Enshrouded 1.0 Server Update: Will Your World Wipe? How to Update Safely

Enshrouded 1.0 releases on 15 October 2026, and it is the biggest update a dedicated server has had to take. The short answers first. As of 28 September 2026, Keen has confirmed that character skill trees reset again at 1.0. Keen has not said whether existing worlds carry over. Recent major updates have kept existing worlds, and your server will install 1.0 the same way it installs every patch: on its next restart.

On a hosted Enshrouded server, updating is one action: restart the server. The startup routine checks Steam for a newer dedicated-server build and installs it before the game launches. This page covers what is confirmed about the 1.0 update, how to protect your world before it lands, and the routine that works for every patch after it, plus the fact that your log file is deleted every time the server starts.

Enshrouded 1.0: Will Your World Wipe?

Written before release

This section reflects what Keen Games had published as of 28 September 2026. The 1.0 release changelog is due in October, and it is the document that settles these questions.

The skill reset happens to characters, not to your server

Characters are not stored on a dedicated server. Keen's server FAQ: "Character progression is stored only on clients. The world progression is stored on the dedicated servers." So the confirmed 1.0 skill reset happens to each player's character when they load in. The server does not do it and cannot stop it, and restoring a world backup does not undo it. The only preparation is to tell your players to spend their refunded points before they leave a base.

What previous big updates did to worlds

Keen have not said what 1.0 does to an existing world, so the best guide is what the last major update did. Update 8, Forging the Path (April 2026) loaded existing worlds and changed characters:

• "When loading an existing savegame from update 7 or older, the skill tree is reset."
• "non-Common loot armor in savegames from previous versions of the game has been converted into Common-quality equipment."

Both lines describe old saves being loaded and converted, not rejected. That is precedent, not a promise about 1.0. The one time Keen did break saves was the jump from the pre-release builds into Early Access, and their FAQ says so: "older saves from the Alpha, Beta and Demo versions are incompatible with the Early Access version of Enshrouded." Plan for the likely case and keep a backup for the other one.

Before 15 October

1. Take a stopped-server backup and download it. Stop the server, snapshot it from the Backups tab, and download savegame/ and enshrouded_server.json to your own PC. Enshrouded server backups covers exactly which files a world is, and keeping a pre-1.0 copy.
2. Remove unofficial mods. Any .kfc patch or mod loader is built for the current build. The first 1.0 boot should be vanilla. Enshrouded mods on a dedicated server covers how to take them off.
3. Write down your non-panel settings: the difficulty preset and gameSettings, tags, chat toggles and role flags. You may need them if the config has to be regenerated (see below).
4. Check you have disk headroom. Keen recommend 30 GB free for about 13 GB of server files, and a release-sized update has to download before it replaces anything. Enshrouded server requirements has the figures.
5. Tell your players when you will restart. Their Steam clients will update to 1.0 on their own schedule, and a server still on 0.9 will not let a 1.0 client in.

Can I stay on the old version?

Not in any way that helps. Turning Auto Update off keeps the server on its current build. With it off, the startup routine skips the Steam update entirely. But your players' Steam clients will still move to 1.0, and a 0.9 server cannot accept a 1.0 client. There is also no branch to choose. Steam lists only the public branch for the Enshrouded dedicated server, and your Startup tab has no branch setting. Keep Auto Update off only to delay the restart by a few hours, for example until your group is offline.

On launch day

1. Read Keen's 1.0 changelog on Steam before you restart. It is where any world or config caveat will be written.
2. Stop the server (not Kill), and take one more backup.
3. Start it. The console shows the Steam download before the game process launches. The first 1.0 download will take longer than a hotfix.
4. Wait for [Session] 'HostOnline' (up)!, then join and check a base you know, the map and your altars.
5. Take a post-update backup, so your next restore point is a 1.0 world.

If the world does not load, stop and download the log first. The next start deletes it. Then work through "The server will not start after an update" in the FAQ at the end of this page.

Not Every Enshrouded Patch Needs a Server Update

This is the single most useful thing to know, and Keen Games tell you directly. Every changelog states whether dedicated servers are affected. A few examples, verbatim:

Many Enshrouded hotfixes are client-side — shader fixes, GPU driver workarounds, localisation links. Those change nothing on the server and restarting to chase them buys you nothing but downtime.

Read the changelog before you restart

Keen publish a changelog for every patch and hotfix on the game's Steam news feed, and they say in it whether servers are affected. Thirty seconds of reading saves an unnecessary restart, and — more importantly — tells you when a restart is genuinely required rather than optional.

The Version Number Is Not the Build

Enshrouded's displayed version string is not unique to a build, and this catches people out when they are trying to work out whether a server and a client actually match.

