Enshrouded Dedicated Server Setup: Permissions, Ports and Settings in 1.0

Quick answer: the dedicated server is not a separate purchase and not a separate download. It arrives as a second Steam entry under Tools when you own Enshrouded, and the whole configuration is one JSON file next to the executable. The single port you almost always have to open is UDP 15637, the default queryPort. The part people get wrong in 1.0 is permissions, because the two hosting styles now diverge: an in-game host sets one password that fixes the default permission level for every player who joins and can promote or demote a named character afterwards, while a dedicated server keeps the older user group model with one password per group and cannot change anyone's level while it is running.

• The server binary is documented for Windows only. Linux hosting means running the Windows server under a compatibility layer.
• slotCount goes up to 16, and Keen's FAQ puts an idle server process at roughly 4.4 GB of RAM with up to 100 MB extra per connected player.
• World progression is stored on the server. Character progression is stored on each player's own machine.
• Enemy amount now has an Automatic option that scales with the party actually standing nearby, so a solo visitor does not get a crowd sized for eight.

Hosted co-op versus a dedicated server

Hosting from inside the game and running the standalone server look similar for the first ten minutes and then stop resembling each other. An in-game session lives on the host's PC, pauses or ends when that PC does, and is configured from the Host Settings menu. A dedicated server is its own process on its own machine, stays up while everyone is offline, and is configured by editing a file before it starts.

The 16 figure is the world limit. A peer-to-peer session tends to fill up faster in practice because a home connection is serving the world, and Keen's own config notes say straight out that every slot costs performance, so lowering slotCount is the first lever if the machine is struggling.

Official source: Dedicated Server Installation on Steam - the server unlocks in the Steam Tools list, and running the executable once creates enshrouded_server.json.

Installing and first-run configuration

1. In the Steam library, enable the Tools filter. Enshrouded Dedicated Server appears there once you own the game.
2. Right-click it, open Properties, go to Installed Files, and use Browse to find the folder. Launch the executable directly instead of using Steam's Launch button, which Keen explicitly recommends against.
3. Running it once writes enshrouded_server.json next to the executable. Stop the process, edit the file in any text editor, and start it again.

The generated file is small. These are the fields that matter on day one.

Steam's own required ports matter as well, not just 15637, because the server registers with Steam for the browser listing. If the server never appears in the in-game list, that registration is usually the reason rather than the game port.

Permissions in 1.0: two different models

This is the change worth reading twice, because 1.0 altered only one half of it.

In-game hosting. The host now defines the default permission level for every joining player with a single password. After that, each player character can be promoted or demoted individually, and that individual level sticks when the character leaves and rejoins. Admins and hosts can change anyone's role from the social menu at any point during a session.

Dedicated servers. User groups with their own passwords still work exactly as before, and promoting or demoting players while playing on the server is not possible. You change permissions by editing a group, restarting, and handing out the matching password.

The practical consequence: on a dedicated server, permission is decided before anybody connects, not during the session.

Official source: Server Roles Configuration - hosts define a default level with one password; dedicated servers keep user groups, and promoting or demoting is not possible while playing on the server.

Reading the user groups block

A freshly generated dedicated config ships with three example groups. The permission names are self-explanatory once you see the shape:

• canKickBan - remove players and ban them.
• canAccessInventories - open chests, containers and workstations in other players' bases.
• canEditBase - add or remove props and voxels inside a base.
• canExtendBase - grow a base's build area.
• reservedSlots - slots kept free for this group even when the lobby looks full.

Note that every group, whatever its permissions, has full access to the open world outside player bases: combat, gathering, digging, quests. The restrictions are about other people's property, not about what a player may do in Embervale.

Passwords are randomised by default so a fresh server is not wide open. If a group is enabled but its password is left empty, anyone can join at that group's level, which is a real configuration and a real mistake depending on which group it is. Reserved slots are the neat trick for a friend group: keep one or two for the admin group and the lobby reads as full for guests when demand spikes.

Enemy amount and the Automatic option

Keen's server settings page lists the enemy amount control with four values: Few, Normal, Many and Extreme. The 1.0 changelog adds a fifth, Automatic, which scales spawns to the size of the party actually playing in the vicinity. Players elsewhere in Embervale are not counted.

