SOLVED - Rust stuck/freezing on loading screen when launching

[FuzzzyKoala]

I'm leaving this note here, because I just solved an issue I've been having with the game and I've noticed others having the same problem - Rust being stuck on the loading screen.

I've fixed it on my machine, and the game now loads in seconds.

This fix assumes that you've done all the usual things, like making sure you have the minimum hardware requirements, and updated drivers, etc.

There were 2 problems causing this issue: (1) in-game overlays & (2) Windows Firewall

1. Remove In-game overlays

On my machine, there were 3 different things trying to use overlays: Steam, Windows Game Bar and the Nvidia GeForce app. Removing these overlays helps fix this problem.

In steam, go into your "Settings -> In Game" menu to remove overlays, and also turn off notifications for good measure.

In Windows, go to your "game bar settings", and turn them off.

And if you have the Nvidia app, open it to make sure that overlays are turned off there as well.

2. Create Firewall Exceptions

You can Google how to make a firewall exception for your version of Windows, but there's 3 apps that you need to make the exceptions for:

Easy Anti-Cheat (located in "Program Files (x86)\EasyAntiCheat_EOS")

the Rust app (located in "SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Rust"), and

the RustClient (located in the same folder as Rust).

I needed to create an inbound rule, and an outbound rule for each of these programs - so 6 rules in total.

After that, I just rebooted by computer, and Rust was able to launch in seconds.

That's it. That's the fix.

When you look at your firewall settings, most other Steam games create exceptions for themselves automatically, but Rust doesn't, and neither does Easy Anti-cheat, so you have to do it manually.

So, to whoever needs this in future - happy gaming.

[No_Quarter]

I am yet to see Steam Overlay cause issues, on the other hand Windows Game Bar can cause problems.