For a new Enshrouded group, start with the Default preset. Keen Games describes it as the continuation of the pre-preset configuration and recommends it for first-time players. Choose Relaxed for building and lighter exploration, Hard for sustained combat pressure, or Survival for extra survival penalties. Use Custom only after deciding which individual systems you want to change, and set gameSettingsPreset to "Custom" first; otherwise the server ignores the detailed gameSettings block.
For four to six players, a reliable starting point is standard enemy damage and health, normal enemy numbers and attack pressure, normal weather, durability enabled, glider turbulence enabled, Default tombstone loss, and resource and workshop multipliers near 1. These are practical starting values, not an official Keen Games preset.
Which Enshrouded difficulty preset should your group use?
The preset determines the overall shape of a world before you adjust individual systems. Pick one before inviting players, because it establishes expectations for combat, gathering, death penalties and survival pressure.
| Preset | Best fit | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Default | First-time or mixed groups | Official baseline and Keen Games’ recommendation for first-time players |
| Relaxed | Builders and casual explorers | Fewer enemies, with more resources and loot |
| Hard | Combat-focused groups | More enemies and more aggressive pressure |
| Survival | Players who want harsher consequences | Harder combat plus additional survival mechanics |
| Custom | Groups with specific preferences | Individual values in gameSettings become active |
Default is the safest choice when players have different experience levels. Relaxed is more suitable when the shared goal is construction, decoration and exploration rather than a demanding combat loop. Hard raises pressure across encounters, while Survival is intended for groups that also want survival systems to matter. Custom is best treated as a tuning phase, not as a shortcut to an automatically balanced difficulty.
How do I make custom settings apply on a dedicated server?
Custom values apply only when the preset field explicitly selects Custom. The dedicated server reads its settings from enshrouded_server.json, which is created beside the server executable when the server starts without an existing configuration.
- Stop the server completely. Do not edit the file while the process is writing saves or logs.
- Back up
enshrouded_server.json. Keep an untouched copy so you can restore a known-good configuration. - Open the file in a plain-text editor. Preserve the JSON structure, quotation marks, commas and braces.
- Set
gameSettingsPresetto"Custom". This is the switch that activates the individual gameplay values. - Edit the relevant members of
gameSettings. Change only values your group has agreed to test. - Validate the JSON syntax. A missing comma, extra comma or unmatched brace can prevent startup.
- Save, restart and test with the group. Confirm the intended behavior before deleting the backup.
Numerical values outside an allowed range are clamped to the nearest permitted limit. Invalid text values can stop the server from starting, so a failed launch should be treated as a syntax or value problem rather than proof that the setting is unsupported. If an update leaves an old configuration malformed, Keen Games says deleting the file allows the server to generate a clean one on its next start; restore your backup only after checking which changes you still need.
What does the server configuration file control?
The JSON file contains both operational settings and gameplay rules. Keeping those categories separate makes troubleshooting easier.
Server identity and storage
- Displayed server name.
- Save directory and log directory.
- Bind IP address.
- Query port.
Capacity and communication
- Player-slot count.
- Voice-chat mode, including proximity or global voice.
- Voice-chat and text-chat enable/disable switches.
- User groups and permissions.
Gameplay
- Difficulty preset and the individual
gameSettingsvalues. - Player health, mana and stamina.
- Shroud duration, starvation and food-buff behavior.
- Tombstone loss and equipment durability.
- Weather and glider turbulence.
- Taming repercussions, curse difficulty and fishing difficulty.
- Enemy amount, attack behavior, damage, health, stamina, perception and frequency.
- Boss damage and health, plus pacification behavior.
- Mining, loot, plant growth, workshop speed, upgrade cost and recycling yield.
- Experience multipliers and day/night duration.
The default query port is UDP 15637. The slot count must be a number from 1 to 16. Configure only as many slots as the group is likely to use: every additional slot adds load, and setting 16 slots for a four-person group does not improve the four-person experience.
What is a practical Custom setup for four to six players?
