UBOAT News

Dear captains,

There is a new patch available for version 2025.1.1.

Localization:
- Japanese localization update by かねのもうじゃ.
- Russian localization update by Hard.

Periscope:
- Fix: The internal stabilization system for periscopes has been rewritten to prevent issues in specific scenarios - particularly when the periscope was only slightly extended and the U-Boat was surfaced. These issues could cause torpedoes to fire in unintended direction when the periscope was manually aimed at the target, and the "center" button could behave incorrectly.

Crew:
- Fix: Officers were loosing energy and could eventually die from overworking, if they were wounded or had a tuberculosis and were moved from officer bunks to certain bunks typically used by sailors.
- Fix: Delivering personal news to a sailor who couldn’t speak (e.g. due to injury) would cause the game script to freeze and stop progressing.
- Fix: The game now automatically unpauses when personal news are being delivered to a sailor.
- Fix: The selection highlight could remain stuck on a sailor after delivering personal news.

Missions:
- Fix: In tutorial mission 4, it’s now sufficient to dive close to the seabed rather than reach a fixed depth. The previous requirement could be problematic in certain areas.

UI:
- Fix (regression of 2025.1.1): Resolved several font rendering issues in Cyrillic languages on the in-game settings screen.

General:
- When the U-Boat is in “deck awash” mode, its visibility is now slightly reduced.
- Energy, air quality and stress levels are now recovering during time skipping (for example while loading cargo in port), if their gain value is positive.
- Fix: If submarine pens were built in a port in which U-Boat was currently docked and then another save file was loaded without leaving the port, many errors were appearing in the log.
- Fix: Additional fixes to smaller errors spotted in logs attached to bug reports.

Yours,
DWS

Dear Captains,

We are pleased to announce that the next update for UBOAT is now available for download.

Below is a quick overview of the changes included.

[h2]Reworked Deck Awash Mode[/h2]
We've reworked the deck awash mode to provide a more realistic experience. When activated, the crew now floods the bow and stern ballast tanks, keeping the U-boat partially submerged.

In this mode, it's possible to walk on the conning tower, provided weather conditions are favorable, but not on the deck. Additionally, diving from this mode is quicker.


However, using this mode reduces both speed and fuel efficiency significantly. It also makes ventilating the U-boat more challenging due to a risk of flooding.

[h2]Adjustable Realism Settings[/h2]
By popular request, realism settings can now be adjusted during a playthrough, with all changes reflected immediately. If you change your mind about any settings, it's no longer a requirement to restart the game.


The only exception is for those attempting to obtain the "Ace of the Depths" achievement. Changing realism settings during this attempt is restricted, as doing so would reduce the challenge required. If your game is eligible for this achievement, you will be asked for confirmation before any changes are applied.

[h2]More Frequent Encounters[/h2]
This version introduces a new realism setting, along with its associated mechanic, to increase the frequency of ship encounters at sea. It was primarily designed for newer players but may also appeal to hardcore players seeking more action.


By default, all ships in the world are simulated minding their own business without taking our U-Boats into consideration. This ensures a coherent and realistic baseline but carries the drawback that, despite playing optimally, you might experience extended periods without encountering ships if you simply have bad luck and look in the wrong areas.

With this new setting activated, the game will periodically generate additional ships to appear at opportune moments, ensuring continuous engagement. These ships can appear either as visual or hydrophone contacts, but always in a manner that maintains coherence. They will not appear in locations you've recently checked.

This setting is now enabled by default on non-hardcore realism presets.

[h2]GOG Updates[/h2]
This update also introduces achievements to the GOG platform. The Supporter Pack DLC will also appear there shortly.

[h2]Full changelog[/h2]
[expand]Localization:
- Japanese localization update by かねのもうじゃ.
- Russian localization update by Hard.
- French localization update by FvJ and Placebo.
- German localization update by Ruby.

New Features:
- Reworked the Deck Awash mode with a more realistic implementation. When activated, the crew now floods the bow and stern ballast tanks, keeping the U-boat partially submerged. Additionally, it's now possible to manually order partial flooding or blowing of tanks on the valves. It's possible to walk on the conning tower in this mode, if weather conditions are good, but not on the deck. It's also faster to dive from it. Use of this mode comes at a cost of a much lower speed and fuel efficiency. It also makes it harder to ventilate the U-Boat without flooding.
- Added a new optional mechanic that increases frequency of encounters on the sea, by generating additional groups that are less challenging to locate. It's possible to configure it in the realism settings of the game.
- Added achievement support and introduced the Supporter Pack in GOG Galaxy.
- Introduced the ability to adjust realism settings during a playthrough with changes applied in real-time. A warning is displayed if the changes affect eligibility for the "Ace of the Depths" achievement.

