click a part of the base: the Selected section shows what that entity can have: skin ID, flags (Open, On…), lock and code, the items in it (Add Item… any game item, amount, skin, slot, Fill Random, Clear), a turret's gun and authorised players, a sleeping bag's name, and Edit JSON… for every other field the plugin saves. With several selected: copy the loot of the first to the rest, lock the selected doors, one skin for all.
5. IO Wiring… opens the IO window to wire switches, generators, branches, turrets and door controllers; Building Planner… builds walls, floors and roofs that snap like the game.
6. Save writes the file (or Save As… a new one). Every change before that is one undo step.

Skin Editor: every item and its skins, and your own

Look at every item of the game with its skins, like the game's skin screen, and make fully custom skins from your own pictures.

1. On the start screen click Skin Editor (or File ▸ Skin Editor… with a map open).
2. Pick a category (Items with skins, Weapon, Construction, Attire…) or search, and click an item: its model turns in the middle (drag to turn it, mouse wheel to zoom, double-click to reset).
3. Click a skin on the right: every approved skin the game ships is drawn on the model. For any Steam Workshop skin type or paste its ID or link into Workshop: its Workshop picture and name show (the game downloads its textures from Steam, so the model keeps the default look). Copy Skin ID copies it for loot, kits or the CopyPaste Editor.
4. Fully custom skin: choose a part of the model (its material), click Picture… and pick a PNG, JPG or WebP: the model shows it at once. Save Workshop Folder… writes a Rust Workshop item (manifest with the item's type, one texture per part, icon) for the game's Workshop uploader.
5. Sprays, Wallpapers & Icons… opens the picture editor for your own sprays, wallpapers and item icons.

Where settings and caches are kept (RustBuildData)

The exe is portable: settings, caches, generated maps and custom prefabs go in a RustBuildData\ folder next to it.

1. Run the exe from a folder you can write to; RustBuildData\ is created next to it on the first start.
2. Open it from Edit ▸ Preferences ▸ Folders ▸ Settings and caches ▸ Open.
3. To move Rust Build to another PC, copy the exe and RustBuildData\.

Report a bug (test build)

Rust Build 0.14 is a test build. Every bug report helps; the log file tells what the editor was doing.

1. Note what you did just before the problem (menu item, tool, map size), and whether it happens again when you repeat it.
2. Find the log: Help ▸ About RustBuild ▸ Report a bug shows its path and Open the log folder opens it. It is rustbuild.log next to RustBuildEditor.exe.
3. After a crash there is also a rustbuild_crash.log in the same folder.
4. Post the description, rustbuild.log (and the crash log, and the map if you can share it) on the Rust Build Discord (https://discord.gg/ucs5r5mGhd). The same link is in Help ▸ About RustBuild.

Graphics on the first start: automatic tuning

The first time you start Rust Build it tests your PC for a few seconds and picks graphics settings that run smoothly on it, so a laptop with integrated graphics and a gaming PC both get a good start.

1. A window Tuning the graphics for this computer appears over the loading screen: it checks the hardware (graphics card, video memory, processor, memory, screen), then runs a short test scene for each preset. The scene is built like a big map full of monuments, so the result holds on large maps too.
2. It picks one step below the highest preset that would reach 60 FPS on a big, busy map (integrated graphics stay at Low or below), and also sets texture size, render scale, loading threads and the memory limit. A notice tells you the result, for example Graphics set to Low for this computer (about 60 FPS expected).
3. Click Skip to stop the test and keep the current settings.
4. Run the same test any time with Edit ▸ Preferences ▸ Graphics ▸ Detect & tune… (see Graphics). There the result waits until you press Apply.

When a map runs slowly

1. If the frame rate stays below 30 FPS (45 FPS on maps with many prefabs) for a while after a map has loaded, the Low frame rate window asks whether to lower the settings.
2. Lower settings goes one preset down straight away; Detect & tune… opens Preferences ▸ Graphics and runs the test; Not now closes the window; Don't ask again switches the question off.
3. Switch it back on with Offer lower settings when the frame rate stays low on the Graphics page.

Progress windows, loading maps and Cancel

Jobs that take more than a moment show a progress window with the step, a bar, the time so far and a Cancel button. Opening a map shows a picture of the map while it loads, and that can be cancelled too.

1. Start a long job, for example an import or export, Render Map, opening a server save, generating a procedural map, the Prefab Test Grid, a CopyPaste import, Generate new cargo ship path, Break Prefab into Parts on a big monument, Double Check Work, a terrain stamp of many prefabs or preparing a demo.
2. While the window is up, editing is paused so nothing changes under the job, but the camera still works: hold RMB and fly with W A S D to look around.
3. Click Cancel or press Esc to stop: a cancelled job changes nothing (anything it already changed is undone). A finished job is one undo step as usual.
4. Jobs that take 20 seconds or more (a new procedural map, Rerun Generation Steps, Double Check Rocks) ask first, with an estimate of the time on your PC.

Opening a map

1. Open a map as usual. As soon as the file is read, the loading screen shows a picture of the map (terrain, water, roads, rails and rivers) with its name, size and number of prefabs.
2. Monuments start as small grey dots and light up with their names when they are placed; every placed prefab adds an orange dot, so you can watch the map fill in.
3. Choose how a map loads in Preferences ▸ General ▸ Loading ▸ Map loading view:
   • Fast (map picture) (the default): the picture stays up until the map is ready. The 3-D view is not drawn meanwhile, so the map loads quicker.
   • Show the map as it loads: once the terrain is built the map appears in 3-D and a small progress bar at the bottom shows the prefabs still streaming in. Hold RMB and fly around while it fills.
   • Automatic picks Fast on computers with integrated or small graphics cards, little memory or few processor cores, and the 3-D view on the others.
4. Editing starts when the loading screen or the bar is gone (a few seconds on a small map, longer on big maps with many monuments).

Cancelling a map load

1. Click Cancel on the loading screen (or on the bar at the bottom), or press Esc.
2. The half-loaded map is removed and the map you had open before comes back with the same file name and camera position. Changes you had not saved are kept: before a map opens, an edited map is put aside so Cancel can bring it back (its undo history starts fresh).
3. If no map was open (you started from the start screen), Cancel goes back to the start screen.
4. Bringing the old map back takes about as long as opening it; Cancel (start screen) stops that too and leaves you at the start screen.

Flying the camera

Hold the right mouse button and fly like in a game.

1. Hold RMB in the 3-D view and move the mouse to look around.
2. While holding it, use W A S D to fly; Space / C (or E / Q) go up and down, Shift is faster. Up and down only work while you hold the right mouse button.
3. While you hold the right mouse button the keys always fly the camera: a text box you were typing in (a search, a number field) lets go, so nothing is typed into it.
4. Start the right-mouse drag on an empty part of the 3-D view; once you hold it, looking around and the wheel keep working even when a window sits in the middle of the screen. Windows only take the clicks you make on them.
5. Turn the mouse wheel to change the fly speed.
6. Select something and press F to fly to it; click the mini map to jump anywhere.

New Map

Start an empty, flat map of any size.

1. Open File ▸ New Map… (or use the start screen).
2. Drag Map size or type a size in metres.
3. Set the Base height (ground level above the sea).
4. Click Create. The map is created in memory; use Save Map As… to give it a file.

Open, Recent Files, Reload

Open a .map from disk, reopen one of the last eight, or reload the current file.

1. Open Map… and pick a .map. Password-protected maps ask for their password first.
2. Recent Files lists the last maps (hover for the full path).
3. Reload Map reads the file again from disk and throws away unsaved edits.

Map Password

See whether the open map has a password (standard map data, other editors ask for it too). Protected maps ask for their password before they open, and saving keeps it.

1. Open the map (type its password if it has one).
2. Open File ▸ Map Password….
3. The status line shows This map has no password or the current password.
4. Save as usual: a protected map keeps its password.

Autosave

Timestamped backup copies while you work.

1. Open Edit ▸ Preferences ▸ Autosave.
2. Tick Autosave enabled and choose the Interval (minutes) and how many Files to keep.
3. Copies are written next to the map as <map>_autosave_<date>.map; the oldest beyond the limit is deleted.

Open a server save

Shows every entity of the save on the map with its real model: buildings with their grade, deployables, boxes, loot, vehicles, sleeping players, trees, ore nodes and more.

1. Stop the server and copy its save out of the server folder (server/<identity>/<map name>.<number>.sav). Work on a copy.
2. Open the server's map with File ▸ Open Map… (the edited one, or the original).
3. Choose File ▸ Server Save ▸ Open .sav… and pick the save.
4. Rust Build warns when the save doesn't look like it belongs to the open map (different size, entities outside the map, an older save version).
5. The Server Save window opens: it lists how many entities of each kind the save holds. Models stream in around the camera while you fly.

Inspect and edit save entities

Click any entity of the save to select it. The Server Save Entity window shows everything stored about it, with easy editors for the common values.

1. Click an entity (a wall, a box, a sleeper, a tree). It gets the usual selection outline and gizmo: move and rotate it like a prefab.
2. Change values in the window and press Enter: health, owner SteamID, building grade, skin, flags (on, open, locked), lock code and authorized players, tool cupboard authorizations, sleeping bag name and owner, player name, food, water, sleeping.
3. Inventories (boxes, furnaces, players' main / belt / clothing, corpses) list every item with its English name: change the amount, condition or skin, remove it with ✕, or type an item name and an amount and click Add. Players and sleepers are drawn wearing the clothes in their clothing inventory, so a change there shows on them at once.
4. All fields at the bottom shows every value the server saved for the entity; double-click a value to change it.
5. Select building selects every block and deployable of that building, so you can move a whole base at once. Delete (Delete) removes entities (with their children); Duplicate (Ctrl+D) copies them with new ids.
6. Every change is one undo step (Ctrl+Z).

Check the save against the map

Lists what your map edits broke for the save, so you can fix it before the server starts.

1. Edit the map first (or open the edited map), then open the save.
2. Choose Check Against Map… (or the button in the Server Save window).
3. The list shows each problem: Inside the terrain, Floating, Under water, Inside a monument (a player base where you placed a monument), Monument part without a monument (doors, recyclers… of a monument you removed or moved), Outside the map, Prefab no longer in the game, Orphaned child (its parent is gone).
4. Click a row to select the entity, double-click to fly to it. Ctrl / Shift pick several rows.
5. Drop to ground puts the chosen entities (whole buildings) on the terrain; Delete removes them; Check again refreshes the list.
6. Save with File ▸ Server Save ▸ Save .sav and copy the file back to the server (keep the original file name).

Wipe or reset a server save

Reset a save for a new wipe without starting a fresh map: take away explosives or guns, empty every box, remove sleeping bags, players' inventories, vehicles or whole bases, downgrade buildings, clear lock codes and authorisations — with presets, a preview of exactly what changes, and one undo step.

1. Open the server's map and its save (File ▸ Server Save ▸ Open .sav…), then choose Wipe / Reset….
2. Pick a Preset: Full wipe (players gone), Gun wipe, Explosives wipe, Loot wipe (empty boxes) or Soft wipe (keep buildings, clear inventories), or tick the settings yourself. Hover any setting for what it does.
3. The tabs hold every setting: Where (zones, monuments, players to keep), Items, Containers, Players, Entities and Buildings & locks.
4. Press Preview: the list shows how many entities and items each setting removes or changes. Open a line to see the entities; click one to fly to it.
5. Press Apply to the open save. The save in the editor is wiped as one undo step (Ctrl+Z brings everything back).
6. Press Save as new file…: it suggests <name>.wiped.<number>.sav next to the original, so the original stays untouched. Rename it to the server's save name when you copy it back.