Use the following as a conservative baseline for a mixed group. It keeps the normal progression loop while giving you clear levers to adjust after the first sessions.
| Setting area | Starting point | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Enemy damage | 1 | Mistakes remain meaningful without adding an artificial damage spike |
| Enemy health | 1 | Fights retain the expected length |
| Enemy amount and attack pressure | Normal | Keeps encounters readable for mixed experience levels |
| Weather | Normal | Preserves travel and visibility pressure without making it the main challenge |
| Durability | On | Retains equipment-maintenance decisions |
| Glider turbulence | On | Keeps traversal risk and planning relevant |
| Tombstone loss | Default | Uses the standard death-cost expectation |
| Resource and workshop multipliers | Near 1 | Preserves the intended gathering and crafting rhythm |
Change one axis at a time and play long enough to see its effect. If the group dislikes long fights, lower enemy health rather than enemy damage. If deaths feel too punishing, reduce damage or adjust tombstone loss instead of simultaneously increasing loot and workshop speed. If construction is the shared priority, raise gathering or production speed while leaving combat values alone.
How should you tune combat difficulty?
Combat settings overlap, but they do not solve the same problem. Decide whether the group dislikes damage spikes, lengthy fights or crowded encounters before changing a value.
Enemy damage versus enemy health
Lowering enemy damage makes mistakes less costly. Lowering enemy health shortens fights without changing how dangerous a successful hit is. Raising both produces a substantially harder combat curve, so avoid changing both until the group has identified a specific problem.
Enemy amount, simultaneous attacks and frequency
These values alter encounter density in different ways. Enemy amount changes how many threats are present; attack pressure changes how many can act against players at once; frequency changes how often encounters occur. Adjust one dimension at a time so the group can tell whether it needs fewer targets, more breathing room during a fight or fewer engagements during travel.
Bosses, perception and stamina
Boss damage and health affect major fights independently of ordinary enemies. Perception changes how readily enemies detect players, while enemy stamina influences how long their pressure can continue. A group that enjoys normal exploration but finds bosses excessive can adjust boss values without changing routine encounters.
Which settings change the survival and exploration loop?
Not every difficulty change is an enemy-stat change. Survival and traversal options can add pressure even when combat remains at baseline.
Shroud time, starvation and food buffs
Shroud duration controls how much time players have for travel and work in hazardous areas. Starvation and food-buff settings determine how much attention the group must give to preparation and supplies. These are appropriate levers when the group wants a more demanding expedition rhythm without simply increasing enemy health.
Weather and glider turbulence
Weather changes travel conditions and visibility. Glider turbulence adds risk to traversal and route planning. Leaving both at normal or enabled preserves those systems as part of the world; reducing them is reasonable when the group mainly wants uninterrupted building or sightseeing.
Tombstones and durability
Tombstone loss determines the cost of dying, while durability determines the ongoing cost of using equipment. They can be tuned independently: a group may keep equipment maintenance but soften death recovery, or retain the default death consequence while reducing repair friction.
Taming, curses and fishing
Taming repercussions, curse difficulty and fishing difficulty affect specialized activities rather than every encounter. Adjust them only if those activities are central to your group’s routine, because changing them will not address a general complaint about combat or gathering.
How can you speed up building without trivializing combat?
Use the economic and production settings rather than enemy settings. Mining, loot, plant growth, workshop speed, upgrade cost, recycling yield and experience multipliers each shorten a different part of the progression loop.
- Mining and loot: reduce the time spent finding and collecting materials.
- Plant growth: shortens agricultural waits.
- Workshop speed: accelerates production queues.
- Upgrade cost: changes how many resources upgrades consume.
- Recycling yield: changes what players recover from dismantling items.
- Experience multipliers: alter leveling speed without directly changing enemy behavior.
Raise only the bottleneck the group has identified. Increasing every multiplier at once can make exploration rewards, crafting and upgrades arrive faster than players can meaningfully use them. Keeping values near 1 at the start gives the group a reference point for later changes.
How many slots, chat options and ports should you configure?
Set the player count to the actual expected group size, then leave room only for guests you genuinely intend to host. The dedicated server supports 1–16 slots; more slots increase resource demand even when not all players are online.
Choose proximity voice when communication should reflect distance in the game, or global voice when the group needs constant coordination. Text chat can be enabled or disabled independently. If players cannot connect, verify that the configured query port is reachable and that the firewall and router forward UDP 15637 to the server machine.
