Wiping your Rust server is key to keeping gameplay fair and exciting. In this guide, we’ll show you how to wipe your server, blueprints, and player data, along with tips for avoiding common issues. Whether you're preparing for a fresh start or managing regular resets, this guide will help ensure a smooth and balanced wipe for your community.
What Does It Mean To Wipe Your Rust Server?
Wiping a Rust server means resetting the game world to a fresh state, erasing all player progress, buildings, and sometimes blueprints. It’s essentially a server restart that clears everything, but it does not wipe server plugins or configurations. Wipes can include different types of resets, such as map wipes, blueprint wipes, and player data wipes, depending on the server’s settings. These wipes are done periodically to maintain balance, prevent server lag, and give new players a fair chance to compete.
Why Wipe Your Rust Server?
Wiping your Rust server is essential for maintaining balance and keeping gameplay engaging. Over time, player-built structures and accumulated resources can overwhelm the map, leading to server lag and reduced performance. Regular wipes provide a fresh start, giving all players, both new and experienced, an equal chance to compete. Wipes also help prevent veteran players from dominating the server, ensuring long-term interest. Additionally, scheduled wipes create excitement in the community, encouraging players to return for new beginnings. Ultimately, wiping keeps your server healthy and gameplay enjoyable for everyone.
Types Of Wipes: Map, Blueprints, And Player Data
When wiping a Rust server, there are three main types of wipes:
- Map Wipe: This resets the entire game world, removing all player-built structures, resources, and terrain changes. A map wipe provides a clean slate, allowing players to explore and build from scratch.
- Blueprint Wipe: This removes all learned blueprints, forcing players to re-learn how to craft items. Blueprint wipes level the playing field, especially for new players, and prevent veterans from having an unfair advantage.
- Player Data Wipe: This erases player inventories, statistics, and progress, but does not affect learned blueprints. Player data wipes are often combined with map wipes to ensure a complete reset while keeping blueprints intact for future rounds.
Each wipe type serves a different purpose, and many servers use a combination of these wipes to maintain balance and keep gameplay fresh.
How To Prepare For A Rust Server Wipe
Before wiping your Rust server, it's important to prepare both technically and within the community:
- Backup Your Data: Always make a backup of your server's important files, including player data, blueprints, and configs, in case you need to restore anything after the wipe.
- Notify Your Players: Announce the wipe in advance through Discord, in-game messages, or social media. Give your community time to wrap up their progress and prepare for the reset.
- Plan the Type of Wipe: Decide if you'll be doing a map, blueprint, player data wipe, or a combination. Clearly communicate which type of wipe will occur.
- Update Plugins and Mods: Use this opportunity to check for plugin updates and make sure everything is running smoothly. This will minimize issues post-wipe.
- Coordinate Timing: Plan the wipe for a time that suits your player base. Avoid wiping during peak hours to reduce frustration.
Proper preparation ensures a smoother wipe process and helps keep your players engaged and excited for a fresh start.
Steps To Wiping Your Rust Server, Blueprints, Map, And Player Data
Wiping your Rust server involves a few straightforward steps. Follow this guide to ensure a smooth process:
Backup Your Server:
Before initiating any wipes, create backups of your server files, including player data and configurations. This ensures you can restore anything if needed.
Stop Your Server:
Access your game server and stop the server to prevent players from connecting during the wipe process.
Wipe the Map:
Navigate to the directory /server/rust/ to find the map file. If you intend to reuse the existing map, delete the .map files associated with it. However, if you're planning to switch to a new map, you can skip this step.
Wipe Blueprints:
Navigate to the /server/rust/ directory and find the blueprint files. To reset the blueprints, simply delete the relevant database files, such as player.blueprints.5.db. This action will ensure that all learned blueprints are cleared.
Wipe Player Data:
To remove player inventories and statistics, navigate to the /server/rust/ directory and delete the following player data files:
player.tokens.dbplayer.tokens.db-walplayer.states.dbplayer.states.db-walplayer.identities.5.dbplayer.identities.5.db-wal
Deleting these files will effectively reset all player progress and inventories.
Restart Your Server:
Once all wipes are complete, start your server to apply the changes and generate a fresh environment for players.
Notify Players:
After the wipe, communicate with your players about the changes. Encourage them to return and explore the new landscape or start fresh with their blueprints.
By following these steps, you can effectively wipe your Rust server, ensuring a balanced and engaging experience for all players.
How To Wipe Your Rust Server With Pine Hosting
As discussed above, it can be quite complicated to find all the correct files to delete when wiping a server manually. At Pine Hosting we have simplified this process in our Easy Config manager. All Rust servers can access their "Easy Config" page and simply click a button to automatically wipe all world, player or blueprint data.
We have also developed this feature into our Schedules system which allows you to automatically schedule an advanced Rust wipe on any day of the week! These schedules allow for total control over what is wiped, the time the server is wiped and even allows you to specify a Discord webhook.
For more details about our quick actions feel free to check out our knowledgebase article on how to wipe your Rust server.
Build A Rust Server With Pine Hosting
Creating a Rust server with Pine Hosting is simple. Choose a suitable hosting plan, sign up for an account, and select Rust as your game in the control panel. Customize your server settings and easily wipe the server to your desired settings with just a click in our game panel's easy config tab. Share the IP address with players and enjoy your unique Rust experience!
