why can't I surface the boat? [Archive] - SUBSIM Radio Room Forums

frau kaleun

02-23-10, 10:44 AM

It would help to blow ballast, if you are not at the point where blowing ballast makes no difference. :O: I think the only way to know that is to do it and see if it does make a difference.

Of course if you're sinking or diving beyond control of your LI regardless of whatever else you order him to do, um, yeah... blow the tanks for all they're worth, lol. Why wouldn't you?

I believe the proper "Das Boot" procedure in an uncontrolled dive is to order both engines back full and when that doesn't work, ANBLASEN!

derrinurban

02-23-10, 01:04 PM

If blowing ballast does not help, the other thing you might want to check is the angle of the u-boat in the water. Check the dive gauges in the control room (if you have external camera turned off) or which compartments have flooding. I found this out the hard way.

Early on in my service, after being depth charged, I had some flooding in the forward compartments and was heading to the bottom. Repair crews were working like mad, running ahead flank, blowing ballast, nothing I did seemed to stop my descent. I decided to take one last external view of my boat before I got the death screen. To my surprise the uboat was sitting at about 30 degrees, nose down, when looking from the side. There is no amount of dive plane that will correct that.

The blow ballast would probably help me if I was not driving my boat to the bottom at flank speed. :damn:

I quickly ordered back emergency and sure enough going backwards, with the stern pointing UP at 30 degrees arrested my descent. After an hour of going backwards and trying to maneuver till I hit about 30 m and then ahead standard and driving the boat toward the bottom, changing back and forth between silent running and avoiding ash cans, I managed to repair and pump out the forward sections.

I made my escape, but never forgot that hard fought lesson.

frau kaleun

02-23-10, 01:12 PM

The blow ballast would probably help me if I was not driving my boat to the bottom at flank speed. :damn:

Sorry, but I lolled. Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt and was buried in it. :O:

krashkart

02-23-10, 01:35 PM

I checked the external view of my boat as it was descending. It was nose up at flank and still sinking. It was a desperate climb to PD that never happened. The lightbulbs were popping, the water started spraying in. Too late! *IMPLODE* :haha:

The following career is working out well, though. :DL

derrinurban

02-23-10, 01:38 PM

Sorry, but I lolled. Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt and was buried in it. :O:

I know exactly what you mean. I probably performed this amazing maneuver a dozen times, ending in a watery grave, before I clued in.

I am sure the look on my face was priceless when I had my light bulb moment. :doh:

frau kaleun

02-23-10, 02:05 PM

It's stuff like this that gets ya. You think you're doing everything right that can be done, and then realize that you ordered a dive and never levelled off from it, or went to flank speed or all-stop or shifted into reverse for some reason and forgot to order anything else when the appropriate time came.

My personal favorite is when I order hard to port or hard to starboard as an evasive maneuver and then forget to set a heading or at least order rudder amidships again. Then I take a look at the map and... uh... say, herr kaleun, would you like some coffee with your donuts? :haha:

frau kaleun

02-23-10, 02:09 PM

I checked the external view of my boat as it was descending. It was nose up at flank and still sinking.

That's because Bernard keeps his rock collection in the stern.

krashkart

02-23-10, 03:37 PM

Come to think of it, it wasn't Bernard's fault. It was what the kaleun left in the head.

Snestorm

02-23-10, 05:52 PM

You hit the nail right on the head; too deep. :up:

I try not to go much deeper than 200-210 meters. There's not much room beyond that before the hull begins to crush. Kinda scary the first time that happened to me - I couldn't get the boat to rise even at flank. Just kept sinking and sinking and *CRUNCH*. :o

I dare not go that deep.
My beautiful IXB made it all the way to december 1944, to be endlessly pinged and DCed by a Hunter Killer Group (AM52). When I decided to try going from 165 to 200 meters . . .,
182 METERS was the magic number. "U-boat destroyed by pressure".

krashkart

02-23-10, 07:05 PM

I dare not go that deep.
My beautiful IXB made it all the way to december 1944, to be endlessly pinged and DCed by a Hunter Killer Group (AM52). When I decided to try going from 165 to 200 meters . . .,
182 METERS was the magic number. "U-boat destroyed by pressure".

Holy smoke! I've made successful dives to 210m in both VIIB and IXC. :o

I'm still playing stock, though. Does that make a difference from mods like GWX or NYGM?

Panser

02-23-10, 07:20 PM

Holy smoke! I've made successful dives to 210m in both VIIB and IXC. :o

I'm still playing stock, though. Does that make a difference from mods like GWX or NYGM?

