How to Set Up an Enshrouded Dedicated Server: The Complete Guide

Does Enshrouded have dedicated servers? What you are setting up

Yes. There are three ways to play Enshrouded with friends. One player can host from the game: their PC runs the world, and the world goes offline when they leave. Or you run the Enshrouded dedicated server, a separate program that runs the world on its own, with no game client open, so friends can play whenever they like. A rented server is that same dedicated server, run for you in a datacentre with a control panel on top.

Keen Games bundles the dedicated server with the game: owning Enshrouded on Steam unlocks it in the Tools section of your Steam library. Keen's installation guide says that only Windows is supported for now and that Linux support is planned for later. A server holds up to 16 players, set with slotCount.

Your world lives on the server, your character on your PC

Keen's dedicated server FAQ explains the split that shapes everything else in this guide: the world (terrain, bases, chests, unlocked survivors) is stored on the server, and each character is stored only on the player's own PC. A character keeps its equipment, inventory, levels and skills on any server. According to Keen's FAQ it also keeps its map memory, personal crafting recipes, collected Shroud Roots, lore texts and the towers that player found; it does not take along most crafting recipes, which depend on the survivors and crafting stations unlocked in each world, or the survivors themselves.

Two more things that come up early. Enshrouded is a co-op game: Keen says there is no PvP mode and none is planned. And Keen has not promised mod support, although it says it would love to add it one day. What you can change today is a lot: the difficulty preset, dozens of individual game settings, the roles and permissions of your players, and voice and text chat.

Enshrouded 1.0: what server owners need to know

Keen Games set 15 October 2026 as the day Enshrouded leaves Early Access on Steam and reaches 1.0, after the game had been in Early Access since 24 January 2024. These are the points from Keen's announcements on the official Enshrouded news on Steam that matter for a server:

• Skill trees are reset. Keen's "1.0 Combat: changes and additions" post (23 September 2026) says that with the new skills and the changes to where existing skills sit, the skill tree has been reset. Tell your players, so nobody is surprised when they first load in after the update.
• New level caps. The same post lists a maximum player level of 50 and a maximum equipment level of 55, plus new mage spells, archer skills and enemy variants.
• Sparkworks. Keen announced a logic system for builders with 1.0 (8 October 2026): levers and pressure plates wired to doors, traps and other outputs.
• Performance work. Keen wrote in August 2026 that better performance, including on lower and middle-range systems, was one of its big 1.0 goals.

On a server, the order is the same as for every big update:

1. Back up first. Download a backup of the world and keep a copy of your enshrouded_server.json with its passwords and settings (how).
2. Update the server once the 1.0 server build is out. A server on another version than the players' game shows a version mismatch in the server list. On GTX: STOP, Steam Update, wait for it to finish, START.
3. Check the config file. Keen notes that older enshrouded_server.json files are sometimes updated incorrectly. If the server will not start or your settings look wrong after an update, compare the file with Keen's current default and put your saved passwords and settings back.
4. Read the release notes. Keen's announcements before release did not say what 1.0 does to existing worlds, so read the 1.0 changelog before you update a long-running world, and keep the backup until you are happy.

Host it yourself or rent a server: an honest comparison

Running your own Enshrouded server costs nothing extra if you have a spare Windows PC, and it is a good way to learn how the server works. Keen's installation guide and dedicated server FAQ cover the steps:

1. In your Steam library, tick Tools so the tools are listed, and install the Enshrouded dedicated server.
2. Right-click it, choose Properties, open Installed Files and press Browse. Start the server program from that folder: Keen recommends this rather than Steam's Launch button.
3. The first start creates enshrouded_server.json next to the program. Stop the server and edit the file in any text editor (what to change).
4. Open the query port, 15637 by default, and the ports Steam itself needs on your router and firewall, so players outside your home can find the server.
5. Start it again. The server runs in a console window; a line like [Session] 'HostOnline' (up)! means it has fully started.
6. Update it through Steam after each server update, and copy the savegame folder somewhere safe now and then.

Hardware is the other half. For 4 to 6 players Keen recommends a 6-core (12-thread) CPU at about 3.2 GHz, 16 GB of RAM and an SSD with 30 GB free; for 16 players an 8-core (16-thread) CPU at about 3.7 GHz. Keen also asks for about 2 Mbit/s of upload per player. Running the game on the same PC as the server means both share that machine.

