Hey PD,

No, there's no secret trick - I'm just using low resolution data sets. Usually no more than about 1000x600 pixels or so, hence the low file size. The one I like best (and will probably use for all future releases of the game) is the cleaned up version of the TOPO2 dataset found here: http://www.shadedrelief.com/cleantopo2/index.html
The current version I'm using has been resized to 854x427 - I may include the option for higher res maps in the future but at the moment I don't think the increased file size and hugely increased load times are worth it.

Version 0.08 is out!
http://rapidshare.com/files/89995876...ander_0_08.zip

This one's a big update, a few of the changes:

• A basic crew interaction screen has been added. Press V to select the nearest crewman and view his rank, current task, any symptoms of illness or injury etc. Press Z to send the selected crewman off duty (pressing Z a second time orders him to return to his post). This is a good way to get vulnerable or injured crewmen out of harm's way.
• Crewmen now have names - American names only at the moment, but in the future there will be lists for Russian, British, French etc.
• Crewmen are no longer invulnerable. They can drown, pass out from smoke inhalation and be affected by radiation sickness so be careful... accidents aboard the sub are a lot more lethal now.
• AI has been dramatically improved, especially when firefighting. Crew will now work together to tackle larger fires, while maintaining a safe distance from the flames to avoid injuring themselves.
• A new, larger, more detailed world map has been added. The data for the new world map is extracted from the CleanTOPO2 data set, and is far more accurate than the previous maps used. Press M to access the map and 1,2 or 3 to change zoom levels. The code which displays the map has also been optimized, increasing performance (on slower computers) by several FPS while the map is open.
• Numerous changes and fixes to the periscope - if you're near the shore, you can see land through the periscope now!

There's probably a few more things that I can't remember at the moment. As always I really appreciate any feedback! Thanks very much to everyone who's downloaded the game and given it a try so far :)

You make fast progress :)...what is for me not so clear yet...do you strive for a full simulation or how do you wanna actually handle combat?

Sounds great! Keep it coming! I'll download this and try it out!

Thanks! Eventually it will be a complete simulation with other vessels, combat simulation, missions etc. I'm still deciding exactly how to do all of this - for combat, I think I'll add a tactical map under the world map, showing the area around the submarine and all nearby ships/targets. From there you'll be able to launch torpedos, cruise missiles etc. Still gotta figure out how to make it all work in a user-friendly way though!

0.08 is just as good as always! Keep it coming! :rock:

Version 0.09 is here!
http://rapidshare.com/files/10539065...ander_0_09.zip

I've been working a lot on the submarine editor, it works but it isn't quite ready for public release yet. It's very time consuming but hopefully within a couple of weeks I'll release it! You'll notice that the default sub has been updated in this version - the turbines and generators are arranged in a more realistic way, and a few new rooms have been added.

Also:

• Several options can now be set using the new gameoptions.ini file. These include changing the crew name set (default is Russian at the moment, but US names are included), changing the reliability of components aboard the sub etc. Eventually this file will contain all options available to the user, making the game far more customisable.
• Component failures and fires aboard the ship can happen on their own now! Adjust the sub_reliability file in gameoptions.ini to set how frequently accidents happen. Realistically this should be about 100 - for gameplay purposes, 25-50 gives more of a challenge. Set this to 0 if you want a REAL challenge.
• The water outside the sub now looks different when the sub is surfaced, to make the difference between surfaced/submerged more obvious.
• Latitude and longitude readings have been added to the world map
• A second crew interaction screen has been added - press C to view all crew aboard the sub, their current jobs and health status. You can use the Z key on this list to send entire compartments off/on duty. Useful for quickly moving crew around in an emergency.
• Reactor physics have been tweaked to slow the rate at which the temperature increases when the cooling system fails. Reactors won't go from normal operation to full on nuclear meltdown in 20 seconds any more, now it's a slower process. When more detailed repair systems are added, this time window should be enough to allow a competent player to attempt K-19 style improvised repairs.
• Fixed a bug where crew were almost always unaffected by explosions.

This is a fairly minor update gameplay-wise but some serious changes have been made under the hood to allow a lot more features and options later on.

Good to see a few more people trying the game! Really looking forward to releasing the sub editor, it's a lot of fun to play with. You can expect to see it in a week or two!

