Use a Custom Map on Your Rust Server

Updated 10 June 2026 · By Host Havoc Technical Support Team

Rust supports custom procedural maps in .map format. You host the file externally (such as Dropbox) and point your server at the download URL. For server-side configuration changes, see Change Hostname for other server.cfg settings.

Prepare the map file

Make sure your custom map is in .map file format.

Upload to a file host

Upload the .map file to Dropbox or another file-sharing service that provides a direct download link. Copy the download link once uploaded.

Configure the server

  1. Log into the Game Control Panel and stop your server.
  2. Click Configuration Files, then click Config Editor beside server.cfg.
  3. Scroll down and check the Use custom map checkbox.
  4. Paste your download link into the Level URL field.

    Important: If using a Dropbox link, change dl=0 to dl=1 at the end of the URL to force a direct download. For example: https://www.dropbox.com/s/<randomcharacters>/<mapname>.map?dl=1

  5. Click Save and Exit.

Start the server

Start your server. It will download and load the custom map on startup.