subROV News

Hi subROVers! 😊

Jose writing -0.7.50 is up in the beta branch. Let's take a quick look:

[h3]New Creatures[/h3]
Here's the Giant Isopod, the great pillbug of the deep ocean,
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3252041736

And here's the Deepsea Lizardfish, Bathysaurus Ferox, with a slender body and many rows of fine, sharp, needle-like teeth.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3289980272

[h3]New Wreck[/h3]
I've added an I-201 class submarine to the Hawaii dive -just a small teaser here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3298609824
Note - I decided to not reset Hawaii's map, which might make it harder to find if you have already mapped the sub's location. If you have trouble finding it, just drop me a line.

[h3]Support for Logitech Extreme 3D Pro[/h3]
A kind player left a positive review even though I know for a fact they bought the game specifically thinking on playing with this joystick, and it didn't work. I owed to them to at least try supporting the joystick asap, and I'm very happy that it's now working.

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

• Fixed/Dives: Several creatures were being placed twice on the seafloor, which sometimes caused issues that would prevent them from behaving as expected.
  

[h3]Notes[/h3]

• IMPORTANT: Just reiterating from the previous versions - It looks like there's been cases when, after updating the game to 0.7.40 and beyond, it starts with a low or incorrect screen resolution -or rather, it detects more options than before, and applies the "index" of the one it had previously selected, which is now wrong. That's my best bet at the moment and I don't know if it's worth forcing a "re-choosing". I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know if it's happened to you, and your thoughts on it.
  

[h3]What's Next?[/h3]
A serious family emergency in late May has demanded most of my time since, which is forcing me to have to move things around in the schedule. I expect to have this version in Beta for a few short days -a week at most-, then roll it to the default branch (everyone) as a major update, which it really is. Then I'll prioritize the Titanic. The first iteration of the model is finished, and I'll be working on the dive next.

That's all for now -have fun exploring!

PS. I always appreciate reviews, good or bad, but the latest few reviews have meant the world to me, moreso if they came from people playing the regular, non-beta version, which is now quite far behind. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Hi subROvers! 😊

Jose here -0.7.41 is up in the beta branch. Let's take a look at the changes:

[h3]Revised Manual[/h3]
The manual is now up to date with all the new recently added features.

[h3]New Creatures[/h3]
Here's the Frilled Shark, with its many rows of teeth and characteristic gills,
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3246340399

And here's a complete revision of the Angler Fish (Melanocetus), based on this sighting from MBARI
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3233668029

[h3]New Music[/h3]
There's several new tracks, adding to around 40m of in-dive music. I will make all the music available in various ways later this year.

[h3]External Camera Improvements[/h3]
I've revised the "External Camera Terrain Avoidance System" to tackle edge cases where the corner of the view would sometimes show the back of the terrain (particularly when moving the camera fast against it), and I've changed the way the camera moves so it keeps its height, instead of descending towards the ROV. I've also added camera glitches to the "entry" and "exit" points: right now it's eye candy but I'm considering making this camera damage-able in the future.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3246527023

[h3]New Screen Glitch sound[/h3]
I've added a "bzzt" sound to all the cameras' visual glitch effect. It's meant to be subtle, and it might be too soft: I chose to err on the side of caution and revise later if needed.

[h3]Added Steam player Name and Icon to the Profile[/h3]
This is a small, safe feature I wanted to add before I tackle more serious steam integrations like cloud save or achievements.

[h3]Bug Fixes and Other Improvements[/h3]

• Fixed/Dives: if you docked the ROV with the TMS while it was ascending (with D.Pos on), D.Pos apparently disconnected itself, but if you released the ROV again, the TMS started ascending on its own. This was reported by Venator Draw, who is a veritable saint and waited patiently until I could see this properly.
  
• Fixed/Dives: Underwater environmental light still active after ROV resurfaces (a faint bluish hue).
  
• Fixed/Menu: The profile in pause menu doesn't load saved data (from v0.7.40).
  
• Fixed/Dives: Barrels' icons in San Pedro don't have correct proportions.
  
• Improvements/Dives: In San Pedro, the barrels' icons will now appear as big exclamation mark on the map when pinged with the SONAR. This should make them more obvious as points of interest.
  
• Improvements/Dives: Revised Tokelau's objectives' description (after player feedback).
  
• Adjusted benthic fish collision/school behaviors to help avoid terrain clipping.
  

[h3]Notes[/h3]

• The volume I recommend for in-dive music volume is somewhere around 70, regardless of adjustments to individual tracks that I will probably make over time. New installs will have this value by default, but I'm not going to force the change when updating from 0.7.40, since it's minor and subjective.
  
• There is a persistent bug with fish behavior whereby they sometimes get into the terrain. I'm very much aware of it and I've done various tweaks to the underlying code to mitigate it. I'm not discarding a major revision in the future, but I'm giving priority to adding content at the moment.
  
