EML and ShroudForge mods

EML (the Enshrouded Mod Loader) and ShroudForge are the frameworks with the most Enshrouded mods. Both come with Kiln and are installed by default. New in 0.2.0-dev.18: both work on test servers, and no player has checked them in the game yet.

EML mods

EML mods change the game’s data before the game starts: stats, stack sizes, recipes, loot, new items. Kiln runs them with EML’s own code, so they behave as they do under EML. Kiln itself stays MIT; its EML part is GPL-3, like EML.

1. Put the mod in mods/<mod>/ in the game folder (the folder with mod.json and src/mod.lua), or as a zip. Or drop it on the launcher window, as a zip, 7z or rar (what it accepts). A mod id with capitals, such as HoardersHelper, is fine. A hand-placed mod loads when the profile’s EML mods drop-in is on (Drop-in folders); the list on the launcher’s Play shows it, marked Game folder, with Load them when that switch is off.
2. Start the game or the server through Kiln.

kiln/logs/kiln.log then says how many EML mods ran, for example kiln-eml: 2 EML mod(s) loaded, 3 resource(s) patched.

What you don’t need:

• EML’s dbghelp.dll.
• On Linux and the Steam Deck, the WINEDLLOVERRIDES="dbghelp=..." setting EML needs. Kiln starts EML’s code itself.

How it behaves:

• A broken mod doesn’t stop the game. Under EML, one bad mod stops the game with a “Fatal error”. On Kiln that mod is switched off, the log names it, and the other mods still apply.
• A mod that can’t be read is switched off first. Since dev.21, a mod whose src/mod.lua is missing or unreadable is switched off before the long game-data step. kiln/state/eml.json and kiln.log give the reason, for example entry src/mod.lua: file metadata failed: .... A file that vanishes during the run drops only its own mod.
• Fast starts. When nothing changed since the last start, Kiln skips the work, and since dev.21 it reads almost no game data to find that out. Since dev.22 that includes the first start. Faster starts.
• Game updates. After an update Kiln applies your EML mods again, before the world loads. EML mods need none of Kiln’s hooks, so they apply even on a game build Kiln doesn’t know yet.
• Back to vanilla. Switch off every EML mod and the next start through Kiln puts back the game data Kiln can prove it wrote. Game files Kiln can’t prove it wrote are never overwritten or deleted (since dev.24): leftovers of older versions are moved to kiln/eml/displaced in the game folder, and the launcher names them (Logs, Engines, and the Engines view from the list on Play). When Kiln can’t prove the data is its own, it leaves it and says why; Steam’s Verify integrity of game files is the other way back.
• Kiln asset packs win. If a Kiln mod’s assets and an EML mod change the same game resource, the Kiln mod’s version is the one you see.
• EML installed too. When EML’s own loader runs, Kiln stands aside: EML has already applied the mods. When EML’s file is there but didn’t start (Proton without its setting), Kiln runs the mods. Since dev.22 Kiln checks that the dbghelp.dll is really the loaded code. Without a DLL override under Proton it isn’t, so Kiln runs the mods. That was tested under Wine with a stand-in dbghelp.dll, not yet on a Steam Deck.
• Your profile’s EML mods under EML’s own loader. EML reads only mods/, never Kiln’s Library. So while EML’s dbghelp.dll is installed, the launcher copies the profile’s EML mods into mods/<name>/ for it, and removes its copies when the loader is gone. Press Play in the launcher once after you install EML’s loader. If you already have the same mod in mods/ under another folder name, Kiln adds no second copy (EML stops the game on a duplicate id) and yours runs. kiln/state/eml.json lists each profile mod as own-loader (EML runs Kiln’s copy) or not-loaded with the reason, and kiln.log warns about each one that doesn’t load. Details.

EML mods change data that the server and every player need to agree on. Use the same EML mods on the server and in each player’s game. A server with bigger stacks and a player without them can lose items.