That distinction is the point. Under a fixed setting, four players in a world of sixteen all get encounters tuned for one number, which is wrong for both the pair farming a camp and the solo player mapping the far edges. Automatic is the setting to pick for an open community server; keep a fixed value if you run a tight group and want a predictable baseline from a server preset.

Automatic also only counts a player as part of a party when they are near. Two rooms away is the same as offline for encounter sizing.

World settings worth changing first

The difficulty preset is chosen with gameSettingsPreset, and the full list of individual values only unlocks under Custom.

Under Custom, the ones that visibly change a long-running co-op world are the Shroud time factor, weapon durability, and the tombstone mode, which decides whether a death drops only materials or the whole backpack. The default tombstone setting loses only materials and stores them in a recoverable tombstone. Day and night length are also here, entered in nanoseconds and displayed in minutes in game.

Official source: Server Gameplay Settings - the preset names, the Custom-only value list and the individual ranges.

Two cautions about that page. It is written against an earlier server build and its own footer says version 0.9.0.0, so treat the presence of a field as reliable and the exact list as one patch behind. It also says a malformed value can stop the server from booting and that the offending entry is printed in the console window, which is the fastest place to look after an edit that will not start.

Keeping a long-lived world healthy

The world save is a folder, not a single file, and it is built for rollback. Each world keeps ten numbered rolling copies, and the accompanying index file records which one is active under a field called latest. Editing that number from 0 to 9 in a text editor moves the world back to an earlier copy. Copy the whole save folder before touching anything.

Sizes are manageable. Keen's FAQ describes a world save between 1 MB and 100 MB, small at the start and closer to the ceiling once a world holds several large bases. Budget about 30 GB of free disk for the server installation itself, since the uncompressed server files are around 13 GB. The same FAQ puts an idle process near 4.4 GB of RAM and up to 100 MB per additional player, with a recommendation to stay under 6 GB in total. That is the number to cite when someone asks whether the machine can hold sixteen players.

On the update side, both launch-window hotfixes touched server-adjacent stability. Hotfix 1.0.0.2 fixed a crash that could hit the server when fighting a very large number of enemies, several water simulation crashes, and a crash tied to fast travel or gliding in worlds with many entities. If your world has been running since Early Access and has a lot of stored construction, that patch is the reason it stopped falling over.

Finally, 1.0 changed how a slow server feels: low server performance now has less effect on gliding, and player movement input stays more responsive when the machine is under heavy load. Neither removes the need to size slotCount honestly for your hardware.

FAQ

Does the Enshrouded dedicated server cost extra?

No. Buying the game unlocks the standalone server in the Tools section of the Steam library, and no Steam login beyond anonymous access is needed to fetch the server files through the tools list.

Which ports do I need to open?

UDP 15637 by default, which is the queryPort value and can be changed in the config. Steam also needs its own required ports open, because server browser registration goes through Steam.

Can I run it on Linux?

Not officially. Keen's documentation lists Windows only and says Linux support is planned for later. Linux hosts work through community Docker images that carry a compatibility layer.

Can I change a player's permissions while the server runs?

Not on a dedicated server. Editing a user group and restarting is the only route. Only in-game hosted sessions let a host promote or demote a player mid-session.

Do players keep their characters if the world moves to a dedicated server?

Yes, because characters are not stored on the server at all. The server holds world progression; each player's character data stays on their own machine. Moving the world means moving the save folder, not the characters.

Related Guides

• Enshrouded Save Transfer: Early Access Saves in 1.0 - where the world folder actually sits and how to move it between a local install and a server without losing the character list.
• Enshrouded Performance and Settings Guide for 1.0 - what 1.0 changed under the hood, and which settings cost frames once a base gets large.
• Enshrouded Max Level and Progression: 50 and Gear 55 - the caps your world settings will interact with, and where the experience in a long-lived save comes from.
• Enshrouded Achievements Guide: All 52 and How to Plan - server settings change enough of the game that it is worth knowing what a custom world does to a shared progression run.