1.0 saves video memory, cuts shader compile time and reworks point light shadows. What the changelog says costs frames, plus HDR and the settings to check.
Enshrouded Performance and Settings Guide for 1.0
Quick answer: 1.0 is a performance patch first and a graphics patch second. Keen's changelog lists concrete technical work rather than a frame-rate promise: video memory savings, a large cut to VFX shader compilation time at startup, reworked point light shadows so large player bases with many lights stop being the worst case, a new collision system, and explicit performance improvements for handheld devices, low-end graphics cards and the Steam Deck. It also adds HDR with a calibration screen. What the changelog does not contain is any list of per-option frame costs, so anything that ranks the settings menu by impact is guesswork.
- One known issue is worth fixing first: keep the master volume at 100% and use system volume instead, because reverb and voice-over ducking misbehave below 100%.
- Your keybindings were reset to default by the update. Check them before you leave the base.
- Point lights in very large builds were the biggest known performance offender, and that is the system 1.0 specifically reworked.
- Camera inertia is now an accessibility setting, which is the first thing to change if the camera makes you queasy.
What 1.0 changed under the hood
The technical section of the changelog is unusually specific, which makes a fair summary possible. These are the claims Keen actually made.
| Change | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Video memory savings | Several methods were added to save VRAM without dropping graphical quality |
| VFX shader compilation time | Significantly reduced at startup after game or GPU driver updates; a small amount remains unavoidable |
| Point light shadows reworked | Built to support large constructions with many lights, with point lighting impact on performance drastically reduced |
| New collision system | The engine switched collision systems outright |
| CPU measures | Several additions aimed at reducing CPU performance impact |
| Server/client communication memory | Memory needed for network communication was reduced |
| Water simulation | Improved memory consumption and performance |
| Cloth, hair, dangling elements | Simulation behavior improved with a better performance impact |
| GPU detection presets | The graphics settings preset list used by automatic GPU detection was updated |
Two entries matter more than the rest. The shader compilation change answers the most common complaint after a patch or driver update: a long stall on first launch. The point light change explains why a base full of lamps used to destroy frame rate, and why 1.0 invested there.
Official source: Release trailer and full 1.0 changelog - the technical improvements section listed above.
What the changelog says actually costs frames
Keen did not publish a settings impact table, so the honest answer to which option costs the most frames is that nobody outside the studio knows. What you can do instead is work backwards from the systems the changelog singles out for optimisation, because those are the systems that were expensive enough to be worth fixing.
- Point lights in player bases. Named directly. If your base is lit by many individual light sources, that is the heaviest thing you are likely to own.
- Very large and complex player bases. Keen fixed several graphical issues that occurred on such builds and asked players to submit their constructions for testing. Size itself is a cost.
- Cloth, hair and dangling elements. Simulated on armour, characters and enemies, and improved in both behaviour and performance cost, which is a strong hint about what was expensive before.
- Water. Simulation memory and performance both got attention.
- Startup shader compilation. Reduced, not eliminated. Expect a short stall after an update; a long one is now a bug report rather than normal behaviour.
- Server health, not client hardware. A low-performance server has less effect on gliding than it used to, and movement input stays more responsive while the server is under heavy load. If gliding or input feels wrong in multiplayer, the server is a suspect.
The changelog also notes one open caveat: distant Shroud flickering was fixed on the preset it calls the performance graphical settings, but some distant shadow flickering on those settings is still being investigated. That is the one acknowledged visual artifact still open.
HDR and calibration in 1.0
HDR is new. It activates if a compatible monitor or TV is connected, and a dedicated calibration screen was added alongside it to configure the HDR settings rather than leaving them to guesswork.
Two related rendering changes shape what you see once HDR is on. The colour grading and tone mapping were reworked for a more natural overall look, and sun brightness levels were adjusted. The changelog also lists more vibrant indirect lighting and colour in shrouded areas, better lighting below large trees and inside dense forests where it used to read as too dark, and height fog that varies by biome and day-night cycle.
If your display supports HDR and the image looks washed out after enabling it, the calibration screen is the intended fix, and the tone mapping rework is why the result will not match whatever you had configured around the old grading.
The tone mapping and sun brightness changed in the same update that added HDR. Judging either one without running the calibration screen means judging two changes at once.
The brick renderer and distance detail
The brick renderer is the headline rendering change, and it targets a specific old weakness: distant voxel terrain and buildings used to degrade into abstract blocks. The new method shows a much higher level of detail for terrain and voxel buildings at a distance, so vistas and far-off points of interest hold their shape, and a complex player-built castle still reads as a castle from across the valley.
Keen also extended the range at which important props, trees in particular, are drawn inside player bases, increased the range at which decorative elements appear on building voxels, and made the dynamic global illumination work from a more granular representation of the world, including medium and larger props. The practical result is that the same build can look better and cost less, because the systems that draw far-away detail and those that compute lighting were both reworked together.
The same pass reworked the horizon clouds outside the playable area, added Shroud clouds outside the map, and fixed props such as trees and wooden bridges so rain no longer falls through them.
