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Export your Rust map (.map, .raw and .png)

When your terrain is ready, open the Export panel from the toolbar to write it out for RustEdit. Each output is its own checkbox, so you tick exactly the files you want and they all export together in one click. Crucible writes a true 16-bit heightmap, which is what RustEdit needs for smooth, detailed elevation with no banding or loss of precision.

The Crucible Heightmap export panel, with checkboxes for the three MAP File outputs, Map PNG, Heightmap PNG, XML Splat and Heightmap, and RAW Heightmap, plus a Map Size field

What can you export?

Section titled “What can you export?”

There are three .map outputs. They all open straight in RustEdit and differ only in how much of the world comes with the terrain:

  • MAP File + Cliffs (on by default): the complete world. Your terrain, your ground textures, and everything the worldgen derived (biomes, topology, lakes), plus Rust’s real cliff and rock models placed on the steep ground. The cliffs are generated at export, so you get them whether or not Generate cliffs is ticked in the Worldgen panel. See export a Rust .map file.
  • MAP File: the same complete world, without the cliff models.
  • MAP File (heightmap only): bare terrain. No ground textures, no biomes, no topology. For when you want to build the world in RustEdit yourself.

The rest are pictures and the older import route:

  • Map PNG: a full-colour picture of the map with its ground textures applied, biome-tinted exactly as it will look in game. Great for showcasing a map or planning before you build. Turn on Overlay map grid to also save a copy with the in-game grid and its cell labels (A0, B1 and so on) drawn over it.
  • Heightmap PNG: the plain 16-bit grayscale heightmap as a .png. Good for previews, sharing on Discord or socials, and archiving. It is not for importing into RustEdit.
  • XML Splat + Heightmap: the World Creator import set (the heightmap, splat maps and a small config file) that brings your painted ground textures into RustEdit. This route carries height and splats only, because that is all World Creator accepts. See import splats into RustEdit with World Creator.
  • RAW Heightmap: a standalone 16-bit .raw heightmap, the format you import on RustEdit’s own Heightmap field when you just want bare terrain. See how to make a custom Rust map.

The fastest path is the default MAP File + Cliffs on its own: export it, open it in RustEdit, and the whole world is there. The other outputs cover previews, archiving and the older World Creator workflow.

Set your map size

Section titled “Set your map size”

The Map Size field is the same map size as the one on the main screen: change it in either place and both stay in sync, so the .map, .raw and .png all export at the matching resolution. Type any size from 1000 to 6000 meters (default 3800). See map sizes and resolutions.

What resolution does it export?

Section titled “What resolution does it export?”

Your heightmap resolution follows the map size: 513, 1025, 2049 or 4097. These match RustEdit’s heightmap resolutions exactly. See map sizes and resolutions.

Where exports go

Section titled “Where exports go”

Exports save to the app’s output folder next to the program. A saved project gets its own output/<project>-export/ folder so each project’s files stay together; an unsaved workspace exports to the root output/. The Open button at the bottom of the panel reveals that folder in Explorer. The panel stays open after an export, so you can change a setting and export again, and closes on Escape or a click outside it.