Regenerate the world, keep the players

Rebuilds everything a server creates when it starts a map for the first time — monument doors, recyclers, vending machines, loot, NPCs, animals, trees, ore nodes, world vehicles — for the map as you edited it, and puts back everything players own from the open save. Use it after moving, adding or changing monuments: their parts and spawns come back in the right places and no player loses anything.

1. Open the edited map, then the server's save with File ▸ Server Save ▸ Open .sav….
2. Choose Regenerate World (Keep Players)… (or Regenerate world… in the Server Save window).
3. Pick where the new world comes from: Run my Rust server for a first start of this map (exact; needs a Rust Dedicated Server installed on this PC — set its folder with Server folder… or in Preferences ▸ Folders), or Use a first-start .sav I already made.
4. Choose what else to keep from the open save, then press Start. The server starts the map on this PC only (not listed, nobody can join), saves and stops by itself; the bar shows each step and Cancel stops it.
5. Check the preview: how many entities of each kind are kept, dropped and added, and a list of player entities that now clash with the edited map (inside a monument, buried, floating). Double-click a row to fly there.
6. Press Write <name>.regen.sav (next to the original), or Write and open it to fix the listed clashes right away with Check Against Map.
7. On the server: stop it, put the edited map on it, give the new file the save name the server uses for the edited map (keep a copy of the old save), delete the old .navmesh file and start the server.

Import Heightmap (PNG / JPG)

Turn a height map into terrain (PNG 8 / 16-bit, RAW / R16, TIFF, terrain data, or a topographic colour map as PNG / JPG / BMP), as an island, raw or exactly as the file is, with a live 2-D and 3-D preview. To start a whole new map from a height map, use Load Height Map on the start screen.

1. Open the map you want to change (the result uses its resolution).
2. Choose File ▸ Import ▸ Heightmap (PNG / JPG)… and pick the image (a grey JPG works like a PNG; its compression noise is smoothed out).
3. Pick a Mode: Island builds coast, sea bed and beaches; Raw maps grey 0–255 straight to height; As is (no processing) turns every processing step off (no levels, invert, smoothing, coast or sea floor shaping): the file's values go straight into the map.
4. Adjust the settings while watching the preview and the stats line (land %, lowest and highest point).
5. Under Clear the old map, tick what should go with the old terrain (nothing is ticked at first; your choice is remembered).
6. Click Import (one undo step together with the clearing and the optional auto-texture) or Cancel to put the terrain back. With Then set up the terrain ticked, Set Up the Terrain opens next to paint topology, biomes and textures from the new heights.
7. The window doesn't block the view: hold the right mouse button over the terrain and fly around to inspect the preview while it is open.

Terrain Layers (PNG) and Terrain Data (.redata)

Edit splat, biome and alpha in an image editor, or move whole layers between maps as .redata files.

1. Export ▸ Terrain Layers (PNG) writes splat_0..7.png, biome_*.png, alpha_0.png and a manifest to terrain_export\<map>\ next to the exe (the status line shows the folder).
2. Edit the greyscale PNGs (keep their size).
3. Import ▸ Terrain Layers (PNG) reads that folder back (one undo step).
4. For .redata, open Terrain Data (.redata)…, choose the layer (Height, Splat, Biome, Topology or Alpha) and click Export (written next to the map) or Import (pick a file; the layer and map size must match).
5. With the Height layer chosen, the window shows the same Clear the old map options as Import Heightmap (another map's terrain without its textures, prefabs or paths); they are applied in the same undo step.

CopyPaste Building (.json)

Paste a base saved with the Oxide CopyPaste plugin (oxide/data/copypaste/*.json).

1. Open the menu item and pick the .json file (or Browse… later).
2. Check the info line: entities, building blocks, IO, protocol version.
3. Choose Placement and Rotation and the options.
4. Click Import; with At cursor, click the terrain.
5. The base arrives selected and grouped, as one undo step.

Render Map

A server-style map image with every option: layers, roads, monument names, numbered grid, up to 8192 px.

1. Open the window with a map loaded; a preview renders straight away.
2. Pick the Resolution and the View (game colours, or a single layer).
3. Tick the overlays you want and adjust the light and colour sliders; the preview updates after each change.
4. Optionally open Colours ▸ to change any colour.
5. Click Export PNG….

Web View (3D HTML)

The whole map in 3D in one .html file that runs in any browser, for your website: the terrain with its colours, lakes and rivers, the roads and rails as 3D roads, and the monuments and your placed prefabs with the game's textures. It has the same controls as the other web views and works with a mouse, a keyboard or a touch screen, and it can be embedded in another website.

1. Open the map and choose File ▸ Export ▸ Web View (3D HTML)….
2. Pick the Terrain detail (height points across the map), the Ground texture size and the Texture quality.
3. Leave Roads, rails and rivers, Monument names and Monuments and placed prefabs ticked or untick them, set the Model detail and the Size limit, then click Export… and choose where to save. The real size and what was kept are shown when it is done.
4. Open the file in a browser or upload it. The camera turns round the map until you take control; click a monument name to turn round it. Fly works like the editor's camera: click for mouse look (Esc gives the mouse back) or hold the right button, WASD to move, E / Space up, Q / C down, Shift fast, wheel for speed. First person (P): WASD, Shift to run, Space to jump, C to crouch, N for noclip; F orbits again. On a phone or tablet: left thumb moves, right thumb looks, pinch with two fingers on the right to move forward and back, with Up / Down (Jump / Crouch) and Run buttons. The game position and grid cell under the mouse are shown at the bottom, and ⛶ shows the page full screen.
5. To put it on your website, click Copy embed code and paste the <iframe> into your page's HTML, next to the uploaded .html file.

Web View of Selection (3D HTML)

The selected monument, custom prefab or prefabs as a textured 3D model in one .html file for your website, made to fit a size limit of 1 to 6 MB. In the page you can look around it, or walk through it in first person the way you can in the editor.

1. Select a monument, or the prefabs of a custom prefab (box select them, or click a group).
2. Choose File ▸ Export ▸ Web View of Selection (3D HTML)…; the window shows what is selected.
3. Set the Size limit, the Model detail and whether you want Normal maps and the Ground around it, then click Export… and choose where to save. The real size and what was kept are shown when it is done.
4. Open the file in a browser or upload it. The camera turns round the model until you take control. Fly works like the editor's camera: click for mouse look (Esc gives the mouse back) or hold the right button, WASD to move, E / Space up, Q / C down, Shift fast, wheel for speed. First person (P): WASD, Shift to run, Space to jump, C to crouch, N for noclip; F orbits again. On a phone or tablet: left thumb moves, right thumb looks, with Up / Down (Jump / Crouch) and Run buttons. The game position is shown at the bottom.

3D Model of Selection (.obj)

The selected monument, custom prefab or prefabs as a Wavefront .obj model, either for Blender (with its materials, the game's textures and the ground round it) or for a 3D printer (one solid mesh in millimetres on a base). You choose the detail the same way as for the web view.

1. Select a monument, or the prefabs of a custom prefab (box select them, or click a group).
2. Choose File ▸ Export ▸ 3D Model of Selection (.obj)…. The window shows what is selected and, at the bottom, how many triangles the model has and about how big the file will be.
3. Pick the Use (Blender or 3D printing) and the Model detail, set the options for that use, then click Export… and choose where to save.
4. Blender: use its own Import Wavefront (.obj) with the default settings; the .mtl and the textures folder next to the .obj are found by themselves. A slicer (PrusaSlicer, Cura, Bambu Studio…): open the .obj; it is already in millimetres and stands on the build plate.

Undo, Redo, Undo History

Every edit is undoable, including terrain strokes, generator runs and imports.

1. Ctrl+Z undoes, Ctrl+Y (or Ctrl+Shift+Z) redoes.
2. Undo History… lists every step: click an entry to go back to it, click a later one to redo up to it. The bottom line shows how many steps are kept and the memory they use.
3. A new edit after undoing drops the redo steps.
4. Undoing or redoing a big step asks first, for example Undo procedural steps? This reverts 4,210 prefabs and terrain across the whole map. with Undo / Cancel. Big steps are whole procedural runs, Set Up the Terrain, height map imports, steps with 500 or more prefabs or 25 or more paths, and terrain changes over a quarter of the map or more. Small steps never ask. This works the same for Ctrl+Z, the Edit menu, Undo History and in co-op.

Cut, Copy, Paste, Duplicate, Delete

The clipboard holds the whole selection with its layout and the IO wires between the copied prefabs.

1. Select prefabs and press Ctrl+C (or Ctrl+X to cut).
2. Press Ctrl+V (or Edit ▸ Paste): the group lands on the ground in the middle of the view, so fly to the spot first.
3. Ctrl+D duplicates 5 m to the side; Del deletes. Hidden and locked prefabs are never deleted.

Select submenu and Selection Tools

Select all, all of a type, invert, clear, filter a box selection, or select by name, area or terrain.

1. Select All Ctrl+A, Select All of Type F3 (needs one selected), Invert Ctrl+I, Clear Esc.
2. Filter Selection… opens the box-selection filter for the current selection (types and distance).
3. Selection Tools…: type parts of prefab paths (comma separated, e.g. rock, cliff) and click Select; or select near a point, or by terrain (ocean, inland water, underwater, above the snow line, steep slopes).
4. Then act on the result: align (to normal, radial, to camera, on a plane, to surface), uniform scale, or lay it out on a grid.

Transform submenu

Drop to ground, align to the slope, snap to the grid, randomize, or move/rotate/scale by exact numbers.

1. Drop to Ground Shift+G rests each prefab's lowest point on the terrain. A selected group (or placed custom prefab) drops as one piece and keeps its shape: it moves down until its lowest part reaches the ground, and no part ends up under the terrain.
2. Snap to Water Surface puts the origin of each selected prefab that is over water on the water surface (the sea, a lake or river, or a pool under it); prefabs on dry land stay where they are.
3. Align to Surface Normal tilts prefabs to the slope (heading kept).
4. Snap to Grid rounds positions to the grid snap of Brush Options (4 m when free).
5. Randomize gives a random spin and ±10 % scale.
6. Transform Selection…: type a position offset, yaw and scale factor and click Apply.

Groups

Group prefabs so one click selects them all and they move, turn and scale as one; groups are saved with the map. Save a group to reuse it on other maps.

1. Select two or more prefabs and press Ctrl+G. Clicking any member now selects the group; the move, rotate and scale handles, R / Shift+R and Drop to Ground work on the whole group and keep its shape.
2. To change one prefab of a group, double-click it (or click Edit one in the Inspector's group row). Clicking it again later selects the whole group.
3. Ctrl+Shift+G (or Ungroup in the Inspector) ungroups; Ctrl+Z regroups.
4. Prefab Groups…: type a name and click Save Selection (a .json in groups\), or type a saved name and click Load to place it again at its saved position.

Find

Search every menu item, toolbar button, tool window button, keyboard action and Preferences setting by name, then run or open it from the list.

1. Press Ctrl+F or choose Edit ▸ Find….
2. Type part of a name, for example flatten, weather or fps. Several words match in any order.
3. Each result shows where it lives (the menu, the window or the Preferences page) and its key. Use Up / Down and Enter, or click a result.
4. Menu items and buttons run straight away; a window opens or comes to the front; a setting opens Preferences on its page and flashes the row; Change key: … opens the Keybindings page filtered to that action.
5. Esc or a click outside closes Find.

