Rust Legacy Game Client Installation

1. You must have Rust installed via Steam.
2. Download the Legacy Game Client .zip file.
3. Open Steam, right-click on 'Rust' in your library, and select 'Properties'.
4. In the 'Updates' tab, make the following changes:
   • Set 'Automatic Updates' to "Only update this game when I launch it".
   • Set 'Background Downloads' to "Pause background downloads while I'm playing".
5. Navigate to the 'Installed Files' tab and click 'Browse' to open the game's installation folder.
   You can now close the properties window.
6. Exit Steam completely (Top left menu > Steam > Exit). This is a critical step.
7. In the folder directory steamapps\common
   Rename the existing 'Rust' folder to something else, like "RustNew".
8. Now, extract the .zip file you downloaded.
   Move the extracted 'Rust' folder into your steamapps\common directory.
9. Open the newly moved 'Rust' folder and launch the game by double-clicking "rust.exe".
   The game will load, then crash, and Steam will automatically reopen and prompt you to update to the latest game version. This is expected. Click 'NO' for the UAC prompt.
If you click 'Yes' Steam will automatically update your legacy client files, and overwrite everything.
10. The game client will reopen. Click 'Play', and Legacy Rust should launch successfully.
11. For future sessions:
    • To play Legacy Rust, you can launch it from Steam, but you must always click 'NO' when prompted to install the latest version.
    • To play the latest version of Rust, go into your renamed folder ("RustNew") and launch the game directly from RustClient.exe. Note, this will just launch the game, not the anticheat- so bugs may occur.
Side Note, official servers do not exist anymore. Some servers exist, but can be unstable, insecure, or not well maintained.
I highly recommended hosting and playing on your own. You can still host servers and others can join. Enjoy the legacy Rust experience.