Enshrouded Server Hosting

What is an Enshrouded dedicated server and what do you gain?

The Enshrouded dedicated server is the official server application Keen Games publishes for its survival and building game, simulating the world independently of any player’s PC. In a normal in-game session the world closes when the host leaves; a dedicated server stays online 24/7 and every player can connect whenever they like.

For Enshrouded specifically, a dedicated server gives you:

• Continuous progress: Every member of the group can log in on their own schedule to expand the base and explore Shroud zones.
• Up to 16 players: The game supports a maximum of 16 players, so a large group of friends or a small community can share one world.
• Role-based access: Separate passwords and permissions can be set for groups such as admin, friend and guest.
• Relief for the host’s PC: The voxel world and building system run on the server, so no player’s frame rate carries extra load.

Thanks to the voxel-based design, players can dig into the terrain and build huge structures. That flexibility requires the server to track world state constantly, which is why Enshrouded servers need more memory than many games with a similar player count.

How much RAM does an Enshrouded server need?

Planning 6–8 GB of memory for small groups and 12–16 GB for a full 16-player server is a safe approach. The values in the table above are estimates; how much of the world has been explored and built on directly affects the requirement.

Memory demand has three sources:

1. The server process: It reserves several GB even when idle; community measurements report roughly 4 GB at idle.
2. Per-player load: Each player causes the world chunks around them to load. Load rises as players spread to different corners of the map.
3. Wine/Proton layer: When running on Linux, the compatibility layer uses its own share of memory.

On the CPU side, 4 or more dedicated cores leave comfortable headroom as world simulation and player count grow. For disk, account for save files and backups on top of the server files; NVMe storage helps world chunks load quickly.

A server running at its memory limit first starts to stutter and then crashes. Watching evening peak usage for a few days and moving to a larger plan if it stays high is the cheapest insurance against save corruption.

Game package or VDS for Enshrouded?

At LIONFIN you run an Enshrouded server on a VDS; this page lists VDS plans for the game. You can install the server yourself or open a support ticket from the customer panel after ordering the VDS and ask for the setup.

Because the Enshrouded server software is built only for Windows, a VDS makes extra sense: you can install Windows Server and run it natively, or configure a Wine/Proton layer on Linux to your liking. Both routes need full administrator access, which is only possible on your own virtual server.

• Windows Server route: The simplest path for installation and file management; requires an operating system licence, available through our operating system licences.
• Linux + Wine/Proton route: Needs no licence and usually uses fewer resources, but it is not an officially supported method; it is widely used through community scripts and Docker images.

For a general comparison between a ready-made game package and a VDS, see game server package or VDS. Current core, memory and disk values are listed in the plan table on this page.

Does the Enshrouded server run on Linux?

There is no official Linux build of the Enshrouded dedicated server; the software is released for Windows. On Linux servers the common approach is Wine, which runs Windows applications, or Proton, its gaming-oriented derivative.

A typical Linux workflow:

1. Download the server files with SteamCMD, forcing the Windows platform:

   steamcmd +@sSteamCmdForcePlatformType windows +force_install_dir /home/enshrouded/server +login anonymous +app_update 2278520 validate +quit

2. Install a Wine or Proton environment and start enshrouded_server.exe through that layer.
3. Edit the enshrouded_server.json file created on first launch, then restart the server.
4. Define the process as a systemd service or a Docker container.

Docker pins the Wine version and dependencies, which reduces surprises during updates; see our Docker hosting page if you plan to run containers. The Wine layer can occasionally break after game updates, so taking a save backup before updating matters even more here. If you would rather avoid the extra work, choosing Windows Server and running the software natively is the most trouble-free route.

Whichever operating system you pick, running the server under a separate user account is a good habit: if a vulnerability is exploited, the game server process can only reach its own folder and the rest of the system stays protected.

What can you configure in enshrouded_server.json?

All core settings of an Enshrouded server live in enshrouded_server.json, which is created in the install folder the first time the server starts. Stop the server before editing; a running server can overwrite the file when it shuts down and your changes will be lost.

Key fields:

• name: The name shown in the server browser.
• slotCount: Number of players who can connect at once; maximum 16.
• queryPort: Connection and query port; the default in current versions is 15637.
• saveDirectory and logDirectory: Folders for saves and logs.
• gameSettingsPreset and gameSettings: Game rules such as difficulty, enemy strength and survival mechanics.
• userGroups: Role-based passwords and permissions.

JSON is strict: a missing comma or quote can stop the server starting or reset settings to defaults. Copy the file before editing and check the server log for errors after the change. Because field names can change with game updates, base your configuration on the current file generated by the server rather than copying one from an old guide.

How do you set up admin, friend and guest roles?

Access on an Enshrouded server is managed with role groups defined in the userGroups field: each group has its own password and permission set, and a player is assigned to a group based on the password they enter when connecting. Instead of the single global password of older versions, this lets you decide separately who can do what.

