1:00pm EST - Our update preview stream from Hapis is live! twitch.tv/rustafied

12:00am - Crossing the halfway point for the month, the team at Facepunch is trucking along on new features and items.

Our update preview stream goes live at 1pm EST. Follow @Rustafied for news throughout the week.

Hapis coming back!

Our favorite static map, Hapis, is making a comeback after a long hiatus. Originally removed from official rotation after the world revamp last year, Hapis has gone live on the staging branch this week in an updated form.

So how drastic are the changes? Overall, not too drastic on first blush. Converted Hapis still has the feel of the OG, just with the new style of terrain and foliage from the world revamp. While still mostly the same, this revamp does introduce some nice changes such as Dome in the desert and some new islands in the south west.

This is a work in progress as there are still some areas which could use some more TLC and overall the map could use a bit more foliage / trees. All in all though, it appears this fresh take on the classic is set to go live with the June 2nd update.

Hit markers and directional indicators

Helk, working on the new recoil branch, appears to be exploring some new PvP related UI elements. Specifically, hit marker effects and directional damage indicators. Features most gamers are familiar with from other titles, it’s exciting to see how these will be implemented in the world of Rust.

Also on the new recoil branch, it appears native crosshairs are in effect and the SAR recoil has been updated. As with all of these PvP update related things, it’s not clear just yet when this will go live.

HMLMG

Work on what appears to be a new weapon continues on the HMLMG branch this week. Although previously speculated it could be a weapon, we weren’t really sure till we saw the very weapon-specific commits on the branch this week.

So what will it be? I’m guessing home made light machine gun. We’ll keep you posted as always.

Nexus and clans system

Both ingame server-to-server transfer functionality and the new clan system moved forward this week on the same branch. Previously worked on separately, the development of these two features being combined may provide weight to the theory that the clan system will mainly be used for team management between linked up servers. It even looks like server-to-server chat is now working for clans.

Both of these projects appear to still be very much in the development phase, so no word on when specifically we’ll see this live in game. As previously stated by the developers, the initial launch of the server to server transfer stuff will be limited to certain official servers. We’ll keep you posted.

Train control panel

An updated version of the train control panel hit staging also this week. Not only is the display brighter and controls now blue, it shows the number of connected train cars and beeps when a new one is connected. They’ve also fixed the workcart audio playing in certain situations when it shouldn't be.

Other stuff

Tweaks to improve FPS
You can now carry vehicles on modular car flatbeds and the scrap transport heli (if you can get the vehicle in)
More work on adding AI to the top of launch site
Improvements to rail network spawning
Spraycan can now free paint and spray decals by default (although still buggy)
More work on the new recoil branch
Added FPS counter configs to the options menu
Fixed solar panels not pointing in proper direction