Rust’s August update is here, and this one could significantly change how players interact with the island. Facepunch has introduced Player Maintained Monuments, a new system that connects several existing monuments through an island-wide power network.
Instead of monuments simply existing as isolated locations for loot, puzzles and PvP, players can now actively maintain infrastructure that benefits — or potentially attracts — everyone on the server.
The update also introduces the Satellite Crash event, new oil transportation mechanics, monument upgrades, two DLC releases, balancing changes, major performance improvements and a completely rebuilt Demo UI.
Player Maintained Monuments Change the Island
The headline addition is Player Maintained Monuments.
Several monuments are now connected through systems that players need to activate and maintain. The Power Plant sits at the centre of much of this network.
Players can find new Heavy Fuses as loot and install them in special fuse boxes at the Power Plant. Adding more fuses gradually restores different parts of the electrical grid.
Not every system activates at the same power level, either. As a result, keeping the Power Plant operational could become an important server-wide objective.
Once electricity starts flowing, transformer-equipped powerline poles along roads can provide electricity for player circuits.
Even better, players can now climb the powerlines directly by approaching them and jumping.
Recyclers Now Depend on Power
Outdoor green recyclers have received an important balance change.
Their baseline efficiency has effectively dropped from 50% to 45%, following a 10% reduction to their previous baseline. However, supplying enough electricity through the Power Plant increases their efficiency to 60%.
At maximum power, their recycling duration also improves from five seconds to 4.5 seconds.
Safezone yellow recyclers remain unchanged.
Meanwhile, the Power Plant itself now contains a special red recycler offering 75% efficiency. It can only be used while the Power Plant is operating at maximum power.
That gives players another major reason to fight over control of the monument.
Satellite Crash Brings a New Server-Wide Event
The update also introduces the Satellite Crash event.
At Launch Site, players can power the Satellite Control Computer using tech trash and an aiming module. From there, they can take control of a satellite and attempt to determine where it will crash.
Players use thruster controls to manipulate the impact location. However, Facepunch isn’t providing instructions for the controls, meaning survivors will need to work out how the system behaves themselves.
After locking in the location, the satellite begins falling from orbit.
Its descent is visible across the server.
Eventually, it crashes and scatters new satellite loot crates around the impact area. The crates must cool before they can be opened, giving other groups plenty of time to arrive.
In other words, calling one down could quickly turn into a large PvP encounter.
Dome Can Now Produce Crude Oil
Powering the island also affects the oil monuments.
Once the Power Plant is operational, players can activate a new switch on the Large Oil Rig. Doing so pumps crude oil toward Dome for 20 minutes.
However, players cannot simply collect it using their inventory.
A vehicle equipped with the Tanker module must drain the crude oil before transporting it to a car lift for extraction.
Small Oil Rig contains another switch that pumps crude at half the rate. Both switches can operate simultaneously, increasing production to 1.5x the normal amount.
This creates a considerably more involved supply chain around crude oil.
Supermarket Gets a Powered Freezer
Supermarket now contains a freezer connected to the electrical grid.
While the Power Plant supplies electricity, the freezer continuously generates chilled food. Occasionally, it will also produce a larger food cache.
It’s a relatively small addition compared with the new server-wide systems, but it gives players another reason to check the monument when electricity is available.
Water Treatment Plant Controls Roadside Water
Water Treatment Plant now plays an important role in maintaining the island’s water supply.
New water pipes can appear alongside roads. Initially, these pipes remain empty.
Players need to restore pressure at Water Treatment Plant before water starts flowing.
Two new gearboxes have been installed inside the monument. With the Power Plant grid active, players can insert gears and start the valve wheels.
Those gears are consumed during operation and cannot be removed after insertion.
Once the central tank reaches full pressure, its blades begin clearing blockages and restore water flow throughout the map.
After the initial startup, maintaining pressure should require considerably less effort.
Oxum’s Gas Station Gets a Working Garage
Oxum’s Gas Station has also received an upgrade.
Its garage becomes operational whenever the island’s power grid is active. Alternatively, players can use the backup generator located outside.
With electricity available, a switch controls the garage door.
Inside, players can use the functioning car lift to modify vehicles just like a normal player-owned lift.
There is another incentive underneath the garage. Players can enter the cave below for a chance to find higher-quality car parts.
Airfield Can Increase Airdrops
Airfield now features an updated control tower containing two powered terminals.
The smaller terminal increases the frequency of airdrops across the map while charged.
Meanwhile, charging the larger terminal allows players to call a Chinook resupply crate near the Airfield tarmac.
