Where Saves Live
Campaign saves are stored server-side at:
Servers/<ServerName>/Saves/
Each campaign save gets its own subfolder. Inside that folder:
| File | Contents |
|---|---|
gamesession.xml |
Mission state, crew, current location |
campaign_metadata.xml |
Campaign seed, difficulty, metadata |
*.sub files |
Submarine save state |
The server manages these automatically — you don't normally need to edit them directly.
Loading an Existing Save
From the multiplayer server menu:
- Select Campaign
- Click Load
- Choose the save from the list
If the server has been restarted and you're rejoining an in-progress campaign, the server should present the existing save automatically when players connect.
Multiple Save Slots
You can maintain multiple campaign saves simultaneously. Each has its own subfolder under Saves/. When starting a new campaign, a new subfolder is created with a unique name. Switch between saves by using Load and selecting the one you want.
Be careful: loading one save doesn't delete others, but running a campaign modifies only the active save.
Backing Up Saves
Stop the server, then copy the entire save subfolder somewhere safe:
# Linux example
cp -r Servers/MyServer/Saves/MyCampaign/ /backups/MyCampaign_backup/
Do this before every server update — save formats occasionally change between game versions, and a save made on an older version may not load correctly on a newer one.
For a full backup strategy, see How to Back Up Your Barotrauma Server.
Restoring a Save
- Stop the server
- Delete or rename the corrupted/unwanted save subfolder
- Copy your backup folder into
Servers/<ServerName>/Saves/ - Restart the server and load the restored save
Recovering a Corrupted Save
If a campaign save won't load or the server throws XML errors on startup:
- Open
gamesession.xmlin a text editor and look for obvious XML syntax errors (unclosed tags, invalid characters) - Check for
.bakfiles in the save subfolder — Barotrauma sometimes writes backup copies before overwriting - Restore the
.bakfile by renaming it to replace the brokengamesession.xml
If no backup exists and the XML is unrecoverable, you'll need to fall back to a manual backup or start fresh.