Hide and Lock

Hide prefabs that are in the way, or lock them so they can't be picked or moved.

1. Select and press H to hide; Alt+H unhides everything.
2. Lock Selected keeps prefabs visible but unclickable; Unlock All frees them.
3. Find hidden or locked prefabs again in the Scene Hierarchy (filter Hidden only / Locked only).

Show Prefabs, Paths, Powerline Paths, Sockets, Water, Volumes, Gizmos, Hide Trigger Prefabs, Game View Distances, Selection Outlines, Keep Gizmo Centered

Hide whole kinds of objects while you work (nothing is deleted), and show the building sockets.

1. Show Paths V hides roads, rivers, rails and power lines.
2. Show Powerline Paths (yellow): untick it to hide only the flat yellow power line paths that run between monuments and powerline platforms, and keep seeing roads, rails and rivers. The poles and wires stay.
3. Show Sockets shows the joining points of rail pieces, sewer tunnels, underwater lab modules and train tunnel pieces (drag one onto another to join them, see Prefab sockets), the snap sockets of the selected building block, and the free sockets while you use the Building Planner. It has no key by default: give it one in Preferences ▸ Keybindings.
4. Show Volumes draws green boxes for the colliders inside prefabs and monuments.
5. Prefabs with nothing to draw (prevent building and prevent movement shapes, invisible colliders, trigger and environment volumes, hurt, radiation, ladder, water and terrain triggers, spawners and other markers) are drawn as see-through shapes of their real collider size (box, sphere, capsule, ramp or cylinder) whenever Show Gizmos or Show Volumes is on, so you can see, click, box-select, move and resize them. The colour tells the kind: red = prevent building, yellow = triggers and zones, blue = invisible colliders, blockers and nav, green = spawn points and markers (hover the menu item for the legend). Prefabs without any collider keep a small grey marker with a handle. The shapes are never saved into the map, never drawn in play mode or in Render Map, and you can click through a shape you are standing inside.
6. Show Gizmos (markers, handles, labels): untick it to hide every editor helper at once (grey markers, effect handles, name tags, the transform gizmo, the selection box, path node handles, IO and NPC markers), for example to watch the effects or take a clean picture.
7. Hide Trigger Prefabs: hides the yellow see-through shapes of terrain triggers, water triggers and other trigger volumes, which can cover a lot of the view, and keeps every other shape. Hidden shapes can't be clicked; the prefabs stay in the map. The setting is remembered.
8. Game View Distances: prefabs switch to their lower-detail models and disappear at the same distances as in the game at its highest graphics settings, so you can see what would turn invisible for players. The game measures the distance to each object's position and ignores its size: a cube scaled up to a big wall still disappears at the distance of a small cube (at most 500 m), and nothing is drawn beyond 2500 m. Untick it to go back to the editor's own distances. The setting is remembered. The lower-detail models need Preferences ▸ Graphics ▸ Game LOD on.
9. Selection Outlines draws a thin green outline and a green box around the main selected prefab, and a light-blue box around every other selected prefab (see How the selection is shown).
10. Keep Gizmo Centered: the move / rotate / scale gizmo stays in the middle of the screen instead of on the selection, so you don't have to look for it when you are right next to a big monument. It still moves, turns and scales the selection (turning and scaling go round the selection's own centre).

Prefab sockets: join rails, sewer tunnels and lab modules

Snap modular prefabs together end to end, like other map editors: rail pieces, sewer tunnel parts, underwater lab modules, tubes and legs, train tunnel cells, stairwells and entrances.

1. Tick View ▸ Show Sockets. A round node with a pointer appears at every joining point of the prefabs near the camera; the pointer shows which way the joint faces. The colour tells the kind: orange rail, green sewer, cyan / blue / purple underwater lab, yellow train tunnel, pink tunnel stairs.
2. Click a node on the prefab you want to move and hold the button: a rope follows the mouse. The sockets it fits light up, everything else fades.
3. Drop the rope on a lit node of another prefab. The first prefab jumps over and turns so the two pieces join exactly. Ctrl+Z puts it back.
4. If the prefab is part of the selection, the whole selection moves with it, keeping its shape; a prefab in a group takes its group along.
5. Esc or a right-click drops the rope without moving anything.

Prevent Building, Safe Zones, Other Trigger Volumes

See where players can't build, the safe zones and other triggers, from the modding volumes and the monuments themselves.

1. Tick Prevent Building Volumes (red), Safe Zones (green) or Other Trigger Volumes (blue).
2. The volumes follow their prefab when you move it.

Environment and underwater effects

The light and the view change like in the game when the camera goes into a tunnel, a building or under water.

1. Environment Volume Effects (dark tunnels / buildings) (on by default): inside the game's environment volumes (train tunnels, bunkers, sewers, monument buildings) the ambient light turns dark like in the game; tunnels switch the sun off. Fly into a tunnel entrance to see it.
2. Underwater Effect (on by default): below the sea, lakes, rivers and pools the view gets the underwater look: light fading with depth, blue-green fog, a gentle wobble and muffled sound.
3. Inside places that keep the water out (underwater labs, submarine bases) there is no underwater effect, like in the game.
4. Untick either item to switch it off (remembered).

Map Grid

Rust's map grid on the terrain with the cell names (A0, B1…), exactly as on the in-game map.

1. Tick Map Grid.
2. The grid cell the camera is over is also shown next to the compass (e.g. Grid D7).
3. Click that grid text, type a cell such as A20 and press Enter (or Go): the camera flies over that cell. Cells outside the map are refused with a short message.

Handles and labels on prefabs without models

Prefabs that have nothing to draw (sounds, effects, spawn points, triggers) get a round handle that always keeps the same size on screen, so they are easy to see and click, and a grey name when you are within 30 m.

1. Look at the colour of the handle: cyan = sound, orange = effect (fire, smoke, steam), green = spawn point, grey = anything else.
2. Click a handle (it reacts within a few pixels, up to 160 m away) to select the prefab, then move it like any other.
3. Untick the item to hide the names; untick View ▸ Show Gizmos to hide the handles too.

Effects (particles and sounds)

Fires, smoke, steam and other particle effects of the prefabs; the selected prefab plays its effects and looping sounds.

1. Tick Effects (on by default).
2. Select a prefab with effects (a campfire, a hobo barrel, a monument) to see them move and hear its looping sounds: music, machines, water, wind.

Beach Spawn Areas

See where new players appear on a vanilla server. A player without a sleeping bag or bed spawns on a beach, but only on beaches the game accepts; this overlay tints them and tells you how much room there is.

The rule is the game's own: a spot on mainland beach that touches the ocean (Beach, Oceanside and Mainland topology), in monument tier 0 or 1, in the temperate or tundra biome, not on cliffs, roads, rails, rivers, lakes or swamps, and at least 50 m from any monument. Arid, arctic and jungle beaches are never used. The game also skips a spot when a rock or building stands on it; the overlay does not check that.

Expect a small number: the ocean-side strip only overlaps the beach right at the water's edge, so on a generated map the spawn area is usually a few thousand m² in a handful of spots along the temperate and tundra coasts (for example about 5000 m² in 16 spots on a 4000 m map), which is where fresh players wake up.

No spawn area at all is a real problem: the server then puts new players at the centre of the map, inside the ground, where they die. Maps with steep or cliffy coasts (for example imported height maps) and maps whose coast is all arid, arctic or jungle often have none. Rust Build warns you after saving and in Double Check Work, Fix Spawn Areas paints spawn beach (Beach, Oceanside and Mainland topology, cliff topology taken off, tier 0 or 1, and a temperate or tundra biome where the beach was arid, arctic or jungle) until the map has about as much as a generated map with the same coast, and new procedural maps do it by themselves. The RustBuildHelper server plugin is the safety net: when the game still finds no beach, it gives the player a safe spot.

1. Tick View ▸ Overlays ▸ Beach Spawn Areas.
2. Green: new players spawn here. Every fresh spawn on the server lands somewhere in the green area.
3. Orange: beach the game does not use.
4. The legend in the corner shows the spawn area in km² and m², in how many separate spots it lies, its share of the land, the beach area, and the main reasons the orange beach is not used.
5. It updates by itself while you paint topology or biomes, move monuments or change the terrain.
6. The legend also says whether the map has enough for its length of coast. When it says too little, click Fix Spawn Areas in the legend (or Tools ▸ Map ▸ Fix Beach Spawn Areas): spawn beach is painted on gentle, dry shores away from monuments, spread along the coast. It is one undo step.

Monument Labels

The name and distance of every monument and map marker floating over the map; click one to fly there.

1. Tick Monument Labels (or press Labels on the mini map).
2. Click a label to select the monument and focus the camera.

Server Spawns

See what a Rust server would spawn on your map: trees, bushes, ore nodes, collectables, logs, loot and junk piles, animals and vehicles.

1. Open the window and tick the categories you want.
2. Set Density and Draw distance (the graphics preset caps the totals on slow PCs).
3. Click Generate. The spawns appear in the background, like a server's first fill.
4. Change the Seed for another layout; Show hides them without clearing.
5. CLEAR (or View ▸ Overlays ▸ Clear Server Spawns) frees everything.

Terrain Layer View

Show the raw splat, biome, alpha, topology or custom topology layer on the terrain.

1. Click the item repeatedly: Off → Splat → Biome → Alpha → Topology → Custom Topology → Off (layers the map doesn't have are skipped).

Prefab Visibility Filter

Hide every prefab whose path contains a word (view only, still saved).

1. Type a word (e.g. rock) and click Hide, or click a quick button (mountain, rock, decor, tools, monument, rubble).
2. Show all brings them back.

Time and Weather

Change the time of day, the date (season) and the weather to check your map in every light.

1. Drag the hour slider, or press , / . for − / + half an hour.
2. Tick Progress time (or press CapsLock) to let the day run.
3. Type a Day / Mo / Yr and press Enter: the noon sun is higher in summer and lower in winter.
4. Choose the Weather: Clear, Overcast, Storm, Dust, Fog, Rain (M cycles).

Flashlight, Info Text, Mini Map, Window Mode, Fullscreen

A strong light on the camera for dark interiors and night, and the on-screen helpers.

1. Ctrl+L switches the flashlight (300 m reach). Play mode has its own flashlight, see Play mode items.
2. Info Text hides the key hints; Mini Map shows or hides the Mini Map window (remembered).
3. Window Mode: Windowed (the system frame), Borderless Windowed (no system frame: Rust Build's own title bar — drag the empty part of the menu bar to move, double-click it or □ to fill the screen with the taskbar still visible, drag the window edges to resize, – □ ✕ at the top right) or Fullscreen. The choice is remembered.
4. Fullscreen Alt+Enter switches to full screen and back to the mode you were in.

High-Quality Screenshot

One picture at the best quality your PC can make, whatever your normal graphics settings are.

1. Frame the view.
2. Choose High-Quality Screenshot…: for one frame the editor switches to Ultra with supersampling, 4× MSAA, full view distance and full detail, and hides the interface.
3. Choose where to save the PNG (default: Pictures, RustBuild_<map>_<date>.png). Your settings come back immediately.

Terrain Tool

Sculpt the height map with a brush: raise, lower, flatten, smooth, erode, stamp shapes and more.

