Enshrouded Leaves Early Access October 15: Server Prep for 1.0

Keen Games put a date on it: Enshrouded leaves Early Access on October 15, 2026. Same day on Steam and PlayStation 5 (including PS5 Pro). Xbox Series X|S is later, planned for spring 2027, after Keen decided not to ship every console at once.

That is the fun part. If you actually run the world, you have a shorter list: backup, decide whether this Embervale continues, then do not discover a version mismatch at 8pm on launch night.

This is the same kind of prep we walked through for Valheim 1.0. Enshrouded is not Valheim. Do not borrow Iron Gate’s save rules. Use Keen’s, and treat anything they have not written down as unknown.

What is actually confirmed

October 15 is 1.0. Steam Early Access ends. The PS5 version launches with it. Keen has been talking through combat, QoL, and performance work since late August, with a longer highlights video and changelog still promised for October. Do not plan a server around a Reddit freeze-frame of the trailer.

Dedicated servers stay. Keen’s own dedicated server install notes still apply: Windows tool in Steam, config in enshrouded_server.json. On AleForge you are not running SteamCMD by hand. Stop the process, start it again, and let the server pull the 1.0 dedicated build.

Player count is still 16. Keen’s FAQ has always framed co-op as up to 16. slotCount in enshrouded_server.json is the cap. Nobody has announced a 1.0 bump. More RAM will not invent slot 17.

The world lives on the server. Characters do not. Keen’s save guide and our world upload doc agree: the dedicated server holds the Embervale in savegame. Each player’s character is on their client (Steam Cloud or Saved Games\enshrouded). A perfect server backup will not resurrect someone’s lost ranger.

What Keen has not promised

No wipe is on the calendar. That is not the same as a signed guarantee. Major Enshrouded patches have kept worlds so far, including Forging the Path in April. 1.0 is still the kind of build where a studio could change a save format they have been dragging since January 2024. Backup like it might. Hope like it will not.

PC and PS5 sharing one dedicated server is not a 1.0 feature. Keen has called crossplay a longer-term goal. Until they publish something sharper, treat your AleForge box as a Steam PC server. If half the Discord is waiting on DualSense, tell them that now, not on the 15th.

Official mods are still a “we’d love to” from the FAQ. Community loaders exist. Keen has not certified them against 1.0. If you are running unofficial plugins, take them out before the first 1.0 boot. Vanilla first, then add things back when the dust settles.

Back up before you touch anything else

Do this in the next sitting, not on October 14.

1. Open the panel and stop the Enshrouded server.
2. Go to Backups and create a snapshot. Leave it. Do not let it rotate out during launch week. How slots and restores work after the summer panel work is in How AleForge game server backups work.
3. Download a second copy of savegame from Files. Dedicated worlds use fixed hex names. Slot 1, which the server actually loads, is 3ad85aea plus its _info / -index companions. Keep the whole set.
4. If you do not already have a schedule, add automated backups. Daily is enough. The pre-1.0 copy is extra, on purpose.

Tell players to copy their own characters. That is on them. Steam Cloud is usually on. If it is not, Keen’s path is %USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\enshrouded.

Do not rename savegame to “get a clean folder for the update.” The dedicated server will just generate a new Embervale in slot 1, and you will spend launch night putting the old one back. Leave the files where they are. The backup is the safety net, not a dummy world.

Keep this world, or start a 1.0 Embervale?

If the group has a hall they actually like, keep it. Take the backup, update, join with one or two people, walk the base, then open the doors.

If you have been waiting for a reason to wipe anyway, 1.0 is a fine excuse. New players from the PS5 trailer will not care about your 2024 starter shack. Say so in Discord before anyone logs in expecting their chests.

Bringing a local co-op world up to the dedicated box is the upload guide: stop the server, drop the files in savegame, rename to 3ad85aea if they were not slot 1.

Launch day on AleForge

Steam will push the 1.0 dedicated build (app 2278520 if you care). Clients and server have to match. A 1.0 client bouncing off an EA binary looks like “server full or unavailable” and a wasted evening.

On the 15th:

1. Stop the server. Take another backup. Label it in your head as the last EA copy.
2. Start it (or Settings → Reinstall Server if it is stuck on the old files). Reinstall replaces binaries. It should leave savegame alone. The backup from step 1 is still there if you are wrong.
3. Watch the console until it is actually listening. First boot after a big patch can sit on shaders and world load longer than you are used to.
4. Join yourself. In-game server browser with Show dedicated servers on, or Steam favorites using the Query Port from Startup, not the game port.
5. Invite one friend. Then the rest.

If the world looks empty or wrong, stop. Restore the backup from Backups. Do not keep playing on a half-migrated save “to see if it fixes itself.”

Settings worth checking once

Open enshrouded_server.json in Files (same file as difficulty settings). Confirm name, passwords / user groups, slotCount, and that you did not leave the server public by accident. A 1.0 launch week is a bad week to discover the password fell off.

Default listen/query ports are still UDP 15636 and 15637 unless Keen says otherwise. Nothing in the 1.0 coverage points at a port change. If people cannot see the server, it is usually the query port or the dedicated-server filter, not a new 1.0 mystery.

Keen has not published a new RAM sheet for 1.0. The performance videos are mostly client rendering. If your 16-player city already hitches, do not wait until October 15 to resize the plan. Launch night is a player spike, not a hardware shopping trip.

After it is live

Treat the first day like a test, even if the save looks fine. Keep that pre-1.0 backup for a few days. If Keen hotfixes twice in a weekend, you will be glad the EA world is still sitting in Backups.

Questions in the middle of it: ticket from Blacksmith’s Portal, or the Enshrouded help hub. If this is a new world for the group, Enshrouded plans are already up. Game Swap works if the box is currently running something else; back that up first.