Troubleshooting: Server Crashes and Performance Issues

Server Crashes

If your server keeps crashing or going offline, work through these steps in order.

Step 1: Check the Console Output

Go to the Console tab in your game panel and look for error messages. Read the error before restarting — restarting clears the live console output.

Copy the error text so you have it if you need to contact support.

Step 2: Is It Update Day?

Rust updates on the first Thursday of every month (forced wipe). After an update:

• Oxide/uMod may stop working until a compatible version is released (hours to days)
• Individual plugins may break and need updates from their authors
• Update Oxide first, then update your plugins one by one

Step 3: Check Plugins

Common plugin-related performance issues:

• Plugins that run on short timers (every few seconds) consume excessive CPU
• Plugins that store large amounts of data can cause save lag
• Check /oxide/logs/ for plugin-specific error traces

Step 4: Check Server Performance

• Use the perf command in the console for server-side performance stats
• Map size is a major performance factor — maps larger than 4500 require significantly more resources
• Entity count — excessive player-built structures, dropped items, and loot containers are the primary cause of performance degradation
• Remove old backups you no longer need to free disk space

When to Contact Support

• Crashes happen immediately on startup with no clear error
• You have tried the steps above and the issue persists

Include in your ticket: what you changed recently, the error from console, and approximate time of the crash.