How to get your Rust server ready for forced wipe day

On the first Thursday of each month Facepunch ships an update at about 19:00 London time, and every server needs a new map with it. To be ready, add and switch on one Force wipe schedule before that day. The panel then warns your players, makes a backup, wipes onto a new map and starts the server on the new build.

Before the day

1. Open Wipe in the left menu. The countdown at the top, Facepunch forced wipe, ticks down to the update and shows its date and time in your own time zone.

2. Choose the schedule:

   • Force wipe (map only) for a normal month. Players keep their blueprints.
   • Force wipe (map and blueprints) only when Facepunch has announced a blueprint wipe for that month. Switch the map-only one off for that month: never run both.
   • If you wipe every week, use Map wipe instead and leave both force wipes off: How to set up automatic wipes on your Rust server.
3. Add it from Ready-made for Rust on Quick Tasks and switch it on. Your next scheduled wipe on the Wipe page shows it.
4. Tell your players when the wipe is. The schedule warns them in the game 10, 5 and 1 minutes ahead.
5. Check your plugins have a release for the new Rust build. Plugin authors often update on the day.
6. Choose the next map. With no map rotation, the schedule picks a new random seed. For a map you chose, a size and seed or a custom map, add it to the Map rotation and mark it Next: How to set up a map rotation on your Rust server.

What happens on the day

The Facepunch update is mandatory: players' games update themselves, and a server on the old build turns updated players away. The panel handles this for you.

• Soon after the new build appears, the panel restarts running servers that have Auto Update on onto it: a Vanilla server straight away, an Oxide or Carbon server once its framework can run the new build. It restarts at once if nobody is on, and otherwise warns players in the game and restarts five minutes later. See How to update your Rust server.
• Your wipe schedule starts at 20:50 panel time (19:50 London), stops the server at 21:00 panel time (20:00 London), an hour after the update, then makes a backup, wipes onto the next map of your rotation (or a new random seed) and starts the server. The start installs the new build and the latest Oxide or Carbon if the server was not already on it.
• A schedule that is running is never interrupted by the update restart.

What to check afterwards

1. Open the Console. The server is ready when it shows Server startup complete. A new map takes a few minutes to generate.
2. Join the server yourself with client.connect: How to join your Rust server.
3. If you use plugins, open the Modding tab and look at Installed for Not running badges: How to fix a plugin that is not running on your Rust server.
4. Open Backups and check that Before wipe is there, so you can go back.
5. Open Activity and look for Ran a map wipe.
6. If you use the live map, draw the new map: How to use the live map on your Rust server.

If Oxide or Carbon is not ready

Right after a Rust update, the newest Oxide or Carbon may not be built for the new Rust version yet. Your plugins then do not load. The Settings page tells you when the panel is waiting: it says the framework has not released for the new build yet, and that the panel restarts your server for you as soon as it is out. Do not restart by hand while that notice is there. If your wipe already ran and plugins do not load, restart the server yourself later, once the framework has released: the server is already on the new build, so the panel does not restart it again. Or run on Vanilla for the day: How to switch your Rust server between Oxide and Carbon.

Good to know

• The first Thursday is the monthly forced wipe. Facepunch sometimes ships a mandatory update on another day. It is not a wipe, and the panel still restarts your server onto it.
• Never turn on both force wipes in the same month.
• See How to choose your Rust world size and seed to pick your own seed.