Wipe Rust blueprintsUse a BP wipe deliberately - or leave it out on purpose

Published on August 9, 2026 · last updated on November 8, 2026

What blueprints are

Blueprints are the crafting plans a player has learned. Anyone who has researched an item can craft it permanently - regardless of whether their base is still standing.

That makes them the real progress in Rust. A destroyed base is annoying, but rebuilt in hours. Lost blueprints mean starting over with stone tools.

That is exactly why the decision about the BP wipe has such consequences: it determines how often your players start from zero.

Map wipe vs. BP wipe

The force wipe on the first Thursday of the month only forces the map wipe, because Facepunch changes map generation. Everything else is up to you - the cycle behind it is explained in Force wipe & wipe cycle.

Trigger a BP wipe

Technically, the blueprint data in the server's identity folder is removed. With us, this runs via the wipe function in the web interface:

1. Stop the server.
2. Choose the wipe type in the web interface - map wipe only or map wipe including BP wipe.
3. Confirm and start the server.

A BP wipe without a map wipe is technically possible, but unusual in practice: players would be standing in their finished bases without being able to craft the items inside them again. That frustrates more than it creates tension.

Recurring wipes can be automated with the task scheduler - that saves you triggering them by hand on Thursday evening.

What changes for your players afterwards

After a BP wipe, everyone is back at the start of the progression chain. Unlocking works again via the research table or the tech tree at the workbenches - both cost scrap, and in the first days after a wipe, scrap is the server's real currency.

That noticeably shifts the focus of the first days: instead of going straight for the top weapon tiers, everyone runs monuments, opens crates and barrels and collects scrap. For many players, exactly this phase is the appeal of Rust - and it is missing on a server that never resets blueprints, because the regulars there are back where they left off before the wipe within hours.

Important for expectations: a BP wipe only deletes learned knowledge. Finished items in boxes are not affected - in a regular wipe they disappear together with the map anyway, because map wipe and BP wipe run together.

What a BP wipe does not make up for is experience. Someone who has played for years is further along after two hours without a blueprint book than a beginner after two days. If your goal is to keep newcomers, a smaller map or increased gather rates usually have a stronger effect than a harsher BP rhythm.

Which rhythm fits?

• BP wipe monthly only (at the force wipe): the most common approach. Map wipes without a BP wipe in between, so technological progress lasts until the end of the month.
• Never - "BP wipe: never". Popular on PvE and build servers, where building comes first. New players, however, have a hard time against veterans with a full blueprint book.
• Every wipe - maximum difficulty, lots of early-game action. Suits weekly vanilla servers with an experienced player base.

On modded servers with increased gather rates, frequent BP wipes hurt less, because research goes faster anyway. On vanilla servers, they cost real playing time.

A side effect that often gets lost in the decision: the length of the cycle also determines server load. The longer a map stays up, the more building parts and boxes there are on it - and they are computed continuously. If you run long cycles, size the server for them, see Size your server correctly.

Communicate, do not surprise

The most common mistake is not the wrong rhythm, but an unannounced wipe. Players who finish their base in the evening and have no blueprints left the next morning do not come back.

• Mention the cycle in the server name and description - for example "Wipe: Thu + Sun | BP monthly". See Server name & description.
• Announce it in-game before the wipe, via RCON or a chat plugin.
• Stick to the rhythm - reliability matters more than the exact interval.

A server with a clearly communicated, harsh wipe cycle keeps its players better than one with a mild but unpredictable one.

Back up first - a BP wipe cannot be undone

The wipe deletes the data without making a copy first. We deliberately do not offer automatic backups - backups are self-service across the board via the WebFTP file manager or SFTP. If you want to keep the state before the wipe, download it yourself:

1. Stop the server, so that no file is caught in the middle of a write.
2. Download the identity folder via WebFTP or SFTP - the map, placed objects and blueprint data all live there together.
3. Name the copy with the date and only then trigger the wipe.

The effort is especially worth it if you are unsure about the wipe type. If you accidentally wiped the blueprints too, the state is lost for good without a backup - there is no "undo" function. What exactly belongs in the backup and how restoring works is covered in Create backups.

The method still has one limit: after a force wipe, an old world cannot be continued, because the monthly update changes map generation. A backup protects you from your own mistakes, not from the mandatory monthly wipe.

Frequently asked questions