Are you frustrated with the persistent issue of Rust crashing randomly, especially when joining servers? If you’ve been wondering, “Why does my Rust keep crashing?” or “How to stop Rust from crashing?” you’re not alone.
Many players encounter Rust crashes, and it can be a major hindrance to an otherwise immersive gaming experience. In this article, we’ll explore updated tips and solutions to address Rust crashing on startup, during server joins, and random crashes.
Let’s delve into effective strategies to fix and prevent these issues, ensuring a smoother and more enjoyable Rust gaming experience.
UPDATE YOUR DRIVERS
in Windows 11, 10 and 7
Use Driver Easy to update all the missing & outdated device drivers on PC for free.
Why Does My Rust Keep Crashing?
Rust is not a resource-intensive game however if you have made the wrong configuration with your computer it may crash randomly. Still, these are the common causes that prevent Rust from running properly.
- Your PC won’t meet the minimum system requirements
- Unwanted programs running in the background
- Outdated graphics card driver
- Lack of administrative privileges
- Corrupted game file
- Running Steam Beta Client
- Low Virtual Memory
- Playing games with incompatible DirectX version
How To Fix Rust Keeps Crashing on Startup
Below is the list to fix random crashing issues on startup or during gameplay. Just work your way through the list until you find the one that does the trick for you.
Adjust Graphics Settings
Launch Rust and navigate to the in-game settings menu. Lower graphical settings such as texture quality, shadow quality, and anti-aliasing to reduce the workload on the GPU.
Experiment with different settings to find a balance between visual quality and performance.
Run Steam As An Administrator
Under normal user mode, Rust may not be able to access critical game files. You should try playing Rust as an administrator.
Follow these steps to do it:
- Right-click on Steam.
- Navigate to Properties.
- Click on the Compatibility tab and then tick the box next to Run this program as an administrator.
- Click on Apply and then select OK.
Opt-out of the Steam Beta
Users participate in the Steam beta client to get the updates before anyone else can but due to its instability, it causes game performance issues.
If you are also one of them then try opting out from Steam beta to fix Rust’s crashing error. To do that follow these steps:
- Run Steam
- Click on Steam > Settings > Account.
- Click on the Change button.
- Click on the list box of Beta Participation.
- Select None-opt out of all beta programs.
- Now click on the OK option.
Update your Graphics Driver
The graphics driver should be up to date, in case they are old or incompatible you will face crashing issues mid-game.
To make sure that you have an updated graphics card driver you can opt for two methods manual or automatic.
The manual process includes visiting the AMD/NVIDIA official sites and searching for the compatible driver that fixes the game crashing issues. It’s a time-consuming process that also requires prior device knowledge.
We suggest an automatic process that is feasible if you don’t have patience or device knowledge. You need to download the Driver Easy Free version on your PC. This tool is a PC driver updater that automatically scans and updates the device’s old driver.
You can also download Driver Easy’s Pro Version which lets you update all drivers instantly. You can also create a system restore point in case any driver messes up. The Pro version also comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Increase the Paging File Size
Adding extra page file memory sometimes fixes the Rust keeps crashing on the PC. Here is how to do it:
- Press the Windows logo key and type View advanced system settings to open it.
- Under the Advanced tab click on Settings.
- From the new window again click on the Advanced tab, and then select the Change button appearing under Virtual Memory.
- Uncheck the box Automatically manage paging file size for all drives.
- Now click on your C drive.
- Click the options button next to Custom size, and then type 4096 in the text box next to Initial size (MB) and Maximum size (MB).
- Click Set, and then click OK.
Now restart your PC and Rust to check if it’s still crashing on Startup or while playing the game.
Check SSD Storage Availability
First, you need to make sure that you have installed Rust on SSD. Then verify the available free space on your SSD. For optimal game performance, your SSD should have at least 20% free space.
If the SSD is near full capacity, consider moving or deleting non-essential files to free up space.
Kill Background Programs
If you are running multiple apps in the background then you will have to deal with Rust’s crashing issues.
You need to close all of these programs using the Task Manager. Follow these steps:
- Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
- Click on the Processes tab and check which process is consuming more CPU usage.
- Right-click on that process and End Task it.
Verify The Integrity Of Game Files
If Rust keeps crashing on your computer then you need to validate the game files. There are chances that the game files are either corrupt or missing.
Using Steam you can run a verification process that scans and replaces the corrupted files.
- Open Steam and go to the Library.
- Right-click on Rust and navigate to Properties.
- Click on the Local Files tab and then select Verify integrity of game files.
Change The Power Option
If you change the Windows power plan to high performance it will; speed up your PC. Here’s how to do it:
- Press Win + R and type powercfg.cpl to open Power Options.
- Click on the High Performance or Ultimate Performance option.
If you can’t see the High-Performance option then you need to create Custom Power Plan.
- Click on Create a Power Plan from the left side.
- Choose High Performance.
- Now Select the power parameters for On Battery and Plugged In.
- Click on Create and you are good to go.
Change Process Affinity Settings
Rust will crash randomly if it’s unable to utilize the full potential of your CPU. Follow these steps:
- Launch Rust on your PC.
- Press the Windows logo to minimize the game.
- Press the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys to run Task Manager.
- 4) Click the Details tab.
- 5) Right-click Rust and select Set Affinity.
- 6) Check all the boxes available and click OK.
Now relaunch the game to see if this worked for you or not.
Related: How To Set CPU Process Priority for Applications in Windows 10
Set Rust Launch Options
If you have added the improper launch options in Steam the game is going to crash on startup. You need to add proper launch commands, follow these steps:
- Run Steam.
- Click LIBRARY.
- Right-click Rust and select Properties.
- Click SET LAUNCH OPTIONS.
- Remove any launch options that are showing currently.
- Type -high -maxMem=X -malloc=system -force-feature-level-11-0 -cpuCount=X -exThreads=X -force-d3d11-no-singlethreaded and click OK.
Note: If the newly added launch options don’t work then reopen the launch options and clear these commands.
Reinstall Rust
If non of the above fixes work for you then the last option is to reinstall the Rust. For that uninstall Rust using Steam while making sure that all the games’ data is removed from the PC.
Reset Windows OS
The last option that has a high potential to fix the Rust keeps crashing issue is to reset Windows OS. It can take 2 hours and you can choose the option to keep data. It’s a last resort but you should give it a try.