Keep up the good work! :yeah: :rock:

Version 0.1 released: http://rapidshare.com/files/16935040...ander_0_10.zip

I've been thinking about the submarine editor and decided to hold off releasing it for a while. There are a few reasons for this; the main one is that it's still pretty difficult to use and unforgiving, so it would be a lot of work for a user to actually create a new sub. Since the game is still being actively developed, chances are that any user-made subs would soon be obsolete and incompatible with the current version within a week or two... so to save you all some frustration I've decided to wait a while :)

Version 0.1 takes a step in a different direction:

• Nations and cities, and diplomacy have been added to the world. You're no longer a sub sailing round an empty world, there are now around 15 nations and 30something cities. You can select a nation using gameoptions.ini (but if you pick a nation without a seaport the game won't know where to put your sub and might crash, so I'd recommend sticking to USSR, USA, Great Britain or China at the moment). There are still many more cities and countries to be added but it's a start!
• A tactical map has been added to the weapon systems control panel. This is a small map displaying the submarine's surroundings, with a range of about 40 nautical miles. Eventually this will show a info about a target from the sonar, radar and periscope to help plot a firing solution for torpedoes.
• Your submarine now moves at a realistic speed across the world map. Because this is pretty slow, I've added "fast travel mode" to emulate a time compression system. Press F while the map is open to activate it; pressing F again, or leaving the map, will cancel it.
• The placeholder model for diving and surfacing has been replaced by a real one - ballast tanks are now modeled semi-accurately. The amount of water in the submarine will affect your ability to surface, and severe flooding will sink your sub.
• Missions have been added to the game. Near the start of the game you will receive a radio message with your orders - select the radio and press enter to read radio messages. There's only one type of mission at this stage, but now that the system's in place it'll be easy for me to add more in the future.
• Lastly, there are a few bug fixes, mostly relating to crashes when travelling in the arctic circle at high speeds.

Awesome work as always!

Version 0.12 Released!
Download here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/22452707...ander_0_12.zip


This one's a good one:

• Other ships have been added to the game! Every nation now has a number of merchant ships travelling around the world, and your missions now revolve around finding and sinking rival nations' shipping. No warships implemented yet but they aren't far off. Every ship in the game is named after an actual cold war merchant ship belonging one of nine nations - though the lists aren't that long yet so there might be a few repeats. Not every nation has it's own name file yet (so Australian ships use British names, for example).
• A game guide/manual is included in the zip file, 'guide.txt'. Contains very detailed information on how everything works, including a much better write up on the nuclear reactors and a description of how the crew management system works.
• The tactical map now shows more information and allows you to identify and target nearby ships. The tactical map also now shows any torpedoes launched by your sub.
• Changed the power systems control panel to more accurately and clearly show the power consumption of each subsystem.
• A second type of mission is now in the game, involving hunting down and sinking a strategically significant enemy ship. The radio is slightly more functional now too.
• A few more nations and cities added.
• A couple of secret easter eggs have been added :)
• A lot of bugs relating to crossing the international date line have been fixed. Maps now display cities and targets correctly across the date line. Also, it's now possible to sail under the arctic ice and across to the other side of the globe.

Really happy with how the game's taking shape now. As always I appreciate all feedback :) Hope you guys enjoy it!

The interface could be slightly improved, but don't ruin the Minecraft-ish mood of the game, and keep the realism high. One all-round sub is good enough (Kilo, Akula III, 688I). Also, some type of multiplayer would be nice, but stay away from stuff like Uplay.

I like how the crew interacts to disasters, in many ways this game is more realistic than Silent Hunter, where the sub's systems are invulnerable to malfunction and where the crew member who just got shot in the leg by a destroyer's deck gun is now calmly rubbing his head and leaming forward to look at the gauges every 10 minutes. Ubisoft's SH games have after the third game only been made for economical purposes. This is just the project that's progress I'd like to track. Oh, and by the way, could you add some kind of "options" screen for customising controls, my European Logitech Ultra-Slim keyboard is unable to do the speed, heading and depth commands because the keys don't have the same properties as Western keyboards. Also, when I look through the periscope, the game pauses, not good while attacking.

Glad you like it, and thanks for the feedback! Realism and versatility (that minecraftish feel) are exactly what I'm aiming for in this game, it's always good to see someone who appreciates that.

I didn't know that different keyboards would respond to the controls differently, thanks for pointing that out. I'll include a control setup file in the future (probably in the next release). As for the periscope, it's definitely a work in progress... it's pretty much useless at the moment, but I'll overhaul it sometime soon so it doesn't need to pause the game when used.

And as for multiplayer... there are no plans for that any time soon. Maybe one day once I'm happy with the rest of the game.

This is a great project!

Keep up the awesome work! :)

New version in time for the weekend: 0.14!

http://rapidshare.com/files/12651374...ander_0_14.zip

This is a big update over 0.12, several major new features are now fully functional:

• The periscope has been completely overhauled. It no longer pauses the game, provides a lot of navigation and attack controls and features a (very basic) homemade sprite-based 3D engine! Now you can actually see the enemy ships you're firing at. This still needs a lot of improvement but it's well on the way. Try it out and let me know what you think!
• The game now monitors oxygen levels in the submarine. Fires consume a lot of oxygen quickly, but will be extinguished when the supply runs out. A ventilation system simulation has also been added to the submarine, controlled from the misc. systems control panels. Together, these open up a huge range of possibilities - there are a lot more ways for things to go wrong now but there are also a lot more ways to deal with an emergency!
• Radar has been added. There are two types of radar model - an old, WW2 style radar and a newer '70s/'80s radar. Choose which one you want in the gameoptions.ini file before you start the game. Radar is accessed through the "Sonar Equipment" object near the command room (it's misnamed at the moment).
• Crewmen are now a lot more individual - each man has a set of skills and abilities which will affect performance at different tasks. Crewmen will become more proficient at tasks they complete often. The starting skillset of each crewmember depends on their rank; the captain won't be good at loading torpedoes or welding, for example, but he probably will have good leadership skills.
• It is now possible to control which tasks each crewman will complete (select the crewman then press T). This allows you to respond to emergencies more effectively and protect important crewmen from entering dangerous situations.
• You are now (usually) assigned missions close to your current location. So you won't start in Los Angeles and be ordered to patrol the coastal waters of Madagascar any more, for example. Sometimes you'll have to travel a significant distance but it's a whole lot better than it used to be.
• As requested, it's now possible to change key bindings. Instructions are in the guide.txt file.
• Added a loading progress bar on startup, when the game is loading the world map.
• Slightly edited the world map in a couple of places, particularly around the Suez Canal and San Francisco. It's now possible to access some harbours and areas which were previously inaccessible.
• Whole bunch of other bugfixes.
  

G'day Geoff! Love what you're doing here but unfortunately I haven't really got the time to get involved at the moment.

In regards to the request in your first post though, Neal posted this great link to a USN training film about the construction of a WWII era diesel/electric sub:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7ixYuCObUk

It covers some of the fundamentals of a sub such as ballast ect.

I imagine you're fairly well along now but I hope it maybe of some use to ya. :up:

New update: Version 0.15
http://rapidshare.com/files/17135265...ander_0_15.zip

This one took a while, I haven't had much time to work on this project lately.

Change log:

• Equipment has been added to the game. There are about eight different pieces of equipment currently, with many more planned - read the guide for instructions on how to equip crew. The different pieces of equipment behave roughly as they would in real life, play around and see what combinations are effective.
• Added simple depth indicators to the periscope and maneuver control panels. This will help you determine if the conning tower is above the waterline or not, among other benefits. It also helps avoid hitting the sea floor in shallow water.
• Crew names are now tied to the submarine's nationality - so if you pick a US sub your crew will have American names, if you pick a Chinese sub the crew will have Chinese names etc. Still got to add name files for a few nationalities but it's on the way.
• The game speed can be changed in the gameoptions.ini file. You can pick any speed (in frames per second) you want, but about 8-12 is recommended.
• Ships now look more 3D through the periscope.
• Numerous changes to how crew skills work, especially with regards to gaining proficiency with a task.
• Made a few small changes to the UI to make important information more obvious.
• Redid a few dodgy parts of the water/pressure physics code to fix a couple of old bugs. Water will now flow more naturally, and water pressure in flooded compartments should work correctly now.
• Fixed an amusing bug where switching on the ventilation system in a flooded compartment would turn all the vents on the sub into vacuum cleaners, rapidly sucking all of the air out of the sub (still don't know what caused that one!)
• Fixed a bug with the day/night cycle lighting which sometimes made the sky turn green at about 8:00am.
• Probably more small bug fixes and minor changes, I forget.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

It's been a while since the last update but I just wanted to clarify this project isn't dead... I'm still working on it, just at a much slower rate. Hopefully I'll have another update ready soon!

New Update: Version 0.16
http://goo.gl/wwMJqL
(Now hosted on Dropbox because Rapidshare's stopped working)

Changes:

• Completely overhauled the damage modelling for most of the submarine. Now everything is tracked in much more detail; it's not just "Nuclear Reactor: 50% damaged" any more, now the internal components are modeled as well. Press D to order a crewman to examine an object in detail and report how damaged it is. As far as possible, everything behaves as in real life... try it out and let me know what you think! Since the new damage model introduces a lot of complexity and may be daunting for new players I've made it optional, you can disable it in gameoptions.ini
• Added the ability to give a crewman a direct order (select a crewman and press O). He will immediately start work on the assigned task, and anyone who was already working on that task will get out of his way. This is really useful for managing damage control teams - you can now order your expert fireman to extinguish the fire while your best welder focuses on repairing the hull breach, without worrying about them trying to do the wrong job.
• Added (limited) mouse support. You can now use the mouse instead of the arrow keys, if you enable it in gameoptions.ini
• Added a couple of different rendering styles for fire in the game. Select style 1, 2 or 3 in gameoptions.ini and see which one you like best.
• Added the ability to change the font used in the game (once again, this is set through gameoptions.ini) Most Windows fonts should work I think.
• Some graphical improvements when looking through the periscope.
• Many small bug fixes and tweaks.

Sorry about the wait!