Faster starts (dev.21 and dev.22)

To know whether anything changed, EML checks the game’s data files. Before dev.21 that read every file several times per start: on a full client install (about 48 GiB) even a start that changed nothing read 48 GiB. Since dev.21 Kiln reads each file at most once per start, and not at all while the OS shows it unchanged since it was last read. Since dev.22 that holds for the first start too. The checks are the same; Kiln just doesn’t re-read what can’t have changed.

Measured on a lab server under Wine, with 7.5 GiB of real server data. Not measured on a real client yet.

Start	Full read (KILN_EML_FULL_HASH=1)	dev.21
nothing changed	7.6 GiB read, 5.4 s	562 B read, 64 ms
after a mod change	30.2 GiB read, 13.4 s	141.5 MiB read, 1.0 s

• The first start no longer reads all game files. Before dev.22, a start with no cache, and the first start after a Kiln update, read every game file once (about 48 GiB on a full client) with nothing on screen. A Steam Deck player saw nothing for minutes and closed the game. Now the big data files (.dat) are recorded by their change stamp without being read. On the lab server the first start took 1.9 s, where dev.21 read the 7.8 GiB and took 6.6 s. For a full client install, Kiln’s count is about 0.3 GiB from the drive and about 1.6 GiB in all, most of it files written a moment before. That count comes from the file sizes of a real install and a test on a synthetic 55-file data set. It was not measured on a real install.
• A start that was closed continues. If you close the game during a long read, the next start goes on with the files it had already read. With the first start this short there is rarely much to continue.
• You can see it. When the step takes longer than two seconds, a small window “Preparing the game data for EML mods” shows a line of text and a bar. It never takes the keyboard focus and is gone before the game’s window appears. Under gamescope (Game Mode on a Steam Deck) it is meant to cover the screen, with the panel in the middle; that has not been seen on a Deck. It doesn’t appear on a server, with KILN_UI_DISABLE=1, or where there is no desktop. The Play page shows the same, for example “Preparing the game data for EML mods: 12.3 GiB of 48.6 GiB”. kiln.log says what is read and why, then a line every five seconds with the share done, and a warning when a read moves no byte for 15 s. kiln/state/eml.json says phase: "running" with the progress.
• kiln.log says what was read: [eml] Fingerprints: hashed 562 B in 4 file(s), reused 22 file(s) (7.6 GiB not read). A first start says how many files it recorded unread. A start with no change says nothing changed since the last run. If it says Change stamps are not trusted here, it names the reason, and that start reads every file in full. Please report it.
• exFAT and FAT game folders don’t keep the times Kiln needs. EML reads every game file in full at every start there, as before. It now shows its progress, in the window, on the Play page and in the log.
• What this trusts. The first record of a game file rests on its change stamp alone. A file that was already damaged or patched by another tool before Kiln first saw it counts as the starting point. Steam’s Verify integrity of game files is the check for that. A change after the first record shows. Copying the game folder to another drive, or a program that touches every file, makes the next start patch again.
• After a power loss or a hard crash of the machine, a game file can come back changed with its old size and times. Start once with KILN_EML_FULL_HASH=1 in the launch options, or let Steam verify the game files.
• KILN_EML_FULL_HASH=1 turns the reuse off: every file is read in full, as in EML 0.2.0.
• Kiln’s EML cache file (kiln/eml/cache/files.json) gains change stamps, and in dev.22 a list of the files it recorded without reading. An older Kiln still reads it, and may patch once more.

ShroudForge mods

Kiln ships ShroudForge’s runtime, built from Kiln’s fork of ShroudForge. So ShroudForge mods run even if you never installed ShroudForge.

1. Put the mod in mods/<mod>/ in the game folder, or in the folder set in ShroudForge’s settings. Or drop it on the launcher window, as a zip, 7z or rar. A package whose id has capitals imports too (ShroudForge’s own id rule applies: letters of both cases, digits, ., - and _, at most 80 characters). A hand-placed mod is read when the profile’s ShroudForge mods drop-in is on (Drop-in folders).
2. Turn it on and set its options. Use the launcher (its switch in the list on Play, and Settings in its menu), Kiln’s in-game Mods menu (since dev.24 a page per ShroudForge mod with its switch, its settings and its buttons), ShroudForge’s in-game Modloader window, or the mod’s extended.mod.json. A setting marked “live” changes while you play.
3. Start the game or the server through Kiln.

kiln/logs/kiln.log names the runtime that runs (ShroudForge runtime: bundled ...) and shows ShroudForge’s own log as [sf] ... lines. On Linux and the Steam Deck you need no Wine setting beyond Kiln’s own.

