Modding
Enshrouded mods
How modding works, what the tools do, and what is actually possible
Enshrouded has no official mod support — no workshop, no plugin API. Everything is community tooling built on top of the game’s proprietary KFC file format. That tooling is real and it works: this site’s 1,942 recipes and 3,520 items were extracted with it. What is mature is reading the game’s data; changing it is possible but fragile, and breaks on most patches.
How the file format works
A game install holds three kinds of file, and understanding the split explains what modding can and cannot reach:
| File | Holds | Modding relevance |
|---|---|---|
.kfc | The index — what exists and where it lives | Must be rewritten consistently when repacking |
.kfc_resources | Typed game data: items, recipes, skills, building pieces | This is where gameplay changes live |
.dat | Opaque content: images, audio, meshes, voxel models | Assets — larger and harder to change meaningfully |
The catch that makes Enshrouded harder than a typical Unreal game: the resource file is binary with no embedded schema. The definitions describing how to read it — 12,969 types — are compiled into the game executable, so any tool must extract those first. That is also why tools break on updates: a patch that shifts a type layout invalidates the map they were using.
The tools
| Tool | What it does | Built in | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| kfc-parser | Reads the type registry out of the game executable, then unpacks every data descriptor into JSON. Also repacks, which is what makes editing possible. | Rust | Actively maintained; its CLI is superseded by the mod loader but still works. |
| Enshrouded Mod Loader (EML) | Loads mods into the running game and exposes a Lua API over the game’s assets, so a mod can read and change data at runtime instead of patching files. | Rust + Lua | The current direction for modding. |
| kfc-tools | An earlier extractor for the older kfc_dir/kfc_data layout. Outputs hash-named blobs with no type information. | Python | Stale — superseded, useful only as a cross-check. |
We use this tooling ourselves against the freely downloadable dedicated server files — see how our data is built and the dedicated server guide.
What can and cannot be modded
| Area | Feasible? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Recipe costs and outputs | Yes | Plain typed data in the resource file |
| Item stats and rarity | Yes | Same — values sit in readable descriptors |
| Skill tree layout and links | Yes | Nodes and links are structured data |
| Difficulty and world rules | No mod needed | Exposed as server settings — see /server/settings/ |
| New models or textures | Hard | Content lives in .dat containers in engine-specific formats |
| New game systems | No | Would need engine code, which is not exposed |
Worth knowing before you install anything: a lot of what players reach for mods to change — enemy damage, durability, Shroud timers, gathering rates — is already adjustable through server settings, with no mod and no risk to your save.
Frequently asked
- Does Enshrouded support mods?
- Not officially. Keen Games have not shipped mod support or a workshop, so everything is community tooling built by reverse-engineering the game files.
- What file format does Enshrouded use?
- A proprietary format the community calls KFC. A game install has one .kfc index, one .kfc_resources file holding typed game data, and a power-of-two set of .dat containers holding opaque content like images, audio and voxel models.
- Can you datamine Enshrouded?
- Yes. The type definitions needed to read the data are embedded in the game executable, so community tools extract those first and then decode the resource file into readable JSON. The free dedicated server download contains the same gameplay tables as the client.
- Will mods work after the 1.0 update?
- Expect them to break. Tools depend on type layouts read out of the executable, and a major version bump changes those. Community tooling historically needs an update after each significant patch.
- Can mods get you banned in Enshrouded?
- Enshrouded is a co-operative game with player-hosted servers and no anti-cheat of the kind competitive games run. The practical risk is breaking your save or being removed from someone else’s server, not a ban.
We do not rank individual mods here. We have not installed and tested them, and a recommendation we cannot stand behind is worth less than none. What is described above is the tooling we use directly and can vouch for.