Both terminals gradually lose their remaining charge after activation. Once fully drained, they become available again.
Combined with the Satellite Crash event, Rust’s August update gives groups several new ways to deliberately create high-value events that other players can contest.
Bar Games Pack Adds Pool and Darts
Alongside the free update, Facepunch has released the new Bar Games Pack DLC.
Its biggest additions are playable Pool and Darts.
Both function as interactive mini-games rather than decorative props. Players can place them inside their bases and compete either alone or with friends.
The Pool Table supports one or two players using standard pool rules. Players physically move around the table, position themselves for a shot, select their desired power and move the mouse upward to strike the cue ball.
The pack also includes an interactive Jukebox, themed bar stools, wallpapers, sprays and skins for the Mini Fridge and Shotgun Trap.
Stone Sculpture Lets Players Get Creative
Another DLC item arriving this month is the Stone Sculpture.
Players can deploy the sculpture and manually carve away pieces of stone to create their own designs.
Considering the creativity — and questionable creativity — of the Rust community, servers probably won’t take long to fill these with unusual creations.
Respawn Points Are Easier to Manage
Respawn management has received some welcome quality-of-life improvements.
Players can now mark one sleeping bag, bed or other respawn option so that it appears on their compass. The respawn point must be marked by directly interacting with it.
Only one can be tracked at a time.
Additionally, sleeping bags can now be marked as favourites from the death screen. Favourite options appear at the top of the respawn list, making important beds much easier to find during hectic situations.
Recycle Bin Upgrade Gets Storage
The Recycle Bin workbench upgrade now comes with its own inventory.
Bonus items generated through the upgrade automatically enter this storage instead of requiring immediate collection.
Players cannot manually place items inside it, though. The inventory is strictly take-only.
Safe Zones Will No Longer Drain Resource Spawns
Ore nodes and woodpiles can no longer spawn inside safe zones.
Previously, players could only harvest these resources using a rock. Consequently, they often remained untouched and gradually consumed part of the global resource spawn population.
Removing them from safe zones should allow more useful resource nodes to appear elsewhere.
Wolf Headdress Now Requires Tier 1
The Wolf Headdress has received a progression nerf.
Players now need access to a Tier 1 Workbench before they can craft it.
Facepunch says the helmet has remained particularly powerful during early and mid wipe because it offers strong head protection while still allowing players to equip a bandana.
The change should make alternative helmets more competitive during early bow fights.
Lunar New Year animal masks have also become Wolf Headdress skins. Therefore, players can freely reskin between the variants without filling the crafting menu with separate entries.
Shields Can Switch Stances
Shield users now have more control over how they carry their equipment.
A new configurable bind lets players switch between carrying the shield on their back while aiming down sights or positioning it to the side for protection.
A cooldown prevents rapid stance switching.
Facepunch specifically wants players to commit strategically to a stance rather than repeatedly swapping during gunfights.
High Walls Now Cost More to Maintain
Large compounds are getting more expensive.
High walls now carry a static 20% upkeep cost.
Facepunch hopes this discourages groups from claiming enormous sections of the map by surrounding them with excessive walls and external Tool Cupboards.
The change should also help abandoned compounds disappear faster after raids because maintaining large networks of high walls will require additional resources.
Water Well Vendors Receive Heavy Stock Nerf
Water Well vendors have become increasingly powerful as an alternative progression method, particularly following the additional scrap introduced through the blueprint update.
Facepunch says extreme cases allowed players to purchase ten jackhammers and ten advanced teas only a few hours into a wipe.
That wasn’t the intended purpose of the vendors.
Prices remain unchanged, but stock has been dramatically reduced:
- Stock: 10 → 2
- Restock time: 2 minutes → 10 minutes
Water Wells should consequently return to being an early stepping stone toward farming rather than replacing farming altogether.
Hover Looting Finally Handles Armour Properly
A frustrating hover-looting issue has been fixed.
Holding ALT normally attempts to move an item directly onto the player’s character. However, looting armour from a body bag could fail whenever Rust needed to swap currently equipped clothing.
The new system correctly performs the swap.
Removed clothing enters the player’s main inventory. If that inventory is completely full, Rust instead places the removed equipment inside the body bag being looted.
It should make quickly grabbing armour during raids and large fights considerably less frustrating.
Master Key Finally Gets Its Model
The Apartment Complex Master Key launched last month without its proper model.
That’s now fixed.
The key has received a complete view model and animations, making breaking into neighbouring apartments slightly more polished than before.
Rust’s Arrows Get a Visual Revamp
Wooden arrows have received updated visuals.
