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Time and Weather

The Time and Weather panel sets the time of day and the weather that you see in the scene view. RustEdit uses Rust's own sky and weather, so you can check how your map looks at night, in fog or in a storm.

Time and weather only change what you see in RustEdit. They are not saved in the map, and they do not change the weather on a server.

Open the panel​

Click the Time and Weather button in the toolbar on the left, or use InterfaceWindowTime and Weather.

The Time and Weather panel with the time rows and the Weather section open

Time and date​

The rows at the top of the panel:

OptionWhat it does
TimeThe hour, from 0 to 24. Drag it to move the sun and the moon.
DayThe day of the month. A day the month does not have changes to the nearest one.
MonthThe month, from 1 to 12.
YearThe year.
Progress TimeOn: time moves on by itself, and the Time slider follows it. Off: the time stays where you put it.

With Progress Time on, a full day of 24 hours takes 80 minutes. One hour passes in about 3 minutes and 20 seconds.

The same options are in FileSettingsTime.

How the weather works​

By default the weather follows the Weather Cycle: Rust's weather, which changes over the days by the chances in the Weather Cycle section. The sliders move by themselves to show the weather now.

When you move a slider, you fix that value: it stays where you put it, and the cycle no longer changes it. Each section ends with Reset to Defaults, which gives that section's values back to the cycle.

How to set the weather​

  1. Open the Weather section.
  2. To start from one of Rust's weather types, pick it in Preset. Every value gets the preset's value.
  3. Move any slider to change one value.
  4. To go back to Rust's changing weather, click Reset All Weather, or pick Weather Cycle in Preset.

Weather​

OptionRangeWhat it does
PresetLoads all the values of one of the game's weather presets. Weather Cycle goes back to the game's weather.
Reset All WeatherBack to the game's weather cycle: no value stays fixed, and the weather chances are the game's.
Rain0 to 1Rain, or snow on arctic ground.
Wind0 to 1How strong the wind is.
Thunder0 to 1Storm rain and lightning.
Rainbow0 to 1Shows in the day on temperate ground.
Fog0 to 1How thick the fog that covers the sky is.
Ocean Waves0 to 10The size of the ocean's waves. See Water.

Clouds​

OptionRangeWhat it does
Cloud SetupOne of the game's volumetric cloud setups. Weather Cycle lets the weather pick.
Coverage0 to 1How much of the sky the clouds cover.
Opacity0 to 1How see-through the clouds are.
Size1 to 10The size of the clouds.
Sharpness0 to 1How sharp the edge between cloud and sky is.
Coloring0 to 1The coloring of the clouds.
Attenuation0 to 1How much skylight the clouds block.
Saturation0 to 1How much sunlight the clouds block.
Scattering0 to 5How strongly light glows through the clouds.
Brightness0 to 5How bright the clouds are.
note

In RustEdit's scene view, these rows do not change how the clouds look. RustEdit still saves the values with the weather.

Reset to Defaults in this section also gives the Cloud Setup back to the weather.

Atmosphere​

OptionRangeWhat it does
Rayleigh0 to 5Blue sky scattering.
Mie0 to 5Haze scattering.
Brightness0 to 5The overall brightness of the sky.
Contrast0 to 5The overall contrast of the sky.
Directionality0 to 1Size of the glow around the sun.
Fog Strength0 to 10Multiplies the fog.
Fog Height Falloff0 to 1How the fog changes with height.
Fog Start0 to 2000Distance where the fog starts, in meters.
Fog End0 to 2000Distance where the fog is full, in meters.
Biome Fog Curve0 to 5How the biome fog builds up with distance.
Biome Fog Saturation0 to 2Multiplies the color saturation of the biome fog's ambient light.

A higher Fog Height Falloff thins the fog faster with height, so there is less haze on far hills. The change is small. A higher Biome Fog Curve brings the biome fog much closer and makes it thicker: at 5 it hides everything more than 100 to 200 meters away.

Lighting​

OptionRangeWhat it does
Ambient Light0 to 1Multiplies the ambient light from the sky.
Sun Light0 to 1Multiplies the light of the sun, or of the moon at night.
Reflections0 to 1Multiplies the sky's reflections.
Sun Brightness0 to 1How bright the sun looks in the sky.
Moon Brightness0 to 1How bright the moon looks in the sky.
Cloud Sun Color0 to 5Scales the sun's color on the clouds.
Cloud Moon Color0 to 5Scales the moon's color on the clouds.

See Sky and lighting for more about the light.

Biome Fog​

Each biome has its own fog: Arid, Temperate, Tundra, Arctic and Jungle. Each one has these rows and its own Reset to Defaults:

OptionRangeWhat it does
Ambient Light0 to 5Multiplies the ambient light of the fog in this biome.
Light Boost0 to 5Multiplies the light boost of the fog in this biome.
Fog Start0 to 2000Distance where this biome's fog starts, in meters.
Fog End0 to 2000Distance where this biome's fog is full, in meters.

Reset to Defaults at the end of the Biome Fog section resets all five biomes.

Weather Cycle​

These sliders set how often each kind of weather comes in the cycle, from 0 to 1: Clear, Dust, Fog, Overcast, Storm and Rain. Reset to Defaults gives them the game's chances again.

They only matter while the weather follows the cycle. A preset or a fixed value wins over them.

Weather you can see​

  • Rain falls as snow on arctic ground. With Thunder, rain turns stormy and lightning strikes.
  • The rainbow shows after rain, in the day, on temperate ground.
  • Auroras can show at night over arctic ground when the sky is clear.
  • Under water, small specks float around the camera. See Water.

Saving​

RustEdit keeps your time and weather for the next start:

  • The time and date you set are saved with your settings. With Progress Time on, RustEdit saves the hour you last set, not the hour the sky has moved on to. The next start begins at that hour again.
  • The weather is saved in its own settings file: the preset, the cloud setup, every fixed value and every changed chance. RustEdit writes it when you close the app or load a map.

When RustEdit starts, it puts the same weather back, and the Preset list shows the preset you used.

Tips​

  • Check your map at night and in fog before you publish it. Lights, signs and monuments can look very different.
  • To compare two places with the same weather, pick a preset. The cycle would change the weather while you look.
  • In a multiplayer session, each person has their own time and weather.