As March rolls around, yet another update is on its way for Rust. Unlike many of the “finished” or early access games we cover, Rust receives consistent content updates every month. The quality and quantity of said content are a little iffy, but we can always depend on something. Today, we’re going to go over the March Update which was released on March 3rd, 2022. Let’s begin.
New Features
This update was a major quality of life patch with a large emphasis on polishing the mechanics and functionalities the game has already implemented rather than adding new ones. But, there are still some new features.
Support for tag filtering to the server browser – with tags being added to servers a few months back, it only makes sense that you should be able to filter servers by them. With this update, you can select whatever tags you’d like, and you will only see servers fitting said criteria. The server browser is forever improved!
New in-game music – Starting this month, the official Rust soundtrack has now been made purchasable on the Steam store for nine euros or ten dollars. If you ever felt yourself jamming out while playing Rust, I would highly recommend copping. The soundtrack includes music from in game, trailers, and more adding up to over 29 tracks!
New world models added – Numerous models have been upgraded from the default drop bag to medkits and even potatoes. Fourteen items in total now can be expected to look much higher quality. It can be assumed that more models will receive upgraded textures in future updates.
Updated loading screen – A new loading screen for when loading into a server. While it does look better, it also shows more information on the server such as the server name, playercount, map type, tags, and gamemode. It also includes the usual loading screen message and cancel button. This is like the loading screen equivalent of reading the shampoo bottle while in the bathroom.
Improvements
Contrary to what most updates are for modern day live service games, the improvements are the bulk of the content this month. It seems that model textures and quality is a big focus here. Some vehicles have been buffed as a result of fuel and decay changes while certain structures can expect to be weaker now. Decay is definitely detrimental to your base’s success.
Arm and body visuals on some vehicles have been improved
3rd person keycard animation has been improved.
Open doors can no longer be reskinned.
You can now switch to and from Ice Rifle skin regardless of ammo or attachments.
Support for infinite scrolling MIDI knob convar bindings has been added.
How far the player can alt look up or down is now restricted.
IO Entities can now decay. This fixes the Water Barrel, Water Catcher, Above Ground Pool, Boom box, CCTV, Connected Speaker, Counter, Disco Floor, Sprinkler, Wind Mill, Car Lift, paddling Pool, SAM turret, Search Light, Smart Alarm, Solar Panel, Sound lights, Telephone, and the Water Pump not decaying when placed outside of a base.
Slot 8 input bind has been removed.
Slot 7 input bind has been renamed to “Holster Item.”
When opening the inventory the currently equipped belt item will automatically be selected.
Modular cars take 4x longer to decay.
Local proximity chat volume has been increased when recording a cassette.
The Junkyard magnet crane is more stable to drive.
The Junkyard magnet crane now uses 80% less fuel when not driving around, and 25% less fuel when not carrying anything on its magnet.
Always Sprint has now been added to the game options. If enabled, this will have sprint be default movement instead of walking, and cause holding Shift to trigger walk speed.
Improved lighting in the Supermarket, Oxum’s Gas Station, Bandit Camp, and Launch Site.
Large furnace now provides a small amount of heat and comfort
Added BuildingDark and BuildingVeryDark volumes for map makers
Polar bear should no longer migrate to warmer climates
Horses now trigger pressure pads
Fixes
As with any major update, you can expect to see numerous bug fixes to mechanics and features that were not working properly. Interestingly enough, this also involved the removal of two major features included in the Arctic Update. Now, the Arctic base snowmobile no longer comes with 20 low grade fuel, and the Arctic base garage no longer spawns puzzle loot.
Fixed a case where changing weapon while gesturing would lead to incorrect viewmodels (missing attachments)
Fixed case where changing clothing while inventory was full would sometimes incorrectly delete an item
Fixed rounding issue when using Pure Ore Teas leading to an ore node giving 1501-1505 resources (now gives 1500)
Fixed some out of date radio stations
Fixed phantom footsteps continuously playing
Fixed incorrect sfx footsteps playing
Fixed modular cars using no fuel if they had multiple engine modules and one of those modules had no components
Fixed magnet crane arm movement speed slowing down at low server framerates
Fixed magnet crane driver not syncing up visually with the crane itself when rotating the cabin
Fixed magnet crane magnet hurting the driver if it was positioned as close as possible to the cabin
Fixed magnet crane treads sometimes animating in the wrong direction when turning
Fixed the snowy edges of ice lakes also being considered ice by modular cars and snowmobiles
Fixed the Tomaha suspension snapping to the wrong position when active updates stopped
Fixed a sleeper loot exploit
Fixed CCTV clipping exploit
Fixed BBQ looting exploit
Fixed pickle jar desc typo
Fixed Excavator puzzle reset bounds exceeding the prevent building volume, causes player to die when logged out
Fixed missing passthrough name on DLC industrial wall lights
Fixed oil hunt mission reward only being 50 scrap
Conclusion
Well, that’s the whole update! Wouldn’t exactly call it March Madness, but this is definitely a quality update. Rust is a great game and has hard working developers that manage to make the game significantly better every month, even when they aren’t adding flashy biomes or weapons. As far as I’m concerned, there’s never too much polish to be applied. I hope this blog informed you, and with that, I’m off!
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