Sneak Peek: The future of client modding with Carbon

[Death]

The future of modding is a lot closer than you actually think. Here's an exclusive sneak peek by Shadowfrax of the client modding portion of Carbon! Please note the content showcased in the video are all Unity store assets. We did this intentionally to showcase how easy it is to import ready-made assets to completely reinvent your servers!

What is Carbon?

If you missed our previous announcement, Carbon is a new high-performance framework for Rust servers. The overview you're about to watch covers the client modding aspect of Carbon, which is separate from Carbon for servers.

 

Overview of client modding with Carbon

Now that you're familiar with Carbon let's have a look at what the future of Rust modding will look like with client modding! If you would like to follow the project and even give it a whirl yourself, head over to our Discord server at https://discord.gg/carbonmod

 

[Zero Absoluto]

One question, can this be done from Rustedit or do you need advanced Unity knowledge, since it surely requires programming and the other question is, doesn't this violate the terms and conditions of FacePunch, which does not allow you to modify the client?

Let it be known that I am the first to be interested in the matter, but if I earn a vac from facepunch it will be that I won't

Edited January 20 by Zero Absoluto

[IIIaKa]

I haven't encountered client modification, what will EAC say about this? Will there be bans for modifying game files?

P.S. Nevermind, in the end, they say that EAC will need to be turned off.

Edited January 20 by IIIaKa

[Zero Absoluto]

If the EAC is shut down, the hackers will do hell with your server.

I'm always trying to create a plugin that modifies the door theme so that hidden doors can be created like in Ark, but all the developers tell me the same thing that it can't be done, now with carbon it can be done...

Edited January 20 by Zero Absoluto

[8o8 Designs]

Excellent work! 

[beno29]

good work bro

[Yac Vaguer]

I think the project is cool as a proof of concept, but if you want to play a different game, just get a different game

Just thinking that I will need to install a client and I will be only able to see server that Carbon Client support, that will make the users base quite small.

I'm not an expert so I'm rooting for the project to succeed but It seems too much work. I will give a try to Carbon(Server side) soon, and maybe adapt my plugins for that but probably I will never even use the client one. 

 

 

[mrdecoder]

11 hours ago, Yac Vaguer said:

I think the project is cool as a proof of concept, but if you want to play a different game, just get a different game

Just thinking that I will need to install a client and I will be only able to see server that Carbon Client support, that will make the users base quite small.

I'm not an expert so I'm rooting for the project to succeed but It seems too much work. I will give a try to Carbon(Server side) soon, and maybe adapt my plugins for that but probably I will never even use the client one. 

 

 

altho i do agree that if you want other game just go play other game but the problem is this ..
facepunch has alot of issues and problems in  the current game wich they simply not going to fix 
this is partly to do with the use of unity 

some map makers like myself ask for years for better prefabs to be used in rust 
or better looking textures  so we can make our own stuff 

atm we can use texture cubes but this took facepunch a very very long time to be added

with carbon this limitation is gone 
we simply not want to going to wait any longer on facepunch to add stuff in if we can make it ourselfs 
in alot of cases it will also be much much faster 

cause it not have to get files from the server anymore but it basicly stores it on your own pc when you enter a server 

this is also done this way in unreal engine 
this is one of the main reasons that unreal is much more smooth and has way more options 

but there need to be better ways to protect agains cheaters
 

[Yac Vaguer]

11 hours ago, mrdecoder said:

altho i do agree that if you want other game just go play other game but the problem is this ..
facepunch has alot of issues and problems in  the current game wich they simply not going to fix 
this is partly to do with the use of unity 

some map makers like myself ask for years for better prefabs to be used in rust 
or better looking textures  so we can make our own stuff 

atm we can use texture cubes but this took facepunch a very very long time to be added

with carbon this limitation is gone 
we simply not want to going to wait any longer on facepunch to add stuff in if we can make it ourselfs 
in alot of cases it will also be much much faster 

cause it not have to get files from the server anymore but it basicly stores it on your own pc when you enter a server 

this is also done this way in unreal engine 
this is one of the main reasons that unreal is much more smooth and has way more options 

but there need to be better ways to protect agains cheaters
 

ok, time will tell, I think the project is quite cool, but I don't see that people will use it massively. I hope that my comments age badly

 

 

[Death]

@Yac Vaguer You'd be surprised how handicapped you are limited to serverside-only mods. Not to mention what @mrdecoder said about importing custom textures, LODs, etc. It's not about making a game within a game, it's about improving and expanding on Rust itself.

There's also huge performance potential in being able to modify the client directly without having to use complex networking to achieve serverside changes that would otherwise be a simple patch client side.

[The Friendly Chap]

Agree and disagree. Yeah, serverside only without the ability to add resources or modify actual clientside behaviour is a limitation. But a LOT has been done that's damn impressive while working within the limitations and pushing the serverside mods as far as they could go. That said, Carbon's clientside looks really good. I'm not unfamiliar with the idea, since I play 7 Days to Die and for any "full overhaul" mod you have to use a mod loader. Now, would the client for Carbon Clientside Rust auto download the needed assets / mod files? The mod loader I use for 7d2d can poll the server and get a list of needed assets, automatically download them and apply them to a seperate copy of the client and then connect?

The other concern is of course EAC needing to be off. I don't think the Facepunch EULA has anything to say about modded clients on a modded EAC diabled server. The carbon modding platform could, maybe make sure that there no "extra" client mods loaded, and combine that with a good anticheat detecting red flag behaviours will minimise cheaters. The other thing is, this is not given the EAC limitation that great a mod for PvP. If you're running a PvE server however, this could be gold. 

The most important thing imo is ho the clientside is deployed. It needs to be extremely user friendly, because as most server admins know, players can be VERY dense. The last thing anyone wants is a barrier to entry on a server, so making sure that installing the Carbon Clientside is easy, finding and connecting to a server is simple and automating the asset downloads would be pretty critical.
 

 

[The Friendly Chap]

On 1/23/2024 at 5:09 PM, mrdecoder said:

but there need to be better ways to protect agains cheaters

This. But as I say, only if you go PvP. For PvE cheaters are much less of an issue. Good player monitoring and experience in catching cheaters helps a lot. There are a number of Anticheat plugins, and this might be a prod to get devs looking at better plugins to detect cheaters.