Enshrouded Server Not Showing Up or Can't Join

Work out which problem you have

Three different problems get reported as "I can't join", and they have nothing to do with each other.

Start in the right place.

Cannot find the server

The dedicated-server filter — check this first, every time

Enshrouded's server browser hides dedicated servers unless the filter asks for them. It is a setting in the player's game, not on your server, and it is the single most common cause.

In their game: Play → Join, then in the Server Filter, turn on the option that shows dedicated servers.

If one person can see your server and another cannot, it is this. Check it before anything else, every time.

Other filters that hide a working server

The same filter panel can narrow by password protection, by servers with Steam friends on, by empty servers and by free slots. Any one of those can hide yours. Have them clear the filters and search again.

The browser is slow

Give it a minute or two to populate. Dedicated servers also sort below friends' sessions, so in a long list yours may be further down than expected.

Have them search by address instead

Play → Join, switch to the address search, enter your server's address. This skips the filters and the sort order entirely, and it is the most reliable way in.

Or add a Steam favourite

Steam client → View → Game Servers → Favorites → +, then address:port using the port from your panel. Favourited servers appear at the top of the browser.

Use the port your panel shows. Your server uses one UDP port for both game traffic and Steam queries. Guides written for self-hosted servers often mention a second port one number lower; that layout is out of date and adding it is why a favourite does not appear. See Enshrouded Server Ports and Addresses.

Is the server actually up?

Check the panel. If it says starting, look at the Console — a first start takes a while creating the world, and the log says where it is. See Your Enshrouded Server Won't Start.

The server refuses them

Version mismatch

Their game and your server are on different builds. A small difference often still lets them in, because Keen release some fixes for the game only; when the game does refuse them, they need to let Steam update Enshrouded and fully restart the game.

If the server is the one behind, look at Game Updates on the Admin page: with automatic updates on it is applied shortly, otherwise press Update now. See Enshrouded Version Mismatch.

Wrong password

Enshrouded's password prompt is not a yes/no gate: the password decides which group they join as. A password that matches no group is refused.

Check you gave them a current one. A changed password takes effect when the server restarts with it, and from then on the old one no longer works. Settings → User Groups → Show gets you the current value. See User Groups, Passwords and Permissions.

The server is full

Enshrouded's limit is 16, and your Player Slots may be lower. Check whether reserved slots are holding places back for another group: reserved slots make the server report itself as full to everybody else. See Managing Players on Enshrouded.

They are banned

Bans are kept by the game and refused on every attempt. Bans are made in game, in the Social tab; the panel does not show the ban list. See Managing Players on Enshrouded.

They connect and then drop

One player only

It is usually their connection. Worth having them try:

• A wired connection rather than wireless.
• Closing anything streaming or downloading.
• A route trace with WinMTR to your server's address, which shows where packets are lost: Using WinMTR.

Everybody at once

Then look at the server:

1. The Console, around the time it happened: GameGrid's [GameGrid] lines show a stop, crash or restart.

2. The resource graphs, for memory or CPU spikes.

3. Whether a restart or settings event ran at that moment: every settings event is two restarts. See Restarts and Player Warnings on Enshrouded.

Timeouts in the log

A leave logged as a timeout is a connection that stopped answering rather than a player quitting. A few are normal. Many, for different players, is worth a ticket with the times.

Still stuck

Open a ticket with:

• Which of the three problems it is
• Whether it is one player or everybody
• What the Console says at that moment
• Whether the dedicated-server filter has been checked

That last line saves the most time, because it is the answer surprisingly often.

Where to go next

• How to Join Your Enshrouded Server
• Enshrouded Server Ports and Addresses
• Connection Issues — the parts that are the same on every game