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Rust Branches

Steam can install Rust's staging branch next to the main game, in a RustStaging folder. RustEdit has a folder for each branch and loads one of them. You can switch to the other branch while RustEdit runs.

Rust's main and staging branches​

You pick the folders on the first start. See Installation and First Start. To change them later, open FileSettings, then Paths:

SettingWhat it does
Rust Install Location > MainThe folder of Rust's main branch.
Rust Install Location > StagingThe folder of Rust's staging branch.
  • A folder must have Rust's files: the same check as in the Rust Assets dialog. A folder without them is not saved. The row shows the saved folder again, and the Notifications panel shows The selected directory is not a valid Rust client install directory. An empty row is allowed: that branch is not set.
  • A change to the folder of the loaded branch needs a restart.
  • RustEdit remembers the branch it loaded, and loads it again at the next start. If that branch's folder has no Rust files, RustEdit loads the other branch, and the Notifications panel says so.
  • Each branch has its own record of Rust updates and its own saved prefab previews.

Switch the Rust branch​

You can switch between Rust's main and staging branch while RustEdit runs. You do not have to restart.

  1. Open FileRust Branch.... The dialog shows the branch that is loaded now.
  2. Click Main or Staging. The dialog shows the folder of that branch. A branch without a folder with Rust's files is grayed out.
  3. Click Switch. RustEdit asks once more.
  4. Click Switch to start, or Cancel.
  5. Wait while RustEdit loads. The loading screen shows each step. A switch takes a few minutes.

During the switch, RustEdit unloads all of Rust's files and loads the other branch's files from its folder. Then it opens the map again.

  • The open map stays open. Its unsaved changes stay, and the camera stays where it was.
  • The sky, the water and the camera are made again from the other branch's files. The time of day and the weather stay as they were. If you hid the water, it stays hidden.
  • The undo history is cleared.
  • A prefab that the other branch does not have stays in the map as a missing prefab, the same as when you open a map.
  • The Content Browser shows the other branch's files, from the top of the Assets folder.
  • If the other branch does not load, RustEdit loads the branch it had again, and the Notifications panel shows the error.

You cannot switch:

  • in a multiplayer session. Leave the session first.
  • when custom monuments are open. Close them first.
  • while RustEdit loads or saves a map.
  • in play mode. Stop play mode first.

Use a different Rust install​

  1. Open FileSettings, then Paths.
  2. Click the folder button in the Main or Staging row of Rust Install Location.
  3. Pick the other Rust folder.
  4. If you changed the folder of the loaded branch, restart RustEdit. The folder of the other branch is used at the next switch.

If no row has a folder with Rust's files, the Rust Assets dialog opens at the next start.

note

A path to Rust's Bundles folder, or to the Bundles\Bundles file that older versions of RustEdit saved, works too.