Rust Wipe Schedule: When Is Force Wipe?

In Rust, nothing lasts forever: servers regularly reset. That's a "wipe". Here's what players and server owners need to know. If your server isn't up yet, start with How to host a Rust server.

⚙️ What is a wipe?

A wipe resets all or part of the progress on a server:

• Map wipe: map, bases, items and inventories are deleted. Learned blueprints stay.
• Blueprint (BP) wipe: unlocked blueprints are deleted too.
• Full wipe: map + BPs.

⚙️ When is the Rust force wipe?

Facepunch releases a major update on the first Thursday of every month. It goes live around 2 PM Eastern Time (7 PM UK time). This update forces every PC server onto a new map: that's the force wipe. Blueprint wipes are not always mandatory; each server decides.

Between force wipes, many servers run extra map wipes weekly or every two weeks, usually on Thursdays.

⚙️ When does Rust Console wipe?

Rust Console Edition follows its own update and wipe schedule, separate from PC. Check the official Rust Console Edition announcements for exact dates.

⚙️ Why wipe day matters

It's the busiest day on every server: everyone starts equal. For server owners, it's the best moment to attract new players. Announce the exact wipe time on Discord and in your server name.

It's also the day popular servers get attacked. On our Rust servers, DDoS protection is included, and the server updates in one click from the panel.

⚙️ How to wipe your own Rust server

1. Stop the server (quit in the console, or from the panel).
2. Update the server (and Oxide or Carbon if you use them):

app_update 258550 validate

3. Open server/<your_identity>/.
4. Map wipe: delete the .map and .sav files (including .sav.1, .sav.2 and so on).
5. BP wipe (optional): also delete player.blueprints.*.db.
6. Change the seed (server.seed) for a new map, or keep it for the same one.
7. Start the server. A new map generates on startup (takes a few minutes).

⚙️ What about plugins?

Some plugins (leaderboards, shops, clans) store data in oxide/data (or carbon/data). Depending on the plugin, reset it at wipe too. Check each plugin's docs. After a force wipe, also reinstall the latest Oxide or Carbon build, or plugins stop loading: see How to install Oxide and Rust plugins.

⚙️ Files you should never delete

• cfg/server.cfg and cfg/users.cfg: config and admin list.
• oxide/config (or carbon/configs): plugin settings.

⚙️ Ready-to-paste configuration

A wipe.bat script to put in the root folder of a Windows server. It updates the server, backs up the instance folder, deletes the map and, if you ask for it, the blueprints. Run it with the server stopped.

@echo off
:: Replace: the server identity, the SteamCMD path, and set BPWIPE=1 to also delete blueprints
set IDENTITY=myserver
set STEAMCMD=C:\steamcmd\steamcmd.exe
set BPWIPE=0

set SRV=%~dp0server\%IDENTITY%
set STAMP=%date:~-4%%date:~4,2%%date:~7,2%

echo Updating the server...
"%STEAMCMD%" +force_install_dir "%~dp0" +login anonymous +app_update 258550 validate +quit

echo Backing up %SRV% to backups\%STAMP%...
mkdir "%~dp0backups\%STAMP%" 2>nul
xcopy "%SRV%" "%~dp0backups\%STAMP%\" /E /I /Q >nul

echo Wiping the map...
del /Q "%SRV%\*.map" 2>nul
del /Q "%SRV%\*.sav*" 2>nul

if "%BPWIPE%"=="1" (
  echo Wiping blueprints...
  del /Q "%SRV%\player.blueprints.*.db" 2>nul
)

echo Done. Change server.seed in start.bat, then start the server.
pause

✅ Conclusion

The first-Thursday force wipe is mandatory, every other wipe is your call: announce it, keep the rhythm, and back up before deleting anything. A server that wipes at a fixed time, with Oxide up to date and tested plugins, is a server players come back to.

On our Rust servers, updates take one click, map files are deleted from the panel's file manager, and scheduled restarts keep the server smooth between wipes.

FAQ

The answers to frequently asked questions about Rust wipes are in the FAQ box below. If a question is missing, contact LordHosting support via Discord or by ticket.