12:00am EST - Another week in Rust development and we’re seeing some exciting new functionality hit staging.

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

Parachutes on staging!

After being in concept limbo for years now, parachutes have finally made it to the staging branch. Still a work in progress, the functionality and features are still in flux. That said, here are some of the specifics we’re seeing:

Players can equip parachutes into a new inventory slot
They are found in basic small boxes at the moment
When you jump off a high place, hit spacebar to deploy the parachute
Steer using WASD, W lean forward more speed, AD left and right, S lean back slow down
Players can shoot weapons while falling but are then not able to steer
Once you land, you can repack a parachute in 8 seconds
Unpacked parachutes now start decaying after an hour, takes an hour to decay fully
It takes around 15 rifle shots to take down a parachute
Parachutes fall faster and becoming harder to control as they take damage
Damage to the player when the parachute is destroyed due to a collision based on the collision force
SAM sites can target parachutes

Given their status on staging now, it’s very likely parachutes will go live for the September 7th update and forced wipe. Expect more changes to the parachutes between now and then. We’ll have a full write up on everything you need to know about parachutes prior to the update.

Locker updates

In the wake of the inventory changes to account for parachutes, we’re seeing some changes to lockers take place. Here are the specifics:

Updated locker to 42 slots to fit new parachute slot
Updated locker behavior to only allow backpacks in the new slot
Updated both deployable and camper versions

Global networked bases

In the realm of optimizations, the global networked bases functionality hit staging last week. If you missed it, this basically turns building elements into prefabs on the map, allowing them to be seen from much farther away. This week we’re seeing the addition of a slider bar in the options, allowing players to control just how far away they can see bases.

Attack helicopter tweaks

We’re also seeing some changes to the upcoming Attack Helicopters on staging. Here are some specifics:

Don't show ammo value on the attack heli monitor UI preview, since it's not actually set
Updated attack heli gunner UI to show both current rocket ammo before reload, and the total rocket ammo available
Reinstate custom-shader-based fix for the attack heli gunner UI because some gun components clip through even at a minimum distance
Fixed RMB firing attack heli rockets when not in gunner view

Other stuff

Potential tool cupboard UI relayout, remove need to switch to tool category, add extra slot, allow spray can in tools
More work on new rocket trails FX
Hot Air balloon lighting and FX update.
More work on the new Homing Missile Launcher