Crew:
- If the captain is wounded or away on an external mission, another officer is now issuing all orders.
- Fix: The captain no longer verbally cancels silent running mode during the quick return to port cutscene if it was previously active.
- Fix: Resolved an issue due to which crew members that entered ragdoll state in a certain spot of battery room no. 1 could sometimes fall through the floor and eventually drown on Type VII U-Boats.

Graphics:
- Fix: Sun lens flare is now properly occluded by clouds.
- Fix: Fixed flickering horizon visuals occurring when raising the free camera above a certain altitude.
- Fix: Corrected an issue causing sun lens flare to briefly shift positions on-screen after using the time skip feature.
- Fix (regression of 2025.1): Resolved an issue where bow spray effects were visible after loading a saved game, despite the U-boat being fully submerged.
- Fix (regression of 2025.1 Patch 9): Rain particles could spawn under roofs.

UI:
- Added a notification to inform the player about attacking a friendly unit and explain the associated consequences.
- Fix: It was possible to see NPC U-Boats outside the sight range after pressing ALT.

Missions:
- Added a new objective in the weather station placement assignments that reminds about picking up the deployed group from land.
- Fix: It was possible to receive attack on Scapa Flow assignment right after completing the tutorials.

Technical:
- Fix: Addressed one more issue preventing game state saving under certain conditions.

General:
- Compressed air reserves are now automatically refilled during quick returns to port.
- Realism preset selection is now a requirement when starting a campaign for the first time and all settings are on the defaults (the "Skip" button doesn't appear in such a case).
- Fix: Eliminated a delay causing crew portraits to appear approximately two seconds after loading a saved game, accompanied by noticeable performance lag.
- Fix: It's no longer possible to send a team to a merchant ship that is burning. The restriction on partially sunk ships was also increased.
- Fix: Eliminated incorrect reports of "smoke on the horizon" when observing units that do not produce considerable smoke (e.g., other U-boats or fishing boats).
- Fix: Extended the transmission duration of radio messages sent by command after attacking a friendly unit, ensuring players can receive the message even after prolonged dives.[/expand]
Yours,
DWS

Dear captains,

There is a new patch available for version 2025.1.

[h3]Crew:[/h3]
- Decreased the wind speed threshold at which the crew closes the external hatch when external hatch management is enabled. Previously, there was a range of weather conditions where seawater could easily enter the boat, yet the crew would still open the hatch for ventilation.
- Improved the simulation of water inflow through the external hatch. Previously, water could sometimes enter even when waves should have been deflected by the conning tower walls.
- It is now possible to order officers to perform certain tasks, such as blowing the ballast tanks or switching the power state of devices, even when they are choking due to unbreathable air in the compartment.
- General improvements to the behavior of characters choking due to unbreathable air in the compartment. Time compression is now always disabled when crew members begin to choke.
- Fix: When any of the central compartments on a Type VII U-Boat were evacuated, some idle sailors could sometimes behave erratically or attempt to pass through the evacuated compartments to reach a bunk on the other side of the boat.

[h3]Missions:[/h3]
- Fix: In the "Southern Routes" campaign objective, the number of performed ship inspections could sometimes continue to be registered even after reaching the gold level, causing the progress bar to display values such as: 16 / 15.

[h3]General:[/h3]
- Fix: The camera was getting too close to the attack periscope at the second zoom level, causing some UI elements to occlude the bearing.
- Fix: After opening the breech door and interacting with the stern tube on Type VII U-Boats, the ordnance management screen for the bow torpedo tubes was opening instead of the one for the stern.

Yours,
DWS

Dear captains,

There is a new patch available for version 2025.1.

[h3]Localization:[/h3]
- French localization update by FvJ and Placebo.
- Russian localization update by Hard.
- Japanese localization update by かねのもうじゃ.
- German localization update by Ruby.

[h3]Missions:[/h3]
- The tutorial missions can now be replayed multiple times.
- Fix: Resolved an issue that could prevent tutorial no. 4 from detecting when the player ordered the pump to be enabled, causing the tutorial to not progress.

[h3]U-Boat:[/h3]
- It is now possible to manually open/close, flood/drain, and launch torpedoes from tube V on Type VII U-Boats.
- The "Fresh air" modifier for air quality has been split into two separate modifiers: ventilation through the air intake on the bridge and ventilation through the external hatch. Additionally, it now takes significantly longer to fully ventilate the boat.
- Active ventilation is now much more effective on the surface than under the water, as it actively brings fresh air into the boat (rather than only circulating it).
- Improved movement through the hatch from battery room no. 1 to the control room in FPP mode on Type VII U-Boats. Previously, the movement through the hatch sometimes wasn't being triggered.
- The searchlight is now automatically turned off when the crew hides into the U-Boat during a dive.
- Navigation lights are now being enabled only when the U-Boat is near a friendly port or if friendly units are actually spotted.
- After starting a new game, the stern gyro angle receiver on Type VII now starts with a 180 degrees gyro angle set instead of 0 degrees. For the stern tubes, this angle means shooting straight ahead, making it a more appropriate starting value.