Damage can drastically reduce your maximum safe depth, which is quite likely if he was being DC'd hard enough to force him so deep. I've had a VIIB to 225m after a couple of changes of underpants, but I wouldn't ever try that again unless the choice was death anyway.

Snestorm

02-23-10, 07:53 PM

Holy smoke! I've made successful dives to 210m in both VIIB and IXC. :o

I'm still playing stock, though. Does that make a difference from mods like GWX or NYGM?

That was with Stock.
Hadn't taken any damage yet, but the pinging wasn't letting up.
I either drew a realy harsh "dice roll" or, finaly caught a DC.

It doesn't seem to be the norm, but 165 is the deepest I'll ever consider now.

I usualy use (Mostly IXBs):
20: Final Sound Check before coming up to PD.
50: Normal Travel
100: Normal Evasion.
120: If the ASW is good.
150: My usual Maximum.
165: Desperation.

krashkart

02-23-10, 08:08 PM

That was with Stock.
Hadn't taken any damage yet, but the pinging wasn't letting up.
I either drew a realy harsh "dice roll" or, finaly caught a DC.

Huh. I think I'll take a few test boats out and see if there is an element of randomness. Reminds me, are you using SH3Commander? If so do you have the 'Random Crush Depth" setting ticked in the options? I'm leaving that one off until I get my sea fangs honed to a goodly semi-expert level.

I am sure the look on my face was priceless when I had my light bulb moment. :doh:

The stream of consciousness in my mind when those light bulbs started popping...

What was that? Oh, just some light bulbs breaking. Breaking?!? Must be the pressure. PRESSURE??!!! Oh *bleep*

Very shortly after that came the water jets. Didn't take long. :lol:

Snestorm

02-23-10, 08:18 PM

Huh. I think I'll take a few test boats out and see if there is an element of randomness. Reminds me, are you using SH3Commander? If so do you have the 'Random Crush Depth" setting ticked in the options? I'm leaving that one off until I get my sea fangs honed to a goodly semi-expert level.

No SH3 Commander. That install was completely mod-free.

krashkart

02-23-10, 08:22 PM

Ah okay. Well, guess I'll be running some dive tests to see if I can reproduce a shallower implosion then. :)

kevinlv

02-24-10, 10:15 AM

bros,
What's this term mean "blow ballast"?

You mentioned a lot,but i am some how confused in your discusstion.

Obviously I have a lot to learn..

frau kaleun

02-24-10, 10:40 AM

bros,
What's this term mean "blow ballast"?

You mentioned a lot,but i am some how confused in your discusstion.

Obviously I have a lot to learn..

From http://www.uboataces.com/uboat-type-work.shtml:

Unlike a surface ship, a U-boat may also adjust its buoyancy, or ability to sink or float. When the ballast tanks are empty, the U-boat displaces positive buoyancy and floats to the surface. When the ballast tanks are flooded with water, the U-boat sinks to the bottom (negative buoyancy). To surface again, compressed air is blown into the ballast tanks, displacing ballast water from the tanks.

Basically when you "blow ballast" or "blow tanks" you are blowing compressed air into the ballast tanks to force water out and increase the buoyancy of the boat, making it rise in the water.

If the boat is sinking or diving and it's impossible to level her off and maintain or decrease the depth using the hydroplanes and/or propulsion (movement forwards or backwards through the water), blowing the tanks can increase her overall bouyancy and may stop the dive or make her "floatable" enough to get her all the way to the surface.

In Silent Hunter 3 the "E" key on your keyboard is for "Emergency Surface" and will give the order to blow tanks for just that purpose. Of course whether it works or not in any given situation will depend on other factors, for instance how much damage the boat may have taken and where, how badly flooded she is, etc. You may very well order Emergency Surface and find out that you can't blow tanks, or that blowing all the ballast available is not enough to stop the dive or get you back topside.

Edit: in the game when you order the emergency surface, I believe you will hear the appropriate order to "Ausblasen." If you've seen the movie Das Boot, I think they always say "Anblasen." I know "blasen" means "to blow" and I think "ausblasen" is "blow out" (blow out the water) and "anblasen" would be "blow in" (blow in the compressed air). Either way, they're blowing air into the tanks to blow water out of the tanks and make the boat "lighter" in the water so she goes up instead of down.

