Rust Force Wipe Schedule and How to Wipe Your Server

When is Rust force wipe?

Rust force wipe is on the first Thursday of every month, together with the monthly game update – usually around 7 pm UK time (London). It hits every PC server: official, community, modded and private.

Why every server? The monthly update changes the game's network protocol version, and the world save is tied to that version – an updated server can't load the old save and generates the map again. A server you don't update keeps its map, but updated players can't join it.

Upcoming force wipes (first Thursdays of the month):

These dates follow the "first Thursday of the month" rule. Facepunch can occasionally move an update – the final date and time are in its update announcements on the Rust blog and social channels. In US time zones the update usually lands in the early afternoon Eastern time; it's set by UK time, so the US offset shifts by an hour in the weeks when the US and UK change clocks on different dates. Rust Console Edition has its own update schedule and isn't covered by this one.

What is a wipe in Rust?

A wipe deletes the game world: the map, every building, every box and the players' inventories – after a wipe everyone starts naked on the beach. There are two kinds:

Blueprints are the item recipes players unlock as they play. If they carry over between wipes, the next map moves faster because players can craft better gear straight away. A blueprint wipe levels the field – everyone starts the tech tree from the beginning.

Facepunch's force wipe is always a map wipe. Facepunch forces blueprint wipes only occasionally and announces them in advance; otherwise blueprints are the server owner's call.

How often should you wipe your own Rust server?

For a group of friends the monthly force wipe is usually enough, while community servers add their own wipes every week or every two weeks. The schedule decides how long one "round" of the game lasts:

A few rules that work in practice:

• Announce the wipe day in advance – in the server description (the Description field on the Configuration tab on Spot.gg) and on your Discord. Players pick servers by their wipe day.
• Wipe on Thursdays – many owners schedule their wipes on Thursdays so they line up with the force wipe and the month doesn't end with a map that only lasts a few days.
• Blueprints less often than the map – typically at force wipe or every few map wipes.

How do you wipe a Rust server on Spot.gg?

In the server panel go to Information → Modify → Wipe, choose "Map" or "Map + blueprints" and confirm – the new map is generated on the next start. Step by step:

1. Open the server panel and the Information tab.
2. Click Modify, then Wipe.
3. Choose the type:
   • Map – a new map; the blueprints players have learned are kept;
   • Map + blueprints – a new map and blueprints reset for everyone.
4. If the server is running, the panel stops it. On a paid server it offers a backup first – take it, because there's no other way to undo a wipe (backups aren't available on the free trial server).
5. After the wipe the server stays stopped. Start it – it generates the new map on startup, which takes a few minutes. Players can join once generation is done.

What survives a wipe on Spot.gg: the settings on the Configuration tab, admin and moderator permissions (files in cfg/), your installed plugins and their config files. Some plugins keep their own data between wipes (shop currencies or stats, for example) – to reset it, check the plugin's description or delete its data file in oxide/data (Oxide) or carbon/data (Carbon) on the Files tab.

Same map or a new layout?

A wipe doesn't change the map settings, so the new map has the same seed and size – the same terrain and monuments, just without any buildings. For a completely new island, change the Map seed (or Map size) on the Configuration tab before you start the server. More on picking a map in Rust map size and seed.

What about force wipe on Spot.gg?

You don't have to do anything for force wipe. With Automatic updates on (the default, on the Configuration tab), the panel installs the new Rust version for you: a running server warns players in chat, stops, updates and starts again – already on a fresh map. On Oxide and Carbon the update waits until the framework releases a build for the new Rust version.

A Rust server on Spot.gg (8 GB RAM, 20 GB disk) costs from $12.23 / month, and the first 24 hours are free, no card needed.

How do you wipe a Rust server on your own PC?

Stop the server and delete the map and save files (.map, .sav) in server/<identity> – for a blueprint wipe, the player.blueprints.*.db files too. <identity> is the name from the +server.identity parameter in your start script.

1. Stop the server with the quit console command (it saves the world before shutting down).
2. Open the server/<identity> folder in your server directory.
3. Delete the map and world files: proceduralmap.*.map and proceduralmap.*.sav (including the .sav.1, .sav.2 backups).
4. For a blueprint wipe, also delete player.blueprints.*.db.
5. Leave the cfg folder alone – it holds your admin permissions (users.cfg) and bans (bans.cfg), among other things.
6. Start the server. If you want a different map layout, change +server.seed in your start script first.

File names can change between Rust versions, so copy the whole server/<identity> folder before your first manual wipe.

Wipes, plugins and updates

After a force wipe, the usual trouble is a plugin that doesn't work with the new Rust version – not the map itself. What to watch:

• Oxide and Carbon need a build that matches the new Rust version. On Spot.gg the panel installs it together with the game update; on your own server you download it yourself after Facepunch's update.
• After the update, check the Console – compile errors show which plugin needs a newer version. You can install a newer version of a catalog plugin on the Addons tab. More in how to install Rust plugins.
• On modded servers with multipliers, check that your gather and kit plugins work after the wipe before you let players in.

FAQ

When is Rust force wipe?

On the first Thursday of every month, together with the monthly update – usually around 7 pm UK time. Facepunch occasionally moves the date and announces it in its update posts.

Does force wipe reset blueprints?

Usually not – force wipe is a map wipe. Facepunch forces blueprint wipes only occasionally and announces them in advance. On your own server you can reset blueprints whenever you want (on Spot.gg: Wipe → Map + blueprints).

Can I skip force wipe on my own server?

Not if you want players to be able to join. An updated server can't load a save from the old version, and an updated game client won't connect to a server that hasn't been updated.

What stays after a wipe on Spot.gg?

Server settings, admin and moderator permissions, installed plugins and their configs. The map with all buildings and player inventories is deleted, and with "Map + blueprints" the blueprints are too.

Will I get a new map after a wipe?

The map is generated again, but the same seed and size give the same terrain layout. For a completely new island, change the Map seed on the Configuration tab before starting the server.

How long does a wipe take on Spot.gg?

The wipe itself takes moments; then the server generates the new map on startup – usually a few minutes, longer on big maps. You can follow the progress on the Console tab.