Enshrouded server won't start or launch: how to fix it

If your Enshrouded server stops straight after you press Start, the Console says why. This guide shows the lines to look for, the fix for each, and what a healthy start looks like so you can tell them apart.

What a healthy start looks like

Enshrouded's own log is long and technical, so the console hides it and shows a short list instead. A normal start reads like this, top to bottom:

[PlayYourWay/INFO]: Preparing your server, this may take a moment...
Starting server...
[PYW] Server is on the current build (25936466) - skipping the SteamCMD update pass.
[PYW] Player cap for this plan: 8.
Enshrouded server build 1265863
Game settings: the Default preset.
Connected to Steam.
Your server is online - players can join now.

The build numbers change with each game update (these are Enshrouded 1.0's). Once Your server is online shows, players can join. On our test servers that took about 15 seconds; the first start after an update takes a minute or two longer while it downloads.

Players can't join after a game update

When Keen releases an update, Steam updates your players' games straight away, but your server keeps the build it has until it starts again. Players on the new build can't join a server on the old one.

Fix: press Restart. The server installs the update before the game starts, and the console shows:

[PYW] Running SteamCMD update (installed: 23178631, public: 25936466)...

followed by the normal start. Your world carries over. To be safe, make a backup in the Backups tab before you restart.

If the console still says Server is on the current build in the first 20 minutes after an update comes out, the server hasn't heard about it yet. Wait a few minutes and restart again, or set Auto Update to 1 in the Startup tab for one start, then set it back to 0.

Two roles share a password

This is the most common reason. Enshrouded refuses to start when two roles have the same password, so the server checks before the game launches and says which two. After the preparing lines, the console shows:

[PYW] Player cap for this plan: 4.
[PYW] Enshrouded will not start like this: the Friend and Visitor roles have the same password. Give every role its own password in the Startup tab (or in enshrouded_server.json for a role you added yourself), then press Start.
[PlayYourWay/ERROR]: Your server crashed with exit code 1 - restarting automatically…

The panel tries one more start by itself, which prints the same lines again, then gives up with an amber line:

[PlayYourWay/WARNING]: It crashed again within a minute, so it won't restart by itself. Fix the cause above, then press Start.

The console calls it a crash, but nothing is lost: the check stopped the server before the game ran, and your world is untouched.

Fix:

1. Open the Startup tab.
2. Give one of the two roles the line names a different password. Passwords use letters, numbers, dashes and underscores, 4 to 64 characters (at least 8 for the admin password).
3. Click Save, go back to the Console and press Start.

The Players tab's Roles tab shows the same problem as a red note while it lasts. To switch a role off instead, use the switch beside Guest or Visitor there, which clears its password.

The settings file was damaged

If enshrouded_server.json was edited by hand and no longer reads as valid JSON, the server doesn't stop. It keeps your broken copy and writes a fresh one, and the console says so:

[PYW] enshrouded_server.json could not be read, so it was kept as enshrouded_server.json.broken and a fresh one was written.

The server then starts normally, on default settings. Your world is untouched, and your role passwords are written back from the Startup tab.

Fix: set your difficulty and gameplay settings again in the Server Settings tab (with the server stopped), or copy the values you want from enshrouded_server.json.broken in the File Manager tab. Delete the .broken file once you are done with it.

It starts, then stops on its own

If the server reaches Your server is online and later stops by itself, the console's last lines before the stop are the clue:

• It ran out of memory right after the red Your server crashed line means the world needed more memory than your plan has. A bigger plan has more.
• Your server crashed with no line after it usually means the game itself closed. Press Start again, and if it happens repeatedly, contact support with the time it stopped.

Still not starting?

• Make sure the server has disk space left: the Disk Analyser tab shows what is using it. Old world copies in savegame/pre-import-... and savegame/fresh-start-... folders can be deleted once you don't need them.
• Restore a backup from the Backups tab if everything was fine before a change.