Move Your Enshrouded World to a Dedicated Server

You can move a world from a self-hosted co-op game to a dedicated server by copying that world's save files from your PC into the server's savegame folder while the server is stopped. Characters do not move with it: Keen Games stores character progress only on each player's PC, so everyone brings their own character when they join.

Keen does not publish a step-by-step guide for this. Its Save Game Management article lists the save locations "for sharing or creating backups", and says a dedicated server keeps its saves next to the server exe or "in the top level of the providers file manager". On top of that, Enshrouded 1.0 came out on 15 October 2026 with a new save format. So this guide sticks to what Keen documents and says so where the 1.0 details are not documented yet.

What Moves and What Stays

Keen's Dedicated Server FAQ is clear about the split: "Character progression is stored only on clients. The world progression is stored on the dedicated servers."

Keen's general FAQ also lists what a character keeps on another world: equipment, inventory, levels and skills, map memory, personal crafting recipes and collected Shroud Roots. What a character does not keep on a new world is tied to that world: most crafting recipes, because they depend on survivors and crafting stations, and the survivors you rescued. Since you are moving the same world, your group keeps those too.

The co-op host settings are a separate file. Keen's roles article, written before 1.0, says the host's settings are stored in enshrouded_user.json in the same folder as the save data. A dedicated server does not use that file, so you set up passwords on the server again (step 6).

Before You Start: 1.0 and Old Saves

Three things from Keen about saves in 1.0:

• Old worlds still work. The launch FAQ says Early Access saves can be used in 1.0 and "will be converted to a new, more efficient format." Keen also writes that it made many changes to the world and the first hours of the game, so "we strongly encourage you to start over!" Whether you move your old world or start fresh on the server is up to your group.
• The game backs up before converting. The 1.0 changelog says that when 1.0 first finds a save created with version 0.8 or earlier, the save data is "firstly backed up and secondly automatically migrated to the new format."
• Skill points come back. The first time you play 1.0 with an existing save, the skill tree is reset, so every player spends their points again.

Keen documents this conversion for the game. It does not say whether the dedicated server converts an Early Access world by itself. The safe order is to let the game do it first: open the world once in 1.0 on the PC that hosted it, then copy the converted files. That way you upload a world that is already in the 1.0 format.

Step 1: Open the World Once in 1.0

Start Enshrouded 1.0 on the PC that hosted the co-op game and load the world as host. Once you are in, quit through the menu so the game saves and closes properly.

Two 1.0 changes help here. Saved worlds can now be sorted by last play time, and the world menu has separate tabs for local saves and Steam Cloud saves. Keen's own tip: if you do not see the world you expected, check the other tab. Note which tab your world is on, because that tells you where its files are.

Step 2: Find the World's Files on Your PC

Local tab. The 1.0 changelog gives this folder:

C:\Users\WINDOWSUSER\Saved Games\keen games\Enshrouded\default

WINDOWSUSER stands for your Windows user name. You can also paste %USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\keen games\Enshrouded\default into the address bar of File Explorer.

Early Access. Before 1.0, Keen's help center pointed to %USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\, with the files in an enshrouded folder there.

Steam Cloud tab. Keen's help center, written before 1.0, gives C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\YourSteamUserID\1203620\remote for Steam Cloud files. Keen says your Steam user ID is the Friend Code shown in the Steam settings under Account. Steam's remote storage page for Enshrouded lists the cloud files as well.

Which files belong to the world. Keen's pre-1.0 article lists a fixed file name for each world slot, and older guides copy those names. 1.0 changed the save format to "smaller save game files and a simpler data structure in the save data folder", and Keen has not published the 1.0 file names. So do not go by a name from a guide. Go by what is in your folder:

• Sort the folder by date modified. The world you just opened and closed in step 1 has the newest files.
• Files that belong to one world share the same base name. Before 1.0, a world had a main file plus companion files with an -index or _info ending and numbered backup copies. Your 1.0 folder can look different, so check what is actually there.
• Copy every file of that world, not only the largest one.
• Leave all other files where they are.