1. Press T (or the Terrain Tool toolbar button).
2. Pick a Modification Type; a help line explains it.
3. Set Size, Opacity and Rotation and pick one of the 16 brush shapes.
4. Hold the left mouse button on the terrain. Hold Alt (or Shift) to invert, for example lower instead of raise.
5. Ctrl+Z undoes the whole stroke.

Terrain Painter

Paint the ground textures (splat), biomes, holes (alpha) and topology.

1. Press G.
2. Choose the Layer: Splat, Biome, Alpha, Topology or Custom Topology.
3. Choose the Paint Tool and the Channel (e.g. Grass, Arctic, Road).
4. Set size, opacity and rotation and paint with the left mouse button; Alt inverts.
5. While painting Biome or Topology the terrain shows the layer colours (topology in red) so you see exactly what you paint.
6. Custom Topology: the first time you pick an unused flag (Unused0…Unused30) Rust Build asks for a name and a colour. The flag is then drawn on the terrain in that colour while you paint (the other named flags fainter).

Terrain Sampler

Point at the terrain and see everything the map stores there: height, slope, water, ground textures, biome, topology and more.

1. Press I (or choose Tools ▸ Terrain Sampler). The Terrain Sampler window opens.
2. Move the mouse over the terrain: the window reads the point under the cursor as you go.
3. Click to pin the reading. An orange marker shows the pinned point and the numbers stay put while you look around; they update if you paint, sculpt or undo there. Click somewhere else to pin a new point, or press Unpin to go back to following the cursor.
4. Press Copy to put the reading on the clipboard as text, for example to paste into a note or a message.

Prefab Brush

Paint prefabs onto the terrain: forests, rocks, debris. The brush paints from a list of prefabs, each with its own settings.

1. Open the Prefab Brush and press Add prefab….
2. Search for a prefab (e.g. rock quarry), click it and set its Weight (how often it is picked), Scale min / max, Random yaw with a from / to angle range, optional Tilt X / Z up to Tilt max, Align to slope, Height offset and Spacing (minimum distance to other copies of it). Press Add to list.
3. Repeat to mix several prefabs. Each row shows its share of the painted prefabs; untick a row to leave it out, Edit changes its settings, ✕ removes it.
4. Set the Brush radius, Prefabs per stamp (density) and Stroke spacing (how far the cursor moves between stamps). A green ring shows the brush on the terrain.
5. Drag on the terrain to paint. Hold Shift (or tick Erase mode, the ring turns red) to remove the list's prefabs under the brush. Each stroke is one undo step.

Building Planner

Build bases block by block with Rust's own socket and placement rules, on the ground or floating in the air.

1. Open Tools ▸ Building Planner (it has no key by default; give it one in Preferences ▸ Keybindings).
2. Pick a block (foundations, walls, doorways, floors, stairs, roofs…) and a Grade (Twigs, Wood, Stone, Metal, TopTier).
3. Aim: like the game's planner, the aim is a ray from the camera that reaches 20 m (the game's reach is 4 m; set it with Reach) and stops at the first solid thing it hits (terrain, a building block, a rock, a prefab). When nothing is that close the ghost floats at the end of the reach: look far away and it lifts off the ground, look up and it floats above you. The ghost is green where Rust would allow it and red with the reason where it wouldn't (a floating ghost is always red).
4. A first foundation on the terrain sits flush with the ground. Raise it with PgUp / PgDn, Shift+wheel or Foundation height: like in the game it stays green while its bottom corners are still in the ground and its top isn't buried — on flat ground from flush up to about 2.6 m. The panel shows the heights allowed where you aim.
5. Left-click to build; R rotates, [ / ] change block, 1–5 change grade.
6. Turn on View ▸ Show Sockets to see the free sockets.

Building in the air

1. Tick Ignore placement rules (snap only).
2. Raise the ghost with PgUp (or type a height, or hold Shift and turn the mouse wheel). A yellow line with a disc drops from the ghost to the ground so you can see where it is.
3. Left-click to place a foundation in the air, then keep building on its sockets as usual: walls, floors and more foundations snap to the floating blocks.
4. For a level platform tick Absolute Y (flat), or press Last block's level after the first block.

Building skins and wallpaper

Give building blocks the game's building skins — Frontier and Gingerbread (wood), Adobe, Brick, Brutalist, Jungle and Crypt (stone), Shipping Container in 16 colours (metal), Space Station (top tier) — and put wallpaper on walls, flooring on floors and foundations, and ceilings under floors and roofs. The editor draws them with the game's own models and textures. The RustBuildHelper server plugin puts them on the buildings on your server.

1. Open Tools ▸ Building Planner and open its Skins & wallpaper section.
2. Pick the Grade, then a Skin for it. Each grade remembers its own skin, like the game's skin choice. For the Shipping Container pick a Container colour (or Random).
3. Pick wallpapers: Wall, soft side and Wall, hard side (the two faces of a wall), Flooring (top of floors and foundations) and Ceiling (under floors and roofs). Every list shows the game's wallpapers with their icons; Plain is the plain wallpaper, None removes it.
4. Build: new blocks get your choices straight away.
5. To change blocks you already built, tick Paint mode and click them, or select them and click Apply → selection. Choices left on leave as is don't change anything; Clear → selection gives the selected blocks their normal look again.
6. One block at a time: select it and use the Skin, Container colour and wallpaper rows in the Inspector.
7. A wallpaper that isn't in the lists (for example a workshop wallpaper): pick Custom ID… at the end of a wallpaper list and type its skin ID (numbers only). It shows as Custom <number> in every list from then on. The editor draws the plain wallpaper for it; on your server the plugin puts the real one on.
8. Save the map. Every change is one undo step.

Boat Building Planner

Build player boats on the sea from the game's boat pieces, with Rust's socket rules. The boats are saved with the map, and the RustBuildHelper server plugin launches them as real, floating player boats when the server starts for the first time.

1. Open Tools ▸ Boat Building Planner (it has no key by default; give it one in Preferences ▸ Keybindings) and fly to the sea.
2. Pick Square Hull or Triangle Hull and aim at the water: the hull sits on the sea like on a Boat Building Station's netting and turns with your view. Left-click to start a new boat. The water must be deep enough for the hull, and a new boat can't overlap another one.
3. Add more hulls, floors, walls, doorways, windows, low walls and stairs: they snap to the boat's sockets like in the game (green = allowed, red = blocked with the reason). Boat blocks are always wood, like in the game.
4. Put the parts on: the Steering Wheel, Sail, Small Engine, Cannon, Small Ramp and Plank stand on a deck (the top of a hull or a floor), the Anchor goes on a hull's anchor socket and the Boat Door into a boat doorway. R turns a part 45°.
5. X removes the boat part under the cursor; Ctrl+Z undoes every step. [ / ] change the piece, Esc leaves the planner.
6. Save the map. Put the server plugin on your server and start it with the map: the boats are launched on the first start.

Play Mode (walk the map)

Walk your map with Rust's real colliders: climb ladders, open doors, swim, explore monuments, in first or third person.

1. Fly the camera above the spot where you want to start and press Ctrl+P. You start on the first floor straight below the camera with room to stand: a roof, the floor of a room, a rock or the terrain. Over deep water you start on the nearest shore (up to 150 m away), otherwise swimming at the surface.
2. Walk with W A S D, Shift runs, Space jumps or swims up, C crouches. A jump lifts you about 1.2 m, enough to get onto low walls, crates and low foundations like in the game.
3. Press V to switch to third person: the camera orbits behind your player model and moves in when a wall is in the way. V again goes back to first person.
4. Press E at doors, hatches, vents and elevators to open them.
5. N (or double Shift) toggles noclip flying; F switches the flashlight on or off; T adds an hour.
6. Esc or Ctrl+P returns to the editor (doors, spawns and circuits reset).

Play mode: hotbar, trees, ores, barrels and crates

Use Rust's tools on the things a server would spawn: chop trees, mine ores, break barrels, open crates and pick up collectables.

1. Generate the spawns first: View ▸ Overlays ▸ Server Spawns… ▸ Generate (see Server Spawns).
2. Enter play mode. The hotbar at the bottom holds the hand, rock, hatchet, pickaxe, torch, flashlight, Building Plan, revolver and spray can: press 1–9 or turn the mouse wheel to pick one. The torch burns with the game's flame, embers, smoke and flickering light; the flashlight shines the game's beam.
3. Aim at something: the text under the crosshair names it.
4. Hold the hatchet and click LMB on a tree: after a few hits it falls and leaves a stump. The pickaxe mines ore nodes; the rock, hatchet, pickaxe and torch break barrels.
5. Press E on a crate, trash pile or dropped loot bag: the loot window lists what is inside (rolled from the game's own loot tables, or from the custom loot profile you gave the crate); E again takes everything. E on mushrooms, hemp, stones and other collectables picks them up.

Building Plan (slot 7)

1. Press 7: you hold the Building Plan and a ghost block (a foundation to start) shows where you look, green or red with the reason, with the same rules as the Building Planner.
2. Aim within reach (about 4 m, like in the game) and click LMB to build. Look further away or up and the ghost floats red in front of you at the end of your reach.
3. R rotates (Shift+R the other way). RMB or [ / ] change the block (Shift+RMB goes back). G changes the grade (Twigs, Wood, Stone, Metal, TopTier).
4. A new block is solid at once: walk on the foundation or up the stairs you just built.

Blocks you build this way are real map changes, like with the Building Planner: they stay on the map when you leave play mode, and each block is one undo step.

Play mode: test IO circuits and puzzles

Electricity works in play mode with the game's rules, both for the wiring you made and for the circuits inside monuments: flip switches, press buttons, swipe cards and watch lights and doors react.

1. Wire your circuit in the editor (see IO entities and wiring), or walk to a monument puzzle.
2. Enter play mode and aim at an IO entity: the text under the crosshair shows its name, whether it has power and what E does.
3. Press E to do what the prompt says, like in the game: E: turn on a switch, E: press button, E: start timer, E: swipe card at a card reader (the right colour is used automatically), E: insert fuse / E: remove fuse at a fuse box, or turn a generator on.
4. Hold E on a wheel switch to turn it: the blast door it is linked to opens bit by bit. Let go and the door slowly closes again and turns the wheel back, as in the game.
5. Watch the result: lights switch on (sirens and strobes flash), door controllers open their doors, timers count down, counters count. A button gives power for its press time, then lets go.
6. Press O to show every wire: green carries power, red has none. Press O again to hide them.
7. Pressure pads and laser detectors fire when you walk onto or through them.

Play mode: computer stations and CCTV cameras

Sit at a monument's computer station and look through its CCTV cameras, like in the game.

1. Walk up to a computer station in a monument (aim at it: the text under the crosshair says Computer Station [E use]).
2. Press E: the view switches to the first camera, with its name and number at the top left (for example LOCKERROOM 1 / 9).
3. Press ← / → to switch between the cameras, nearest first.
4. Press E or Esc to get up again.

Auto-Texture Terrain and Auto-Texture Brush

Paint the ground from height and slope: snow on peaks, rock on cliffs, sand at the shore, grass and forest on gentle land.

1. Open Auto-Texture Terrain….
2. Set the Snow line and Snow ramp (metres).
3. Set Radius around view (0 = whole map) and leave Only where untextured on to keep your own paint.
4. Click Apply; then Smooth to soften the borders (radius and passes).
5. Or toggle Brush (F20) and drag to apply it only where you paint.