The default template contains three typical groups:

Set a different, hard-to-guess password for each group. Share the admin password only with people who really need it; if a password leaks, edit the file, change it and restart the server. This role structure stops strangers looting your base even on a public server.

Which ports need to be open?

Current Enshrouded servers need 15637/UDP open; this port is used for both queries and connections. Guides for older versions also mention game port 15636; open whichever port fields appear in the enshrouded_server.json your server generated.

Example rule for Ubuntu with UFW:

sudo ufw allow 15637/udp

On Windows Server the same rule can be added with PowerShell:

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Enshrouded" -Direction Inbound -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 15637 -Action Allow

If you run a second Enshrouded server on the same VDS, assign each instance a different port and add rules accordingly; two servers on the same port will fail to start.

How do you customise game settings and difficulty?

Game rules on an Enshrouded server are chosen from a ready-made template with gameSettingsPreset or set one by one with custom values. The presets offer options such as default, more relaxed and harder play; when you switch to custom, the values in the gameSettings block are used.

The settings community servers change most often:

• Enemy health and damage: Making enemies stronger for large groups and weaker for small ones keeps the balance.
• Hunger and stamina mechanics: Easing survival pressure makes the game more relaxed for exploration-focused groups.
• Gathering and crafting speeds: Speed up progress for players with limited time.
• Day and night length: Long days suit building, long nights add tension.

Talk to your group before changing settings: suddenly raising difficulty in an advanced world can kill motivation. Copying the JSON file and save folder before each change lets you easily roll back a setting nobody likes.

Some values also affect server performance. Increasing enemy density, for example, raises the number of creatures the server simulates at once; on a busy server that means a noticeable rise in memory and CPU use. Watching resource usage on the first busy evening after a difficulty change is the most practical way to see whether the setting strains the server.

How do you move a single-player world to the server?

To move a world started in an in-game session to the dedicated server, copy the save files from the client into the server’s save folder and rename them to the file name the server expects. The server keeps its saves in the folder set in saveDirectory (by default the save folder inside the install directory).

1. Start and stop the server once so it creates its own world file and you can see the file name.
2. Find the files of the world you want to move in the Enshrouded save folder on your PC.
3. Back up and set aside the files the server created, rename your world’s files to the server’s file names and copy them into the save folder.
4. Start the server and connect to check that the world loads correctly.

An SFTP client (for example WinSCP or FileZilla) is all you need for the transfer. The server must be stopped during the move. Characters are stored on the client side, so players keep connecting with their own characters; what moves is the world and its bases.

How do you back up an Enshrouded server?

Two things need backing up on an Enshrouded server: the save folder and the enshrouded_server.json configuration file. The server keeps a few save backups of its own, but they sit on the same disk and are no help in a real disaster.

• Daily archive: Set up a scheduled job that archives the save folder with a date stamp and copies it off the server.
• Pre-update backup: Enshrouded receives large content updates regularly; take a manual backup before each one.
• Server image: If you spent time on the Wine/Proton setup, a full image of the working system greatly shortens any reinstall.

On Linux, a one-line command that compresses the save folder into a dated file is enough for a simple backup job:

tar -czf /backup/enshrouded-$(date +%F).tar.gz -C /home/enshrouded/server savegame enshrouded_server.json

Add this command to a nightly cron job, plus a second line that deletes old archives after a set period, and you keep the last few weeks of history without filling the disk. If your folder name differs from the saveDirectory value in your configuration, adjust the command. Downloading a copy of the archives weekly to your PC or another server removes the single point of failure, and occasionally opening an archive in a test environment is the only way to be sure a backup actually works.

How is an Enshrouded server protected against DDoS and attacks?

Enshrouded server security relies on role-based passwords, opening only the required UDP port and network-level DDoS filtering applied together. On LIONFIN infrastructure the RouteFence firewall filters at the network level and traffic is monitored 24/7 by our NOC and SOC teams; read more on our data center page.

Measures to take on the server:

• Keep the guest group’s permissions narrow; on public servers, disable building and chest access for guests.
• Never share the admin password in the server name, Discord announcements or screenshots.
• Protect Remote Desktop (Windows) or SSH (Linux) access with strong passwords and, where possible, key-based login.
• Keep unused ports closed and apply operating system updates regularly.

On a public Enshrouded server, player behaviour is part of security too. Even with guest permissions kept narrow, be careful when giving out the friend group password, since that group usually has building and chest rights. Changing passwords periodically and announcing new ones only in a private channel limits the damage a leaked password can do. You can kick or ban problem players with admin rights and, if needed, roll back to an earlier state from your backup.

What are the most common Enshrouded server errors?

Most Enshrouded server problems come from port configuration, a broken JSON file or a version mismatch.

If the problem persists, open a support ticket from the customer panel; attaching the last lines of the server log speeds up diagnosis.