Our view after hosting game servers since 2008: if two or three friends play at the same time as the host, hosting from the game is fine. Run a dedicated server when the world should stay online while the host is away, when more of you play at different times, or when you want roles and passwords that do not depend on one player's PC. Every GTX Enshrouded server includes up to 5 GB of RAM; see our Enshrouded server hosting plans for current prices and locations.

Setting up your Enshrouded server in the GTX game panel

Enshrouded servers on GTX run in our game panel. They are set up as soon as you order and start on the Default difficulty preset, so you can join straight away and change things later. This is the order we suggest for the first evening:

1. Log in to the game panel at gamepanel.gtxgaming.co.uk, open your Enshrouded server and press STOP before you change any file, so the server does not overwrite your edits.
2. Open Configuration Files and click Text Editor on enshrouded_server.json. Set the server name, a different password for each role in userGroups and, if you like, a gameSettingsPreset (roles, presets). Save the file.
3. Press START and watch the Web Console or the Log Viewer: if a typo stops the server, the console names the value it could not read.
4. Join it. Find the server by name in Enshrouded's Join menu, or copy the QUERY INFO address (IP:PORT) from the Connection & Controls box and add it to your Steam favourites.
5. Plan the upkeep. Add a Scheduled Restart in Scheduled Tasks, look at the daily backups in the Backup Manager and, if a friend helps you run the server, give them a sub-user with only the permissions they need.

enshrouded_server.json: the settings that matter

Everything about an Enshrouded server is in one JSON file, enshrouded_server.json, which the server creates the first time it starts. Keen documents it in its dedicated server configuration guide. These are the entries and what they do:

• "name": the server name in the in-game server list. Everyone can see it, so Keen asks for a name that is not offensive.
• "slotCount": how many players can be on at once, from 1 to 16. Each slot adds load on the server.
• "queryPort": 15637 by default. On your own PC, open it in your firewall; on GTX it is set for you and shown as QUERY INFO.
• "ip": 0.0.0.0, and only changed for special internal network setups.
• "saveDirectory" and "logDirectory": where the world is saved (./savegame) and where logs go (./logs, with older logs moved to logs/backup).
• "enableVoiceChat", "voiceChatMode" and "enableTextChat": voice and text chat are off by default on a dedicated server. Set them to true, and choose Proximity or Global voice.
• "tags": labels that help players filter the server list. Keen named LookingForPlayers, BaseBuilding, Exploration, Roleplay and language tags, and points to the enshrouded_server_readme.txt that comes with the server for the details.
• "gameSettingsPreset" and "gameSettings": the difficulty (next chapter).
• "userGroups" and "bans": roles, passwords and banned players (roles chapter).

Two rules from Keen's settings guide save a lot of head-scratching. Numbers above or below a setting's range are not an error: the server uses the maximum or minimum instead. Invalid text is an error: the server does not start, and the console window shows the value it could not read. A missing comma, quote or bracket has the same effect, so change one thing at a time.

Difficulty presets and custom game settings

"gameSettingsPreset" sets the difficulty of the whole world. Keen describes the five options like this:

• Default: the standard game and Keen's recommendation for first-time players.
• Relaxed: fewer enemies and more resources and loot, for groups who mostly want to build and explore.
• Hard: more enemies, and more aggressive ones, for tougher combat.
• Survival: extra survival mechanics on top of more aggressive enemies.
• Custom: unlocks the "gameSettings" section, where you tune the world one value at a time. The settings below only work with Custom.

Most settings are factors, where 1 is the normal game: 2 doubles a value and 0.5 halves it. The ranges below are from Keen's server gameplay settings guide.

Players and survival

• playerHealthFactor, playerManaFactor, playerStaminaFactor: 0.25 to 4.
• shroudTimeFactor: how long players can stay in the Shroud, 0.5 to 2. playerBodyHeatFactor (cold) and playerDivingTimeFactor (oxygen) work the same way.
• enableStarvingDebuff: hunger and starvation, off by default. fromHungerToStarving sets how long players stay hungry before starving, 5 to 20 minutes.
• tombstoneMode: what players drop when they die. AddBackpackMaterials (the default: materials only), Everything or NoTombstone (keep everything).
• enableDurability: set it to false and weapons no longer break. curseModifier: Easy turns the Shroud curse off, Hard doubles the chance of getting it.