Custom Topology Layers

Your own extra topology layers, saved inside the map (for plugins that read them).

1. Type a name and press + Add (or just start in the Terrain Painter: naming the first flag creates a layer called Custom).
2. Choose the layer in the list and, if you like, rename its 31 flags.
3. In the Terrain Painter choose Layer = Custom Topology and pick a flag. An unused flag asks for a name and a colour first.
4. Paint: the flag shows on the terrain in its colour.
5. - Delete removes the active layer.

Fit Terrain to Selected Prefab

Move the ground to a monument's terrain anchors so nothing floats or sinks (the monument stays put).

1. Select a monument.
2. Run the item: the terrain under the anchor grid is set to the monument's heights and blended out over 20 m.
3. Check with Find Buried / Floating Prefabs.

Apply Prefab Terrain, on placement, and the ghost

Run a monument's own Rust terrain stamp (height, textures, biome, holes, topology, water), exactly as the game does when it spawns it.

1. Select a monument and choose Apply Prefab Terrain (selected) ▸ All layers (or a single layer).
2. Apply Prefab Terrain (all prefabs) does every prefab on the map (prefabs without a stamp are skipped).
3. Tick Apply Prefab Terrain on Placement to stamp monuments automatically when you place them from the library.
4. Prefab Terrain Ghost shows what a selected or placed monument would stamp: orange = raise, blue = lower.

Replace Prefabs

Swap prefabs for another one, keeping their position, rotation and scale (with optional offsets).

1. Arm the new prefab in the Prefab Library.
2. Select the prefabs to replace.
3. Open Replace Prefabs…, optionally type position / rotation / scale offsets.
4. Click Replace Selected (only the selection) or Replace All (every instance of the selected types).
5. Or copy a prefab (Ctrl+C), select one of the type to replace and use Replace All of Type with Clipboard.

Remove Duplicates

Find prefabs placed twice at exactly the same spot and remove the extras.

1. Click Scan to count them.
2. Click Remove (keeps the first of each, one undo step).

Break Prefab into Parts

Replace a monument (or a custom prefab, PNG-cube group or other group) with the separate prefabs it is built from, so you can edit it piece by piece.

1. Select the prefab.
2. Choose Break Prefab into Parts (or Break prefab in the inspector). Big monuments show a progress window (Esc cancels).
3. Parts that have no name match are matched by their mesh. If a mesh has no exact match and ask is on, a window shows the part and the candidates: Use selected, Skip, Skip all remaining or Cancel break.
4. The parts arrive as a group (one undo step). Custom prefabs break back into their members.

Generate Text Prefab

Write words with Rust's sign letters and numbers (a–z, 0–9), the same way other map editors do.

1. Point the camera where the text should go: it is placed in the air 5 m in front of the camera, centred on the view and facing you.
2. Open Generate Text Prefab… (the Create Text window) and type the text: letters, digits and spaces. Enter starts a new line.
3. Optionally set Extra letter spacing (0 = the sign letters' own spacing).
4. Click Generate or press Ctrl+Enter. The letters are placed left to right, lines below each other, all selected, as one undo step.
5. Move, rotate or drop them with the gizmo and the Transform tools while they are still selected; Ctrl+G groups them.

Create Prefabs from PNG

Turn a picture into coloured modding cubes: logos, signs, pixel art.

1. Click Select PNG… (png, jpg, webp, bmp).
2. Set Width / Height in pixels (aspect kept), Smoothing and Likeness (colour tolerance).
3. Untick colours you don't want; set the Scale (metres per pixel, cube thickness).
4. Leave Merge into fewer, bigger cubes ticked: each colour is covered with as few big cubes as possible. Turned cubes for slanted edges turns cubes along slopes and diagonal lines instead of building them from many small steps; Edge tolerance sets how far a turned cube may reach over the next colour (higher = fewer cubes, rougher edges).
5. Watch the preview (it shows the cubes themselves) and the count before → after, then Place at screen centre, Save as custom prefab, or Save + place with mouse.

Wire / Stretch

A wire prefab stretched between two points (cables, ropes).

1. Turn the tool on.
2. Click point A (a yellow marker appears), then point B. One undo step.

Create Custom Prefab (copy an area)

Copy a whole area (prefabs and terrain: height, textures, biome, holes, topology, roads) into a custom prefab and place it again anywhere. Compatible with other map editors' custom prefabs.

1. Open Create Custom Prefab… (also in the Prefab Library).
2. Pick the shape: Box (drag a rectangle), Polygon (click the corners; click the first point, double-click or press Enter to close, Backspace removes a point) or Lasso (hold the left mouse button and draw freehand; single clicks add straight corners). Press Draw region and draw on the map; the outline stays on the terrain. Esc cancels.
3. The lasso stays open when you let go of the mouse: draw it in several strokes and, in between, fly the camera (right mouse button, W A S D, mouse wheel) or drag the selected prefabs with the gizmo. Double-click (or press Enter) to close it; Backspace removes the last point.
4. Type a Name (folder/name saves into a sub-folder) and tick what to copy: Prefabs, Height, Splat, Biome, Alpha, Topology, Roads / paths.
5. Save (or Save & place to arm it straight away). It appears in the Prefab Library under Custom.
6. When you place it, the Place Custom Prefab window opens: set the Rotation, choose what to apply and how to blend the terrain, then left-click. Prefabs, terrain and paths come back as one undo step.

Custom prefabs (save the selection)

Save the selected prefabs (with their building block grades and IO wiring) as a reusable .prefab that other map editors can read too. To copy terrain as well, use Create Custom Prefab.

1. Select the prefabs.
2. Press Insert (or From Selection… in the Prefab Library) and type a name. Tick Group them together to make the selected prefabs one group as well (the choice is remembered). The file goes to your custom prefab folder and is armed.
3. Left-click to place copies; R / Shift+R rotate 15°; Insert or Esc stops. If the copies float or sink because the custom prefab's anchor point is not at its base, set Height offset in the Place Custom Prefab window (remembered for that custom prefab). Each copy is one group: click any part to select it all, double-click a part to edit it alone.
4. Find them later in the Prefab Library under Custom.

Online Custom Prefabs (share and download)

Download custom prefabs other Rust Build users have shared, and publish your own on the Rust Build website. Also Online Prefabs… at the bottom of the Prefab Library, and the custom prefabs page on this website.

1. Browse: type in the search box (title, description, tags, author) and press Enter, pick a tag, and sort by Newest, Most downloaded or Top rated. Click a picture to see its details: description, tags, what it contains, rating and downloads (hover the contents line for the list of prefabs it uses).
2. Click Download to save it in your custom prefab folder (sub-folder Online); it appears in the Prefab Library under Custom. Download & place (or a double-click on the picture) arms it straight away: left-click on the map places it, like any custom prefab.
3. If the custom prefab uses prefabs your game files don't have (made with a newer or modded game), a message lists them; they are left out when you place it.
4. Vote: click 1 to 5 stars under the details; click your star again to remove your vote. You can change your vote at any time.
5. Publish: open the Publish tab (or right-click a custom prefab in the Prefab Library ▸ Publish Online…), choose the custom prefab, give it a title, a description, up to 8 tags and, if you like, an author name. The picture is rendered from the custom prefab (Render the picture again if it isn't right yet). Tick I made this custom prefab (or may share it), read What will be sent, click Publish… and confirm.
6. Every upload is checked by the site owner first: My uploads shows Waiting for approval until then, Listed once it is online, or Not approved with the reason.
7. My uploads ▸ Edit… changes the title, description, tags, author, file or picture; the change waits for approval again while the current version stays listed. Delete… removes it from the website (your own file stays).

Find Buried / Floating Prefabs

List monuments, tunnel entrances and power lines whose anchors are more than 1 m off the ground.

1. Open the window; click a row to fly there.
2. Click Fit terrain to selected, then Rescan.

Prefabs Near Camera

Every prefab within a distance of the camera, nearest first (also the toolbar Nearby button).

1. Set Within (metres) and an optional name filter.
2. Tick Live to update while you fly; click a row to select and focus it.

Prefab Test Grid

Place every library prefab that matches the library search in a grid, to compare them side by side.

1. Type a search in the Prefab Library (e.g. barrel).
2. Run the item and confirm: the prefabs are laid out in rows from the map corner.
3. A progress window shows how far it is; the camera keeps flying, and Cancel (or Esc) removes what was placed so far.
4. When it is done a window tells how many were placed. The whole grid is one undo step.

Entities Overview

Every NPC spawner, vehicle spawn and IO entity in one list.

1. Filter by type or by name / coordinates.
2. Click a row to fly there and open its editor.

NPC spawners, vehicles and animals

Place NPC spawners (scientists, bandits, murderers…), vehicle spawns (minicopter, boats, cars, bikes, workcarts, horses…) and respawning animals (bears, polar bears, wolves, boars, deer, chickens, panthers, tigers, crocodiles, snakes). Vehicles and animals show their real model.

1. Press Z or Q: the NPC Spawners & Vehicles window opens on its NPC or vehicle tab.
2. NPC tab: set the NPC Type and Respawn Min / Max (seconds) for new spawners, click Place NPC Spawner (click terrain) and click the ground. The spawner is a red sphere with its type written above it.
3. Vehicles tab: type in Search…, click a vehicle (its model follows the mouse) and click the ground to place it.
4. Animals tab (Tools ▸ Entities ▸ Animals…): set Count and Radius, click an animal and click the ground. With a count above 1 the animals are scattered around the click as one undo step. A green label above each one says what it is.
5. The lower list of the Animals tab has the game's own animal spawners: they work on every server without a plugin, with the game's fixed numbers and times.
6. Click a placed spawner or vehicle to select it. Move and rotate it with the gizmo (vehicles turn on every axis), Ctrl+D duplicates, Del deletes, Ctrl+Z undoes.
7. With an NPC spawner selected, the NPC panel edits its type and respawn times.

IO entities and wiring

Place and wire switches, lights, timers, generators, doors and industrial conveyors; the wiring is saved in the map.

1. To place IO prefabs, press E: IO place mode turns on, the IO window opens with place mode (E) ticked and the status line says what a click places.
2. Choose the type in Place (- steps through the 27 types) and click the ground. Press E again to stop. Arming any prefab in the Prefab Library also ends IO place mode, so a library prefab is never placed as an IO type.
3. Select an IO prefab: green handles are inputs, orange handles outputs.
4. Click an orange output (or Connect Output To…): the wire follows the mouse. Click the target prefab or one of its inputs; if several inputs are free, pick one from the menu.
5. Right-click or Esc cancels. Click a wired end to re-route it, or click empty ground to disconnect.
6. Change settings (timer length, frequency, branch amount, counter target…) in the IO window and press Set.
7. Door controllers: while you place or move one, green text at the top says which door it will link to and a green box marks that door; red text says no door is within 1 m. The game links a door controller to the nearest door within 1 m when the server starts. The IO window shows the same as Is Valid Placement True / False.
8. Buttons give power for their Timer Length: new buttons get the game's 5 seconds, enough for a door controller's door to open and let a player through.

Circuit Simulator

Step through an IO circuit one connection at a time to find where it breaks: follow a button to everything it triggers, or follow a light back to where its power comes from, on the same rules the server uses. Works in the editor (nothing on the map is saved) and in play mode, monument IO included.

