spawn.max_rate (Rust server ConVar)
What spawn.max_rate does on a Rust server: the default of 1, how spawn rates climb with player count, the CPU trade off and how to check the live scalars.
Last updated Verified on Rust build 25582902, 2026-09-28
- Kind
- Variable
- Value on build 25582902
1- Server help text
- (Generated) Maximum spawn rate scalar applied to NPC/resource population spawning; the spawn tick rate scales up to this value as player count increases
- Applies
- Immediately (runtime)
- Persists in
- server.cfg
- Vanilla Rust
- Yes, native
- Example
spawn.max_rate 1
Gotchas
- It is the high population end of a range; spawn.min_rate is the low end.
- It scales how fast populations respawn, not how many there are; spawn.min_density and spawn.max_density set density.
- Its CPU cost above 1 is not documented; the CPU warning in the help text of spawn.tick_populations is about the tick interval. Watch server FPS after raising it.
- Not written to serverauto.cfg by server.writecfg, so a value set only over RCON is lost on restart. Keep it in server.cfg.
spawn.max_rate is the top of the scalar Rust applies to population spawning, the refill of animals, NPCs and resource nodes. The server's help text (marked "Generated" by Facepunch):
Maximum spawn rate scalar applied to NPC/resource population spawning; the spawn tick rate scales up to this value as player count increases
On build 25582902 the value was 1.
Rate versus density
Rust has two pairs of spawn scalars that are easy to confuse:
| ConVar | Value on 25582902 | What the help text says it controls |
|---|---|---|
spawn.min_rate / spawn.max_rate | 0.5 / 1 | How fast populations respawn (the tick rate) |
spawn.min_density / spawn.max_density | 0.5 / 1 | How densely spawnable items fill their areas |
spawn.max_rate changes how quickly things come back, not how many of them there are. If your map feels empty on a busy server, the density pair is the one that sets how full it gets. Both pairs scale with player count.
Raising it above 1
A value above 1 lets respawning run faster than the default once the server is busy. Nothing in the help text caps it. Respawning happens on the population tick, every spawn.tick_populations seconds (60 on our server). The help text of that interval warns that lowering it to refill faster increases "server CPU load"; it says nothing about the cost of a higher spawn.max_rate, and we have not measured it. On a full server, watch server FPS after a change rather than trusting a number from a forum.
Lowering it below spawn.min_rate would turn the range upside down. We have not tested what the server does then, so keep spawn.min_rate at or below spawn.max_rate.
Check it on a live server
spawn.scalarsprints the current spawn scalars, including "population rate" and "density".spawn.reportlists every population with its count, target and fill percentage.
Setting it
spawn.max_rate 1
It can be set over RCON without a restart, but server.writecfg does not save it to serverauto.cfg. Put it in server.cfg so it survives a restart. In Panelra, add it under Settings, Custom ConVars; it is written to server.cfg and applied with server.readcfg.
Set it in Panelra
Change spawn.max_rate from the dashboard instead of editing files over SSH.
Related ConVars
- spawn.min_rate(Generated) Minimum spawn rate scalar applied to NPC/resource population spawning; lower values slow down respawn ticking when server population is low
- spawn.tick_populations(Generated) Interval in seconds between population spawn ticks; lower values cause populations to refill faster but increase server CPU load
- spawn.max_density(Generated) Maximum population density scalar; controls the upper bound for how densely spawnable items fill their designated spawn areas at high player counts
- spawn.scalars(Generated) Prints a table of current spawn scalar values including player fraction, excess, population rate, density, and group rate; pass --json for machine-readable output
- spawn.report(Generated) Prints a spawn handler report listing all populations, their current count, target count, and fill percentage; pass true for detailed mode or a name filter as a second argument
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