Barotrauma Campaign Mode Guide

How to set up, manage, and save a Barotrauma multiplayer campaign on your dedicated server.

Campaign is Barotrauma's persistent co-op mode. The crew shares a save file — earning money, upgrading the submarine, hiring crew members, and progressing across a map of Europa together.

Starting a Campaign

Set the Game Mode

Stop your server, open serversettings.xml, and set:

gamemodeidentifier="campaign"

Save and start the server.

Join and Create the Campaign

Log in to the XGamingServer Panel and start your server
Join the server with the RedM client
In the lobby, click New Campaign
Choose your starting submarine, difficulty settings, and optional modes (see below)
Click Start

Campaign Settings

When starting a new campaign, you configure these options:

Difficulty Modifiers

Item consumption rate — how fast supplies deplete
World hostility — creature frequency and aggression
Character vitality — max health modifier for the crew

Game Over Conditions

Mode	What happens on full crew death
Standard	Characters can be revived by medics mid-round. Dead at round end = character lost; other crew can continue
Permadeath	Any character death is permanent. Respawn as a bot crew member or hire new crew at an outpost
Ironman	Full permadeath — no respawning at all. If the entire crew dies, it's game over

⚠️ Warning: Ironman mode is very unforgiving. Recommended only for experienced crews.

The Campaign Loop

Start at an outpost — browse the map, spend money, hire crew, upgrade the submarine
Pick a destination and mission — vote on where to go next
Navigate and complete the mission — survive the journey, complete objectives
Return to an outpost — receive rewards, save progress
Repeat — progress further across Europa

Crew Management

Player Characters

Each player controls a persistent character with their own skills, talents, and inventory. Skills increase through use during rounds.

Bots

Hired NPC crew fill roles not taken by players. If a player misses a session, their character remains as a controllable bot.

Hiring at Outposts

Talk to the HR Manager NPC at an outpost
Hiring cost = sum of the NPC's skill levels
Fired crew are gone permanently

Jobs and Skills

Job	Primary Skills
Captain	Helmsmanship, Weapons
Engineer	Electrical, Construction
Mechanic	Mechanical, Construction
Medical Doctor	Medical
Security Officer	Weapons, Close Combat
Assistant	None (jack of all trades)

Skills level up through use. Talents are unlocked at skill milestones and persist in the campaign save.

Saving

Campaign saves automatically when the crew reaches an outpost between rounds. Progress does not save mid-round.

Save file locations on your server:

[ServerRoot]/Saves/Multiplayer/

Two files per save:

[SaveName].save — world state, submarine, money, map progression
[SaveName]_CharacterData.xml — all character data, skills, talents, inventories

Backing Up Your Save

In the panel, click Files
Navigate to Saves/Multiplayer/
Download both the .save and _CharacterData.xml files

💡 Tip: Back up your save regularly, especially before major risky missions.

Loading an Existing Save

To continue a save on your server:

Upload both .save and _CharacterData.xml to Saves/Multiplayer/ via Files
Start the server
Join, go to the lobby, select Campaign → Load Campaign
Select your save from the list

Transferring a Save from Local to Server

If you were running a campaign locally and want to move it to your dedicated server:

Find your local save:
- Windows: %LocalAppData%\Daedalic Entertainment GmbH\Barotrauma\Multiplayer\
Copy both the .save and _CharacterData.xml to the server's Saves/Multiplayer/ folder
Restart the server and load the campaign in the lobby

Console Commands for Campaign

Admins can use these commands in the server console:

Command	Description
`campaigninfo`	Show current campaign state and location
`campaigndestination [name]`	Force set the next destination
`money [amount] [character]`	Give campaign money to the crew or a specific player
`giveexperience [amount] [name]`	Grant XP to a player
`setskill [skill] [level] [name]`	Set a character's skill level

💡 Tip: Need help getting your campaign set up? Join our Discord.

Barotrauma Campaign Mode Guide

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