1. Select an IO entity and open Tools ▸ Entities ▸ Circuit Simulator…, or press Simulate… in the IO window. In play mode it starts at the entity under the crosshair. Start at… lists sources, switches and buttons, nearest first.
2. Choose Forward ▸ to follow the outputs to what they power, or ◂ Backward to follow the inputs back to the power source (a light back to a splitter, the switch before it and the battery).
3. The panel shows the entity, its state, the power arriving, what it uses and what it passes on, what feeds it, and in red why a path stops here (the switch is OFF, not enough power, an AND gate missing an input, no fuse, no broadcaster on the frequency…).
4. Click a connection under Next connection to step to it, or press Next ▸. At a splitter, branch or gate you choose the path; ⤺ Back to (fork) returns there in one go, with the paths already tried ticked, and Next Untried takes the next one.
5. Use presses the button, flips the switch, swipes the card, inserts or removes the fuse or starts the generator. The circuit settles, everything that changed is listed (click one to start there) and lights light, doors open and the effects and sounds of what is powered play. Wait 1 s / 10 s lets timers, buttons and batteries run on.
6. Click a step in Path to go back to it, or Step Back to undo one step. Close the window to stop: doors go back and nothing on the map changes.

Key locks and code locks on doors

Put the game's key lock or code lock on a door, like a door controller: the editor tells you which door it locks. A code lock gets a 4-digit code players have to enter; a key lock keeps its door locked for good, so only a door controller opens it. Both work in play mode, and the RustBuildHelper server plugin fits them to their doors on your server.

1. Place a door (for example door.hinged.metal) from the Prefab Library.
2. Click Place Code Lock or Place Key Lock in the IO window (press E to open it; Door locks row), or search the Prefab Library for lock.code or lock.key.
3. Move the mouse to the foot of the door: the lock jumps onto the door's lock spot. Green text at the top says which door it locks and a green box marks that door; red text says why it won't lock one. Click to place it.
4. Click a code lock: a keypad opens like the game's. Type the 4 digits with its buttons (or the keyboard while the mouse is over the keypad); the 4th digit sets the code. Random code picks one, No code removes it. The Inspector shows the code and has Code… to open the keypad again.
5. Moved a lock away from its door? Select it and click Snap to door in the Inspector.
6. Many doors and boxes? Select them and click Add locks… in the Inspector, or use Tools ▸ Entities ▸ Add Locks Automatically… (also in the IO window) for the selection or the whole map: choose code lock or key lock and a random code for each lock, one code for all, or no code. Every door and storage box that can take a lock and has none gets one on its lock spot; a message says how many were added and skipped. One undo step.
7. Save the map. The code is saved inside the map; every change is one undo step.

Teleport doors

Link a door to another door: opening it takes the player to the other one, in front of it and facing away from it. Buttons work too. Links can go both ways or one way. Try it in play mode; the RustBuildHelper server plugin does the same on your server.

1. Place two doors (for example door.hinged.industrial_a_a) or a door and a button (pressbutton) from the Prefab Library.
2. Select the first one. The Inspector shows a Teleport section.
3. Click Link to… and click the other door in the 3D view (Esc cancels), or choose it from Pick from list (nearest first).
4. Lines with arrows now join the two doors and green markers show where the player arrives. Tick Show all links to see every link on the map.
5. Untick Two-way if only this door should teleport. The other door then works as a normal door.
6. Set where the player arrives: In front (metres from the door), Up (height) and Other side. The selected door sets the arrival point at the door it leads to.
7. Save the map. Every change is one undo step.

Dig loot areas (metal detector)

Paint areas on the map and give each one its own loot table: when a player digs up a metal detector find inside an area, they get an item from that area's table instead of the game's normal finds. The RustBuildHelper server plugin does it on your server.

1. Open Tools ▸ Entities ▸ Dig Loot Areas… and click New Area. The areas show on the terrain in their colours while the window is open.
2. Pick a tool: Paint and drag on the terrain (hold Shift to erase), Erase, or Rectangle / Circle and drag to fill a shape (Esc cancels). Brush radius sets the brush size; Clear Area erases the whole area.
3. Give the area a Name and Colour.
4. Click items in the Items list on the right (search by name) to add them to the Loot table. Set Min / Max (the amount), Weight (how often it is picked), and if you like a Skin ID and a custom Name (Details… adds attachments, ammo, water and more, see Item details). The Chance column shows how often each item comes up.
5. Set Chance of nothing for digs that find nothing at all, and Extra dig spots to have more places to dig in this area (per km²).
6. Add more areas the same way. Where they overlap, the one higher in the list wins: use Move Up / Move Down.
7. Save the map. Every change is one undo step.

Spray decals

Spray the game's spray can decals on walls, rocks, roads and the ground: the game's own sprays, your own pictures from the Skin Editor, or any spray from the Steam Workshop by its ID. Each spray is the game's spray entity in the map with its skin, so players see it on your server.

1. Open Tools ▸ Entities ▸ Spray Decals….
2. Click a spray in the list (the game's sprays first, then your own pictures), or paste any Steam Workshop spray's ID or link into Skin ID: the Workshop icon and name show next to it, and the spray shows its real picture at full size.
3. Set the Size (the game sprays 1 m) and Turn, and switch on Spray on Click. A see-through spray follows the mouse on whatever surface is under it.
4. Click to spray. The picture's top points the way you look, like in the game, and it is projected onto the surface like the game's spray: it follows a rock's bend and wraps round a wall's edge onto the floor. [ / ] turn it, - / = change the size, Esc stops.
5. Every spray is one undo step. Select sprays and click Apply to Selected to give them another spray; move, turn, copy or delete them like any prefab.

Skin Editor: your own sprays, wallpapers and icons

Make your own spray, wallpaper or item icon from a picture, see how it looks in the game, keep it in the map and, on Windows, publish it to the Steam Workshop so the game shows it on your server.

1. Open Tools ▸ Skin Editor and click New from Picture…: a PNG, JPG, WebP, BMP or GIF (its first frame).
2. Choose what it is in Use as: Spray decal (512 × 512), Wallpaper for walls, floors or ceilings (1024 × 1024) or Item icon (512 × 512).
3. Frame it on the canvas: drag to move, mouse wheel or Zoom to scale, Rotate, Mirror, and Fill (crop to the square) or Fit (whole picture with see-through borders). In the game shows it as a spray on a wall, as wallpaper on a wall, floor or ceiling, or in an inventory slot. Click Apply Changes to keep it.
4. Give it a Name. Pictures are saved in the map file (one undo step per change); Save PNG… saves a copy.
5. To show it in the game it needs a Steam Workshop item: type a Description, pick the Visibility and click Publish to Steam Workshop, or paste the ID of an item you published another way into Workshop ID.
6. Use it: Spray It on the Map opens Spray Decals with your picture; for a wallpaper select building blocks and click Put on Selected Blocks (choose the inside, outside or both sides of walls). Wallpapers with a Workshop ID are also in the wallpaper lists of the Building Planner and the Inspector as Custom <ID>.

Boombox stations

Give a boombox on your map a radio station: one of the game's built-in stations or a link of your own (an internet radio stream or an mp3 file), with its volume, and choose whether it needs electricity or always plays. Try it in play mode; the RustBuildHelper server plugin sets it on your server.

1. Place a boombox from the Prefab Library (boombox.deployed, or boombox.static / boombox.deployed.static, which the game keeps powered).
2. Click it. A small Boombox window opens next to it, and the Inspector shows the same settings in its Boombox section.
3. Pick a Station from the list, or type a link starting with http:// or https:// into Link and press Enter (or Set). A link that is not a web address is refused.
4. Choose the Volume (20 to 100 %, the game's steps).
5. Choose Needs IO power (it plays while its power input gets 10 power: wire a generator, switch, timer or sensor to it in the IO editor) or Always powered (it plays without electricity).
6. A label over the boombox shows its station and power mode. Save the map. Every change is one undo step.

Loot and vending profiles

Loot Profile Manager and Vending Profile Manager: make custom loot tables and vending machine offers, then give them to crates and vending machines on the map.

1. Open Edit Loot Profiles… (or Edit Vending Profiles…, `).
2. Pick a profile in the list and click Load Preset, or click New Preset and type a Profile name.
3. Loot: set Respawn Rate, Refresh Rate and Items To Spawn (min and max). Vending: each row is the Selling item and amount, the Cost item and amount, blueprint ticks and a weight.
4. Click items in the Item List (search by name) to add them to the Contents; set min / max or amounts; ✕ removes a row.
5. Click Details… on a row to give that item a skin, a name, attachments, ammo, text, a recording or a picture (see Item details below). A short summary appears under the item.
6. Click Save Preset: the profile is saved as a file you can use on every map, and added to this map.

Give a profile to a crate or vending machine

1. Select one or more loot containers (crates, barrels…) or NPC vending machines. The small Loot / Vending window appears.
2. Tick Use Custom Loot Preset (or Use Custom Vending Preset) and choose the profile. With several selected, all of them get it.
3. Untick it to go back to the game's default contents. Each change is one undo step; Edit Loot Profiles opens the manager.

Item details

The Details… button on an item (in loot and vending profiles, the spawn loadout and dig loot) opens Item Details. It shows only what that item can have in the game:

• Skin ID and Custom name for any item; ☆ / ▾ save and pick skins like every other skin field.
• Condition % for items that wear out (0 = as the game spawns it).
• Text on the note for notes.
• Liquid inside for water jugs, bottles, buckets and water guns: water or salt water and how much.
• Magazine for guns, bows and launchers: which ammo is loaded and how many rounds.
• Attachments for weapons: only the attachments that fit that weapon, one per slot, each with its own skin.
• Items inside for backpacks and armour with plate slots.
• Recording on the cassette: choose an .ogg file (under 5 MB; the window warns when it is longer than that cassette holds) and play it with ▶ Play.
• Picture on the photo: choose a PNG, JPG, WebP or BMP picture; it is stored as a JPG up to 1024 pixels wide.

Click OK to keep the details (Clear All makes it a plain item again). Recordings and pictures are stored in the map once, however many items use them.

Entity Data: images on signs, skins and scale

Put a picture or an animated GIF on signs and picture frames, give doors, boxes and other entities a workshop skin, and keep the size you scaled an entity to. Rust Build saves this inside the map; the RustBuildHelper server plugin applies it in the game.

1. Click a sign, picture frame or other entity (doors, boxes, furnaces, deployables…). The Entity Data window opens (or open it from the Tools menu).
2. Image on the sign: click Choose Image / GIF… and pick a PNG, JPG, WebP, BMP or animated GIF. It is resized to the sign's own texture size and shown on the sign straight away (GIFs play in the editor too).
3. Or paste a web link to a picture into Image URL and click Use: Rust Build downloads it, fits it to the sign like a picture from your computer and keeps the link with the map, so the server can download the picture too.
4. Choose how a picture of another shape fills the sign with Fit: Crop to fill, Fit inside (transparent bars) or Stretch. Rotate turns the picture first: type any angle or click ⟲ 90° / ⟳ 90°, so a tall picture can fill a wide sign (GIFs turn frame by frame). Signs with several panels (neon signs, multi-panel signs) have a Texture list to pick the panel.
5. Skin: type the workshop skin ID (or paste the workshop link) and click Apply; Clear goes back to the default skin. Under the ID the skin's Steam Workshop picture and name appear; click them to open its workshop page.
6. Scale: scale the entity with the gizmo or the inspector as usual; the window shows the size the server plugin will use.
7. Respawn (crates, barrels, loot boxes and vending machines): set the Minutes from and to. The server plugin puts the entity back at its spot a random time in that range after it is destroyed or emptied; boxes that refill instead of breaking refill on that time. The time also holds when the server runs the server extension for map data: a box it puts back earlier stays hidden until the time is up. Default keeps the game's own time (or the loot profile's respawn rate).
8. Save the map. Every change is one undo step.

