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Guides / Rust / Basics

Rust forced wipe day: what it wipes and what to do

Rust forces a map wipe on the first Thursday of each month, when Facepunch ships its update. What it wipes, what happens to blueprints, and what owners do.

Updated , checked on Rust October 2026 update

A forced wipe is the map wipe that comes with Facepunch’s monthly update, on the first Thursday of the month. Every Rust server gets a new map that day, and blueprints are normally kept. You have to update your server, wait for your plugin framework, and start the new map.

When it happens

Facepunch releases its update on the first Thursday of each month. The updates in 2026 landed on 5 March, 2 April, 7 May, 4 June, 2 July, 6 August, 3 September and 1 October. The default wipe timer on a server matches it: a server tagged monthly counts down to the first Thursday at 19:00 London time.

What it wipes

The update raises the protocol number in the save file’s name, the last number in proceduralmap.<size>.<seed>.<protocol>.sav (289 on the October 2026 build). Your server cannot use the old .sav, so it makes a new one and the map starts again. That is a map wipe: buildings, loot and deployables go.

Blueprints stay, unless Facepunch says otherwise. On 6 November 2025 it wiped all blueprints as well, and wrote that it might do so again. Read the post for each update before wipe day.

What to do that day

  1. Before wipe day. Tell your players the date and whether blueprints will go. In Settings, on the Backups tab, take a backup of the old world if you want to keep it.
  2. Warn the server. Tell players in your Discord or with an in-game message before the restart, so nobody loses a raid mid-fight. Restart with a warning shows how.
  3. Wait until the update is live. Check the news page on Facepunch’s site. The update usually arrives in the afternoon in the United States and evening in Europe. A server restarted before it is out is still on the old build.
  4. Restart once the update is live. The server downloads the new game build and your framework’s newest build as it starts. Players on the new version cannot join a server that is still on the old one. If you host yourself, update with steamcmd +force_install_dir <dir> +login anonymous +app_update 258550 validate +quit.
  5. Wait for your framework. With Oxide or Carbon, wait until the framework has a release for the new game build, then restart again if plugins fail to load. Check Rust plugin manager if plugins stopped loading.
  6. Want a blueprint wipe too? Stop the server and delete the player.blueprints files, and their -wal files, before you start. Wipe your Rust server lists the files.
  7. Want a new layout? Change Map seed on the Startup tab, and press Save, before the first start. The Map tab can preview a seed first.
  8. Start and check. The new map takes a few minutes to generate. When the console says Server startup complete, join and look for the server in the list.

Nothing in the panel starts these steps by itself; you run them.

If it does not work

  • Players cannot join after the update. Their game is newer than your server. Restart the server once the update is live, so it downloads the new build.
  • Plugins fail after the update. The framework is behind the game. Wait for its release for the new build, then restart: the server downloads it as it starts.
  • The server is missing from the list. It can take a few minutes after the first start. See Rust server not showing in the list.

More about running Rust on the Rust page.

Sources: rust.facepunch.com: News, rust.facepunch.com: Pivot or die, wiki.facepunch.com: Getting Started w Server, wiki.facepunch.com: Server wipe timer, wiki.facepunch.com: Creating a server

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