Enshrouded: set up, join and configure your server

You set up your Enshrouded server in its Server tab. Name, player count, the four passwords with their rights and the game world are there; everything applies from the next start.

The first start

During the installation the server downloads the game through Steam and creates the file enshrouded_server.json with the default values. The first start then takes a few more minutes: the server sets itself up and builds the world. At every later start it looks for updates.

It is ready when the line [Session] 'HostOnline' (up)! appears in the Console; the overview then shows it as started too. Before that nobody can find it.

Joining

1. 1

   In Enshrouded, open Join.

2. 2

   Search for the server by its name. The name is in the Server tab under Server name.

3. 3

   Type the password when you join. Which password you type decides your group, and with it your rights.

If the search does not find the server, add it as a favourite in Steam: View › Game Servers, then under Favourites enter the address and port from your server's overview. It then shows among the favourites in the game.

The four passwords

Enshrouded has no single server password, but groups. Each group has its own password; whoever types it lands in that group:

Admin

For you and your admins: every right, including kicking and banning players

Friend

For friends who build with you: edit and extend bases, open chests

Guest

For guests who play along without building in bases or opening chests

Visitor

For visitors who only look around

Every new server gets four random passwords of its own. In the Server tab under Access you see each one with the eye, copy it or change it; Generate new suggests a new one. The overview also shows the Friend password as the Join password. The passwords are start variables: our system writes them into the file before every start, so a change made in the file alone would be gone at the next start.

Each group's rights (kick and ban, open chests, change the world, build in bases, extend bases) and its reserved slots are switched on the same card. Passwords can be seen and changed by whoever may manage the server's setup.

Settings

• Server: the name in the server search, players at once (1 to 16), text and voice chat, whether voice chat reaches only players nearby or everyone.
• Game world: a preset by Keen Games (Default, Relaxed, Hard, Survival) or Custom. Only with Custom do the single values apply: health, stamina, hunger, day and night length in minutes, weather, resources, experience, enemies and bosses. The i next to each value explains it with its range and default.
• Banned players: whoever was banned in the game is listed here; Unban lifts the ban.
• Other values: settings the page does not know yet, for example after an update. They stay unchanged; simple ones can be changed here.

Only what you changed is saved. If a value changed on the server in the meantime, for example in the file editor, it is not overwritten; the page tells you which one. Enshrouded reads the file only when it starts: after saving, the page offers the restart. Edit file opens enshrouded_server.json in the editor.

Save game

The world lives in your server's savegame folder. A Backup saves it; make one before big changes.

Performance

Enshrouded needs more memory the more of the world is explored and built on, and the more players are around at once. Even with nobody online the server needs a good 4 GB; that is why our plans start at 6 GB, enough for about 10 players. For 16 players and big bases plan 8 GB or more. You see the use under Performance.

• If it stutters after a long run, a restart often helps, for example at night with a Schedule.
• If memory stays close to the limit, move to a bigger plan (Change plan).
• Fewer players at once and fewer enemies (Number of enemies under Custom) take load off the server.