Enshrouded server settings reference

Every option an Enshrouded dedicated server reads from enshrouded_server.json, in one place: the four difficulty presets, the 38 individual game settings with their ranges, the user groups that decide who may build, loot or kick, and the handful of lines that name the server and its port. The values are Keen Games' own, from their server articles, their 1.0 changelog and the readme they ship with the server.

The file, and when the server reads it#

Keen's configuration article describes the file as created the first time enshrouded_server.exe starts without one, in the same folder as the executable. Their gameplay-settings article adds two things worth knowing before you edit: when no file is found a fresh one is written at start, and an older file can sometimes be updated incorrectly by a game update, in which case you can delete it and let the next start create a clean one. Keep a copy of your edits before you do that.

Two rules govern bad values. For a number outside the allowed range, the server uses the maximum or minimum instead. For text it does not recognise, such as a misspelt option, the server does not start and names the wrong value in its console window. And because the file is JSON, one missing comma or quote stops the server too; punctuation is the first thing to check after an edit that will not boot.

One 1.0 note: Keen's changelog for Hotfix 1.0.0.2 (2026-10-16) says it fixed an issue that prevented configuring world settings, introduced by the hotfix before it. If a settings change seemed ignored on launch week, update the server before you look for a typo.

Server identity, chat, port and slots#

The preset: gameSettingsPreset#

Keen describe the five values:

• Default sets every value to its default. It is the direct continuation of how Enshrouded played up to update 0.7.3.0 and Keen's recommendation for first-time players.
• Relaxed reduces the number of enemies and gives more resources and loot, for base builders and light-hearted adventuring.
• Hard increases the number of enemies and makes them more aggressive.
• Survival adds survival mechanics on top of the more aggressive enemies.
• Custom is the only value under which the individual settings below are read. With any other preset, the gameSettings block is ignored.

The individual settings: gameSettings#

These live under "gameSettings" and apply with the Custom preset. Factors are shown in the game as percentages, so a factor of 2 reads as 200%. Three timers are stored in nanoseconds: one minute is 60000000000. Keen's gameplay-settings article lists 37 settings. Version 1.0 added a 38th, flameLevelFogRemoval, and a fifth enemy amount, both in Keen's 1.0 changelog and in enshrouded_server_readme.txt, the readme beside the server executable; a fresh 1.0 file on our test servers carried both.

Player

World and economy

Enemies and bosses

Who may do what: userGroups and passwords#

Since update 2, permissions on a dedicated server come from the userGroups list. Each group has a name, a password and a set of flags; the password a player types when joining decides which group they are in. A freshly created file carries four groups with randomized passwords, which Keen set on purpose so that nobody wanders in before you have chosen your own. The flags, with the values of Keen's default file:

Keen's description of each preset matches those flags: Admins can change bases, open containers and kick or ban; Friends can change bases and open containers; Guests can do neither; Visitors in addition may not change the world outside the base. Whatever the group, Keen say every player can fight, collect materials, dig and do quests out in the world.

You can add groups of your own: a new entry in the list with its own name, password and flags. Keen's example is a group that may open containers and workstations but not add or remove props and voxels in the base. Set reservedSlots on a group and players joining under any other group will see the server as full once they would take the remaining open slots, which keeps room for Admins or Friends on a busy evening.

A note on the old way. Earlier versions set one password for the whole server in a top-level "password" line. Keen say that line no longer sets a dedicated server's password, but if the game finds one there it creates a group called default that uses it, with the permissions players had before update 2, the same as the Friend preset, and that the four preset groups are only generated into a file created fresh, not one that already carried a password. On our 1.0 test servers, whose fresh file had a top-level password line, the game dropped the line and made one group called Default with a random password of its own instead. With one group, everyone who knows its password shares one set of permissions. Keen also say it is highly recommended to set a password at all, because without one every player can see and join the server.

A minimal custom file#

The shape Keen print, with the lines most hosts change. Keen's articles do not say what happens to a key you leave out, so keep your full file and change values in place rather than replacing it with this; groups you delete are simply gone.

{
  "name": "Our Enshrouded world",
  "saveDirectory": "./savegame",
  "logDirectory": "./logs",
  "ip": "0.0.0.0",
  "queryPort": 15637,
  "slotCount": 8,
  "voiceChatMode": "Proximity",
  "enableVoiceChat": true,
  "enableTextChat": true,
  "gameSettingsPreset": "Custom",
  "gameSettings": {
    "resourceDropStackAmountFactor": 1.5,
    "dayTimeDuration": 2400000000000,
    "tombstoneMode": "NoTombstone"
  },
  "userGroups": [
    { "name": "Admin", "password": "choose-a-long-one", "canKickBan": true, "canAccessInventories": true, "canEditWorld": true, "canEditBase": true, "canExtendBase": true, "reservedSlots": 1 },
    { "name": "Friend", "password": "another-long-one", "canKickBan": false, "canAccessInventories": true, "canEditWorld": true, "canEditBase": true, "canExtendBase": false, "reservedSlots": 0 }
  ]
}

Those lines give 40-minute days (40 × 60000000000), half as much again per loot stack, no tombstones, and two groups with passwords you chose. Stop the server before editing, keep a copy of the file, and watch the console for the start-up lines Keen name, [Session] 'HostOnline' (up)!, before you tell anyone to join.

Where ForgeWorld Gaming fits#

On a ForgeWorld Gaming Enshrouded server the control panel's Startup tab holds the server name, the server password and the query port. At every start the name, the query port and the slot count that comes with your plan are written into enshrouded_server.json, and the Server Password becomes the password of the Default user group, the one players join with. Use a password no other group has, and keep that group's name Default, or the Startup tab's password is not used. A new server's file has that one Default group, with the permissions the game gives it: everything except kicking and banning. If the Server Password field is empty, the Default group keeps the password it has, a random one on a new server; the Console tab shows it once the server is up, and the file keeps it under userGroups. Everything else in this guide, the preset, the gameSettings block and further groups such as Admin, Friend or Guest with their own passwords, you edit in that file through the panel's file manager while the server is stopped, and your edits stay; the Default group's password is the only one the Startup tab overwrites. The panel also sets logDirectory back to ./logs at every start, because the Console tab and the panel's start-up check read the server log there. Updates arrive through the Auto Update setting on the same tab, which checks Steam for a newer server build at each start. Last checked 2026-10-22.

Prefer renting to keeping your own server machine online? ForgeWorld Gaming currently offers Enshrouded Standard: 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16 player slots at CA$21.99–CA$41.99/month. Hosted in Iowa, United States. Prices are in Canadian dollars, with no setup fee and cancel any time. Your server is set up automatically after payment. Continue to secure billing, Enshrouded · Dedicated server, CA$21.99 / month (Standard, 4 slots), or compare Enshrouded plans.