How Enshrouded Saves Work

The two kinds of save
Two things get saved: the world you built, and your character. Here is what is in each, and what the files are called.
🌍
WORLD SAVE
the place you built
HOLDS
BuildingsChests & lootReshaped terrainQuest progress
FILE NAMES
3ad85aeathe world itself
3ad85aea-1 ... -99 auto-backups
3ad85aea-indexwhich copy is live
3ad85aea_infothe world's name
You can have up to 10 worlds. Each gets its own 8-character ID, and every file for that world starts with it.
🧍
CHARACTER SAVE
you, the player
HOLDS
Your inventorySkills & levelMap you explored
FILE NAMES
charactersall your characters
characters-1 ... -99 auto-backups
characters-indexwhich copy is live
Just one set of files, named exactly "characters". It holds every character you make and never leaves your PC.
Open the save folder
A real Enshrouded save folder. Click folders to move around, click any file to find out what it does.
STEAM CLOUD SAVE
File Explorer
Home
Gallery
This PC
Desktop
Documents
Downloads
Local Disk (C:)
Name
Date modified
Type
Size
0 items
Stuck?  Pick a task below for a step-by-step walkthrough.
14:40
23-05-2026
Why there are so many copies
The game never overwrites your only save. Press Play and watch one session fill the backup ring.
Played: 0h 00m

Now you know your way around. Drop your world save and character file into the shelf at the bottom of this page - then every tool below can read them, no re-uploading.

Where Enshrouded keeps your save files

Enshrouded stores every save on your own PC. The exact folder depends on one Steam setting: whether Steam Cloud is enabled for the game.

With Steam Cloud enabled (the default)

Open your Steam install folder - usually C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam - then go to userdata\YOUR_STEAM_ID\1203620. The 1203620 is Enshrouded's Steam app ID. With Cloud on, each player on a shared PC gets their own separate save directory.

With Steam Cloud disabled

Saves live in %userprofile%\Saved Games\Enshrouded. With Cloud off on a shared PC, players share the same save data.

World saves versus character saves

There are only two kinds of save data in Enshrouded. A world save holds one world - its buildings, chests, terrain and quest state. You can keep up to 10 local worlds, each in its own set of files. In multiplayer, only the host or dedicated server holds the world file.

A character save is a single file named characters that holds data for all of your characters at once: inventory, skills, level and map exploration. Every player keeps their own character file on their own PC. Characters are never uploaded to a server - only the world is hosted.

The 10 world slots

Each of the 10 local world slots has a fixed 8-character identifier. Every file belonging to that world starts with its identifier:

For each world slot you will see files like 3ad85aea (world save data), 3ad85aea_info (the world name and metadata), 3ad85aea-index (which save copy is live) and 3ad85aea_info-index. Character data uses characters, characters-1 through characters-9, and characters-index.

The rotating backup system

To protect you from corruption, the game uses a ring of rotating saves. Every few minutes it writes a fresh copy to the next slot in a cycle of 10, numbered 0 to 9. That gives you a rolling window of recent backups to fall back on.

An -index file is a tiny JSON file that records which copy is current. It looks like this:

{ "latest": 1, "time": 1740897203, "deleted": false }

The latest value is the number of the live save. If latest is 1, the file the game is actually loading is 3ad85aea-1.

How to back up a world or character save

  1. Find your save folder using the paths above.
  2. Copy the entire folder somewhere safe, or zip it up.
  3. To restore later, copy the files back.

For a dedicated server, the world files live in the savegame folder inside the server install. If you back up over FTP, set the transfer mode to Binary - transferring saves in ASCII mode corrupts them.

How to roll back to an earlier save

  1. Back up the whole save folder first.
  2. If Steam Cloud is on, disable it so it does not overwrite your edits.
  3. Find the world's -index file, and check the Date modified on the rotating saves to pick your rollback point.
  4. Open the -index file and change latest to the number you want.
  5. Close the game fully, re-enable Steam Cloud, then load the world. For character saves, edit characters-index instead.

How to transfer a world to another PC

  1. Find the world's current save file - the newest one by Date modified.
  2. Copy just that one file, without any -1 or -2 rotation suffix.
  3. On the other PC, create a new world in-game with Play, Private, Create.
  4. Close the game, drop your file into the save folder and rename it to the new slot's identifier.
  5. Load the world to verify. Remember: characters do not transfer with the world.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my save folder have so many files?

Most of them are automatic backups. Each world keeps a rotating ring of recent copies, plus tiny index and info files. One world can easily be a dozen files, and you can have ten worlds.

Which file is my actual current save?

Open the world's -index file. Its latest number tells you which rotating copy is live - for example latest: 4 means the file 3ad85aea-4 is the one the game loads.

Can I delete the backup files to save space?

You can, but there is little reason to. They are small and they are your safety net if a save corrupts. Never delete the -index file - the game needs it to know which copy to load.

If I give a friend my world, do they get my character too?

No. The world save and the character save are completely separate. Sending a world file never includes your character - your friend plays it with their own character.

Where are dedicated server saves?

In the savegame folder inside the server install. A server holds only the world, never characters. Stop the server before editing or replacing those files.