Step 3: Stop the Server and Make Backups

Stop the server before you copy anything. A running server keeps saving its own world on a timer (Keen's pre-1.0 articles say every 5 minutes in one place and every 10 minutes in another), and that can overwrite the files you just uploaded.

Then make two backups:

• The server side. Download the whole savegame folder and enshrouded_server.json. If the move goes wrong, you put these back.
• Your PC. Copy the world files from step 2 to a separate folder, outside the game's save folder.

The backup the game makes before converting is a nice safety net, but it is not a replacement for your own copy. Keep both backups until you are sure the server runs the right world.

Step 4: Put the Files in the savegame Folder

By default, the server saves to "saveDirectory": "./savegame", a folder next to enshrouded_server.exe. If your enshrouded_server.json points somewhere else, use that folder instead. On a rented server, Keen says the files sit either under the same path as the server exe or in the top level of the provider's file manager.

On a brand new server, start it once so it creates its config file and folders, then stop it again.

Empty the savegame folder (you have the backup from step 3) and upload only your world's files. With nothing else in the folder, there is no other world for the server to pick.

Step 5: Start the Server and Check the World

Start the server and watch the console window or the newest log in ./logs. Keen says a server that has finished starting shows [Session] 'HostOnline' (up)!.

Then join and check something specific: a base you built recently, your Flame Altar level, the survivors in your base. If all of that is there, the move worked.

If you land in a fresh world instead, stop the server. The most likely cause is that the server did not pick up your files. Keen does not document how the 1.0 server chooses its world file, so this part is trial and error with your backup at hand:

1. Empty the savegame folder, start the server once, let it create a new world, and stop it.
2. Compare the file names it wrote with the names of your world files.
3. If they differ, rename your files to the names the server used, keeping the same endings, replace the server's new files with yours and start again.

If the world loads but something looks wrong, stop the server and put the backup from step 3 back.

Step 6: Set Up Passwords on the Server

Co-op games and dedicated servers handle roles differently in 1.0. A co-op host now uses one password and promotes or demotes players in the game. On a dedicated server, the 1.0 changelog says "the user groups with the associated passwords work as before", and promoting and demoting is not possible while playing on the server.

So open enshrouded_server.json while the server is stopped and look at userGroups. A fresh config gets random passwords for each group. Give every friend the password for the role they should have. Our Enshrouded server settings guide explains the groups and permissions, and how to join an Enshrouded dedicated server is the page to send your friends.

Hosting the World With Space-Node

If you want the world online when the host's PC is off, Enshrouded server hosting at Space-Node gives you full FTP access for the upload, 2 backups, DDoS protection and 9 regions, from the Netherlands to Australia. Keen puts the server process at about 4.4 GB of RAM when idle, so for 1.0 we suggest Flame as the starting plan: 8 GB for €10.20 a month, for up to 8 players. Groups of up to 16 go on Beacon, 12 GB for €15.80. Our player limit and RAM guide explains the numbers behind that.

FAQ

Do players lose their characters when the world moves? No. Characters are stored on each player's own PC and never on the dedicated server. They pick their character when they join.

Can I move an Early Access world to a 1.0 server? Keen says Early Access saves work in 1.0 and are converted to the new format, with a backup first. Open the world once in 1.0 on your PC so the game converts it, then copy the converted files to the server.

Where are my Enshrouded saves in 1.0? Locally in C:\Users\WINDOWSUSER\Saved Games\keen games\Enshrouded\default, with your Windows user name in place of WINDOWSUSER. If your world is on the Steam Cloud tab, the files are in Steam's userdata folder instead.

Which file names should I look for? Look at dates and shared base names, not at names from a guide. Keen changed the save format for 1.0 and has not published the new names, so the names in your folder can differ from older guides.

Should I start a new world for 1.0 instead? Keen strongly encourages a fresh start because the world and the first hours changed a lot. A moved world keeps your bases, so it comes down to what your group wants.

Related: Enshrouded dedicated server setup guide | Enshrouded server settings explained | Enshrouded hosting plans