Shortcuts of ShroudForge mods work with the ShroudForge that Kiln brings along since dev.24; you no longer need ShroudForge installed for them. This is what broke steering with W and S on the glider with ShroudForge’s Unlimited Flight; that steering was seen working in a real game (Linux, Proton). With ShroudForge mods on, Kiln’s Mods entry is in the game’s main menu again (also seen in a real game). Kiln brings ShroudForge 1.7.9; 1.8.0 is not released yet, and Kiln will support it when it is out.

How the launcher places the mods: it puts a profile’s ShroudForge package in ShroudForge’s mods folder as <name>/. ShroudForge drops every package whose id it finds twice, so when a folder there (your own copy) holds the same package id already, Kiln leaves its copy out and yours runs. Since dev.22, with the ShroudForge mods drop-in on, Kiln hosts ShroudForge for the packages you put in its mods folder by hand too, not only for a ShroudForge mod in the profile. Once ShroudForge runs, it runs the whole folder, switch or not.

A ShroudForge mod you had before Kiln stays your own folder when you add it to your list: Kiln never moves, replaces or switches a folder it did not put there, and says so once. Since 0.2.0-dev.26 you can still change its settings in the launcher (the mod’s menu, Settings): Kiln writes only the setting you change. When two of your folders hold the same package, ShroudForge leaves the package out and the launcher asks you to keep one. Changing a setting in ShroudForge’s own in-game menu no longer makes Kiln treat its copy of a mod as yours.

Your own ShroudForge

If ShroudForge is installed already, keep it.

• Installing Kiln asks before it takes over ShroudForge’s dinput8.dll. ShroudForge’s other files, its folder, your mods and settings stay.
• To run your installed ShroudForge instead of Kiln’s copy: in the launcher, Settings > Kiln > ShroudForge mods > Use my installed ShroudForge, then restart the game. If your copy is missing or broken, Kiln uses its own and says so in the log.
• Kiln’s copy updates with Kiln. Your own copy doesn’t update itself at game start while Kiln runs it. Run ShroudForge’s updater with the game closed. If it puts its own dinput8.dll back, reinstall Kiln from the launcher; your mods stay.
• If ShroudForge starts by itself next to Kiln (through its own dbghelp.dll), Kiln lets it and starts nothing twice. The launcher puts the profile’s ShroudForge mods, and the profile’s EML mods, into ShroudForge’s mods folder for it. Without a DLL override under Proton that dbghelp.dll doesn’t run, and Kiln runs the mods itself.

Engine hooks (dev.21). When Kiln hosts ShroudForge, ShroudForge’s six engine hooks go through Kiln’s hook registry. Another DLL’s hook on one of them (XHL, a closed-source mod) no longer switches ShroudForge’s native runtime off. On the current game build these hooks are dormant: no shipped game profile names them. KILN_SF_ENGINE_HOOKS=self in the launch options keeps the old behaviour. If a closed-source DLL still clashes, load it after Kiln and ShroudForge.

Linked home folder. Since dev.21 ShroudForge placement no longer refuses a game folder just because /home is a link to /var/home (Fedora Atomic, Bazzite). Links inside the managed folders are still refused.

To start once without ShroudForge mods, use Just once, Without mods on the launcher’s Play, or set KILN_SHROUDFORGE=0 in the launch options. Going back to ShroudForge alone no longer needs a reinstall (dev.24): Kiln’s EML part used to put the game’s data files back from a backup although ShroudForge had patched them.