Server settings: safe zones, quarries, puzzle resets

Change how monuments behave on your server: take the safe zone away from a monument, let players respawn at the Outpost or Bandit Camp, give a quarry or pump jack its own fuel and output, or change how often a monument's puzzles and loot reset. You set it on the monument in the Inspector; the RustBuildHelper server plugin applies it when the server starts.

1. Click a monument. When it has something you can change, the Inspector shows a Server settings section.
2. Remove safe zone (Outpost, Bandit Camp, fishing villages, stables, apartment complex and other monuments with a safe zone): tick it and the monument becomes a normal fighting area on your server. The safe zone's auto turrets and sentries are removed too. The editor draws the zone grey and crossed out; selecting a monument whose zone is still on shows it in green.
3. Players can spawn here (Outpost and Bandit Camp): tick it and every player on your server can pick this monument on the death screen, like a sleeping bag everyone has. It uses the game's own respawn point for the monument; as in the game, a hostile player waits until they are no longer hostile. When the map has too little beach for new players, they start here too.
4. Quarry / Pump jack (the stone, sulfur and HQM quarries and the pump jacks of monuments): pick the Fuel it burns (diesel, low grade fuel, crude oil, or No fuel so it runs whenever it is switched on), the Work per fuel (how long one fuel lasts), the Work per tick (how fast it works) and how much of each resource one fuel makes (0 = none). The text under it says how long one fuel lasts.
5. Puzzle reset (oil rigs, labs, missile silo, power plant, military tunnels, satellite dish and other monuments with card readers, fuses and doors that reset): set the Reset time, the Player detection radius (a reset waits while a player is this close) and Scale with population. The heading shows the game's own reset time for that monument.
6. Game settings removes a quarry's or a monument's settings again. Every change is one undo step.
7. Save the map, then make the plugin with Tools ▸ Utilities ▸ Server Plugin…: the features your map uses are ticked for you.

Player spawn loadout

Choose what players get when they spawn on your map: clothes, tools, weapons, food, resources, with workshop skins, instead of (or on top of) the game's rock and torch. The loadout is saved with the map, and the RustBuildHelper server plugin gives it to players on your server.

1. Open Tools ▸ Entities ▸ Player Spawn Loadout….
2. Click items in the Game items list on the right to add them. Pick a category or type in Search… to find one; each item shows its icon. Clothes go on the player, weapons, tools, medical items and food on the belt, everything else in the inventory. Starter Kit fills in a small kit to start from.
3. For each item set the Amount, the Place (Clothing, Belt or Inventory) and the Slot (Any = the first free one). Type a workshop Skin ID if you like: the skin's picture and name show next to it (click it to open its workshop page). Details… adds a name, attachments, ammo, water and more (see Item details). Use the arrows to change the order and ✕ to remove an item.
4. Tick First spawn (players new to the server, or after a wipe) and / or Every respawn (after dying), and choose Instead of the rock and torch or On top of the rock and torch.
5. How it looks in the player's inventory shows the clothing slots, the belt and the inventory as the player will see them. Every change is one undo step.
6. Save the map and put the server plugin on your server (the Server Plugin window ticks Player spawn loadout for you).

RustBuildHelper server plugin (for server owners)

An Oxide (uMod) plugin that reads the entity data from the map when the server starts and puts the sign images, GIFs, skins and scale on the entities, and launches the boats built with the Boat Building Planner. It also flies the map's CH47 route, teleports players through linked teleport doors, sets the boombox stations, gives players the loot of your dig loot areas when they dig with a metal detector, gives them your spawn loadout, grows the trees to full size and sets how many trees, ores and collectables the game keeps on the map, applies the cargo ship stops, no-leave areas and sinking and lets the server use maps smaller than 1000 m or bigger than 6000 m. It also runs everything the map editors' NPC, vehicle, loot and IO data needs, so no other server extension is required: NPC spawners, animals and vehicle spawns, loot and vending profiles, keycard desks, IO wiring and the map's cargo path. When such an extension is installed, the plugin leaves those parts to it.

1. Open your map and choose Tools ▸ Utilities ▸ Server Plugin…. The window lists every feature of the plugin and shows which ones your map uses (with how many items); those are ticked for you. Tick or untick features yourself, or tick Include everything.
2. Pick the Game branch your server runs: Main (the normal game) or Staging (the test branch). The plugin is made to work with that branch.
3. If your server already runs the server extension your map uses (its Harmony mod in HarmonyMods, or its Oxide / Carbon extension; the window shows the file names), tick it: the features that extension already runs (NPC spawners, vehicles, loot, vending, keycards, IO, the cargo path, and with the Harmony mod also animals, the hack alarm and CH47 landing) are left out. With neither ticked, the plugin does all of that itself.
4. The window shows the plugin's size with everything and with your choice. Click Save… and pick a folder: your server's oxide/plugins folder (Carbon: carbon/plugins), or simply the server folder (its plugins folder is used). The plugin is always saved as RustBuildHelper.cs with only the chosen features, so it stays small; if one is already there, you are asked before it is replaced. Next time Save to <folder> saves to the same place in one click.
5. Your server needs Oxide (uMod); Carbon loads Oxide plugins too.
6. Saved somewhere else? Copy RustBuildHelper.cs into the server's oxide/plugins folder (Carbon: carbon/plugins).
7. Start the server with your map as usual (+server.levelurl or +server.level). Nothing else is needed: the data travels inside the map file.
8. A few seconds after the start the console shows what was applied, for example 12 entities found, 0 not found; 5 signs painted (2 animated), 6 skins, 3 scaled.

What it applies, and the limits

• Boats are launched only on the first start of a save: the plugin builds each boat the way the game finishes one at a Boat Building Station, as a floating player boat with its blocks, sails, engines and steering wheel, owned by nobody (or the SteamID in the settings). The boats are then saved by the server like boats players built; later restarts don't add them again, and a wipe (a new save) launches them again. Pieces this server's Rust version doesn't have are left out with a warning.
• Key and code locks (see Door locks) are fitted to their doors when the server starts, the way a player puts a lock on a door, and locked: code locks take the code from the map and nobody is authorised, so every player has to enter it; key locks get a key code no key has, so only door controllers open their doors. Players can't pick the map's locks up or change their codes. A lock with no door within 1 m is left where it is and the console says so. The server keeps the locks with their codes in its save; a new code in the map applies after a wipe.
• Building skins and wallpapers (see Building skins and wallpaper) are put on the map's building blocks when the server starts, with each block's grade. These blocks never collapse, lose their ground or decay. A skin that doesn't belong to a block's grade is left out. The game takes wallpaper off a side that is outside; map buildings are often open, so the plugin keeps the map's wallpaper (setting keep wallpaper on sides that are outside, needs Harmony support in Oxide or Carbon).
• Spray decals (see Spray decals) get their spray (skin) and keep their size; rain and time no longer remove them (water and damage still do). Sprays from a picture without a Workshop ID show the game's default spray.
• Player spawns. A new player is put on a beach the game accepts (see Beach Spawn Areas). When the map has none, the game drops the player at the map centre inside the ground. The plugin then gives a safe spot instead: an Outpost or Bandit Camp respawn point the map has, else a dry beach or low shore away from monuments, roads, rivers and cliffs with nothing standing on it. Maps where the game finds its own spots are left alone. The Server Plugin window ticks this by itself when your map has little beach spawn area or monument respawn points.
• Safe zones, quarries and puzzle resets (see Server settings) are applied a few seconds after the start. Unloading the plugin gives the monuments their safe zones and turrets back and returns quarries and puzzle resets to the game's values. A quarry's own fuel needs Harmony support in Oxide or Carbon.
• Images go into the server's file storage like player-painted signs; re-applying replaces them, so they don't pile up.
• Animated GIFs play while the plugin is loaded. Each frame change is a small network update, so keep the number of animated signs reasonable. Neon signs can animate by themselves (the spread GIF frames option).
• Skins need a workshop skin that exists for that item. Some entities only show the new skin after players walk away and come back.
• Scale works by attaching the entity to an invisible scaled entity, the way scale plugins do. Only even scaling is possible; entities already attached to something else are not scaled. Unloading the plugin returns them to their normal size.
• Map size override. The game only accepts maps from 1000 to 6000 m and squeezes any other map into that range. With the plugin installed the server uses the size stored in the map (250–16000 m; Map size override settings: allow, or force a size). Install the plugin before starting the server: the size is decided while the map loads, so loading it later only shows a warning until the next restart. Generated maps (server.worldsize) keep the game's limits. Needs an Oxide or Carbon build with Harmony support. Rust does not officially support these sizes: test the map with a game client before going live.
• Maps with NPC patrols or protected data. On a map with NPC patrols (or Also protect prefab and entity data in the map password, or a map started in another editor that has such data) the other server extension reads only that data. Rust Build saves everything else there too: IO wires and settings, vending machines and loot crates with their profiles, NPC spawners, vehicle spawns, the cargo path and APC (Bradley) paths, so the extension runs all of it and the plugin doesn't do it twice. Maps saved by an older Rust Build still work: the plugin runs those parts itself until you save the map again.
• The plugin only reads the map file; it never changes it.
• Re-saving the map in another map editor drops the Rust Build data (other editors only write the data they know): keep editing images and skins in Rust Build. The entity scale survives either way.

Path Tools window

Create and edit every kind of path; roads, rails and rivers get Rust's real meshes, trails are dirt only.

1. Open Tools ▸ Path Tools (it has no key by default; give it one in Preferences ▸ Keybindings).
2. Choose the Type: Road, River, Rail, Powerline, Cargo ship (ocean), APC (Bradley), Trail (dirt, no mesh), CH47 (Chinook) or NPC Patrol (scientists). Click New at View (three nodes at the screen centre) or Draw New (click nodes, Enter finishes).
3. Click a path to select it, click a node to select it and drag it along the terrain; Shift+click adds nodes to the selection.
4. Ctrl+click the terrain adds a node at the nearer end; Ctrl+click a node inserts one before it; Del deletes nodes.
5. Use the tabs for properties, terrain, APC, cargo, rivers, the CH47 route and NPC patrols.

Generate a cargo ship path

1. Open the Cargo tab and choose the Method: Game (server) works like a Rust server (a circle that shrinks towards the land until it is Shore distance metres from it), Fast (corners) makes four corners just outside the map.
2. Set the Shore distance (m) (the game uses 200) and, if needed, Max passes.
3. Click Generate new cargo ship path. A progress window shows while it works; the new loop replaces the old one as one undo step.

The loop keeps the shore distance from icebergs, rocks and cliffs in the sea and from oil rigs too, as well as from the land. Place icebergs or other sea prefabs after making the path? Double Check Work lists every place where the path now runs through or next to one; generate the path again to go around them. New procedural maps make the cargo path last, after everything else is placed.

CH47 (Chinook) route and crate drops

Decide where the CH47 flies on your map and where it drops its locked crates, like the APC route with its interest nodes. The route is saved inside the map; the RustBuildHelper server plugin flies it on your server. Without the plugin the game ignores it.

