Install Creator

Creator installs through the Crucible launcher. You install the launcher once, add Creator from its Apps library, and activate your license in the launcher to unlock it. Updates arrive the same way.

Before you start, check System requirements: Creator needs Rust installed through Steam, because it reads Rust’s own files from that install.

Install it

1. Install the Crucible launcher.
2. Buy Creator in the launcher’s Shop tab, or paste a license key you already have in the Account panel. Your license activates in the launcher.
3. Open the Apps library and install Creator.
4. Click Launch. Creator opens on its start screen.

Pricing is shown in the launcher’s Shop tab. License keys, how many PCs a license covers, and your account live in the launcher too: see Licenses and account.

Start it from the launcher

Start Creator from the Crucible launcher: open Crucible and press Play on Creator. If you see a window titled “START CREATOR FROM CRUCIBLE” with the message “Open Crucible and press Play on Creator.”, press QUIT, open the launcher and start Creator from there.

To keep Creator on the taskbar, pin it while it is running from the launcher. The pin starts it through the launcher.

Your license

Creator opens straight to the start screen with a valid license. If you accepted the launcher’s current license agreement, Creator does not ask you to accept an agreement again. If the launcher’s agreement has changed since you last accepted it, Creator shows the new one first, whether you start Creator from the launcher, from a shortcut or by opening a map; accepting it there counts for the launcher too. Without a valid license, Creator shows its license window, which says why:

The window says	What it means
“Enter your license key to activate Crucible Creator.”	No license is saved on this PC yet.
“Your subscription is not active.”	Your subscription has ended or is paused.
“This license does not include Crucible Creator.”	The key is for another Crucible app only, such as Crucible Heightmap.
“Could not verify your license and the offline grace period has ended.”	Connect to the internet to verify your license.

Paste your key and press ACTIVATE, or use GET A SUBSCRIPTION (it opens the Crucible launcher) or MANAGE SUBSCRIPTION. QUIT closes Creator.

First launch

Creator opens on the start screen, finds your Rust install by itself and says so in the footer: Your Rust install, build and its build number. Nothing is copied and there is nothing to wait for. If it could not find Rust, or Steam is in the middle of updating it, the footer says that instead, and the next page, Your Rust content, covers both.

CREATE BLANK works with no Rust install at all, and gives you an editable blank island with plain terrain colors. Everything that renders Rust’s own textures, prefabs and monuments needs your Rust install.

Updates

Updates come through the launcher, the same as the install. Three things worth knowing:

• A Creator update doesn’t touch your Rust install, or a private copy of Rust’s files if you made one. A private copy only changes when you update it.
• The update to 0.1.8 moves Creator’s data folder on its first start. Your private copy, recipes and saved presets come with it. See Upgrading from 0.1.7.
• Your maps are yours. Creator writes standard .map files wherever you point it, and an update neither moves nor rewrites them. See Where your files live.

Uninstalling

Remove Creator from the launcher’s Apps library. That leaves two things behind on purpose, because they are yours and they are large:

• your maps, wherever you saved them
• any private copy of Rust’s files under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Rook\Creator\content\, around 50 GB each. There is none unless you made one.

Delete that folder yourself if you want that space back. Nothing in it is unique: it is a copy of your Rust install, and making the copy again rebuilds it.