Sailor Steve

02-24-10, 10:59 AM

Edit: in the game when you order the emergency surface, I believe you will hear the appropriate order to "Ausblasen." If you've seen the movie Das Boot, I think they always say "Anblasen." I know "blasen" means "to blow" and I think "ausblasen" is "blow out" (blow out the water) and "anblasen" would be "blow in" (blow in the compressed air). Either way, they're blowing air into the tanks to blow water out of the tanks and make the boat "lighter" in the water so she goes up instead of down.
I think in the movie they say some things in a hurry, and it gets slurred. I've noticed several scenes in which something is said that doesn't sound like you think it should when reading it.

I always here "Anblasen" when I play the game, because I'm using the Das Boot Sound Mod.
:rotfl2:

frau kaleun

02-24-10, 11:14 AM

I think in the movie they say some things in a hurry, and it gets slurred. I've noticed several scenes in which something is said that doesn't sound like you think it should when reading it.

I always here "Anblasen" when I play the game, because I'm using the Das Boot Sound Mod.
:rotfl2:

Lol. I'm pretty sure they say "Anblasen" in most of the key scenes I remember. But you know what's funny, there are some bits of dialogue that I "hear" in English only because I know what's being said, and the German is just close enough to the English equivalent that my brain wants to automatically substitute in the English sounds. A couple of scenes I've even skipped back and watched over because on first viewing I really thought someone was suddenly saying something in English... nope, my ears just heard it that way.

Is the Das Boot sound mod the one that also puts all the music in from the movie soundtrack in place of the stock and/or GWX game soundtrack? I had that running once but found there was way too much background music playing for too much of the game for my taste... also there was at least one track from the movie music that included a "ping" noise IN the track, which kept playing at certain crucial times and freaking me out because I thought I was being pinged in-game when I wasn't. :O:

I'd like to have DB music in game, just not so much or so often, and certainly having other DB sounds would be cool. I have to admit that hearing "Ausblasen" instead of "Anblasen" strikes my ears as odd because "Anblasen" is what I'm expecting.

Sailor Steve

02-24-10, 11:20 AM

I really thought someone was suddenly saying something in English... nope, my ears just heard it that way.
Except of course for Thomsen's big scene...

Is the Das Boot sound mod the one that also puts all the music in from the movie soundtrack in place of the stock and/or GWX game soundtrack? I had that running once but found there was way too much background music playing for too much of the game for my taste...
No. DBSM only substitutes speech files and a couple of regular sound files. There was no in-game music in SH2, for which it was originally created. I throw those out anyway, as for me having background music just doesn't cut it.

I have to admit that hearing "Ausblasen" instead of "Anblasen" strikes my ears as odd because "Anblasen" is what I'm expecting.
With DBSM when you hit the 'E' key, you'll hear it alright.

"Anblasen! ANBLASSSSSEN!!!"

frau kaleun

02-24-10, 11:53 AM

Except of course for Thomsen's big scene...

What cracks me up about that is, there's still English subtitles for it. Which made me go back and verify that he'd actually SAID it in English. Um, yeah, he sho nuff did.

No. DBSM only substitutes speech files and a couple of regular sound files. There was no in-game music in SH2, for which it was originally created. I throw those out anyway, as for me having background music just doesn't cut it.

Cool. I'll have to look it up then. Does it sub in something from the DB soundtrack for the main_menu_loop or whatever it's called? That's really the only place I want music, other than when I tell Hinrich to play that record again. (He knows which one.)

With DBSM when you hit the 'E' key, you'll hear it alright.

"Anblasen! ANBLASSSSSEN!!!"

Now that's what I'm talkin' about! Somehow that routine little calling out of "ausblasen" when I order an emergency surface just doesn't cut it.

I'm guessing it's the sound file from DB when the hydroplane's jammed and they're in the uncontrolled dive at Gibraltar. Because the LI asks for the order to blow tanks, and der Alte shakes him off and orders both engines back emergency instead, and then when that doesn't work he finally says "anblasen" and nobody responds and then he yells "ANBLASEN!" to get the LI's attention.

Yeah I watched it again last night, what? Lol.

Sailor Steve

02-24-10, 01:49 PM

Does it sub in something from the DB soundtrack for the main_menu_loop or whatever it's called? That's really the only place I want music, other than when I tell Hinrich to play that record again. (He knows which one.)
I don't remember if I put it in there when I did the conversion for SH3, but when I boot it up in my own mix I hear the clip from the movie where they're walking throught the sub pen discussing the propellor problems and other technical stuff. And yeah, there is the background theme music when the Old Man looks at Werner and says "That's our boat!" It goes right through the 1WO's rundown and the kaleun's 'speech', and ends with "Auf Maneuver station!"

