Your players updated Enshrouded to 1.0, the dedicated server restarted without complaint, the console shows the usual [Session] 'HostOnline' (up)!, and nobody can join. Nine times out of ten the server is still running the Early Access build. The Steam update step failed, printed one error line among forty, and the start script carried on and launched the old executable. This post is that failure, with the exact lines, from a server of ours that did it twice on 16 October 2026, and the checks that get it unstuck.
The two lines that tell you
First, the game log. Near the top of logs/enshrouded_server.log, every Enshrouded server prints its build:
Game Version (SVN): 1024233
1024233 is the September 2026 Early Access build. The 1.0.0.1 hotfix build is 1267041, the number Keen printed in the hotfix notes. If you see 1024233 after a restart on or after 15 October, the update did not happen. Nothing else in the game log will say so; the old build boots, loads the world and reports HostOnline exactly as it always did.
Second, the steamcmd output, which only appears on the console while the server starts, before the game log begins. This is what our server printed:
Connecting anonymously to Steam Public...OK
Waiting for client config...OK
Waiting for user info...OK
Success! App '1007' already up to date.
Update state (0x0) unknown, progress: 0.00 (0 / 0)
Error! App '2278520' state is 0x6 after update job.
state is 0x6 is steamcmd saying "installed, update required, update did not complete". It is the same message whatever the underlying reason, and the game server that follows it is the one already on disk.
Finding out why
steamcmd writes the real reason to its own log, not to the console: .steam/steam/logs/content_log.txt under the server's home directory (the console names the folder as Logging directory: '/home/container/.steam/steam/logs'). Ours said:
AppID 2278520 App update changed : Running Update,Reconfiguring,
CDepotDownloadMgr::BYldRequestDepotManifest(App: 2278520, Depot: 2278521, Manifest: 2174935030716737236, branch: ): Failed to get manifest request code, 'Access Denied'
AppID 2278520 update canceled : Failed downloading 1 manifests (No connection)
AppID 228980 state changed : Update Required, (No connection)
AppID 2278520 scheduler finished : removed from schedule (result No connection, state 0xe)
Two different apps failed with "No connection" in the same second, and 228980 is just Valve's common redistributables. When everything fails at once like that, the problem is the machine's path to Steam's content servers, not the Enshrouded depot. Three causes account for nearly every case we have seen:
- IPv6 that does not route. Steam resolves its content servers to IPv6 addresses when the host has an IPv6 address, connects over IPv6, and does not fall back to IPv4 when that path is a black hole. Everything else on the machine works, because most tools do fall back. The log signature is "No connection" against servers you can reach by hand. The fix is at the network level: either give the host working IPv6 or remove the IPv6 address from the interface or container network steamcmd runs in.
- Not enough disk. The update needs room for the new files alongside the old ones while it swaps them. The 1.0 server is about 8 GB installed; with the September build still on disk you want several GB spare. The content log says so in words when this is the cause.
- A bad moment on Steam's side. Launch days are busy. If the content log shows a manifest or chunk failure with no "No connection" and no disk message, wait a few minutes and run the update again.
Our own case turned out to be none of the three. The same two-line failure repeated on three restarts, servers on other machines took the update cleanly, and Valheim and Dragonwilds servers on the same host had updated without error the day before, so the network was fine. What was wrong was steamcmd's own record of the install: the server had been installed on 27 September and never updated since, and the appmanifest_2278520.acf it kept in steamapps pointed at a manifest Steam would no longer hand out anonymously. Deleting that one file and restarting made steamcmd ask Steam for the current manifest, download the full 8.1 GB 1.0 build, and boot Game Version (SVN): 1267041 with the save migration lines right behind it. If your content log shows the manifest line above and other Steam games on the same machine update normally, try that first.
Getting it unstuck
Once the cause is dealt with:
- Stop the server.
- Run the update by hand and read every line of its output rather than trusting the exit:
steamcmd +force_install_dir <dir> +login anonymous +@sSteamCmdForcePlatformType windows +app_update 2278520 validate +quit. The validate makes steamcmd re-check every file instead of trusting its manifest, which also recovers a half-applied update.
- Look for
Success! App '2278520' fully installed. If you get state is 0x6 again, open content_log.txt and read the newest lines.
- Start the server and confirm
Game Version (SVN): 1267041 in the game log before telling anyone.
If the manifest request fails with Access Denied while other Steam games on the same machine update normally, delete steamapps/appmanifest_2278520.acf and run the update once more; steamcmd then asks Steam for the current manifest instead of the one it remembers. That is what fixed ours, and the download that followed was the full 8.1 GB build, so allow for it.
Why the server starts anyway
Most start scripts, including the common Pterodactyl eggs and our own, run steamcmd and then launch the game whether or not steamcmd succeeded, because the alternative is a server that refuses to start every time Steam has a bad minute. That is the right trade for uptime and the wrong one for the day after a major version. It means the only reliable check after an update is the version line in the game log, not the fact that the server came up.
On a Connect server
Enshrouded server hosting at Connect runs the Steam update on every restart from the dashboard, and the Console tab shows the steamcmd output as it happens, so the state is 0x6 line is visible if it occurs. The three paying Enshrouded servers on our fleet all showed Game Version (SVN): 1267041 on 16 October; the failure in this post happened on our own test server, which had sat on the September build for three weeks, and the stale-manifest fix above is what cleared it. If your console shows the error, open a ticket with the server name and we will read the content log and apply the fix for you. The general can't-join checklist is in server not showing or players can't join.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I check which build my Enshrouded server is on?
Look near the top of logs/enshrouded_server.log for Game Version (SVN):. 1267041 is 1.0.0.1; 1024233 is the September Early Access build.
What does "state is 0x6 after update job" mean?
steamcmd installed the app earlier but could not complete this update. The reason is in .steam/steam/logs/content_log.txt, not on the console.
Why did the server start if the update failed?
Start scripts launch the game regardless of steamcmd's result so that a Steam outage does not take the server down. The old build boots normally, so the game log looks healthy.
Can 1.0 players join a server on build 1024233?
No. Enshrouded requires the server and client builds to match; an Early Access server refuses 1.0 clients.
Does the failed update damage my world?
No. The update never touched the game files, and the world only migrates to the new format once the 1.0 server actually runs. Back up savegame before the successful update anyway.