EML and ShroudForge together

ShroudForge contains EML. Both change the game’s files before the game starts, and two writers in a row would undo each other. So Kiln lets only one write per start:

• When ShroudForge runs, it applies the ShroudForge mods and the EML mods in its mods folder (mods/ by default), but only those its own switch for that mod has on. Keep your EML mods there.
• EML mods that are only in Kiln’s EML folder (kiln/eml/mods) don’t apply in a start where ShroudForge runs. The log says which writer ran. EML mods you added in the launcher do apply when a ShroudForge mod is on too: the launcher copies them into ShroudForge’s mods folder, and since dev.24 it sets ShroudForge’s switch for each of them from your list, also on Linux when EML’s own dbghelp.dll is still in the game folder. Before, nobody applied those copies, and Kiln said they ran. kiln/state/eml.json lists them as own-loader.
• When ShroudForge doesn’t run one. The launcher and the in-game Mods menu say why: switched off in ShroudForge, made for the other side, or a file ShroudForge refuses. They suggest a switch only where a switch helps. A folder you put in ShroudForge’s mods folder yourself is never written. Values you set in ShroudForge for an EML mod are kept when the mod is switched off, removed, or Kiln is uninstalled.
• One failing EML mod stops the whole pass. When one EML mod fails inside ShroudForge, ShroudForge drops its whole startup pass and none of its data mods apply that start. The in-game Mods menu shows them as failed; the launcher’s Engines view can still say they run.
• With no ShroudForge mod in use, Kiln’s EML part applies every EML mod, as before.

On a server

Both run on dedicated servers. The server pack includes them. Put the mods in the server’s mods/ folder, or sync them from the launcher’s server Mods page. Players need the same EML data mods as the server; Kiln’s join check doesn’t compare them yet. See Servers and players.

Not tested yet

• In a player’s game: an EML mod’s effect, ShroudForge’s Modloader window and most in-game mods. On test servers both ran their mods and their settings changed live. dev.24 saw two things in a real game (Linux, Proton, one client): Kiln’s main-menu entries with ShroudForge mods on, and W and S steering with ShroudForge’s Unlimited Flight. dev.24’s ShroudForge switch for EML mods was tested on Linux hosts and dedicated test servers, not in a game.
• dev.21’s faster EML starts and dev.22’s first start (no full read) on a real client install, with the progress window and the Play page line.
• EML’s own dbghelp.dll in the game folder, with a profile’s EML mods copied for it, on Windows. And the same folder under Proton without a DLL override on a Steam Deck. Both ran with stand-in loader DLLs under Wine.
• An EML mod on a /home -> /var/home host (Fedora Atomic, Bazzite).
• EML mods that add new items, checked in a player’s game.

dev.20 pairing with EMF

Included in 0.2.0-dev.20. EMF 0.6.0 / API v27 support includes upstream-compatible mod messages used by the current Lua/Beastmaster path. ShroudForge and EMF keep their own mod folders and settings. Kiln’s join check does not prove that every other framework’s mods and settings match between server and player.

Two dedicated-server checks loaded ShroudForge beside unmodified EMF Lua 1.19 and Beastmaster 1.13, plus the enabled bear 2.1 / beasts 2.2 asset packs. Each framework started once per run and each API v27 network probe passed 11/0. The first boot committed 89 resources and added two items; the next reused identical patched resource hashes. Those checks verified the earlier Wine Access denied startup fix. They predate the final recovery guard and do not establish every mod pair.

The bundled SF fork is pinned at 1ef3896068b9106a96743e55850b599d8cd08aad (1.7.9 kiln.1ef3896). Its clean component was rebuilt with matching source/submodule records and licenses. Reader/publication/recovery hardening and native review are complete; recovery checks cover refusal of linked staged paths. This source and build evidence is separate from the earlier mixed boots.

Offline portrait checks through the actual Windows DLL rendered wolf PNGs from a read-only client archive and reused the cache on Wine C: and mounted Z: paths. Symbolic/junction redirects are refused without external mutation. Custom-pack portraits displayed in game remain unverified. Beastmaster capture/release, stable E prompts, wheel input, commands and joined-player synchronization still need hosted and joined game checks. The exact other SF mod from the original report was not identified, so these records cannot establish its compatibility.

Use matching required mod/dependency versions on every side the mod requires, and keep a test copy of the world for the check. EMF support and limits.