[h3]Crew:[/h3]
- Added a new mechanic with standing orders for the crew, allowing automation of certain tasks. These orders can be toggled on and off in the "Crew" screen under the "Boat" tab. Currently, there are three available standing orders:
---- Air compressor management: When active, the crew will power on the air compressors whenever the reserves are not full.
---- Lighting management: The crew switches to red lights at night, blue lights during a silent run, and normal lights in all other cases.
---- Main exterior hatch management: The crew closes the hatch during rain and rough seas and opens it in all other conditions to improve ventilation.
- Fix: Crew members could sometimes forget their movement path and stop executing their assigned orders when passing through a bulkhead that the player had ordered to be kept closed. When this issue was occurring, it could cause various side effects, such as the gyrocompass not being disabled after ordering a silent run or sonar decoys not being launched after player's order.
- Fix: The skipper would sometimes say, "Join the watch crew" without reason when a leader officer switched between the UZO and binoculars.
- Fix: If two crew members were ordered to open the same hatch, one would open it, but the second would close it again.
- Fix: Sailors would disappear from the conning tower and reappear on the deck after closing an external hatch following a direct order on certain U-Boat types.
- Fix: Sailors would sometimes close the external hatch from the wrong side. For example, a sailor on the bridge would sometimes descend into the conning tower instead of closing it directly from the bridge.
- Fix: If the player attempted to move a wounded sailor to bunks occupied by crew members playing cards, the warning message displayed did not accurately reflect the situation.
- Fix: Resolved a few minor issues with the sailor watching over the valves. After flooding the tanks, he was often leaving the station without a reason for a few seconds before coming back. Also, when an order was performed by him, an order bar was appearing in the global order queue in the corner of the screen, but it wasn't disappearing later on until a view was changed to a different one.

[h3]UI:[/h3]
- A warning is now displayed under the dive schedule if it is currently inactive, along with an explanation of how to activate it.
- Fix: The map can now be moved by clicking and dragging while selecting a destination square for a supply ship in the HQ.
- Fix: The rudder indicator in the upper-right part of the screen would sometimes rapidly switch between 0 and 1 degrees when the U-Boat was docked.
- Fix: After starting a dialogue with a lead officer, opening the reputation purchases menu, and then closing it, some UI elements would incorrectly appear during the dialogue, allowing unintended interactions that could break the UI.
- Fix: Resolved an issue where a damage notification would not disappear after all repairs were completed.
- Fix (regression of 2025.1): The "days later" label during quick travel was fading out along with everything else instead of remaining visible on the screen.

[h3]Technical:[/h3]
- Improved performance in the section view, with more noticeable improvements at higher texture quality settings.
- It is now possible to rebind the interaction hotkey from "E" to any other key.
- Removed a few memory allocations that could be avoided.
- Fix: Resolved one issue that could interfere with saving the game state.

[h3]AI:[/h3]
- Fix: Aircraft could, in rare cases, stop attacking the U-Boat without a clear reason.

[h3]Simulation:[/h3]
- Fix: Removed a discontinuity in TDC calculations that could make the parallax correction dial flicker between two values. It was happening in edge cases, such as when attempting to compute a solution for the forward tubes and a target behind the U-Boat.

[h3]Graphics:[/h3]
- Fix (regression of 2025.1 Patch 8): The U-Boat's hull could become completely black after docking and having the external damages repaired.
- Fix: Explosion effects could in some cases not have a shader loaded and appear partially or fully purple.

[h3]General:[/h3]
- Time compression and pause are now automatically disabled when entering an officer’s FPP mode (they can be toggled back).
- Fix: If the game was saved in an officer’s FPP mode (other than the skipper), it would often load in the skipper's FPP mode instead.
- Fix: If the game was saved in FPP mode, then after loading it and opening the TAB menu, officer portraits could be missing from the menu. They would only appear later after switching views.

Yours,
DWS

Dear captains,

There is a new patch available for version 2025.1.

UI:
- Fix: Issue with not being able to move a milk cow to another square in HQ.

Missions:
- Fix (regression of 2025.1 Patch 9): Warning shots above the huts in Hopen Island mission weren't detected by the game.

Yours,
DWS