Let’s get visual—emojis are now available in the RUST chat!
On August 3rd, 2023, Facepunch introduced the RUST Emoji System in the Wounded Update.
This new Emoji System allows all players to insert emojis into the in-game chat using a point-and-click emoji menu or a type-ahead (or autocomplete) chat feature. Emojis use a coded system to insert the emoji graphic into the chat’s text field, which will float above the text code and slightly obscure it.
Emojis provide a new visual system in the game for players to express themselves, similar to the gestures system, but for the global and team chats.
Table of Contents
How do you use emojis in chat?
Emojis have three primary methods for entering into the chat system. While emojis are rather limited in their application, there are also a few other obscure areas where they can be used in-game, such as vending machine names and the like.
Here are the three methods for using emojis in the RUST chat.
Emoji Menu
The Emoji Menu is located on the right side of the chat bar and can be opened by clicking on the smiley face icon. Once opened, the search bar, skin tone preference, and emoji results list will be displayed. You can search for an emoji by name in the search bar, and the results will return just below it. This works for default, RUST items, and custom server emojis.
Once you find an emoji you want to use, click on it with the left mouse button. It will automatically insert that emoji into the text field below.
Players have the option of changing the skin tone for their default emojis. To do this, click on the animated happy emoji just to the right of the search bar. Clicking on this emoji will open a sub-menu above the search bar, with 4 options for you to choose from. Once you select an option, all of the default emojis will take that skin tone appearance.
Type-ahead Feature
The Type-ahead Feature is enabled when a player begins typing the emoji delimiter : into the chat. This will allow the players to see type-ahead results that match their query. It works with default, RUST items, and custom server emojis.
It functions similarly to a search tool but will return a limited set of results (up to 5 maximum) above the text field. The options will narrow down as a player types more of the specific emoji’s code into the text field, reducing the available options.
If the result appears before typing the full emoji code in, players can either click it with the left mouse button or use the Up and Down arrow keys to insert the emoji into the text field.
Manual Entry
While not necessarily the easiest of the three methods, all types of emojis can be manually entered into the text field. Whether you’re tying by hand or copy-pasting from an outside source, such as our RUST item list, it’s also quite possible that individual servers may provide custom emojis to their users and provide their own out-of-game lists.
Emojis are bound to the limitations of RUST’s chat system, and each emoji is represented by an emoji code that must be wrapped in the : delimiter. One of the limitations impacting how many emojis can be manually entered and represented in the chat will be hindered by the chat’s 129-character limit.
For example, if you were to use the Wood emoji in chat, which is represented by the following characters :wood: It requires 6 characters in total per Wood emoji, so you will only be able to enter 21 Wood emojis per line.
What emojis are available?
With the Emoji System’s introduction to RUST, three sources of emojis are made available to all players.
Default Emojis
Facepunch created the default set of animated emojis. These emojis come in four different skin tones, which the player can specify and change at any time using the emoji menu.
RUST Item Emojis
The entire catalog of RUST item icons has been made into emojis that are available to all players. Players can use the type-ahead feature and the emoji menu to search for these. If you know the specific item’s shortname, you can manually type or paste it into the chat.
Custom Emojis
Custom Emojis are server-specific and can only be added and modified by the server admins. All players will have access to use these emojis. There are specific requirements for emojis that are added to private servers, so be aware before you get your server blacklisted.
How do you disable emojis?
Luckily, emojis can be disabled on the client side in RUST, regardless of a specific server’s implementation of emojis. Three emoji settings are available in the Options screen under the User Interface section:
- Block Emoji – Blocks any emoji from appearing.
- Block Emoji Animations —Stops emojis from animating, only shows still images.
- Block Server Emoji — Stops emoji provided by servers from appearing.
Summary
With emojis now being part of the game, players can communicate in silence much easier without relying on voice communication. Combined with the existing gesture animations, things will get quite interesting. If you have any thoughts you’d like to share with us directly on RUST emojis or other related topics, be sure to visit our Discord.