• IMPORTANT: It looks like there's been cases when, after updating the game to 0.7.40, it starts with a low or incorrect screen resolution -or rather, it detects more options than before, and applies the "index" of the one it had previously selected, which is now wrong. That's my best bet at the moment and I don't know if it's worth forcing a "re-choosing". I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know if it's happened to you, and your thoughts on it.
  

[h3]What's Next?[/h3]
The next goal is adding three new creatures: the Mariana snailfish, the Giant isopod, and the Lizardfish. Now, I can incorporate the lizardfish to existing dives, but the isopod and snailfish both demand the Challenger Deep Dive, so I'll be adding this new dive too. I don't have an ETA for this -we have a system in place to address technical issues derived from deep dives, but the Challenger Dive will test the literal limits of the game. In principle I'll give it 1-2 weeks, and if I see it's going to take more time, I'll roll this update to everyone.


[h3]Final thoughts[/h3]
As always, I appreciate all and any constructive feedback you have, and I take it to heart, so please do get in touch!

Also, if you enjoy subROV and would like to support the game, please leave a review. If It reaches 50 with the current ratio, it will give it a nice boost -not to talk about the morale boost it gives me 😊

Anyway, thank you so much!

et Monsieur Venator,
"Tu réclamais le TMS ; il descend, finallement ; le voici :
Une atmosphère obscure enveloppe le ROV,
Aux uns portant la paix, aux autres le souci."

(merci bien mon ami)

[h3]Teaser[/h3]

Hi subROvers! 😄

Jose here -I've just uploaded version 0.7.40 to the beta branch. I still have to update the game manual, but I didn't want to delay it any further. I will summarize the main changes here:

-First of all, in this update we've upgraded the engine from unity 2018 to 2022. This is a huge change in and of itself; it was not in my plans initially (I'm not a fan of big upgrades/engine changes mid-project), but with the extra help thanks to the grant, I decided it was worth the risk. Being on a current version is of course always desirable, though it was a big jump and we've had to revise many systems.

If only for this reason, this beta is much more of a beta than previous updates. We've tested and re-tested everything, but consider it more risky than usual.

-The update will reset two dives: tokelau (solaris) and san pedro (barrels). Players had reported a few bugs related to those two, and in revising them I changed a few elements that demanded the reset. This should only affect the dive objectives. not the uncovered portion of the maps or any other elements of the progression.

-There are new mappings for a few control bindings both for the keyboard and gamepad, but I've decided not to reset the mappings so you won't have to redo any custom bindings. If you want to give them a try, simply reset them in the settings and you will get the new bindings.

-On that topic, the in-dive help screen has changed slightly, and now includes information on the keybindings for turbo lift (which by default are now PageUp and PageDown).

-There's a new in-dive pause menu that you can access at any time during dives by pressing Esc. This is actually a subset of the main menu including the Profile, Gallery, and Settings windows, plus the feedback button. Sending feedback from the pause menu is now the way of sending feedback during dives, to keep the system consistent across the game.

-There's a new button in the game panel, named EXT, to the right of the ROV camera buttons. If you have an external display, this button will be active while you have the ROV screen ON, allowing you to send the view to the secondary monitor. Note that this view is intended for observation purposes, and as such, both camera movements and interface (HUD) elements will be disabled while it is engaged.

-There's a new damage system that presently affects the ROV camera -if you hit something with the ROV, you will see the view flickering. In this version, the camera will shortly recover on its own, so the damage is more aesthetic than anything, but the underlying system already in place allows for both progressive and permanent damage, and it can be used with other systems (e.g. the arm). I expect to use it to its full capabilities in the future.

-There's a new "collision avoidance system" that prevents the external camera from clippiing with the terrain.

-There's new in-dive music! It's sparse, with long pauses in between tracks, to avoid getting too much in the way of what you're doing. There's also a new dedicated slider in the settings menu to change its volume specifically (and now you can bring the menu up any time during dives, so you can change it right away).

-We've revamped the save system and added a crash recovery - the game takes snapshots at various times during dives, and tries to recover them when you re-enter the main menu after a crash. We haven't experienced any crashes since I corrected last year's error (which was my mistake entirely, not a bug), but if a crash does happen, we hope to have the bases covered.

-We have optimized and/or revised many game elements, and also fixed many bugs. There's one that I still haven't looked at -In certain circumstances the TMS starts either pulling the ROV towards it, or ascending without stop-. I had to set it aside in light of these other priorities, but I'm very much aware of it. There's also cases where it seems that the game doesn't pick the best possible resolution by default, so if that happens to you, just head to settings and readjust. I'm investigating this but I haven't figured out why it's happening (yet).

This is the list of (main) new changes in the update. I wanted to play things safe, so I've left aside a few experimental features for now, and I've limited it to tech features. I would be very grateful if you try it and report anything you find. If things go well (as I expect), the next update will take much less time to prepare.

Thank you for your patience and support - Happy subROVing! 😄

PS. HUGE thanks to Stephen Strong and Mika Pieck. Stephen programmed the new features, and Mika did several rounds of thorough testing. This work has only been possible thanks to them.

