Working on a new submarine sim: Sub Commander - advice needed!

[Tango589]

Is it possible to increase the amount of info given in the orders to sink a particular ship, so the ship type is detailed along with the name? This would make submerged warfare more realistic, especially if you have to pick one target out of a battlegroup?

[kust]

you got any plans for making a currency system that when you sink a ship you get money and can also upgrade your sub etc?.

[kvn8907]

I've got myself into a situation in the game, and I'm not sure if it's salvageable.
I'm also not sure the class of submarine, but it's the one with all the bunk beds in the center.

So, after a big battle south of Odessa, I destroyed the ships harassing me but not before being hit several times by ships and aircraft. Pretty much every room fore of the break room is full of water. The ship sunk to a depth of 120 meters before I abused fast travel a little and grounded it on the sea floor.
The reactor is fine, but the trouble is that the outside water is 1319 kPa, and now even at full power the bilge pumps don't move any liquid.

Is there any way out of this situation, or are the poor sailors doomed to stay under the sea until they starve?

[Tango589]

Originally Posted by kvn8907

I've got myself into a situation in the game, and I'm not sure if it's salvageable.
I'm also not sure the class of submarine, but it's the one with all the bunk beds in the center.

So, after a big battle south of Odessa, I destroyed the ships harassing me but not before being hit several times by ships and aircraft. Pretty much every room fore of the break room is full of water. The ship sunk to a depth of 120 meters before I abused fast travel a little and grounded it on the sea floor.
The reactor is fine, but the trouble is that the outside water is 1319 kPa, and now even at full power the bilge pumps don't move any liquid.

Is there any way out of this situation, or are the poor sailors doomed to stay under the sea until they starve?

It's my solemn duty to inform you that your crew have been lost at sea. May they rest in peace.

For what it's worth, the bilge pumps stop working below 100 meters, due to them not being powerful enough to overcome the outside water pressure. This makes any flooding a race against time to get the pumps running at full tilt, trying to keep your boat shallow, getting your most experienced welder kitted out with SCBA gear and welding like his bum depends on it!

[kvn8907]

:-(

Oh well, live and learn. I should have taken less damage, or blown ballast sooner, or fast traveled to shallow water sooner, or got someone welding sooner.

[TheGeoff]

Originally Posted by Tango589

Is it possible to increase the amount of info given in the orders to sink a particular ship, so the ship type is detailed along with the name? This would make submerged warfare more realistic, especially if you have to pick one target out of a battlegroup?

Good idea - should be easy to add, I'll put it on the list of things to do.

Originally Posted by Nickvr628

I volunteer for submarine duty to beta test your 3d sub game. I am longing for a submarine game until subnautica releases their first "real" submarine that you can walk around in.

It's nowhere near beta yet

Originally Posted by kvn8907

I've got myself into a situation in the game, and I'm not sure if it's salvageable.
I'm also not sure the class of submarine, but it's the one with all the bunk beds in the center.

So, after a big battle south of Odessa, I destroyed the ships harassing me but not before being hit several times by ships and aircraft. Pretty much every room fore of the break room is full of water. The ship sunk to a depth of 120 meters before I abused fast travel a little and grounded it on the sea floor.
The reactor is fine, but the trouble is that the outside water is 1319 kPa, and now even at full power the bilge pumps don't move any liquid.

Is there any way out of this situation, or are the poor sailors doomed to stay under the sea until they starve?

Unfortunately there is no way to save them - as Tango said, the bilge pumps stop working deeper than ~100m so it's important to fix the breaches as soon as possible.


The 3D sim is progressing very nicely. The physics model for the submarine is steadily improving, placeholder art inside the sub is steadily being replaced with new 3D models, and I've found some excellent rendering tools for the water and sky. I'm really pleased with how it looks so far - here are a couple of WIP screenshots (completely unedited, click for larger versions):

[Tango589]

Looks mighty fine so far Geoff, I can't wait to see more!

[TheGeoff]

A small new update has been released to fix a couple of bugs:

- Refitting in port now works correctly after the game has been saved/loaded. Torpedoes should now be placed in the proper positions and missiles are correctly reloaded.

- The crash which occurred shortly after a nuclear war breaking out has been fixed.

Please redownload the game to get the update. Note that save files from previous versions are unfortunately not compatible with this update.

[playful1510]

Unfortunately, I cannot get it to work properly on my computer. It opens, but then it closes within 5-10 seconds without any errors. Strangely enough, it works on my Win8 laptop, but not my Win7 desktop.

[TheGeoff]

Hmm. Try setting "OpenGL_graphics = 0" in the gameoptions.ini file, this has worked for others in the past.

If that doesn't work, try setting "debug_mode = 1" at the bottom of the gameoptions.ini file. This will let the game generate a file called 'debug_log.txt', which will describe what happened before the game crashed - email me the file (subcommandergame@gmail.com) and I'll see if I can figure out a solution.

[playful1510]

Originally Posted by TheGeoff

Hmm. Try setting "OpenGL_graphics = 0" in the gameoptions.ini file, this has worked for others in the past.

If that doesn't work, try setting "debug_mode = 1" at the bottom of the gameoptions.ini file. This will let the game generate a file called 'debug_log.txt', which will describe what happened before the game crashed - email me the file (subcommandergame@gmail.com) and I'll see if I can figure out a solution.

The OpenGL trick did it. I had tried to use debug mode before, and the log would just end in the middle of a line.

[Jimbuna]

Welcome to SubSim playful

[Aktungbby]

playful1510!

[Myxale]

Originally Posted by TheGeoff

versions):

Mighty Shiny. I had no idea you were already this far.

Kudos for sharing.

[TheGeoff]

Originally Posted by Myxale

Mighty Shiny. I had no idea you were already this far.

Kudos for sharing.

Thanks! It's progressing quickly now, but there is still a long way to go.

Here's an early work-in-progress shot of compartment 3, the control room of the Foxtrot class submarine:

Of course there is still a lot of detail to be added here, and basic graphical effects like shadows and bloom haven't been added yet.

All of the controls and dials here are completely functional - and accurately controlling the submarine's depth is quite a challenge! The Project 641 submarines (foxtrots) were built in the late '50s and early '60s before modern control systems automated any of the ballast system, so the 12 tanks must be manually flooded and blown using the wheels you can see in this screenshot. Pages 39-55 of this manual describe how the system works (it's a manual for a WWII US fleet boat but the same principles apply to most early cold war subs).

Of course if you don't feel like spinning the wheels and adjusting the dive plane levers yourself, you can have an AI crewman can do the job for you. Every station on the boat can be either AI or player controlled, so the game can be as complex or as simple as you want.