Running a server in Docker or Kubernetes

A dedicated server in a container gets Enshwick the way any server does: the files next to enshrouded_server.exe. Nothing installs them for you; the image, or a volume, carries them at versions you chose.

Bake the files in

Put powrprof.dll and mods/ into the image beside the server, or into a volume mounted there, from files you keep:

• enshwick.zip holds the loader and every mod of this repository; enshwick-loader.zip holds the loader alone, and enshwick-<id>.zip a single mod;
• until the first release, 1.0.0, these exist only as the development build, https://github.com/enshwick/enshwick/releases/download/dev/<file>, which every new build replaces. Download the files once, keep them in your own storage (an artifact store, a bucket, the image’s build context) and build from there, so that a rebuild of the image gets the same files;
• pin each archive by its SHA-256, which GitHub shows beside every release file, so the image is built from exactly the file you checked.

A template to fill in, with the archive in the build context; every <...> is yours to set:

FROM alpine:<version> AS enshwick
RUN apk add --no-cache unzip
ARG ENSHWICK_SHA256=<the archive's SHA-256>
WORKDIR /enshwick
COPY enshwick.zip ./
RUN echo "$ENSHWICK_SHA256  enshwick.zip" | sha256sum -c - \
 && unzip -q enshwick.zip -d files

FROM <your Enshrouded server image>
COPY --from=enshwick /enshwick/files/ <folder that holds enshrouded_server.exe>/

Mods of other authors follow the same steps with their release URLs.

Change versions by rolling out

A new version is a new image or a new volume, rolled out like any other change. Never update files inside a running container or pod: the next restart would start a set nobody built, and replicas would drift apart.

After a game update, a loader without the new build’s table runs on the code patterns of the newest table it embeds, and only what they miss stays off; build_patterns = false in mod-configs/enshwick.toml keeps such a build vanilla instead. The loader saves what the patterns found in mod-data/enshwick/carried-server.txt and reads it back while the game and the loader stay the same, so only the first start after an update searches; keep mod-data/ on a volume to keep that file. Rebuild the image with a loader that has the table once there is one.

Move a world

Mods keep each world’s data under mod-data/<mod id>/worlds/<key>/, and the key holds a hash of the save’s folder, such as world0-1a2b3c4d. A world whose save moved to another folder gets a new key, such as a hosted world brought to a dedicated server.

The loader finds the old data by itself. When a world with a save but no mod data under its key loads, and one other key of the same save name has data, the loader takes it over. It moves the folders when the old save is gone and copies them when the old save is still there, and logs which.

When two or more keys of the same save name have data, the loader moves nothing and logs the keys. The status summary lists them too. Stop the server and rename the right folder under each mod-data/<mod id>/worlds/ to the new key, which the log names as world key <key>, from <path>.

Check what loaded

At every start the loader writes mods/enshwick/enshwick.lock: its own version and SHA-256, the game build, and each running mod’s id, version, file and SHA-256 (see The loader and the ABI). Compare it with the lock of a server you trust, or with the hashes of the files you baked in, to see that a pod runs exactly the image you meant.

Greet players

Set motd in mod-configs/enshwick.toml to a message of the day. Every player reads it in chat when they join:

motd = """
Welcome to Ember Vale.
Restarts at 06:00 UTC. Rules: discord.gg/example
"""

It is plain text. The loader keeps the first 4 lines and 500 bytes, drops empty lines and control characters, and logs a warning when it cuts the text. A change applies at the next join, without a restart.

Mods from Nexus

Nexus downloads need a login, and through its API a Premium account, so no build or server automation can fetch them. Download such a mod once yourself, keep the file in your own storage (an artifact store, a bucket, the image’s build context) and bake it from there, by version.

Linux hosts

A Linux image runs the Windows server under Proton: GE-Proton or Valve’s, pinned by version, run outside Steam. Plain Wine works too, but Proton carries the fixes games need first. Set the DLL override so that the game loads Enshwick’s powrprof.dll:

ENV WINEDLLOVERRIDES="powrprof=n,b"

The optimizer lowers the server’s CPU under Wine and Proton, and with a container CPU limit starts no more task workers than the limit allows.