Click to switch
Click a crew member's row in the crew list to take control. Rows someone else is playing are greyed out and labelled with that player's name. Dragging rows and order buttons work as usual.
Features
Everything CrewSwap changes while it's active. Admins pick the rules in game; the rest just works.
Shared pool or own crew
In shared mode anyone can take any free crew member. In own mode you can take your own character, crew you own (hired in own mode, claimed by playing them first, or assigned by an admin) and crew nobody has claimed yet.
Home protection
On by default: your own character stays yours. While you're off playing someone else, nobody else can take your home character.
Keep playing after death
When the character you're driving dies, jump straight into another free crew member instead of spectating. If every player is down but free crew remain, the round is held open for up to two minutes.
Per-character wallets
Money belongs to the character, not the player. Bots keep their own wallets and salary, and round-end pay goes to the character you were driving.
Safety first
Version checks on start-up, a patch-install audit, always-on start-up checks, an end-of-round integrity check that refuses to write a broken save, a lockdown mode and 20 kept campaign backups.
Dead crew come back
Outside Permadeath, crew who aren't anyone's own character return as bots next round instead of being deleted, with vanilla's death penalty after a saved round.
Pure Lua, no C#
The package ships no C#, so nobody gets a "this mod wants to run code" prompt. Players without client-side Lua can still join and play; they just can't switch.
How it works
No new menus to learn. CrewSwap uses the crew list you already have.
- Open the crew list during a multiplayer campaign round. Every crew member has a row, as usual.
- Click a free crew member's row. The server checks the rules (pool mode, home protection, whether someone else already has them) and hands you control.
- The body you left becomes a bot again and picks its orders back up. Rows other players are driving are greyed out with their name on them.
- Switch whenever you like (there's a 3-second cooldown). Hop into the medic when someone needs patching up, then back to your own character when you're done.
Crew
CaptainCommand
EngineerEngineering
MedicMedical
Security officerSecurity
Requirements
CrewSwap patches the campaign's save code, so it checks versions carefully when the server starts. Full details are on the Requirements page.
Game
Barotrauma 1.13.4.x
On any other game version CrewSwap turns itself off and the campaign carries on as plain vanilla.
Server
Lua for Barotrauma, server-side
Workshop item 2559634234, with its C# run policy left at the default so server Lua is unsandboxed. Built against LuaCs commit 85ded59; on another LuaCs build CrewSwap logs a warning and carries on, guarded by its patch-install audit and runtime checks.
Every player who switches
Lua for Barotrauma, client-side
CrewSwap itself downloads from the server when you join. Players without client-side Lua can still play; they just can't switch.
Game mode
Multiplayer campaign
MidRound, BetweenRounds, None and Permadeath respawn modes. CrewSwap stays off under Ironman and outside campaigns.
A note on how this was made
CrewSwap was built with AI assistance (Claude), under the direction and review of a real software engineer. It started as a mod for personal use with friends, and it's shared here in case others enjoy it too.
If you're not comfortable with AI-assisted mods, no hard feelings at all. You don't have to use it.