An Enshrouded server keeps its settings in enshrouded_server.json, and there are around seventy of them once you leave the difficulty presets behind. The LoafHub config editor renders that file as a grouped form with a label and an explanation on every field, so you can set enemy health or the length of a night without opening JSON and without learning which key controls what. This guide covers what each group does, which settings the file is not allowed to own, and how the difficulty preset interacts with everything else.
Opening the Editor
The config editor is a panel tool on the server itself rather than a separate application.
- Log in to the LoafHub panel at hub.loafhosts.com
- Open your Enshrouded server
- Open the Enshrouded section and choose the config editor
- Change what you need and save
- Restart the server so it reads the new file
Warning: Settings are read at boot. Saving does not change a running server, so a restart is always the last step
The Difficulty Preset Comes First
The top of the form is a single control: the difficulty preset. Pick a ready-made difficulty and the individual rates below it follow that preset. Choose Custom and every rate becomes yours to set.
This ordering matters. If you tune twenty individual settings and then change the preset, the preset wins. Set the preset first, confirm it is what you want, and only then work down the form.
Tip: If you want one small change from a stock difficulty, switch the preset to Custom first, then adjust. Otherwise the change may not survive
Tip: Peaceful mode is in the Combat group, not the difficulty preset. It stops enemies attacking entirely, which is what you want for a build-only server
Survival
Twelve settings covering how hard it is to stay alive. Most are multipliers where 1 is normal.
| Setting | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Player health | 0.25 to 4 | Multiplier on player health |
| Player mana | 0.25 to 4 | Multiplier on mana |
| Player stamina | 0.25 to 4 | Multiplier on stamina |
| Cold resistance | 0.5 to 2 | How long players stay warm in cold areas |
| Underwater breath | 0.5 to 2 | How long players can stay under |
| Item durability | on or off | Off means weapons, tools and armour never wear out |
| Starving penalty | on or off | Whether staying hungry eventually costs you |
| Time from hungry to starving | preset steps | Only used when the starving penalty is on |
| Food buff duration | 0.5 to 2 | How long food effects last |
| Time allowed in the Shroud | 0.5 to 2 | How long players survive inside the Shroud |
| On death | preset options | What a player drops when they die |
| Glider turbulence | on or off | Off makes gliding smooth and predictable |
Tip: Turning off item durability is the single most requested quality-of-life change on a private server, and it costs nothing in performance
Note: The hunger timer only does anything when the starving penalty is on. Setting a long timer with the penalty off changes nothing
Combat
Ten settings, and the important detail is that enemy and boss multipliers are separate. Softening normal enemies does not soften bosses.
| Setting | Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Enemy damage | 0.25 to 5 | Normal enemies only |
| Enemy health | 0.25 to 4 | Normal enemies only |
| Enemy stamina | 0.5 to 2 | Higher means harder to stagger |
| Enemy detection range | 0.5 to 2 | Lower is stealthier |
| Boss damage | 0.2 to 5 | Bosses only |
| Boss health | 0.2 to 5 | Bosses only |
| Enemy attack frequency | 0.25 to 4 | How often enemies press an attack |
| Peaceful mode | on or off | Enemies will not attack at all |
| How many enemies attack at once | preset steps | Caps simultaneous engagement |
| Roaming enemy count | preset steps | How many wanderers exist in the world |
Tip: If combat feels chaotic rather than hard, lower how many enemies attack at once before you touch damage. It changes the feel more than the numbers do
Tip: Roaming enemy count is the setting with the clearest effect on server load. Lower it first if the server is struggling
Progression
Nine settings covering how fast a world advances. These are the ones to reach for on a server where people play a few hours a week and do not want a grind.
- Mining and terrain speed, 0.5 to 2
- Plant growth speed, 0.25 to 2
- Loot amount, 0.25 to 2
- Production speed, 0.25 to 2
- Weapon upgrade cost, 0.25 to 2, where lower is cheaper
- Recycling return, 0 to 1
- Combat XP, 0.25 to 2
- Mining XP, 0 to 2
- Exploration and quest XP, 0.25 to 2
Two of these behave differently from the rest. Recycling return defaults to 0.5 rather than 1, so upgraded weapons only give back half by default and raising it to 1 is a real change rather than a no-op. Mining XP is the only rate that accepts 0, which turns mining experience off entirely.
