Last Updated: 3/13/24 There are two ways to make your own Rust server, you can either purchase a game hosting service, or use a Virtual Private Server or Dedicated Server to host a Rust server yourself. This guide will detail both methods, feel free to choose the one that is most useful for you. If you have a good computer, it’s a good idea to set up a dedicated server to save some money. If you want to avoid the hassle of starting up your server every time you want to do work on your server, we recommend purchasing server hosting.
If you end up wanting to move your files to a game hosting service from a dedicated server, you can at anytime. If you use Atomic Networks, we’ll even move your files for you free of charge!

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Purchasing a Rust Hosting Service

To create a Rust server on a game hosting service, follow the steps below:
1

Go to https://atomicnetworks.co/rust-server-hosting

Start your own Rust community for only $10 a month by purchasing your own rust server hosting.
2

Pick your server.

Depending on the type of Rust server you want to make, you will have different hardware requirements for your server.
PackagePriceRecommended For
Starter Package$10/moDevelopment and Small Maps, 0-50 Players
Scalable Package$15/moGrowing Rust Communities
Unleashed Package$50/moLarge Rust Communities
3

Get logged into the game panel.

Once you choose your plan and finish the checkout process, you will receive an email with information on how to sign into the Atomic Panel.
If you’re looking to have more control over your server hosting resources, follow the guide below to create a Rust dedicated server.
Creating a dedicated game server is a difficult process. We would not recommend using a VPS/Dedicated Server to make a Rust server with us unless you already have prior basic experience with networking and dedicated game server configuration.

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Rust Dedicated Server Setup

The rest of this guide details the dedicated server setup process for setting up a Rust server. If you have already purchased a Rust Server Hosting plan, you can move on to the next guide.

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Rust System Requirements

Before beginning the setup process for creating your own Rust server, you’ll need to check to make sure that your server meets the system requirements to run a Rust dedicated server.
  • 8GB RAM
  • 2-4vCPUs Allocated
  • Intel Core i7-3770 / AMD FX-9590 or better
If you need a cost effective solution, we recommend our Ryzen VPS line for Rust dedicated servers.
If you are using an Atomic Networks VPS, follow our guides to access your VPS.

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Installing SteamCMD

SteamCMD (Steam Command Line Interface) is a command-line version of the Steam client, used primarily to install and update various dedicated game servers and other Steam applications without needing the full Steam client. Follow the steps below to Install SteamCMD on your operating system.
Once the steamcmd.exe program is ran, the latest version of SteamCMD will be installed and updated on your computer.

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Installing Rust Dedicated Server

Once you have the SteamCMD application open, run the following commands on the command line. Command 1: force_install_dir "c:\rustserver\" Command 2: login anonymous Command 3: app_update 258550 Command 4: quit These commands will install all of the files you need to run a Vanilla Rust Server.

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Changing Rust Branches

If you’re looking to change your dedicated rust server to the staging branch, use the command: app_update 258550 -beta staging If you want to change your server to the prerelease branch (receives future updates), use the command: app_update 258550 -beta prerelease

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Creating and Configuring RustServer.bat

To have your server installation start, you will need to create a batch script file. To create a batch file, create a file in the directory you installed your server in (ex: c:\rustserver) called RustServer.bat Batch script files are used to store a list of commands that will run on sequence when you start your server. There are a few perks of having a batch script:
  • Having a batch script will help you to keep your server up to date.
  • If your Rust dedicated server crashes, it will resume.
Sometimes when a Rust server crashes, it will hang instead of completely crashing. In situations like these, your server will not restart on it’s own.
In your batch script, you can configure just about every single setting for your server. Since the config files for your server aren’t going to work yet, defining all of your settings in this batch script is the easiest method. Below is an example script, feel free to copy and tailor it to your needs in your own file.
c:\rustserver\RustServer.bat
echo off
:start
C:\steamcmd\steamcmd.exe +login anonymous +force_install_dir c:\rustserver\ +app_update 258550 +quit
RustDedicated.exe -batchmode +server.port 28015 +server.level "Procedural Map" +server.seed 9238 +server.worldsize 3000 +server.maxplayers 10  +server.hostname "This is the Name of Server on the Server List" +server.description "This is what is going to show up in the description for the server window" +server.url "http://atomicnetworks.co" +server.headerimage "http://atomicnetworks.co/image.jpg" +server.identity "server1" +rcon.port 28015 +rcon.password password +rcon.web 1
goto start
You will need to change variables in this file.

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Changing Variables

Below are some important variables you will need to change in your RustServer.bat file. +server.port 28015 - If port 28015 is occupied on your server, you will need to change this value. +server.level "Procedural Map" - This setting will change what map type your server will use. The options are:
  • “Procedural Map”
  • “Barren”
  • “HapisIsland”
  • “SavasIsland”
  • “SavasIsland_koth”
+server.seed 9292 - Changes the shape of procedural and barren maps. Values can range from 0 to 2147483647. This command is used with +server.worldsize +server.worldsize 4000 - Changes the size of procedual and barren maps. Size can range from 1000 to 6000. This command is used with +server.seed +server.maxplayers 10 - Change the maximum players you want connecting to your server. +server.hostname "Your Server Name" - This will change the name of the server on the list. +server.description "Your Description Here" - This will change the description in the server window for your server. +server.url "http://atomicnetworks.co" - Causes the “View Webpage” button to appear on the connection window if you set this value to a valid URL. +server.headerimage "http://atomicnetworks.co/image.jpg" - Shows a background image in the connection window if you set this value to a valid image URL. +server.identity "server" - The directory name used as the parent for all the server files. Avoid using spaces and special characters. +rcon.port 28016 - Rcon client connection port. +rcon.password password - The password required for Rcon access. Do not use spaces or special characters. +rcon.web 1 - Enable websocket connection mode for rcon (Recommended Setup) goto start - Instructs the batch file to jump to the ‘start’ label. Remove this line if you do not want your server to automatically restart after it shuts down.

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Connecting to a Rust Server

To connect to a Rust server with an IP, open the Rust client. Press F1 and go to the client console. If you used the default port (28015) in your setup, type the command client.connect localhost:28015 to connect to your server.

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Setting Staff Permissions

Once you have your server online and you are connected, you will want to give yourself owner perms. To do so, you will need to find your STEAMID64. This is a 17 digit SteamID number that you can find by joining your server, pressing F1 and typing the users command. Below are the commands needed to give different levels of adminstration perms on your Rust Server. To give a user ownerid permissions, use the ownerid 12345678901234567 "PlayerName" command. Replace the “PlayerName” with the name of the player. To give a user moderatorid permissions, use the moderatorid 12345678901234567 "PlayerName" command. Replace the “PlayerName” with the name of the player. Once you are done configuring your permissions, use the writecfg command. This will save your changes. Players receive new permissions must log out and rejoin the server to receive permissions.

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Port Forwarding

If you want to make your server public, you will need to port forward. Below is a video tutorial on how to port forward a Rust Server.