Both Hotfix #41 and Hotfix #42 shipped as v0.9.1.2. What separates them is the revision number, which Keen state at the top of every changelog: 1024233 for #41, 1076226 for #42. Similarly, Hotfix #36 and Hotfix #35 were both v0.9.0.4, and Keen noted that the revision "is still 893400" for #36 — same build, different changelog.

So:

• The revision is the build identity. Two servers on "the same version" can be on different revisions.
• "Revision unchanged" is a strong hint that servers are unaffected. In the cases above where Keen wrote "still" or "no change" next to the revision, they also said dedicated servers did not need an update. It is not a rule they have stated as a rule, so treat it as a hint and read the sentence about dedicated servers rather than inferring it from the number.

How Updating Works on a Hosted Server

Your server's Startup tab carries two variables that govern this, and they are worth understanding because they are the difference between a server that heals itself and one that does not.

With Auto Update on — which is how a server ships — the update procedure is simply:

1. Take a backup. Panel Backups tab, with the server stopped. See Enshrouded server backups and restoring a world.

2. Stop the server and wait for it to come to a full stop rather than killing it. A clean stop writes the world.

3. Start the server. The console shows the Steam update running before the game process appears.

4. Wait for the session line. The server is genuinely up when the console prints:

   [Session] 'HostOnline' (up)!
   [Session] finished transition from 'Lobby' to 'Host_Online' (current='Host_Online')!
   

5. Join it yourself before announcing it. A server that boots is not the same as a server that accepts a connection.

Your log file is deleted on every start

The startup routine removes the previous enshrouded_server.log before launching the game, so the console you are looking at only ever covers the current session. If a server crashed or refused to boot and you want to know why, retrieve the log before you restart it — the restart is what destroys the evidence. Download it from the file manager or over SFTP before you touch the power controls.

When to turn Auto Update off

Auto Update is editable, and there is one situation where turning it off is the right call: when you deliberately need the server to stay on the build it is on. If a new build has broken something for your group and you would rather sit still until a hotfix lands, switching Auto Update off keeps the restart from pulling the new build. With it off, the startup routine skips the Steam step completely. That also means Validate does nothing while Auto Update is off.

Two caveats:

• It does not stop your players updating. Steam updates clients automatically. Holding the server back means holding it back from clients that have already moved, which produces the mismatch described below.
• Turn it back on. A server left with Auto Update off will silently miss every future update, and the first symptom is nobody being able to join weeks later.

When to turn Validate on

Validate is the repair tool. Turn it on for one boot when:

• the server crashes on startup with no useful error,
• an update was interrupted — a stop, a node restart, a failed download mid-way,
• or the server files are behaving as though something is missing.

Validate makes the start slower because Steam checks the whole installation, so turn it back off afterwards rather than leaving it on for every boot. It also restores any game file you have deliberately changed, such as a patched enshrouded_server.kfc.

Validate does not touch your world or your config

It verifies the game's own files against Steam's manifest. savegame/ and enshrouded_server.json are yours, not Steam's, and validation leaves them alone. That is the intended behaviour — but back up first anyway, because "it should not have touched that" is a poor thing to be relying on after the fact.

Version Mismatch: When Clients and Server Disagree

The most common post-patch complaint is not that the server is down — it is that one or more players cannot join a server that is plainly running.

Enshrouded's client and dedicated server have to be on the same build. After a patch, clients update on Steam's schedule and the server updates when it restarts, so there is always a window where they disagree.

What it looks like: the server appears in the browser, or does not appear at all, and joining fails. The player's client is on a different build to the server.

How to fix it:

• Restart the server. With Auto Update on this pulls the current build and closes the gap from the server side.
• Have the player verify their own update. Steam sometimes defers a download; in the Steam library, the game should not be showing a pending update.
• Check Auto Update is actually on. A server that was pinned to an old build months ago will fail this way and nothing about the symptom points at the cause.
• If the server was mid-update when it was stopped, run one boot with Validate on.

Connection problems that are not build mismatches — the server not appearing in the list, role passwords being rejected, ports — are covered separately in Enshrouded server connection troubleshooting.

Config Files and Updates

Two things about enshrouded_server.json across an update:

Reinstalling does not delete your config. The installation routine checks for an existing enshrouded_server.json and leaves it in place, downloading a default file only when there is none. So a reinstall keeps your roles, passwords and difficulty settings.

A config carried across versions can go wrong. Keen warn about this directly: "previous versions of the server.json can sometimes be incorrectly updated. In this case you can delete the file to let it be created freshly on the next startup." If a server refuses to start after an update and the console complains about the config, that is the escape hatch — copy the file somewhere safe first, delete it, let a fresh one generate, then reapply your settings by hand rather than pasting the old file back wholesale.