Building, resources and crafting

• miningDamageFactor: more terraforming and more resources per hit, 0.5 to 2.
• resourceDropStackAmountFactor: materials per loot stack, 0.25 to 2. plantGrowthSpeedFactor and factoryProductionSpeedFactor (workstations): 0.25 to 2.
• perkCostFactor: runes needed to upgrade weapons, 0.25 to 2. perkUpgradeRecyclingFactor: runes back from salvaging upgraded weapons, 0 to 1.
• weatherFrequency (Disabled, Rare, Normal, Often), enableGliderTurbulences, fishingDifficulty and tamingStartleRepercussion round off the world settings.

Enemies and bosses

• randomSpawnerAmount (how many enemies) and aggroPoolAmount (how many attack at once): Few, Normal, Many or Extreme.
• enemyDamageFactor 0.25 to 5, enemyHealthFactor 0.25 to 4, plus enemyStaminaFactor, enemyPerceptionRangeFactor and threatBonus (how often enemies attack). None of these change bosses.
• bossDamageFactor and bossHealthFactor: 0.2 to 5. pacifyAllEnemies: enemies, but not bosses, only fight back when attacked.

Experience and the day

• experienceCombatFactor and experienceExplorationQuestsFactor: 0.25 to 2. experienceMiningFactor: 0 to 2.
• dayTimeDuration (30 minutes by default) and nightTimeDuration (12 minutes by default): each 2 to 60 minutes. Both are written in nanoseconds, so one minute is 60000000000 and the default day is 1800000000000.

Roles, passwords, kicks and bans

An Enshrouded server has no single password. Instead, each user group in "userGroups" has its own password and its own permissions, and the password a player types when joining decides which group they are in. A freshly created file, Keen says, comes with four groups and random passwords, so nobody can walk in before you set your own:

• Admin: everything, including kicking and banning players and placing, upgrading or removing Flame Altars.
• Friend: can use chests, build and terraform in bases and change the world, but cannot extend a base with Flame Altars or kick anyone.
• Guest: can fight, loot, explore and dig in the open world, but cannot open chests or change your bases.
• Visitor: can explore and fight, but cannot change the world, the bases or the chests.

Each group is a short block of permissions you can switch on or off:

• canKickBan: may remove players from the server.
• canAccessInventories: may use chests and other containers.
• canEditWorld: may terraform and interact with the open world outside bases.
• canEditBase: may add and remove blocks and props and terraform inside bases.
• canExtendBase: may place, upgrade and remove Flame Altars.
• reservedSlots: slots kept free for that group. Give Admin 1, and the server shows as full to other groups before the last slot is taken, so you can always get in.

You are not limited to the four presets. Keen's server roles guide suggests, for example, a group that may use chests and workstations but not change your bases: copy a block, give it a new name and password and set its permissions. Every group needs its own password, because the password is how the server tells the groups apart. Keep the Admin password to yourself and hand out the Friend or Guest one.

Kicking and banning

Players with canKickBan can remove someone in game. A kick is quick, and the player can come back later. A ban puts the player on the server's persistent ban list, so they are turned away every time they try to rejoin, until an admin removes them from the list again in game. Keen added bans, the Visitor role and the open-world permission in the Wake of the Water update (November 2025), and the default config file now ends with a "bans" list.

World saves, moving a world and backups

The world is saved in the server's savegame folder. Keen's dedicated server FAQ says the server saves every five minutes, and a save is between 1 MB for a new world and about 100 MB for a world full of big bases. Keen's save game guide adds how the files work:

• Each world has a fixed file name with hexadecimal characters, given to each world in order of creation: the first world is 3ad85aea, the second 3bd85c7d, and so on.
• Each world keeps 10 rolling copies. A new copy is written every 10 minutes or when the game shuts down, replacing the oldest.
• An -index file says which copy is loaded, under "latest" (0 to 9), and the _info files hold details such as the world name.

That gives you a built-in undo. To roll a world back by a few saves, stop the server, copy all the save files somewhere safe, set "latest" in the index file to an earlier copy, and start the server again.

Moving your world to a dedicated server

1. Find the world on your PC. Keen puts local saves under %USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\ in the enshrouded folder; with Steam Cloud on, Steam keeps its own copy.
2. Stop the server and back it up, so you can go back.
3. Upload the world's files (the world file, its -index file and its _info files) into savegame with the File Manager, or with SFTP for big worlds. Check which file names the server's savegame folder already uses and match them; if you are unsure, our support team can do the move for you.
4. Start the server and join. Everyone arrives with their own character, because characters are saved on players' PCs, not with the world.

