I try to swap weapons (from melee to long range) and it does not work. What am I doing wrong? And is my only option to spend a round doing that?

Are you sure you have ammo? Are you sure your character isnt holding a cursed weapon? Or did you use the W key during combat? I have no -problem swapping weapons in the middle of a fight.

are you:

1) swapping the 2 weps that are equipped by your char? if you are, and it's not working, it might be because your char doesn't want to use a short range wep because she's way out of range.
(LOL! once Vi told me i was completely clueless for trying that!)

2) are you trying to swap an equipped wep for a non-equipped wep? that requires you to use the "equip" button and take a turn doing it.

also, you should make sure you have set up your options so that you get all text displayed. that way, you can get the messages telling you why something isn't working. and if it goes by too fast, scroll back or turn your text speed down.