The icy depths of Europa are unforgiving, and the last thing any captain wants is to lose their crew's hard-earned campaign progress to a catastrophic hull breach—or worse, data corruption.

Creating regular backups of your Barotrauma server ensures your submarine and character progression are always safe. Whether you are moving a local campaign to your dedicated server or simply creating a safety net, this guide will show you exactly how to back up and restore your save files.

How to Back Up Your Server Data

To safely extract your current campaign progress, you need to grab both the world save and the character data.

Crucial Warning: Always shut down your server before making a backup. Backing up files while the server is actively running will likely result in incomplete or corrupted data!

1. Go to your Server Panel and Shut down the server, by clicking on the “Actions” option on the left side.

   

    

2. Connect to your server using the File Manager (or via SFTP if you prefer). Find here our guide on how to connect using SFTP.

3. Navigate to the following directory: <strong>Server/Multiplayer</strong>

   

    

4. Locate and Download your desired campaign files to your computer. You need to grab two specific files for a complete backup:

   • The campaign file (ending in <strong>.save</strong>)

   • The character data file (usually named <strong>CharacterData.xml</strong> or similar, tied to your save).
      

   Files ending in “.bk0”, “.bk1", are backups for your world which you can also download in case you want to keep old saves.

5. Once downloaded, you can store all files in a single folder on your PC for easier access.

That's it, now you have a backup in your PC to restore whenever you wish!

How to Restore or Upload a Save

If you need to roll back to a previous backup, or if you are uploading a campaign you started locally on your own PC, the process is just as straightforward.

1. Shut down the server completely from your Server Panel.

2. Open the File Manager or SFTP and navigate to: <strong>Server/Multiplayer</strong>

   • (Note: The <i data-path-to-node="12,1,1,0,0" data-index-in-node="0">Multiplayer</i> folder is automatically created the first time a campaign round starts on the server. If this is a brand-new server and you don't see this folder, simply click "Create Directory" and name it exactly <i data-path-to-node="12,1,1,0,0" data-index-in-node="0">Multiplayer</i>).

   

    

3. Upload both your .save file and your CharacterData.xml file into this folder.

   

    

   If there is already an existing save with the same name, you can either replace the existing files or rename your uploaded files to something different to keep both versions available.
    

4. Go back to your actions tab and Restart the server.

   

    

5. Once the server is online, you or your admins can launch the game, join the server, and select the uploaded save from the in-game lobby menu to resume your campaign.
   Select the Game Mode, then click on the Load Campaign option below and select your desired save. Once done, simply click on “Load” to start the game and that's it.
    

   

    

You can now enjoy your old progression with your friend inside the server!

Troubleshooting

• My characters lost all their items or skills!

  • This happens when you only upload the .save file and forget the CharacterData.xml file. The .save file stores the submarine and world progress, but the XML file stores your crew's wallets, skills, and inventories. Always move both files together!

• My save file is corrupted or won't load.

  • Did you download the backup while the server was still running? If the server was actively saving or running the game when you downloaded the files, the data will be incomplete. You will need to use an older, safely created backup.

• I don't see my save in the in-game lobby.

  • Double-check that your files were placed exactly inside the Server/Multiplayer folder and not in the main root directory. Also, ensure the server was fully shut down when you transferred the files.

Conclusion

By regularly backing up your Server/Multiplayer folder, you ensure your crew can always recover from a devastating thresher attack or a rogue traitor blowing up the reactor.

If you run into any persistent issues getting your campaign to load, please don't hesitate to reach out to our support team for a lifeline!

Happy sailing, and watch your oxygen levels!