But of course you can put anything you like into that file and it will play it.

As for 'that' song, it's available for the gramophone from several mod sources.

Now that's what I'm talkin' about! Somehow that routine little calling out of "ausblasen" when I order an emergency surface just doesn't cut it.
That's how I've always felt about the week-kneed "Alarm" from the stock game. GWX uses the original DBSM file, so you already know how that sounds when you hit the 'C' key. Back when I first released it I had one guy say he nearly wet himself the first time he heard it. Then he went back and crash-dived several more times just to listen to it.
:rotfl2:

Oh, and one more thing: I removed all the "Jawohl, Herr Kaleun!" files, so you don't get everybody saying "Yes, Sir!" before they carry out every order (especially "Alaaaaarm!"). Real navy dudes don't talk like that. I still have to fix that for SH4 (though there is a DBSM version for it - I'm talking about the US side).

frau kaleun

02-24-10, 02:05 PM

I don't remember if I put it in there when I did the conversion for SH3, but when I boot it up in my own mix I hear the clip from the movie where they're walking throught the sub pen discussing the propellor problems and other technical stuff. And yeah, there is the background theme music when the Old Man looks at Werner and says "That's our boat!" It goes right through the 1WO's rundown and the kaleun's 'speech', and ends with "Auf Maneuver station!"

But of course you can put anything you like into that file and it will play it.

That's kinda what I figured, any .ogg file with the proper name, the game will find and play in the appropriate context.

As for 'that' song, it's available for the gramophone from several mod sources.

Heh, that song was on my hard drive before I even had the game. As was the Tipperary song. They went into the Gram folder about 1.2 seconds after I found it was possible to add my own stuff to it.

That's how I've always felt about the week-kneed "Alarm" from the stock game. GWX uses the original DBSM file, so you already know how that sounds when you hit the 'C' key. Back when I first released it I had one guy say he nearly wet himself the first time he heard it. Then he went back and crash-dived several more times just to listen to it.
:rotfl2:

Been there, done that! Altho I really never played the stock game, I wandered into Subsim and found out all about mods and supermods before I really got that far into it. But I played enough to realize that GWX added a lot of very cool sound that wasn't there before.

Oh, and one more thing: I removed all the "Jawohl, Herr Kaleun!" files, so you don't get everybody saying "Yes, Sir!" before they carry out every order (especially "Alaaaaarm!"). Real navy dudes don't talk like that. I still have to fix that for SH4 (though there is a DBSM version for it - I'm talking about the US side).

I don't know, I'm still at the point where I like the response, if only because it lets me know that the game is actually responding to whatever order I think I just gave. I guess the "jawohl herr kaleun" could be skipped as long as I get some feedback, like the order being repeated down the line.

Altho I should say I've got some other sound mod running now that has repeated orders as part of it so I may only be hearing those for that reason anyway.

KL-alfman

02-24-10, 05:50 PM

Edit: in the game when you order the emergency surface, I believe you will hear the appropriate order to "Ausblasen." If you've seen the movie Das Boot, I think they always say "Anblasen." I know "blasen" means "to blow" and I think "ausblasen" is "blow out" (blow out the water) and "anblasen" would be "blow in" (blow in the compressed air). Either way, they're blowing air into the tanks to blow water out of the tanks and make the boat "lighter" in the water so she goes up instead of down.

you got your vocabulary very right, mylady! *humblybowinghead*

Sailor Steve

02-24-10, 07:07 PM

That's kinda what I figured, any .ogg file with the proper name, the game will find and play in the appropriate context.
I think that one uses .wav files, but it may use both.

Heh, that song was on my hard drive before I even had the game. As was the Tipperary song. They went into the Gram folder about 1.2 seconds after I found it was possible to add my own stuff to it.
I've fallen in love with some of the music I've heard while playing, especially the 'Comedian Harmonists'. 'Wochenend und Sonnenschein' is a favorite. I also recently found out that a movie was made about them in the early '90s.

I don't know, I'm still at the point where I like the response, if only because it lets me know that the game is actually responding to whatever order I think I just gave. I guess the "jawohl herr kaleun" could be skipped as long as I get some feedback, like the order being repeated down the line.
I played SH1 back in the day. When you gave an order in that one it was in the proper form: "Twenty degrees right rudder. Aye, sir!"

