Heat Map

The Heat Map shows where recorded activity is concentrated on your server. Open Dashboard → Heat Map to set it up.

Check the selected game server before setting up its map. Each Rust server has its own map setup. Choose a map source and a Discord destination; a screenshot of the setup form does not mean the map is already configured.

1. Choose your map source

RCE Maps — from seed

New setups default to RCE Maps — from seed with Auto-detect seed on. Click Detect & preview map to generate terrain without uploading a screenshot. Helios reads server.seed and server.worldsize from the connected game server. It verifies both again when you click Save Heat Map. Previously saved uploaded maps keep their source.

With automatic detection off, enter the Server seed # and choose the Map size, then click Preview map. Before enabling the map, saving verifies that your manual values match the live server. A mismatch asks you to correct them or enable automatic detection. Disabled drafts can hold a map for a future world.

Generated maps cover the complete world with north at the top. Their preview shows only the image: no grid lines, coordinate labels, test marker or calibration controls. With automatic detection off, choose the map size alongside the seed settings. Uploaded images retain all alignment tools.

The generated image is cached. Regular Discord updates reuse it. Automatic detection follows restart seed checks and also checks the seed and map size approximately every five minutes while the Heat Map is enabled. A changed seed or map size starts a new activity generation and updates the background. If generation is delayed, activity pauses instead of being plotted on the previous world.

RCE Maps supports 1,000–4,500 m in 500 m increments, and seeds from 0 to 2147483647. Unsupported sizes are never rounded. Custom terrain settings and monument placement can differ from the generated terrain; use an upload for a custom map. Keep the RCEmaps watermark visible.

Upload image

Choose a clear, north-up image of your current server map. PNG, JPG, and WebP are supported, up to 20 MB. Include the complete world grid.

This shows the initial setup. Upload your current map before calibrating.

2. Align an uploaded image

1. Choose the correct island size.
2. Use the image controls to zoom and pan.
3. Select the northwest and southeast corners of the world grid.
4. Keep the green bounds aligned to that grid, excluding extra borders and HUD.
5. Enter a known X / Z position in the test controls and check its marker.
6. Confirm the world bounds checkbox when the alignment is correct.

Use Use full image only if the image already matches the complete world bounds. Align to the world grid, not the coastline.

Example: A 3.5 km world spans X −1750 to +1750 and Z −1750 to +1750. The northwest corner is X −1750, Z +1750; the southeast corner is X +1750, Z −1750. The test marker checks alignment; it does not add a kill or move a player.

3. Publish it

Choose the Discord channel, select an activity window of 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 6 hours, or 24 hours, enable the feature, and click Save Heat Map.

Optional: Show PvE Kills

Turn on Show PvE Kills to include player kills of scientists and other NPCs in the activity map. It defaults to off. Helios requests the player's fresh position after the kill through the shared position-request queue; it never requests an NPC's position.

Only PvE kills recorded while this option is enabled are available. Turning it off hides those samples without clearing player-kill history. Turning it back on includes retained PvE samples within the selected activity window. PvE activity uses the same density colors as player kills. NPC kills of players remain excluded.

Changing the toggle on an enabled map saves immediately and requests a refresh. On a disabled map, click Save Heat Map to save the choice.

Optional: show locked crates

Turn on Show Locked Crates after the map has been saved if you want crate locations shown on the map too. Nearby crates are grouped into one marker: +2 means that marker represents two more crates nearby. This does not change the activity view; it simply adds the crate overlay.

Crates within 30 metres share a marker. This overlay is a location snapshot at each map update, rather than a live movement trail.

When you change this option on an enabled map, Helios refreshes the map shortly. If the option is unavailable, save the map once first.

Optional: show bounties

Turn on Show Bounties to add a skull marker at each active bounty target's sampled location. This includes player-placed and random bounties. Multiple bounties on one player share one marker.

Only online players with an available, recent location appear. Helios requests a fresh position for each online target before every map update. Claimed, cancelled, expired, offline, or unavailable targets are omitted on the next map update. Locations are sampled when the map updates, rather than tracked continuously.

The toggle defaults to off and works independently of Show Locked Crates. Changing it on an enabled map saves immediately and requests a refresh; on a disabled map, click Save Heat Map to save your choice.

Helios updates one Discord message roughly every five minutes, including when a shorter activity window is selected. Activity is grouped into two-minute buckets, so the window boundary is approximate. A new map can look quiet until the server records activity within the selected window.

Current controls on Helios Bot Testing, before setup: no channel is selected and the map is disabled. Save your calibrated map and chosen channel before expecting Discord output. The crate and bounty switches are separate.

After saving, look for the message in the selected Discord channel and check its map alignment and update time. If settings save but no message appears, check Helios's channel permissions and allow time for the update. Do not repeatedly upload the same image to force a refresh: changing the image starts a new activity map.

After a wipe

With RCE Maps and Auto-detect seed enabled, Helios detects the new seed and map size and replaces the background automatically. Manual seeds stay fixed until you change them. For an upload, replace the image and recheck the map size and alignment. Changing the image, size, or bounds starts a new activity map. Clear activity removes the recorded activity used by the heat map.

If something looks wrong

Problem	Check
Markers appear off the island	Island size and world-grid corners; test a known X / Z position.
Discord output is missing	Feature enabled, correct channel, and Helios can send messages and attach files.
The map is quiet	Server connection, recent activity, and the selected time window.
Map shows last wipe's terrain	Enable RCE Maps auto-detection and check the server connection, or upload the current map and recalibrate.
RCE Maps update is delayed	Check the saved status; provider limits retry with backoff. Unsupported map sizes cannot use RCE Maps.