4:30pm EST - The false EAC bans are now being lifted.

4:05pm EST - EAC has goofed. It appears they are randomly banning people who join the staging branch. We're working with the devs to find a fix.

3:00pm EST - Our update preview stream is live! twitch.tv/rustafied

2:40pm EST - A small mandatory update just hit to hopefully fix the custom skin loading issues.

12:30am EST - Thursday is here, and with just one week till the big update, we’re seeing some exciting additions to the game set to go live next week!

Our update preview stream will go live at 3pm EST. Follow @Rustafied for news throughout the day.

Small hotfix planned

There is a small update planned for today around 1pm EST (6pm BST) to hopefully fix skin loading once and for all. This will be a required update for all servers and players. That said, it will only include a fix for skin loading, all the other things listed below will go live with the monthly update scheduled for next Thursday (April 5th).

Boats incoming!

A new alternative mode of transportation is almost here! Boats are coming next week, and they’ll allow you and your team to traverse the Rust landscape like never before.

Although it’s still a work in progress, the first boat in Rust received a bunch of work this week. Along with a new engine model, boats now actually run on fuel, have storage space, and spawn near lighthouses, beaches, and rivers (boats cannot be crafted). They also disappear if left outside for over an hour, so start planning your boathouses now!

We’ll have a full write-up on boats next Tuesday in preparation for their addition to the game next Thursday.

Water dynamics

The addition of boats brings the inevitable battles on water. Anticipating this, Helk has improved certain facets of h2o in Rust. Not only do bullets now impact water, dead bodies also interact with it.

Hapis improvements

Alistair has been working for weeks on stepping Hapis’ game up. With the addition of new monuments (more loot!) and the enhancement of various terrain, gameplay on Hapis is set to be fresh as ever come April 5th. We did a full write up of what to expect, check it out here.

Improved server queries

Garry has updated Steamworks, making it so server information is queried directly. This should provide more accurate information; with some fixes for Mac and Linux systems too.

Mountable NPC’s

A lot of work has been done on mountable AI. This is not only in anticipation of the newest server event, the Chinook 47, it will also be used to have Scientist NPC’s operate the Bradley near launch site. These two examples only touch the surface of what is planned for future AI implementations, so stay tuned over the coming weeks for more.

Scientist tweaks

Scientists NPC’s have had some tweaks this week. First, the delay from when a Scientist sees an enemy until he fires back has been adjusted based on whether he took damage recently from that enemy. Also, expect to see scientists much more around the map after the update next week, as they now spawn around junk piles.

New hair

Matt has whipped up a new hair type along with some fresh colors. Here are some examples he sent me.

Other stuff

More progress on conditional roof models (fixes for roof exploits)
Added animal_ignore_food convar that defaults to true (server optimization)
Save159 - Fixes for checksum mismatches and terrain tweaks
Fixed being able to build on northern cliff rocks (Savas KOTH)
Fixed double barrel shotgun missing from T2 loot table (Savas KOTH)
Fixed gap in Garage door which allowed traps to be triggered