Enshrouded server settings: enshrouded_server.json explainedServer name, player count, difficulty and custom rules in one file

Published on November 3, 2026

The file and the golden rule

enshrouded_server.json sits in the root directory of your server. You open it in the config editor of the web interface or download it via WebFTP or SFTP. Before you change anything, one rule applies without exception:

Stop the server, edit the file, save, start the server.

The reason: Enshrouded writes its current settings back to the file when it shuts down. If you edit while the server is running, you lose your changes at the next stop - without an error message. And because the whole file is read as a single JSON document, even a missing comma, a missing quotation mark or a typographic quotation mark pasted from a web page prevents the start. According to Keen Games, the console then names the faulty value. Numbers outside the allowed range, on the other hand, don't stop the server: it silently uses the smallest or largest permitted value instead.

Download a copy of the file before larger changes. Then a mistake is undone with one click.

The basic settings

Important with us: the game server panel writes server name, player count and the passwords of the user groups into the file from the startup parameters at every start, and the port as well. So you change these values in the panel under startup parameters - in the file they would be overwritten at the next start. Everything else, i.e. difficulty, custom rules, the permissions of the groups and the ban list, you maintain directly in the file.

Difficulty via presets

The quickest way to the right difficulty is gameSettingsPreset. Five values are possible:

• Default - the game as Keen intends it.
• Relaxed - fewer enemies, more resources. For groups that mainly want to build and explore at ease.
• Hard - tougher fights.
• Survival - the most demanding preset.
• Custom - you set every value yourself.

The most common mistake of all: the values in the gameSettings block only apply when the preset is set to Custom. With any other preset, the server loads the bundled values and ignores your block - without a warning. So set "gameSettingsPreset": "Custom" first and edit gameSettings afterwards.

Custom rules

In Custom mode you control dozens of values. Everything ending in Factor is a multiplier: 1 is the normal value, 2 doubles, 0.5 halves. The most important groups:

You only need to include the keys you want to change. A relaxed co-op group could look like this:

"gameSettingsPreset": "Custom",
"gameSettings": {
  "playerHealthFactor": 1.5,
  "enemyDamageFactor": 0.8,
  "resourceDropStackAmountFactor": 2,
  "enableStarvingDebuff": false
}

Pitfall: nanoseconds

The length of day and night and the time until starving (fromHungerToStarving) are given in nanoseconds, not seconds. One second is 1,000,000,000 nanoseconds. The default values:

A day of one hour is therefore 3600000000000. If you enter 3600 out of habit, you get a day lasting a few microseconds - or, because the value is below the minimum, silently the smallest permitted value.

Server name, groups and ban list

You change the server name in the panel under startup parameters; the panel writes it into the file as name at the next start. After the restart, the server appears under the new name; anyone who saved it as a Steam favourite still finds it, because the favourite is tied to IP and port. How fellow players find the server is shown in Join an Enshrouded server.

The userGroups and bannedAccounts blocks control who may get in and what they can do there. Because that is a topic of its own, it is covered in detail in User groups, password and private server.

Tougher rules and more enemies also mean more work for the processor, by the way. If the server stutters after a change, Enshrouded server lagging? helps.

Frequently asked questions