What hardware does a self-hosted Enshrouded server need?
Keen Games planning figures, reported by Dot Esports, provide a useful floor for dedicated-server planning. They are not a guarantee for every operating system, mod configuration or background workload.
| Scale | CPU guidance | Memory and storage | Network upload |
|---|---|---|---|
| About 4–6 players | 6 cores / 12 threads at around 3.2 GHz | 16 GB RAM and at least 30 GB free SSD space | About 2 Mbit/s upload per active player |
| Up to 16 players | 8 cores / 16 threads at around 3.7 GHz | 16 GB RAM and at least 30 GB free SSD space | About 2 Mbit/s upload per active player |
The upload figure is per active player, so a full 16-player session implies roughly 32 Mbit/s of upload capacity before accounting for other traffic. Leave headroom rather than sizing exactly to the estimate. A wired connection, stable port forwarding and an always-on machine reduce avoidable interruptions.
You can run the game and the dedicated server on one computer, but playing while hosting adds CPU, memory, storage and network load. A machine that barely meets the server estimate may perform poorly once the game client and other services are active.
Should you self-host or rent an Enshrouded server?
Self-hosting gives you direct control and avoids keeping a provider account, but it makes you responsible for uptime and maintenance. Renting shifts those operational tasks to a hosting company and is usually simpler for a group that wants a persistent world.
| Consideration | Self-host | Rent from a provider |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | Requires a suitable machine to remain online | Designed for a world that stays available without the game host playing |
| Networking | You handle firewall rules, port forwarding and troubleshooting | The provider normally supplies a control panel and network configuration |
| Maintenance | You perform updates, backups and recovery | Look for automatic updates, backup and restore tools, and support |
| Control | Direct access to files and the operating system | Control depends on the provider’s panel and allocated resources |
| Selection criteria | Your hardware, upload capacity and time | RAM and CPU allocation, location, backups, support, refund terms and panel access |
Keen Games says dedicated servers allow a world to remain available without the host being in the game and identifies G-Portal as a partner, while also stating that other providers can be used. Rent when nobody wants to maintain an always-on home PC or manage networking. Self-host when someone already has reliable hardware, upload bandwidth and the time to handle updates, backups, firewall rules and recovery.
Provider offers, prices and program terms change, so compare current allocations and policies directly before committing. A low headline price is less useful if the plan lacks backups, has an unsuitable location or provides too little CPU for your player count.
What should you check when a configuration change fails?
The server ignores custom values
Confirm that gameSettingsPreset is exactly "Custom", that the edited file is the one beside the active server executable, and that the server was stopped before saving. Restart after validating the file.
The server will not start
Restore the last known-good backup, then check quotation marks, commas, braces and value types. Invalid text can prevent startup; values outside an allowed numeric range are handled differently and are clamped to the nearest limit.
Players cannot connect
Check that the server is running, the configured bind IP is appropriate, UDP 15637 is allowed through the firewall and router, and the machine’s upload connection is not saturated by another task.
Performance worsens as the group grows
Reduce unused slots to match the real group, stop other heavy services, and compare the machine against the CPU, memory, storage and upload guidance. Running the game client on the same machine requires additional headroom.
An update leaves the file malformed
Keep the backup outside the server directory, delete the malformed configuration so a clean file can be generated, then reapply only the settings you still need and test them before inviting players.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can players join an Enshrouded dedicated server when the host is offline?
Yes. A dedicated server is designed to keep the world available without the person who created or administers it being in the game. The machine or rented instance still has to remain online, and someone should monitor updates and backups.
Does changing the preset reset the world?
The preset is a server gameplay configuration, not a replacement for the save itself. Make a save backup before major changes so you can recover if a configuration edit or update causes an unexpected startup problem.
Can I use different settings for different players?
The gameplay values are server-wide. If your group needs separate experiences, use separate worlds or server instances rather than expecting one player to receive different enemy, loot or survival rules.
How much upload bandwidth does a full 16-player session need?
Keen Games’ planning figure is about 2 Mbit/s of upload per active player, which works out to roughly 32 Mbit/s for 16 active players before other network traffic. Leave additional headroom for the operating system, voice chat and other household use.