1. Open Tools ▸ Path Tools, choose the type CH47 (Chinook) and open the CH47 tab.
2. Set the Flight height first (height above the ground or the sea for new nodes, default 50 m).
3. Click New Route (a 600 m circle round the screen centre with one drop point in the middle) or Draw New and click the route node by node, Enter finishes. A map has one CH47 route.
4. Edit the nodes like any path: drag them (they keep their height above the ground), Ctrl+click to add, Del to remove, Smooth, Set Height to put nodes back at the flight height.
5. Click Add Drop Point to put a drop point at the screen centre, then drag the orange spheres to open ground. The orange post shows where the CH47 hovers to drop (30 m up).
6. Set the timings (below) and click Check Clearance. Fix anything it lists (Show Problem flies the camera there), save the map and put the plugin on your server.

Making a good route

• Height: 40–80 m above the ground is a good start. The game never lets a CH47 fly lower than 30 m above the ground; parts of the route below that are drawn yellow and the CH47 is lifted there.
• Tall monuments: the launch site, the excavator, the power plant, the oil rigs and the airfield hangars are taller than most routes. Go round them or raise the nodes near them. The server's CH47 climbs over what it sees ahead, but it bobs up and down doing it. Red on the route and red spheres = Check Clearance found something in the way.
• Node spacing: 50–200 m between nodes with gentle bends. The CH47 cuts corners and needs about 100 m to turn, so tight zig-zags are flattened out.
• Make it a loop: the CH47 flies from the last node back to node 0 (the darker leg) and around again. Ending near the start gives an even loop.
• Drop points: flat, open ground away from roofs, trees, rocks, cliffs and water. The crate falls on its parachute from the CH47 hovering 30 m above the point.
• Length: a loop shorter than 800 m (or with fewer than 3 nodes) is too short to follow. The plugin then patrols random monuments instead, the way the game's own CH47 does, and still drops at your drop points.

On the server

The CH47 spawns out at sea like the game's CH47, flies to your route, patrols it for the patrol time, flies to the drop points and drops the game's locked crates (with its scientists on board, as usual), then leaves after the leave time and despawns past the map edge. If players shoot it down, the next one comes at the next respawn time. Server owners can check it with rustbuild.ch47 and start one at once with rustbuild.ch47 now (see Server plugin).

Crate events (locked crate + CH47 reinforcements)

Make your own oil rig style event anywhere on the map: when a player starts hacking a locked crate you placed, a CH47 flies in along your flight path, lands at your landing point and heavy scientists jump out, run to the crate and guard it. After the crate was looted or destroyed it comes back, locked again, after the respawn time. Every crate can have its own event. The event is saved inside the map; the RustBuildHelper server plugin runs it on your server.

1. Place a hackable locked crate from the prefab library (search codelockedhackablecrate; the normal one and the oil rig one both work) and select it.
2. In the Inspector click Add Crate Event. Rust Build picks a flat, open landing spot about 50 m from the crate (green pad) and a flight path that comes in from the nearer map edge (purple), with a yellow line from the pad to the crate.
3. Set the Respawn time, the number of Heavy scientists (1–11, the oil rigs bring 6–11) and, if you like, the Hack time (0 = the server's normal 15 minutes).
4. Click Edit Flight Path to edit the path in Path Tools: drag the nodes (they keep their height above the ground), Ctrl+click to add nodes, Snap to Terrain puts them back at the flight height. Drag the white sphere on the pad to move the landing point. Click the crate again for its settings.
5. Or move the landing point with Find Landing Spot (the best open spot near the crate) or Landing at View (the ground at the screen centre).
6. Read the warnings under the buttons and click Check Clearance, then save the map and put the plugin on your server.

A good landing spot and flight path

• Landing spot: flat, open ground 30–100 m from the crate. A CH47 needs a space about 30 m across: no trees, rocks, roofs, walls or power lines within about 15 m. The pad turns orange and the Inspector warns when the spot is not flat, under water, too close to the crate (the CH47 would land on it), more than 150 m away (the scientists have far to run) or has prefabs next to it.
• Not in water: heavy scientists can't swim to the crate. Keep the pad on dry land, also at low spots near the coast.
• Flight path: start it out at sea or at the map edge, where the CH47 appears, and bring it in over low ground. 50–80 m above the ground clears most things; go round or over tall monuments. The CH47 slows down and lands from the last node, so end the path 40–100 m before the pad, coming in from the open side.
• Monuments: landing inside a monument's walls or between buildings often fails. A spot just outside works better: the scientists walk the rest of the way.
• Check Clearance before you save: red on the path or a hit at the landing point means the CH47 would touch something there.

On the server

Nothing happens until a player starts hacking the crate. Then the CH47 appears at the first node of the path, flies it, lands on the pad, the heavy scientists get out and run to the crate, and the CH47 takes off and leaves the map. The scientists attack players who come close to the crate and despawn a few minutes after the crate was looted. If the landing spot is blocked the CH47 gives up after a few minutes and leaves (the scientists get out if it is close). Server owners can list the events with rustbuild.crate and send a CH47 at once with rustbuild.crate now 1 (see Server plugin).

NPC patrols (scientists that walk a path)

Draw a path and scientists walk it on your server: up and down a road, round a monument, along a wall. When a player shoots them or comes close enough to be seen, they attack; when the player is dead or gets away, they walk back to their path and carry on. A map can have as many patrols as you like, each with its own scientists and settings. The patrols are saved inside the map. On your server they need the server extension that runs the map's NPC spawners and NPC paths (the one map makers use for map NPCs); play mode lets you try them out.

1. Open Tools ▸ Path Tools, choose the type NPC Patrol (scientists) and open the NPC tab.
2. Click New Patrol (four nodes on a 40 m square round the screen centre) or Draw New and click the path node by node on the ground, Enter finishes. The path is drawn pink with arrows in the walking direction; blue posts show where each scientist starts.
3. Edit the nodes like any path: drag them over the ground, Ctrl+click to add a node, Del to remove one, Smooth. Inside a monument, drag a node there and raise it onto the floor with the gizmo's up arrow.
4. Set the patrol (below): how many scientists, which scientists, the route, the walking speed, respawn time, aggro range and the wait at each node. While the patrol is selected a ring around every start post shows how far the scientists see.
5. Press Ctrl+P to try it in play mode, then save the map and put it on a server that has the server extension.

What the scientists do

• Patrol: each one first walks to the nearest node, then from node to node at the walking speed, and stands at each node for the wait time.
• Notice you: when you come within the aggro range and one of them can see you, when you get within a third of the range from any side, or when you hit one.
• Fight: they come after you and shoot when they can see you, with the game's own scientist fighting.
• Go back: when you are dead or more than 2.5 times the aggro range away, they walk back to the nearest node of their path and patrol on.
• Killed: a scientist killed by a player lies there and a new one comes at its start point after the respawn time.

Making a good patrol

• Keep the path on open ground the scientists can walk on: roads, fields, monument floors. They can't climb rocks or walk through walls; a node they can't reach is skipped.
• 5–30 m between nodes works well. A loop needs at least 3 nodes; back and forth works with 2.
• An aggro range of 20–40 m is like the game's own scientists. Much more and they start shooting from far away.
• Many scientists on a short path walk close together; the NPC tab warns about it.

Try it in play mode

In play mode the scientists walk the path in their real outfits with a gun. Walk up to them or shoot them to see them react: they come after you, shoot, and walk back to the path when you get away or die. Your health is shown at the bottom left; the PvP weapons hurt them (a hatchet does 25, the revolver 35 up to 10 m). When they kill you, you stand up again after 5 seconds where you started play mode. Play mode only shows how the patrol behaves; nothing is changed in the map.

On the server

The server extension spawns the scientists at their start posts when the server starts and walks them along the path. They fight with the game's own scientist fighting, with the patrol's aggro range, and go back to their path when the fight is over. Play mode copies this closely but not exactly: there scientists also hear gunshots, call in the others of their patrol and give up after 10 seconds without seeing you. The RustBuildHelper plugin is not needed for patrols.

Cargo ship stops, no-leave areas and sinking

Make the cargo ship stop at chosen points of its path for as long as you like, keep it from leaving the map in certain areas, and let it sink at the end of its run instead of sailing away. The cargo path itself stays the game's normal cargo path; these settings are saved separately in the map and the RustBuildHelper server plugin applies them. Without the plugin the ship sails as usual.

1. Open Tools ▸ Path Tools, the Cargo tab, and make sure the map has a cargo ship path (Create Path or Generate).
2. Tick Advanced mode: stops, no-leave areas, sinking.
3. Set the Stop time (minutes and seconds), select a node of the cargo path and click Add Stop (with no node selected the stop goes on the path nearest the screen centre). A yellow post with its time marks the stop; the ring shows where the ship starts slowing down.
4. Click a stop's post and drag it: it slides along the path. Change the time of the selected stop with the Stop time boxes. Delete Selected (or Del) removes it.
5. Click Add No-Leave Area for a red circle at the screen centre. Drag its centre to move it and the handle on its edge to make it bigger or smaller (or type the Area radius).
6. For sinking, tick Sink instead of leaving, and Spawn on the path if the ship should appear right on its path. Set the Run time and save the map.

Trails (dirt paths)

Rust's trails are dirt tracks with no road surface. Rust Build draws them as a faint line with a marker on every node, over the dirt they paint.

1. In Path Tools choose the type Trail (dirt, no mesh): it uses the game's trail settings (4 m wide, Dirt splat, Road topology).
2. Draw it with Draw New or New at View, then edit the nodes like any path.
3. Open the Terrain tab and click Apply to Terrain to paint the dirt and the Road topology under it.

Rivers like the generator

A river you draw gets the same settings and the same shape as the rivers of a generated map: the bed is carved, the banks fade out, it gets wider and deeper downstream and opens into a wide mouth, with gravel on the bed and River and Riverside topology.

1. In Path Tools choose the type River and draw it with Draw New from the source down to the mouth (or select an existing river). Reverse on the Nodes tab flips a river drawn the wrong way; the River tab warns when it runs uphill.
2. Open the River tab and click Generator settings to copy the river settings of New Procedural Map ▸ Rivers (width, depth, fades) onto it, or set them yourself: Width, Depth, Inner fade / Outer fade (how far the banks blend into the land), Inner pad / Outer pad, Width noise (the width varies along the river), Water level and the Bed splat.
3. Choose what to do: Widen downstream, Flow downhill (the nodes follow the land but never climb), Smooth course, Smooth heights, Resample 7.5 m, Carve terrain, Paint splat, River topology and Riverside + cliffs.
4. Click Apply River. The nodes, the terrain, the splat and the topology change together as one undo step.

Train Tunnels

Edit the underground train network on Rust's 216 m grid, with stations, monument shafts and entrances; pieces are chosen automatically.

1. Turn on Train Tunnels; a grid appears at tunnel depth. Tick Hide terrain to see underground.
2. Draw: drag across cells; Erase; Select; Entrance: click the terrain.
3. With a cell selected: toggle a station, add a shaft, link a station to an entrance, delete.
4. Build Links creates the connections the game would make. Red cells are dead ends.

Resize Map

Change the map size by scaling, extending or cutting the edges (1000–6000 m).

1. Type the New Map Size and choose the Resize Mode: Scale, Extend Edges or Cut Edges.
2. Choose the height and alpha resolution, smoothing and interpolation.
3. Click RESIZE. Problems (same size, invalid size, extending to a smaller size) are shown in the status line.