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Tutorial · Rust PC

Create a modded Rust server with a hosting provider

Install Oxide and your first plugin, Vanish, on a working hosted Rust server. The screenshots use MineStrator; console commands and Oxide paths apply across compatible offers.

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Contents · 8 steps

Choose resources and create Rust

Keep 12 GB free for Rust and 15 GB free on SSD/NVMe as Facepunch’s baseline, with room for plugin data and backups. Compare the host’s modded Rust recommendation, not only its advertised slot count.

For the illustrated MineStrator offer, its creation guide recommends 4 dedicated cores / 16 GB. Its modded estimates are 12 GB for 7–25 players, 16 GB for 26–50 and 24 GB+ above that, with map/plugin assumptions. These are MineStrator estimates, not capacity guarantees for every host.

For an existing server, skip creation and keep its current world settings. For a new server:

  • Open your hosting offer’s control panel and choose its server creation or installation action. MineBoard calls it Créer un serveur and asks for your MyBox.
  • Choose Rust if required, then a location close to your players if the offer provides a region choice.
  • Review the summary and confirm installation. In MineBoard, the button is Créer le serveur.
  • Wait for installation to finish and open the server’s management page; MineBoard uses Gérer le serveur.

Expected resultYou can manage one Rust server with an adequate resource budget.

Connect in vanilla before adding plugins

For a new server, keep the host’s unmodded Rust installation for the first connection. If a framework selector is present, choose vanilla; MineBoard has it under Paramètres → Framework de modding. Set the name, seed and world size, save, then start and wait for Server startup complete in its console.

From Rust’s F1 console, connect to the public IP and game port shown by your host. Confirm that you enter the expected world. Already modded and working? Keep that configuration and take a backup; do not switch frameworks just to repeat this check.

Rust client F1 — assigned game address
connect <SERVER_IP>:<GAME_PORT>

Expected resultA direct client connection works before you diagnose any plugin.

If it does not work
  • If it times out, first check startup and the game address. Installing Oxide does not repair a wrong IP, port or unavailable server.

Back up, then enable Oxide

Use your host’s documented Oxide/uMod activation, not a reinstall action. In MineBoard, choose Paramètres → Framework de modding → oxide; GPORTAL uses Basic Settings → Oxide Mods, while GG Host uses Mod Manager.

  • Run server.save in the hosting panel’s server console. Wait for completion, then stop the server.
  • Create and download a backup before changing the framework. Without downloadable backups, copy server/<identity> through file access while Rust is stopped; find the identity in server.identity or ask support. If plugins are already installed, also preserve the complete oxide folder and their external data.
  • Activate Oxide with the control described by your provider. If it is already installed and working, keep it and continue with the checks below. Without a documented activation for your offer, ask support before changing server files.
  • Save the settings and restart the server. Wait for startup to finish.
  • Run oxide.version in the server console, then open the file manager or SFTP access and check for oxide/plugins and oxide/config. MineBoard’s file tool is WebSFTP.

Important: Change only the framework, not the world. In MineBoard, leave ‘Régénérer le serveur’ unchecked and do not add files to delete. Carbon is a different framework: follow its own installation guide if that is what your offer supports; do not overlay Carbon and Oxide DLLs.

Before the backup — hosting panel server console
server.save
After restart — check the loaded framework
oxide.version
MineBoard Paramètres and Framework de modding selector in the official French interface
Example: Oxide activation in MineBoard, from MineStrator’s official guide. French UI; other panels use different menus. Do not copy demonstration values.

Expected resultoxide.version returns a framework version, and file access exposes oxide/plugins and oxide/config.

If it does not work
  • Unknown command or no oxide folder? Recheck the saved framework and restart result. Keep the startup error for host support rather than reinstalling the world.

Install one plugin: Vanish

Oxide normally detects and compiles a new .cs automatically. This walkthrough uses Vanish 2.1.4 and its vanish.allow permission; check the author’s requirements for the version you download.

  • Open Whispers88’s Vanish page on uMod and download Vanish.cs.
  • Open your host’s file manager or SFTP access, enter oxide/plugins and upload the file without renaming it. In MineBoard, use WebSFTP.
  • Watch the server console for compilation, then run oxide.plugins to check the loaded version or failure reason.
Hosting panel server console — loaded and failed plugins
oxide.plugins

Expected resultVanish is listed as loaded, and oxide/config/Vanish.json has been generated.

If it does not work
  • Compilation failed? Read the first error, confirm the filename/framework and check the author’s compatibility notes. Do not install more plugins while this one is failing.

Edit the generated JSON and reload only Vanish

Use the file manager or SFTP access to download a copy of oxide/config/Vanish.json, then edit that file. For a manual-toggle test, keep both automatic connect/disconnect vanish options false, keep private feedback, and set NoClip on Vanish (runs noclip command) to false. Preserve the exact generated key names and valid JSON.

Alternatively, import that server-generated file into PimpMyRust’s Vanish configurator, edit it and Export the JSON. Upload it back to the same oxide/config/Vanish.json path; the web configurator does not install or deploy anything. Run the reload command below in the server console and inspect the result.

Important: The .cs belongs in oxide/plugins; JSON belongs in oxide/config. Do not paste a partial JSON example over the complete generated file.

Hosting panel server console — apply the edited config
oxide.reload Vanish

Expected resultVanish reloads without a JSON error and retains your selected settings.

If it does not work
  • JSON error? Restore your downloaded copy, check commas/quotes and reload again. A successful export alone does not prove that the server accepted the file.

Grant one permission and test both player roles

In your host’s server console, replace <STEAM64_ID> with your test staff member’s ID and grant only vanish.allow. Do not use *, the default group or vanish.permanent for this manual-toggle test.

In that player’s in-game chat, enter /vanish, then enter it again to return visible. Ask an ordinary nearby player to verify the change, then test that the ordinary player cannot use the feature. Native owner access and plugin permissions are separate controls.

Server console — grant only to the selected user
oxide.grant user <STEAM64_ID> vanish.allow
In-game chat — toggle invisibility
/vanish

Expected resultThe selected user can toggle on and off; an unprivileged player cannot.

If it does not work
  • Permission missing? Confirm Vanish loaded and inspect oxide.show user <STEAM64_ID>. For 2.1.4, use vanish.allow even though two generated JSON labels still mention vanish.use.

Remove test access or undo the plugin separately

When the test access is no longer needed, first return visible in game. Then run the revoke command below. This removes the direct grant, not permissions inherited through a group.

To remove Vanish entirely, move Vanish.cs out of oxide/plugins through your host’s file access and check the unload message. Keep its config/data backup. Restoring a full server backup is a different, destructive action: use it only when you intend to replace the complete server state.

Server console — optional removal after the test
oxide.revoke user <STEAM64_ID> vanish.allow

Expected resultThe direct test grant is removed; check inherited group access separately if the feature is still available.

Check persistence and protect the modded server

Save and stop cleanly, then create and download a full backup through your host’s backup tool or file access. Preserve the complete world identity plus oxide/plugins, oxide/config, oxide/data, oxide/lang, permission files and any plugin-specific external data. Config JSON alone is not a full backup.

Restart normally, reconnect and check oxide.version, oxide.plugins, the same world and the intended permission behavior. Before future Rust updates, check Oxide/plugin compatibility and keep a restorable backup. After updating, repeat these checks before adding more plugins.

Server console — save before the backup
server.save

Expected resultThe world, generated configuration and intended access survive a normal restart; a separate backup exists.