Enshrouded Server Settings and User Groups

One file controls everything

All configuration lives in enshrouded_server.json in the server root directory. The file does not ship with the installation - it is created the first time the server starts. If it is not there yet, start the server once, stop it again, and then open it under Files in the Potionhost control panel.

Always stop the server before editing the file. Enshrouded rewrites it on shutdown - both to save its own state and to strip out obsolete keys. Edit it while running and your changes disappear.

The file is strict JSON. No comments, no trailing comma after the last element.

---

The top-level settings

{
  "name": "Enshrouded Server",
  "saveDirectory": "./savegame",
  "logDirectory": "./logs",
  "ip": "0.0.0.0",
  "queryPort": 15637,
  "slotCount": 16,
  "voiceChatMode": "Proximity",
  "enableVoiceChat": false,
  "enableTextChat": false,
  "gameSettingsPreset": "Default",
  "gameSettings": { },
  "userGroups": [ ]
}

Key	Default	Meaning
name	"Enshrouded Server"	The name in the in-game server list
saveDirectory	"./savegame"	Where the world is stored
logDirectory	"./logs"	Log files
ip	"0.0.0.0"	Leave it. 0.0.0.0 means all network interfaces
queryPort	15637	UDP. Both server listing and gameplay traffic
slotCount	16	1 to 16. 16 is the game's ceiling
voiceChatMode	"Proximity"	Or "Global"

There is no longer a gamePort. The ports were unified, and the server strips the old key at startup. You only need UDP 15637 open. Guides telling you to open 15636 are out of date - harmless, but unnecessary.

---

Passwords: userGroups instead of a single password

Enshrouded no longer has one server password. Instead you define user groups, where the password decides which permissions the player gets. Type the admin password and you join as an admin.

On a fresh server three groups are created automatically - Admin, Friend and Guest - each with a randomly generated password. You need to open the file and read them, or replace them with something you can remember.

"userGroups": [
  {
    "name": "Admin",
    "password": "pick-a-password",
    "canKickBan": true,
    "canAccessInventories": true,
    "canEditBase": true,
    "canExtendBase": true,
    "reservedSlots": 1
  },
  {
    "name": "Friend",
    "password": "another-password",
    "canKickBan": false,
    "canAccessInventories": true,
    "canEditBase": true,
    "canExtendBase": true,
    "reservedSlots": 3
  },
  {
    "name": "Guest",
    "password": "guest-password",
    "canKickBan": false,
    "canAccessInventories": false,
    "canEditBase": false,
    "canExtendBase": false,
    "reservedSlots": 0
  }
]

Permission	What it grants
canKickBan	May kick and ban other players
canAccessInventories	May open chests and containers
canEditBase	May modify existing bases
canExtendBase	May expand the base area
reservedSlots	Slots held free for the group on a full server

Every group can fight, gather and do quests in the open world - the permissions only govern bases, containers and moderation.

Reserved slots count against slotCount. With 16 slots and four reserved, only twelve are left for everyone else.

If you leave the admin group's password empty, everyone who connects gets full admin rights.

The old top-level password key still works for legacy setups - if the server finds a password there it creates a group from it automatically. But use userGroups on new servers.

---

Difficulty: preset or custom

gameSettingsPreset can be "Default", "Relaxed", "Hard", "Survival" or "Custom".

This is the most important sentence in the guide: gameSettings is only read when gameSettingsPreset is set to "Custom". If it says "Default", the server ignores everything you wrote in gameSettings - with no error message. It is by far the most common cause of "my settings do not work".

The most-used settings once you are on "Custom":

Key	Range	Default
playerHealthFactor	0.25 - 4	1
playerStaminaFactor	0.25 - 4	1
enableDurability	true / false	true
enableStarvingDebuff	true / false	false
tombstoneMode	AddBackpackMaterials, Everything, NoTombstone	AddBackpackMaterials
miningDamageFactor	0.5 - 2	1
resourceDropStackAmountFactor	0.25 - 2	1
factoryProductionSpeedFactor	0.25 - 2	1
experienceCombatFactor	0.25 - 2	1
enemyDamageFactor	0.25 - 5	1
enemyHealthFactor	0.25 - 4	1
bossDamageFactor	0.2 - 5	1
bossHealthFactor	0.2 - 5	1
randomSpawnerAmount	Few, Normal, Many, Extreme	Normal
weatherFrequency	Disabled, Rare, Normal, Often	Normal
pacifyAllEnemies	true / false	false

Time is given in nanoseconds

Three settings are time values, and they are written in nanoseconds - not minutes:

Key	Default	Equals
dayTimeDuration	1800000000000	30 minutes
nightTimeDuration	720000000000	12 minutes
fromHungerToStarving	600000000000	10 minutes

The maths is simple: 1 minute = 60000000000. Write 30 instead of 1800000000000 and the value is rejected or clamped to the minimum.

---

How players join

1. Main menu → Join.
2. Enable the "Show dedicated server" filter - otherwise dedicated servers are hidden entirely.
3. Pick the server and enter the password matching their group.

If the list does not work, they can add the server as a favourite in Steam under View → Servers → Favourites using IP:15637.

Player characters are stored on their own machines, not on the server. Only the world lives on the server.

---

Saves and backup

The world lives in ./savegame. The server saves roughly every five minutes, and a world ranges from about 1 MB to around 100 MB.

A world is not one file. Alongside the main file there is a set of companion files with the same name and different suffixes - among them _info, -index and _info-index, plus numbered copies. The index files are not optional - they point at which copy is current.

Backup: stop the server and download the entire savegame folder. Restoring is the same in reverse.

To move a world from single-player onto the server, every file in the set has to come along - not just the main file. That is the classic reason a transferred world will not load.

---

Hardware

Keen Games' own figures: the server process uses about 4.4 GB idle and around 100 MB per player, so up to about 6 GB on a full server. Budget roughly 2 Mbit/s upload per player.

Enshrouded is sensitive to single-thread performance - clock speed matters more than core count.

---

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
My gameSettings do nothing	gameSettingsPreset is not set to "Custom"	Change it to "Custom"
The changes disappeared again	The server was running when you saved	Stop, edit, start
Day and night last a split second	Time was written in minutes instead of nanoseconds	Multiply by 60000000000
The server will not start	Invalid JSON - an extra comma	Validate the file
The server is not in the list	The "Show dedicated server" filter is off for the player	Ask them to enable it
Still not in the list	UDP 15637 is not open	Open the port
Everyone gets admin rights	The admin group password is empty	Set a password
Players cannot see the server after a game update	The client updated, the server did not	Update the server
The transferred world will not load	Only the main file was copied	Include the _info and -index files
slotCount above 16 is not accepted	16 is the game's ceiling	Set it to 16 or lower

---

Good advice

• Change a few values at a time and restart in between, so you know what made the difference.
• Take a copy of enshrouded_server.json before touching it - JSON is easy to break.
• Replace the random group passwords with ones you can remember and share.
• Store the group passwords somewhere safe. They sit in plain text in the file, so do not share the file with players.
• Back up savegame before every game update.

Unsure about a setting? Contact our support before changing anything on a server with players on it.