New models and fletching give them a more detailed appearance that Facepunch says better fits Rust’s visual identity.
The seemingly simple change required updates across multiple weapon rigs and prefabs because individual weapons previously contained the arrow mesh directly.
Demo UI 2 Is Built for Content Creators
Rust’s Demo UI has received a complete rebuild.
The new interface aims to remove much of the reliance on console commands and custom binds previously required to create cinematics.
Its new tools include an Options Panel for controlling cameras, depth of field, time and post-processing.
A Dolly Camera allows creators to position cameras at different points and create sweeping shots.
Meanwhile, the Keyframe Timeline can animate settings, enabling timelapses and changing focus distances.
Sandbox Mode introduces additional production tools, including player cloning and light placement. The Scene System effectively works as a project system, allowing creators to save different variations.
Players appearing in recordings can also have their clothing and appearance changed or be hidden entirely.
Finally, creators can export footage as PNG sequences. Facepunch plans to expand this toward direct video exporting in the future.
The new interface remains experimental and isn’t enabled by default. Players interested in testing it need to enter:
demo.newui
into the console.
Small Backpack Becomes Workshop Skinnable
The Small Backpack is this month’s new Workshop skinnable item.
Creators can access its model through Rust’s in-game Workshop and create custom materials for it.
It’s also the first wearable item added to the Workshop skinning system in some time.
Game Startup Times Should Be Much Faster
Facepunch has improved how Rust loads assets when launching.
Previously, the game loaded numerous resources before reaching the main menu even when they weren’t immediately required.
Rust now prioritises only the assets necessary to reach the menu and streams the remaining content afterward.
Facepunch estimates that startup should be around twice as fast on most systems.
Major Server Performance Work Continues
Server-side performance has received substantial attention as well.
Experimental UsePlayerUpdateJobs 4 now supports fully parallel entity saving, targeting one of the major bottlenecks in server frame processing.
Synthetic testing showed significant improvements.
Processing 1,000 entities dropped from 6.6ms to 3.6ms, while a 10,000-entity test fell from 64.4ms to 10.6ms.
Facepunch has also replaced its previous FuzzyPool implementation.
The new implementation uses technology based on LPRQ research and reportedly matches the old system’s performance or exceeds it by as much as 20% in some scenarios. More importantly, testing has shown no leaks during high-contention situations.
Provided no major problems emerge, Facepunch plans to remove the older Mutex pool in a future patch.
Several Smaller Changes Arrive
The August update contains plenty of smaller adjustments as well.
Maximum stored rent at the Apartment Complex is now limited to 72 hours.
Weapon attachment sounds have had their audible distance reduced from 60 metres to 20 metres.
Players now ragdoll when dismounting the Apartment Complex swing set.
Fishing Villages also sell actual Kayaks and Paddles instead of their blueprints.
Finally, every vehicle now has its own in-game chat emoji. The emoji picker has also received improved localisation support, allowing players to search using names in their selected language.
Modders Get New Community UI Features
Rust’s modded community receives several additions this month.
Community UI now supports tooltips, Canvas Groups, masks and improved Pixels Per Unit controls.
Perhaps the most interesting addition is the Custom Pie Menu.
Server plugins can create their own context menus that execute commands whenever players select an option. Plugins can also react when the menu closes.
Additional properties and RPC functionality have been exposed to give community developers more control over custom interfaces.
Modders should also prepare for the removal of SetFlag, currently planned for the September 3 wipe. Facepunch has replaced it with a disposable pattern designed to handle entity flag updates more efficiently.
Rust Soundtrack Is Coming to Vinyl
Outside the game itself, the Rust Original Soundtrack is finally getting a vinyl release.
Alex Rehberg’s soundtrack has been pressed as a deluxe triple-LP, containing roughly 90 minutes of music from the game.
August Makes Rust’s Island More Connected
Player Maintained Monuments are ultimately what make this update particularly interesting.
Power Plant, Water Treatment Plant, Airfield, Dome, Oil Rig, Supermarket, Gas Station and the roadside infrastructure are no longer completely separate pieces of the map. Actions performed at one location can now affect opportunities elsewhere.
That could create some unusual server dynamics.
A group maintaining the Power Plant might technically benefit everybody through better recyclers, powered infrastructure and monument functionality. At the same time, those benefits create valuable locations for rival groups to contest.
Add Satellite Crashes, crude transportation and controllable monument systems into the mix, and Rust’s island suddenly has considerably more moving parts.
Whether players cooperate to keep everything running or simply murder each other over the benefits is another question.
Given that this is Rust, the second option seems fairly likely.
