How to Configure Building Decay on your Rust Server

Rust has a built-in game mechanic called decay to counteract inactive player-built structures. Decay will occur when a tool cupboard does not have enough upkeep resources available, resulting in structures slowly losing health over time until they are destroyed or repaired by a player. This configuration option is useful if a server owner would like to alter the rate at which structures decay or disable it entirely.

#Configuring Decay

You can modify the decay rate using the server.cfg configuration file located in your server's control panel.

1. Access your control panel.

2. Navigate to the Files tab and open your server.cfg file.

If you are unable to locate the server.cfg file, you can refer to our guide on the topic here.

3. Enter decay.scale followed by your desired value. For example, decay.scale "0.5" will result in a decay rate of 50%, and a decay scale of zero will disable it entirely.

4. Save the file and then go to the server console.

5. Enter the commands writecfg and readcfg to make the changes live.

To learn more about Rust server hosting, you can browse our library of Knowledgebase articles here.