Your Enshrouded server will not start after a settings change

Read the Console. Enshrouded names the bad value in it when a setting stops the server from starting. Fix that value, or restore enshrouded_server.json from a backup, then start again.

What happens

Keen Games says the server does not boot if a setting contains invalid text, and that it reports the bad value in its window. A number outside the allowed range does not stop the server: the game uses the minimum or the maximum instead.

The Gameplay Settings page refuses values the game would not accept, so this almost always happens after you edited enshrouded_server.json by hand in Files.

Fix it

1. Open the Console tab, click Start, and read the last lines for the name of the value.
2. Open Settings, then Gameplay Settings under Config files. Set the value to something valid and click Save & restart. If the page cannot open the file, go to the next step.
3. If you cannot fix it, put back a working file. On the Backups page, open the ... menu of a backup from before the change, choose Restore some files..., tick enshrouded_server.json on the tab Files and folders and click Restore selected. See How to restore only the world or only the settings of your Enshrouded server.
4. Start the server.

If you added player groups by hand

The game refuses to start when a group without a password has more rights than a group that has a password. The Console says: Game role without password has more rights than a password protected one. This can happen when your Server Password is empty, so the first group has no password, and another group you added has a password but fewer rights. Give every group with a password at least the rights of the group without one, or set a Server Password so that the first group has a password too.

The Gameplay Settings page does not offer a group with fewer rights, for this reason.

Do not delete the file

Do not delete enshrouded_server.json to get a new one. The game would make a file with different groups, and your Server Password and Admin password would no longer be where the panel expects them. Restore it from a backup instead, or ask support.

Still stuck

See How to fix a server that will not start and Enshrouded server problems and fixes.