Rust Hotfixes 4–7 — Wild Livestock Devalued, Biofuel Generator Power Draw, Wool & Milk Fixes & Rust Render Pipeline Graphics

Facepunch has shipped a run of optional client and server updates in the wake of the Livestock Update — four hotfixes covering the livestock economy, the Biofuel Generator, wool and milk interactions, a set of Rust Render Pipeline graphics problems, plus exploit fixes in the later builds.

All four are described as optional updates for both client and server, so unlike a forced monthly patch, you get to choose when to apply them. Here's everything in Hotfixes 4 through 7.

🔧 Hotfix 4 — Livestock Economy, Biofuel Power & Render Pipeline Graphics

• Livestock caught in the wild are now valued significantly less by the livestock vendor. A deliberate economic correction to the system introduced on October 1 — the ranch vendor is now much less interested in poached animals, which pushes players toward actually breeding stock rather than grabbing whatever wanders past.
• The Biofuel Generator now only draws power while actively processing ingredients. Previously it consumed power whenever it was running, processing or not — this is both a quality-of-life fix and a real saving for bases that keep one connected to a power grid.
• Fixed milk skimming being blocked by server.foodspoiling 0. A genuine server-config interaction: with food spoiling disabled, the skim option was unavailable. Directly relevant if you run a server with spoiling turned off.
• Fixed the milk skim timer resetting when stacking milk. It now allows stacking when the skim timer is within 1 minute — so consolidating milk no longer restarts the clock.
• Fixed animal fence and gate not being researchable. The new livestock fencing added in the Livestock Update couldn't be unlocked — a straightforward but blocking bug for anyone setting up a farm.
• Fixed the ocean not rendering while below deck on the cargoship.
• Fixed blue orbs appearing when shearing sheep, and fixed shadows on Rustige eggs.
• Fixed various graphical issues with the Rust Render Pipeline. Expected follow-up work: the RRP is a fresh custom render pipeline that replaced Unity's Built-in pipeline, and the team said they'd be addressing issues found during the first month.
• The food crafting menu option has been moved down the list.

⚡ Hotfix 5 — Client Performance, Staging Gating & Vendor Polish

• Various client performance optimizations.
• Staging clients will no longer be able to join Release servers. A version-gating change — if you run a staging branch client, it can no longer connect to a release server, which keeps builds properly separated.
• Fixed the wool vendor not specifying the minimum quantity needed to sell. The livestock vendor's wool trade works in bulk (up to 400 in one go) and the UI wasn't telling players the threshold — an important clarity fix, since guessing the minimum made the mechanic feel broken.
• Fixed boars' behaviour at high HP.
• Fixed the loadout popup showing behind the F1 menu, and fixed a Rust+ connection issue.

🛡️ Hotfix 6 — Exploit Fixes

• Exploit fixes.

Facepunch doesn't detail these, which is standard practice — exploit fixes are deliberately vague so they aren't a roadmap for the next attempt. For server owners the takeaway is simply that these are worth applying, and applying them promptly.

💧 Hotfix 7 — Water IO & An Exploit Fix

• Fixed a water IO issue.
• Exploit fix.

🖥️ What This Means For Your Server

• These updates are optional — so the decision is yours. Each one is labelled as an optional client and server update, which is different from Rust's forced monthly patches. Practically: applying them gives you the exploit and bug fixes; skipping them leaves you on a known state. On a populated server, I'd apply the exploit fixes.
• Hotfix 6 and 7 are both exploit fixes — don't sit on those. Exploits in a survival economy are the most damaging kind of bug: they distort loot, devalue legitimately earned gear and undermine trust in the wipe. Two of the four hotfixes are dedicated to them.
• Check server.foodspoiling if you disable food spoiling. Hotfix 4 fixed milk skimming being blocked by server.foodspoiling 0. If your server runs with spoiling off, milk and cream were effectively unavailable to your players — that's now corrected.
• The wild-livestock devaluation changes your server's early-wipe economy. Grabbing a wild cow or sheep and selling it is now worth significantly less. Communities that built a quick-cash loop on poached animals will feel it immediately; the intended path is breeding. Worth announcing rather than letting players assume the vendor is bugged.
• Animal fences and gates are researchable now. If your community tried the new livestock fencing and found it locked, that's fixed — a blocking issue for anyone who gave up on farming after the first attempt.
• Keep an eye on the Rust Render Pipeline. Hotfix 4 fixed "various graphical issues" with it. The old pipeline is still selectable in the experimental tab for about a month, so if a player reports graphical weirdness, that setting remains your troubleshooting lever until Facepunch makes RRP the default.
• Staging gating matters if you test builds. Staging clients can no longer join Release servers. If your staff or testers run staging builds, they'll need a release client to play on your live server.
• Biofuel Generator owners save power. Only drawing power while actively processing means a connected generator no longer sits there burning your grid — relevant for bases that run tight on power.

Running a Rust community? NolimitHost Rust server hosting gives you the fast high-clock CPU performance that populated wipes need, plus NVMe storage, DDoS protection and automated backups — so applying an optional hotfix is a restart, not a risk.

Conclusion

The four post-Livestock hotfixes add up to a solid clean-up pass. Hotfix 4 rebalanced the livestock economy by devaluing wild-caught animals, made the Biofuel Generator draw power only while processing, fixed milk skimming under server.foodspoiling 0 and the milk stack timer, unblocked animal fence and gate research, and fixed several Rust Render Pipeline graphics issues along with cargoship ocean rendering, shearing sheep effects and Rustige egg shadows. Hotfix 5 brought client performance optimizations, staging clients blocked from Release servers, a wool vendor that now states its minimum quantity, and fixes for boars, the loadout popup and Rust+. Hotfix 6 and Hotfix 7 are focused fixes — exploit fixes plus a water IO bug.

Approve the optional updates, apply the exploit fixes, and tell your community the vendor really is paying less for wild animals on purpose.