Altho I should say I've got some other sound mod running now that has repeated orders as part of it so I may only be hearing those for that reason anyway.
The DBSM torpedo firing orders had music on top of all of them, so I don't use them myself. I have a cool set of repeated orders I like for the torpedoes. "Rohr eins." "Rohr eins." "Los!" "Los!"

I love it.

KL-alfman

02-24-10, 07:18 PM

I've fallen in love with some of the music I've heard while playing, especially the 'Comedian Harmonists'. 'Wochenend und Sonnenschein' is a favorite. I also recently found out that a movie was made about them in the early '90s.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0128133/
there is a longer article about them on wikipedia.de
if you like to read german

frau kaleun

02-24-10, 08:32 PM

you got your vocabulary very right, mylady! *humblybowinghead*

*curtsies*

Danke, mein herr!

frau kaleun

02-24-10, 08:45 PM

I think that one uses .wav files, but it may use both.

Whatever, it's cool. I've got the soundtrack so I can rip the tracks I want into the format I need, whenever I get around to fooling with those things. I want to get home alive from my first combat patrol before I start looking at the changes I want to make next. :D

I've fallen in love with some of the music I've heard while playing, especially the 'Comedian Harmonists'. 'Wochenend und Sonnenschein' is a favorite. I also recently found out that a movie was made about them in the early '90s.

Yeah, I got some of their stuff too from Jimbuna's sound packs. I especially like their German version of "Stormy Weather." I'd never heard of them before, I may have to see if I can find the movie.

I played SH1 back in the day. When you gave an order in that one it was in the proper form: "Twenty degrees right rudder. Aye, sir!"

The DBSM torpedo firing orders had music on top of all of them, so I don't use them myself. I have a cool set of repeated orders I like for the torpedoes. "Rohr eins." "Rohr eins." "Los!" "Los!"

I love it.

I can see I am eventually going to end up with a third install of SH3 on my rig, another one with GWX3 installed over it and nothing else. So I've got a pristine set of files to fall back on in case I decide to start mixing and matching sounds from various other sources in the game files I actually play with. :O:

(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0128133/)http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0128133/ (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0128133/)

Thanks, I'll check it out! Edit: Found it on Netflix, now at the top of my queue!

there is a longer article about them on wikipedia.de
if you like to read german

Oh, I like to read it. I just don't understand 99% of it! :O:

krashkart

02-24-10, 09:33 PM

Oh, I like to read it. I just don't understand 99% of it! :O:

I can relate. I spent 75% of the time in German classes snoring and drooling on my desk. Glad those days are over... *snore* *drool* :DL

frau kaleun

02-24-10, 09:54 PM

I can relate. I spent 75% of the time in German classes snoring and drooling on my desk. Glad those days are over... *snore* *drool* :DL

Sadly, we didn't have German as a foreign language option in my school system. We had to do all our snoring and drooling in Spanish or French.

ryanglavin

02-24-10, 10:09 PM

Sadly, we didn't have German as a foreign language option in my school system. We had to do all our snoring and drooling in Spanish or French.

Well damn same here. Your lucky if you had German.. I still sit through these spanish classes.. And after being in spanish 3, I still only know taco burrito and saying "yes" repeatedly alot.

kevinlv

02-25-10, 01:22 AM

From http://www.uboataces.com/uboat-type-work.shtml:

Basically when you "blow ballast" or "blow tanks" you are blowing compressed air into the ballast tanks to force water out and increase the buoyancy of the boat, making it rise in the water.

If the boat is sinking or diving and it's impossible to level her off and maintain or decrease the depth using the hydroplanes and/or propulsion (movement forwards or backwards through the water), blowing the tanks can increase her overall bouyancy and may stop the dive or make her "floatable" enough to get her all the way to the surface.

In Silent Hunter 3 the "E" key on your keyboard is for "Emergency Surface" and will give the order to blow tanks for just that purpose. Of course whether it works or not in any given situation will depend on other factors, for instance how much damage the boat may have taken and where, how badly flooded she is, etc. You may very well order Emergency Surface and find out that you can't blow tanks, or that blowing all the ballast available is not enough to stop the dive or get you back topside.

Edit: in the game when you order the emergency surface, I believe you will hear the appropriate order to "Ausblasen." If you've seen the movie Das Boot, I think they always say "Anblasen." I know "blasen" means "to blow" and I think "ausblasen" is "blow out" (blow out the water) and "anblasen" would be "blow in" (blow in the compressed air). Either way, they're blowing air into the tanks to blow water out of the tanks and make the boat "lighter" in the water so she goes up instead of down.

thanks a lot for your explain.:88)