Enshrouded 1.0: The Dedicated Server Guide
What 1.0 Is
Enshrouded has been in early access since January 2024, when it sold a million copies in its first week and became one of the biggest co-op survival launches on Steam. On June 25, 2026, Keen Games put a date on the full release: Thursday, October 15, 2026, on PC and PlayStation 5, with Xbox Series X|S following in spring 2027.
For anyone who runs a server, a 1.0 launch means the same thing every early-access game's 1.0 has meant: a wave of returning players, a wave of brand-new ones, and a version bump that every server has to take on launch day. If you have been meaning to get your group a permanent world, this is the week to do it.
Update Day: Does Your Server Update Itself?
Enshrouded's client and server have to be on the same build. Steam pushes the new version to every player automatically the moment it is live, so a dedicated server still on the old build stops accepting connections until someone updates it. On launch day that gap is the difference between playing 1.0 with your friends and reading patch notes while your server sits there.
The dedicated server is a Steam app of its own (ID 2278520). If you self-host, put an app_update 2278520 step in front of your launch command so every restart pulls the current build; our setup guide has the full SteamCMD line. Every HostSimple Enshrouded server does exactly that on each start: when 1.0 lands, hit Restart on your server page and you are on the new build in about a minute, world intact.
Keep Your World? Back It Up First Either Way
Keen Games has not announced a save wipe for 1.0, and previous major content updates have carried worlds forward. Assume yours will too, but do not rely on it: an Enshrouded world is a small set of files in the server's savegame folder, and copying them somewhere safe before the update takes a minute. HostSimple backs up every world nightly and you can take a manual backup from the dashboard right before you restart.
If your group would rather start fresh for 1.0, keep the old save folder on the server, start a new world, and you can swap back later by restoring the files.
Role Passwords, Not a Server Password
Since the user-groups update, an Enshrouded server does not have one join password. It has groups, each with its own password and permissions: by default Admin, Friend, Guest and Visitor. Whoever types the Admin password can kick and ban; a Friend can build, extend the base and open shared inventories; a Guest is more limited. The password a player enters decides which group they land in.
Two groups are enough for most friend groups. On HostSimple we generate an admin password and a friend password for every server and show both on your server page; hand the friend password to the group and keep the admin one for yourself. If you self-host, the groups live under userGroups in enshrouded_server.json; the setup guide shows the exact block.
Difficulty Presets and Custom Settings
Enshrouded servers ship with four difficulty presets, set by gameSettingsPreset in the config: Relaxed, Default, Hard and Survival. Survival is the one that turns hunger and thirst into real threats and makes death expensive; Relaxed is the right pick for a group that mostly wants to build. Change the preset, restart, and it applies to the whole world.
Underneath the preset is a gameSettings block with dozens of individual dials: enemy damage and health, day and night length, drop rates, plant growth, mining damage, weather. On HostSimple the preset is a dropdown in the Startup tab, and if you want the individual dials you upload your own enshrouded_server.custom.json and the server uses that instead.
The Crossplay Question
1.0 launches on PS5 the same day as PC, which raises the obvious question: can console friends join the dedicated server? At launch, no. Keen Games has described crossplay as a goal for a later patch and has not committed to a date or said how console players would pick a server. A PC dedicated server on October 15 is a Steam server.
That may change, and when it does it will be a server-side patch and a client update, nothing you need to rebuild. Until then, if your group is split between Steam and PlayStation, the PS5 half plays in their own sessions.
Launch-Day Checklist
Before October 15: back up the savegame folder, decide keep-or-fresh with your group, and make sure your server updates on restart. Write down the admin and friend passwords.
When 1.0 lands: let Steam update your own game, then restart the server. Join, confirm you are on the new build, and tell your friends the address and the friend password.
The weeks after: expect hotfixes. Each one is a Steam update for players and a restart for the server. If a friend gets a version mismatch, the server has not restarted since the patch.
If you do not have a server yet, a HostSimple Enshrouded server is 1.0-ready, updates itself, and you can try it for $1.
Start your Enshrouded server
Spin up a 1.0-ready Enshrouded server with admin and friend passwords set for you, US or EU.
Frequently asked questions
- When does Enshrouded 1.0 release?
- Thursday, October 15, 2026, on PC (Steam) and PlayStation 5. Keen Games confirmed the date on June 25, 2026. The Xbox Series X|S version follows in spring 2027.
- Can PS5 players join a PC dedicated server at 1.0?
- No. Keen Games has said crossplay between PC and console is planned for a later patch and has not given a date. At launch, a dedicated server is for Steam players only.
- Does my existing Enshrouded world work on 1.0?
- Keen has not announced a save wipe for 1.0. Back up your savegame folder before the update anyway; it is a handful of files and takes a minute.
- Which port does an Enshrouded server use?
- One UDP port, the queryPort in enshrouded_server.json. The separate gamePort was removed in Content Update 2, and players connect to ip:queryPort.