Backups on GTX

Every GTX Enshrouded server takes daily automatic backups that you can restore from the Backup Manager and download to your own computer. The Backup Manager has its own password, shown on its button or under Server Details. Take an extra backup before an update, a big settings change or a world move, and keep the files you download. A reinstall wipes every server file but keeps your backups.

Updates and scheduled restarts

Keen updates the game and the dedicated server through Steam. Players' games update themselves; a server has to be updated by its owner. When the two run different versions, Enshrouded's server list shows the server with a version mismatch, and a server that is behind may not show up at all. Keen's hotfix notes say when only the game changed and dedicated servers do not need an update.

1. Update on GTX: press STOP, press Steam Update and wait for the update to finish, then press START. Back up first when the update is a big one.
2. Restart on a schedule: in Scheduled Tasks, create a Scheduled Restart, set it to recur every day and repeat every few hours (every 6 hours gives four restarts a day). Pick quiet hours: check the server time in the panel.
3. Check it came back: after an update or restart, the Web Console shows the started line, and the server reappears in the list under its name.

Regular restarts keep a long-running server fresh, and on GTX the automatic backups run alongside them. Restart after you change enshrouded_server.json too: the server only reads the file when it starts.

Server performance, RAM and player slots

Keen gives clear numbers for the server in its dedicated server FAQ and recommended server specifications (we checked them on 13 October 2026):

• RAM: about 4.4 GB when idle, plus up to 100 MB for each player, and no more than about 6 GB in total. A full server of 16 therefore lands near 6 GB.
• Disk: the server files take about 13 GB uncompressed, and Keen recommends 30 GB free. Each saved world adds up to about 100 MB.
• CPU and bandwidth: for self-hosting, a 6-core CPU for 4 to 6 players, 8 cores for 16, and about 2 Mbit/s of upload per player.
• Slots: every slot adds load. If CPU or RAM is the bottleneck, Keen's advice is to lower slotCount.

Every GTX Enshrouded server includes up to 5 GB of RAM, which suits smaller groups. For a busy server near 16 players, the 8 GB upgrade gives comfortable headroom. Choose one slot for every player who is online at the same time, not for everyone you have ever invited.

The live graphs on your server page and Activity and Stats show CPU and memory in use now and over past days. Start on the included memory, watch the graph on a busy evening, and add RAM, slots or CPU priority in the Client Area under Upgrade/Downgrade Options if you are running close to the limit. Keen made performance one of its 1.0 goals, so it is worth looking at the graph again after the 1.0 update.

Troubleshooting an Enshrouded server

• The server is not in the list. In Enshrouded's Join menu, switch on the option to show dedicated servers in the server filter and search for the name. Still missing? Add the server's IP and query port as a favourite in Steam under View, Game Servers, Favourites: favourites sort to the top of the Join list with a star.
• "Version mismatch" or the server vanished after a patch. The server is on another version than the game. Update it with Steam Update and start it again.
• The server will not start after an edit. Look at the Web Console or Log Viewer: invalid text in enshrouded_server.json stops the server and names the value. Check commas, quotes and brackets, or paste back your saved copy of the file.
• Settings do nothing. The gameSettings values only apply when gameSettingsPreset is Custom, and only after a restart. If the server was running while you edited, it may have overwritten your change: stop it first.
• A player cannot open chests or build. Their role does not allow it. Check which password they used and that group's canAccessInventories, canEditBase and canExtendBase.
• Everyone joins as the same role. Two groups share a password. Give each group its own.
• Is it really running? A fully started server prints a line like [Session] 'HostOnline' (up)! in the console and log.
• A player's character is gone. Characters are saved on players' PCs, not on the server, so the server's backups cannot bring one back. Look in the player's own save folder or Steam Cloud.
• Connection drops. Keen's network guide notes that Enshrouded multiplayer uses IPv4 only and suggests clearing the Steam download cache, flushing DNS and trying a wired connection.

Still stuck? Our 24/7 support team reads the logs with you on live chat or a ticket.

Playing on your server: game guides

Once the server runs, the questions turn to the game itself: how the skill trees and the classes players talk about really work, and how the voxel building lets you reshape the land around your base. Our play guides are listed under Play guides above. The skill tree changes with 1.0, so check the layout in game when you first load in after the update.