Hi subROvers! 😄

Jose speaking -I've promoted the 0.7.39b version from beta to default. I haven't had any issues after extensive testing, and several players have confirmed that it fixes the crashes in their systems.

In case you wonder, the reason why this is 0.39b instead or 40 is because it's the same version feature-wise, but it's 64-bit. The reason why the game was crashing was simply that I made a script to automate builds and I made a mistake, writing -buildWindowsPlayer instead of -buildWindows64Player. This means I was making 32-bit builds of the game, which impose restrictions in memory that resulted in crashes. Unfortunately, in trying to find the cause for these crashes I investigated everything but overlooked the (32) in the Task Manager 😂 ( 😭 )
So, after a series of facepalms and "I can't believe it!"s (I really couldn't believe it), I uploaded a 64-bit build, and things went back to normal. In any case, the silver lining is that I've a.inspected the game in detail, optimized several elements (more improvements to come), and b.made a priority of revising the save system (credit goes to the fantastic new programmer on board!). The new save system will come in the next update, and hopefully there will no more 2 hours wasted because of a crash, if or when it happens again.
I would like to thank everyone who's helped navigate this situation for their patience and kindness. I'm incredibly happy that it's solved, and I hope you'll enjoy the game and have the best of times these Holidays.

Happy subROVing! 😄

PS. I'll try to find time next week to write a recap and a "things to come next year"; If I don't, it's because I'm swamped with work, but rest assured, there's lots of progress and I'm doing my best so you can see it asap.

Fixes:
-Memory-related crashes experienced by players in various systems since August.

Hello subROVers! This news bit is unusual; the update is small, but the events are significant!

[h3]Game Update[/h3]

This update adds the Chaunacops, a kind of angler fish that regularly shows up in livestreams and always cheers everyone up. It has a unique charm and we're very happy to have it in the game, complete with its characteristic pose on the seafloor and bioluminescent lure. Adding this fish has been a bit of a challenge (even after all the preparatory work we had done on the tripod fish), but we think it's more than worth it.



Related to fish, we've revised their movement code to address edge cases. We've also started an optimization pass to improve the game's performance (it's the tip of the iceberg -see below).

[h3]Developer's blog[/h3]

Hello again! 😁 I'm Jose, the game's developer. Usually I write as 'we' to reflect that there's other people's work in the game, though the studio is "just me". I'm switching to 1st person now because this is a personal note, and I think it will help you understand some of the things I have to explain.

So, without further ado: The game has been awarded a grant from the Spanish Government. The grant will allow me, among other things, to commission artwork and bespoke models, and get a second programmer on board to help with a few important tasks:

• We are already undergoing an optimization pass, and we'll look into upgrading the engine (unity) and several other systems in the weeks ahead.
  
• We'll also revise the save system and we're considering ways to make the mission system more flexible, so it's easier for me to put new dives together, and they're more efficient to handle internally.
  
• We'll research fully procedural dives. I can't promise that there will be procedural dives in the finished item, but now there is time allotted to do a full investigation.
  

Paradoxically, even though there's lots going on, for a while it might look on the surface like the game is not moving forward. This is because I (alone) still have to add all items to the game and design the dives, and currently I'm doing lots of production work (getting the new programmer on board, finding contractors, etc). Also, the revisions listed above are not minor, so it might be not be possible to upload builds while they're underway. In any case, I'll keep you up to date through the forum, or maybe through new developer logs like this one.

By the way, I want to say thanks to everyone who's getting in touch, showing support, sending suggestions, or being vocal about things that don't work or could improve. Everything helps! I entered the game into Early Access precisely because I needed to have these interactions. You truly help me make a better game.

As always, happy subROVving!

[h3]Full Log[/h3]

New Features/Improvements:

• Dives: Added the Chaunacops Fish to the Hawaii, Vents, Humboldt, and Tokelau Dives.
  
• Dives: Revised flocking algorithm to improve behavior when close to the ground.
  
• General: Revised sizes of several background and models' textures for consistency + internal cleanup.
  
• General: Revised ship and TMS light setup for efficiency.
  
• General (internal) removed components that were meant only for editor use in several models.
  

Known Bugs

• Dives: Game sometimes crashes with no warning when entering/exit dive (happens rarely).
  
• Dives: Game crashes on Steam Deck when entering a "second dive".
  
• Dives: TMS ascends on its own when disconnecting TMS with H active, then reconnecting TMS.
  
• Dives: Barrel's dive objectives window does not show sample collection sub-tasks properly when leaving mid-way and re-entering the dive.
  
  

[h3]Get In Touch[/h3]
Here's a list of the many ways in which you can reach us:

• From the game -press F8
  
• Through the forum right here on Steam
  
• Through our Discord Server,
  
• Through Twitter,
  
• Through mastodon,
  
• By email (info 'at' sqr3lab.com)
  

[h3]Support subROV[/h3]

If you enjoy subROV and would like to support us, please leave a review. It helps a lot!