Handheld, low-end hardware and Steam Deck
This is stated plainly in the changelog rather than implied: performance was improved on handheld devices, low-end graphics cards and the Steam Deck. That is a directional statement with no numbers attached, and it is worth treating as exactly that. There is no official frame-rate target for the Deck in the 1.0 material.
The supporting changes make the claim plausible. Reduced video memory use helps every memory-constrained device. A shorter shader compilation step helps the Deck specifically, because that stall is more painful on a handheld than on a desktop. A reworked collision system and CPU-side measures help the processor-limited case, which is where low-end cards usually sit. And reduced memory for server and client communication matters most in the 16-player worlds that handheld users are least likely to host.
If you are running 1.0 on a small screen, the two settings to open first are HUD visibility, which lets you pare the interface down, and camera inertia, which changes how much the camera drifts when you turn.
Settings to check on day one
The update touched more of the settings menu than usual, and one item is not optional.
- Master volume at 100%. Below 100%, reverb in large halls and the automatic ducking during lore voice-over break. Keep the slider at 100% and lower the volume in the operating system instead. This was Keen's own workaround, published with Hotfix 1.0.0.1.
- Keybindings. New features required default bindings to change, so custom binds were reset. Walk through them before you start playing rather than discovering the gap mid-fight.
- Camera inertia. A new accessibility option reduces it, aimed at motion sickness. The camera received a broad pass of small changes in 1.0, so this is the counterweight if the new feel bothers you.
- HUD element visibility. Every HUD element can now be shown or hidden individually.
- Low-health vignette intensity. Configurable, in the same spirit as the existing frost vignette.
- Aim assist, split by weapon type. Aim snap assist and stick aim assist are both configurable for controllers, and automatic target selection now weighs proximity for melee and screen position for ranged separately.
- Free aim for wands. A new free aiming mode for wand gameplay sits in the combat section of the gameplay settings.
- Automatic loot pickup. Scattered loot can be collected by holding the interact button, or automatically by a setting in the gameplay settings. Containers, enemy drops and quest items are excluded either way.
- Language. Text and voice-over language are now chosen separately. Lore notes, letters and major survivors are voiced in English, German and Mandarin Chinese.
Known issues in the launch window
Two hotfixes arrived within about three days of release, and the fixes they contain are the best map of what was actually broken.
Hotfix 1.0.0.1 fixed random crashes, an indoor brightness problem caused by dynamic lighting, and crashes triggered by specific peripherals, and it fixed the Fire Wisp scroll to a fixed level 27 because its damage had been scaling with player level and was overpowered late. It also introduced a world-settings bug that the next hotfix removed. The volume workaround above comes from that patch's note, published as the Changelog for Hotfix 1.0.0.1.
Hotfix 1.0.0.2 fixed the world settings the previous hotfix broke, a rare save migration crash, and grey fog rendering on Nvidia cards that showed up most often inside the Hollow Halls. It also cleaned up crashes around factory placement, gliding and fast travel in entity-heavy worlds, water simulation, servers fighting very large numbers of enemies, a completely full backpack, and exiting the game.
Two items are still open as far as the published notes go: the master volume workaround above, and distant shadow flickering on the performance graphical settings, which Keen says is being investigated. Neither is a crash, and both have a workaround or a limitation you can plan around.
Official source: Changelog for Hotfix 1.0.0.2 - the Nvidia grey fog fix, the save migration crash fix and the world settings fix.
If you run a server, several of those hotfix entries are server-side and worth pairing with the config advice in our dedicated server guide, particularly the crash related to large numbers of enemies and the reduced impact of a slow server on gliding.
FAQ
Did Enshrouded 1.0 improve performance?
Yes, by several specific measures: video memory savings, a large reduction in VFX shader compilation time, reworked point light shadows, a new collision system, CPU-side measures, and improved water and cloth simulation costs. Keen also states performance improved on handhelds, low-end graphics cards and the Steam Deck.
What should I set for the most frames?
There is no official per-option ranking. Start with the systems the changelog named as expensive: many point lights in one base, very large builds, and cloth-heavy scenes. The automatic GPU detection preset list was updated in 1.0, so accept the detected preset and change one thing at a time.
Does Enshrouded support HDR in 1.0?
Yes, if a compatible monitor or TV is connected, and 1.0 adds a calibration screen for it.
Why did my key bindings change after updating?
New features required default bindings to be adjusted, and custom bindings were reset to default as part of that. Rebind before playing.
Is the audio bug still present?
It was still the published workaround at the time of the two launch hotfixes: keep the master volume slider at 100% and control loudness from the operating system. The problem appears below 100% as broken reverb in large halls and wrong volume ducking during voiced lore.
Related Guides
- Enshrouded Dedicated Server Setup and Permissions (1.0) - server-side performance and the config values that decide how much work the machine is asked to do.
- Enshrouded Save Transfer: Early Access Saves in 1.0 - loading and migrating long-running worlds safely before a patch lands on them.
- Enshrouded Max Level and Progression: 50 and Gear 55 - the late-game builds that put the most lights and props in one place.
- Enshrouded Achievements Guide: All 52 and How to Plan - the settings that change how long a completion run takes.
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