Tugboat, Diver Suit, Performance | Rust Update 16th June 2023
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This week in RUST development, we’ve definitely got a watery theme going. The rework of water mechanics is splashing along and may very well appear in the next update. This, plus the nexus system and the Ferry Terminal Monument are very close to completion, would make for a very nautical-themed update should both go live for July’s regular content update. We’ll have to wait and see!
The Tugboat emerges
The Tugboat has surfaced, yet another aquatic vehicle for your RUSTy collection of ways to get around the big blue wet thing. It appears that the tug will have multiple levels with entryways on both levels, which makes us wonder if the tug will require multiple players in order to operate properly. It also appears that you’ll be able to carry items on the tug, like some kind of water taxi. It does sound like the ideal boat for picking up and leaving a server with, now, doesn’t it? We’ve no indicator yet when this feature releases.
In addition to the Tugboat, there’s been a lot of recent work on a diver suit. We’re not sure yet how or when this item will be released, but it’s possible that it could follow suit with the hazzy and lumberjack suits and release as an item on the permanent item store or as part of a larger DLC pack.
Other changes in this RUST Update
- Development on the water rework branch continues
- The tugboat branch is chugging along
- The shipping container skins have had fixes to address vehicle clipping problems and rocket spray damage
- The AI for scientists is being reworked to make them smarter and more responsive in combat, including switching weapons, flanking, and taking cover
- Progress on weapon racks is nearly complete, but visuals as of yet
- Performance improvements for base rendering is following the same strategy as tree rendering, with fidelity increasing as the player gets closer.
- It is hoped that gradually improving the render quality as the player gets closer prevents the giant tank in performance that players experience when bases suddenly burst into view.
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Video Transcript
Greetings, survivors and friends; Shadowfrax here back from my summer travels, and I don’t think it’s going to take that long to bring you up to date today, which is a good thing because, as with all great holidays, I am now, completely knackered.
There are a few things worth dipping our toes back in the development water for though this week, including some optimizations huzzah. First, talking of water, the TEAM seems to be focusing on the big blue wobbly thing again. They do tend to like to do these themed batches of updates, all based around a particular aspect of the world. Don’t they? And as I’m sure you’re aware, the thing that Rust has really needed for the longest time is, of course, another boat; it’s no secret.
And so there appears to be work going on to add yet another aquatic transport device, this time for those poor unfortunate Zergs, because commits are currently swirling around work on a new tugboat, which, as far as I can tell, will have two doors on top, one below and allow for movement on deck, think of it as being a scrap transport for the sea, but it will be a rare spawn, so probably only about 50 of them per map, lol JK.
I say it’s for Zergs. I mean, I presume you could captain it on your own.
I have no idea when that is coming, but it looks like the new rework to water that we’ve all been gasping for might finally be splashing down next month. I will be keeping an eye on that for you.
Coincidentally (question mark), as mentioned recently, the ferry terminal stuff looks to be nearly ready, which, as you should know by now, is all to allow for a player to travel between linked servers with their gear via the nexus system. That’ll be a game-changer when it finally happens, eh?
Also, double plus coincidentally, you may have heard something on the grapevine about a new diver’s suit being worked on, but if not, well, there’s a new diver’s suit being worked on.
Also, to go along with this, there appears to be at least a new hatchet, AK, and torch.. but before you get all excited about this and start stripping off in anticipation. I believe these are all actually going to constitute another DLC hazzy pack, a la the Lumberjack one we had a while back, and, therefore, will just be reskins and won’t give any extra bonuses or be in any way pay to win…
Wonder if it’ll look anything like this ancient diver suit concept art from 2014? hmm.
No date on this either, but something tells me all this water-themed stuff might all hove into view at around the same time, and I’d be surprised if skin creators aren’t already making a few things with portholes and seaweed stuck to them.
To other things now and back on the land, there have been a few fixes to shipping container skins, some but not all of which have been hotfixed in now. These include stuff such as rocket spray damage on wall corners, vehicles clipping through foundations, and rooftop line collider accuracy.
Scientist AI is getting a slight rework, and they are becoming more big-brained, such as chances for them to switch weapons depending on the range to target.. flanking, they might chase you rather than just stopping and entering combat when they see you, a chance that they’ll run and take cover when low on health or ammo, and their FOV has been reduced a lot so they don’t have eyes in the back of their heads. There’s other stuff too, and it should all add up to quite a change by the sound of it.
Oh, and I noticed something very important.
What’s that?
That when you switch to Japanese, you get a large OLI rig in the ocean.
Well, oil be damned.
Some good news for you now, hopefully, because a body of work is happening to improve performance as it relates to rendering bases because base-ically loading in bases as you move around is one of the biggest performance hits in Rust and is especially an issue for Minicopter users.
The idea here is to do with bases what is already being done with trees, i.e., render them for you no matter how far away they are, which will stop them from having to suddenly pop into existence and instead allow for a more gradual increase in fidelity as you get closer. Hopefully, you get the idea from this internal footage.
And I must stress that this is all experimental and, therefore, SUBJECT TO CHANGE. It is hoped, however, that the performance gains will be noticeable (or not noticeable, hopefully, if you know what I mean) and that there shouldn’t be much of an impact from rendering bases in the distance as they will be such low-quality noddy boxes, but we shall have to wait and see when it gets into the wild, let me know what you think to this in the comments though, please.
Apart from that, other stuff being worked on are weapon racks, which are about 95% done but still not entirely there, and reworks to ragdolls and bear animations, sadly no new images to show on any of this stuff, but hopefully soon.
Well, that’s it for this week; you are now officially up to date. Leave a like and sub, join me in all the places I hang out; links are below, and come say hi to me on Twitch if you get a chance. Thanks to my amazing supporters once more who keep me going and motivated, and if you made it this far, then I shall catch you all soon, but in the meantime, you know the drill. Keep calm and stay Rusty. Cheerio.