Note that a hosted server writes several values into that file from your Startup tab each time it boots — the server name, the port, the slot count and the four role-group passwords. If you are reapplying settings after a regeneration, set those on the Startup tab rather than in the file, and put the difficulty block, chat toggles and tags in the file. Enshrouded server settings and config file is the full reference.

We haven't tested Keen's delete-and-regenerate step on one of our servers, where the panel also writes into the file at every boot. If the server still won't start afterwards, or the new file looks incomplete, put your copy back and contact support with the log.

What 1.0 might change in the file. The last update that touched the config was Update 7, which added the Visitor role "as a preset in the configuration file for dedicated server admins". Your panel writes the four role passwords by position and pins the names of roles 2 to 4 to Friend, Guest and Visitor. If 1.0 adds, renames or reorders default roles or gameSettings keys, the file may need regenerating, and the panel may need adjusting on our side. Nothing like that has been announced.

A Repeatable Update Routine

For a routine patch where Keen have said dedicated servers are affected:

1. Read the changelog. Note the revision number.
2. Tell your players there is a restart coming.
3. Stop the server cleanly.
4. Take a backup from the Backups tab.
5. Start the server; watch the Steam update run in the console.
6. Wait for the HostOnline line.
7. Join and move around for a minute.
8. Take a second backup, so your restore point is the post-update world.

For a large update — the kind that reworks systems rather than fixing bugs — add one step at the front: keep the pre-update backup for longer than usual. Enshrouded's Update 8 in April 2026 reset character skill trees and refunded skill points on first load, which is the kind of one-way change that makes a week-old world worth keeping around. Update 7, Wake of the Water, added an entirely new default role called Visitor to the roles system. Large updates change more than numbers. 1.0 is the largest of all. The 1.0 section at the top of this page has the extra steps, and Enshrouded 1.0: what server owners know so far has the wider picture.

What to Read Next

• Enshrouded server backups and restoring a world — the step this routine starts with.
• Enshrouded server connection troubleshooting — for join failures that are not build mismatches.
• Enshrouded 1.0: what server owners know so far — the biggest update the game has had.
• Enshrouded server settings and config file — the config reference.
• Enshrouded admin commands, roles and server settings — roles, passwords and how administration actually works.

FAQ

How do I update my Enshrouded server?

Restart it. With Auto Update on — the default — the startup routine checks Steam for a newer dedicated-server build and installs it before launching the game. Back up first.

Does every Enshrouded patch require a server update?

No. Many hotfixes are client-only, and Keen say so explicitly in the changelog. Hotfixes #29, #33, #36, #37 and #42 all stated that dedicated servers did not need an update.

How do I tell which build my server is on?

By the revision number Keen publish in each changelog, not by the version string. Two different builds have shipped as v0.9.1.2, distinguished only by revision.

My players get a version mismatch after an update. What now?

Restart the server so it pulls the current build, and have the player confirm Steam has finished updating their client. If the server has Auto Update switched off, that is the cause.

Will Enshrouded 1.0 wipe my world?

Keen have not announced a world wipe, and they have not promised that worlds carry over either. As of 28 September 2026 the 1.0 changelog is not out. Recent major updates loaded existing worlds. Update 8 converted old saves rather than rejecting them. Back up and download your world before 15 October either way.

Does Enshrouded 1.0 reset characters or skills?

Skills, yes. Keen's 23 September post says "your skill tree has been reset, hopefully for the last time". Characters live on each player's PC, not on the server, so this happens when players load in and no server setting affects it. Keen have not said anything about levels, gear or inventories being reset.

Can I keep my server on the old version after 1.0?

Only briefly. Turning Auto Update off stops the server downloading 1.0, but your players' clients update anyway and a mismatched server cannot be joined. There is no older branch to select.

Will updating delete my world or my settings?

No. Updates replace the game's own files; savegame/ and enshrouded_server.json are left alone, and a reinstall preserves an existing config rather than overwriting it. Back up before every update anyway.

The server will not start after an update

Retrieve the log before restarting, because the log is deleted at every start. Then try one boot with Validate on. If the console points at the config, save a copy of enshrouded_server.json, delete it, let the server generate a fresh one, and reapply your settings by hand — Keen recommend exactly this when an old config upgrades incorrectly.

Should I turn off Auto Update?

Only deliberately, to hold a server on its current build while you wait out a bad patch — and turn it back on afterwards. Clients update regardless, so a pinned server eventually becomes a server nobody can join.

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