Tip: Raising loot amount and production speed together is the closest thing to a “we only play on weekends” setting
World
Six settings covering the world itself.
- Day length and night length, as preset steps
- Weather frequency
- Shroud curse, where Off disables the mechanic entirely rather than reducing it
- Fishing difficulty
- What happens to taming progress when an animal is startled
Note: Shroud curse Off is a genuine off switch, not a low setting. If you want curses to be rare rather than absent, pick the lowest step above Off
Chat
Three settings: voice chat on or off, voice chat range, and text chat on or off. The range control only does anything while voice chat is on.
Groups and Permissions
Enshrouded has four user groups rather than one admin password, and the editor exposes each group’s permissions as its own block. For every group you can set kick and ban, opening other players’ storage, editing the world, editing any base, extending any base, and a reserved slot count.
Reserved slots are the one that surprises people. They come out of your sixteen rather than adding to them, so four reserved Admin slots on a full server leaves twelve for everyone else.
The group passwords are not in this part of the form. They live in the startup settings at the top of the page, for the reason in the next section.
Tip: Give Friend everything except kick and ban. It is the tier most private servers actually want for regulars
Warning: A group password cannot be only digits. The server rejects one that is, and it shows up as a server that will not start rather than as a clear password error
What the File Cannot Own
Nine fields in the form are marked as managed, and six of them are managed because the panel rewrites them into the config file from the server environment on every boot:
- the server name
- the player slot count
- the query port
- all four group passwords
Editing any of those in the file works right up until the next restart, at which point the file is rewritten and your change is gone. There is no error to read. This is why the editor puts them in the startup section at the top of the page and shows them as read-only down in the file settings, so both halves of the form agree about where they actually live.
Reading them out of the file is worse than editing them. A server that has never started still has the placeholder passwords the install shipped with sitting in the file, while the real, randomised passwords are already in the environment. Copying a password out of the file on a new server gives you a password that has never been valid.
The remaining managed fields are the listen address, the save folder, the log folder, and the display names of the Friend, Guest and Visitor groups. Those are set by the host and are shown so the form is a complete picture of the file rather than a partial one.
Warning: On a new server, always read group passwords from the panel, never from
enshrouded_server.json
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to restart after saving?
Yes. Enshrouded reads its configuration when the server process starts, so a save updates the file and a restart applies it. The editor saves and the restart is a separate, deliberate step.
Why did my server name go back to the old one?
Because the server name is one of the six settings written from the startup settings into the config file on every boot. Change it in the startup section at the top of the config editor rather than in the file settings, and it will persist.
Why is the admin password from the config file rejected?
On a freshly installed server the file still contains the placeholder the install shipped with. The real password is the randomised value in the environment, which the panel shows you. Use the one in the panel.
What is the difference between enemy and boss multipliers?
They are independent. Enemy damage, health and stamina apply to normal enemies only, and bosses have their own damage and health multipliers. Halving enemy health leaves every boss exactly as it was.
Which setting should I change if the server feels heavy?
Roaming enemy count, then how many enemies attack at once. Both reduce how much the server simulates at any moment, and both change performance more than the damage and health multipliers do.
Can I turn off item durability?
Yes, it is a single toggle in the Survival group. With it off, weapons, tools and armour never wear out.
Does changing difficulty wipe my world?
No. Difficulty settings and rates are applied to the running world at the next boot. Your world, bases and progress are unaffected.
Where do I set the group passwords?
In the startup settings at the top of the config editor page, not in the Groups block. The Groups block owns names, permissions and reserved slots; the passwords are startup variables because the server rewrites them into the file on every start.
Sizing, deployment and the four groups are covered in the Enshrouded server hosting guide. What ships with every build is on the Enshrouded hosting page.