Rust is a chill and peaceful game right up until it isn’t. One minute you’re chopping trees, mining for ore, and building your base. The next, the nigh unintelligible screams of enemy players come over the voice chat, and everyone’s pulling out their freshly crafted guns.
At moments like this, the last thing you want to do is lag. The speed of your connection can make all the difference between getting new loot from your opponents, or having to start your own base over from scratch. Luckily, there are all kinds of ways to reduce lag – and CyberGhost VPN can help.
CyberGhost VPN can reduce lag from unstable connections, and even reduce your ping. Pick a VPN server close to the game server you want to play on, and CyberGhost VPN will automatically find the fastest possible connection between you and your destination.
What Causes Lag in Rust?
Oh, it can be any number of things. It could be a network misconfiguration caused by your ISP, overcrowded networks in between you and the game server, or just plain old physical distance. After all, the further your signal has to travel to the game server and back, the longer it will take.
Then of course there are potential hardware and software problems. Read on to learn how to fix most of them:
10 Ways to Fix Lag in Rust
1. Check the Rust Servers for Issues
You can use websites like Downdetector, BattleMetrics, or GameChampions to make sure that the main servers are working properly. If you’re playing on a custom server, contact the administrator to double-check that they’re not having any issues.
These things happen sometimes, so just make sure that everything on the other end of your connection is all sorted.
2. Make Sure Nothing’s Clogging up Your Network
If there are other people in the house, make sure that none of them are doing anything too strenuous for your internet plan. Three other people all watching Netflix can put a dent in your internet speed. And if they’re all fellow nerds downloading their own games on Steam or console? Yeah, that’ll do it too.
If no one else is downloading or watching anything, but your own computer seems to be using up all the bandwidth, run a check for spyware or malware.
3. Wired Connection
Speaking of bandwidth, and more reliable connections, always use a wired connection for your PC or console when gaming. While Wi-Fi technology is getting faster and faster over time, the laws of physics still dictate that a wired connection is better. Even when a wireless connection might offer more raw bandwidth, an ethernet cable is just more reliable and stable.
4. Update Your Software
Software updates often fix a lot of issues behind the scenes that can affect your general performance, but also your internet connection. So update EVERYTHING. Update your game, update your operating system or console, and even update the software on your router or modem if you know how. It’s better for security, too.
5. Try a Different Server Region
If you’re playing on a Rust server that’s far away from you, try one that’s closer. Yes, you might lose your stuff on that other server, but rebuilding will be more fun without the lag. Distance affects lag… a lot.
And then sometimes the vagaries of routing mean that the closest server isn’t actually the fastest – it might just be too crowded. If that happens, try a few different servers.
6. Turn It Off and On Again
It’s a classic for a reason. Restart your PC or console, and restart your modem too, if it’s been a while. Continued operation of any computing device can lead to little errors piling up, and a simple restart can be all you need to clear them out.
7. Flush Your DNS Cache or Console Cache
On PC, every server you connect to gets logged in the DNS cache to speed up future operations. Sometimes, however, the cache gets corrupted or just outdated, and needs to be cleared. There are plenty of tutorials to help you with this, depending on your OS.
On consoles, you can clear the entire system cache by turning your console off, and unplugging it for a couple of minutes. Then turn it back on – and heck, the whole console might run faster too.
8. Upgrade Your Router or Modem
Whether you can do this or not will depend on your budget and whether your ISP allows it, but an outdated modem can cause lag. If yours is old, consider getting a new one.
9. Change Your Internet Plan or ISP
This isn’t an option for everybody, and really should only be used as a last resort. But if you really can’t find any other solution, and you have the budget for it, try upgrading your internet plan, or switching to a different ISP altogether. After all, not all ISPs are made equal, and you might be able to find one with better infrastructure.
10. Use a VPN
So the way a VPN works is by routing all of your internet traffic through a VPN server in the location of your choice. Choose a VPN server that’s close to the game server you want to play on, and CyberGhost VPN will automatically hunt for the best possible connection between your home network and the VPN server that you chose.
This allows you to bypass a lot of the potential lag-causing issues mentioned above: congested networks, misconfigured ISP servers, and a lot of other potential issues.
Why CyberGhost Is the Best VPN for Gaming
CyberGhost VPN works extremely well with Rust, GTA, Fortnite and pretty much any other online game you could care to name because it focuses on speed, availability, and security. It has a massive network of fast servers all around the world, which makes it possible to get a smooth connection to almost any game server.
CyberGhost VPN also masks your IP address. This can help to protect you from DDoS attacks, which cause lag to a rather extreme degree. Combine that with CyberGhost’s powerful encryption, a proven no-logs policy, 24/7 customer support via live chat, and a 45-day money-back guarantee, and you get a fantastic gaming VPN.
It also helps a lot that it can be used to get you a better connection regardless of platform. Beyond having a PC app, you can also use a VPN-enabled router to connect your console to the CyberGhost VPN network.
Conclusion
Getting a better connection to your friends – and enemies – on Rust doesn’t have to be hard. Using CyberGhost VPN and following the advice above will usually resolve most, if not all issues. Go through the list, give it a try, and if all else fails…
Call your ISP. Sometimes they mess up, and if they haven’t, they might still be able to help you find the root of the issue.
Happy hunting in the wild world of Rust!
FAQ
If you have low FPS, that’s usually a sign that you either need to lower the quality of your graphics settings, or upgrade your hardware. Start with that first option, as it’s so much cheaper. In particular, turn off or lower the more graphically intensive effects like High Quality Bloom, Shadow Cascades, Motion Blur, Full Reflections, and Terrain Quality.
Non-FPS stuttering is complex – causes and solutions vary. Many have had some luck with using their GPU’s configuration software to forcibly disable VSync. You might also try setting the Rust executable to a higher priority in Task Manager (Windows) or Activity Monitor (Mac). Some stuttering can also be caused by your connection – a no-lag VPN might help.
Lag can be caused by a number of factors: problems with the game server, problems with your ISP, congested networks, other people downloading stuff on your home internet, hardware problems, and so much more. Most of the network-based problems, at least, can be fixed with a few tweaks, and by using a VPN for gaming.
Rubberbanding is usually a side effect of network lag. Scroll up in this article for a full list of tips and tricks you can use to reduce your lag and generally make Rust run more smoothly. Most of them are cheap or free, and the free ones only take a few minutes to try.
Like most games with large maps and heavy interactivity with lots of mechanics, your bottleneck is more likely to be your CPU. There’s just so much that goes on in these survival-crafting games that graphics are… basically, a secondary concern.
Well, having a hefty server with the latest hardware definitely helps, and dedicated machines are often better than VPS offerings. Failing that, you can restart the server periodically, lower the animal count, limit the server FPS, and start with a smaller map. There are some useful performance plugins you can install on Rust servers too.
GC stands for “Garbage Collection,” and Garbage Collection Cycles are the operation responsible for loading and unloading bits of the game as needed – but this can cause lag. The GC buffer is a set amount of RAM that can be used to delay the cycle in high intensity situations, like fights. If you have at least 16GB of RAM, you can run gc.buffer 2048 in the game’s terminal to reduce lag spikes.
There are so many reasons to choose CyberGhost VPN for gaming, including a worldwide network of super-fast servers, powerful encryption, a proven track record of protecting user privacy, support for consoles, and 24/7 customer support. There are even specialized gaming servers in Frankfurt, London, Paris, and New York.
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