Ships act like they don't have a keel

[krysohmyz]

Since one or two updates ago, big ships (Buq and Brig in particular) act weirdly. It's fine the first time I load up the game, but after sleeping they start acting like they lost the keel. They yaw wildly from side to side. With the wind across the beam it's unmanageable. Buq especially can sway 90 degrees left and right, Brig is a bit better but even there things like using navigation instruments is completely out of the question.
The only way to fix this is to quit and reload the game after waking up.
I've stopped playing when this started to happen, and come back after every update to see if it's gotten better but so far no luck.
So I'm interested in how many people (if any!) experience this. Because if it's just me, that really sucks.

[ElGordo]

Yes. I thought maybe this was how it was supposed to act. (I have no previous exp w sailing) Spent a couple days testing and can confirm Im seeing this too. Im not sure if its 1 sleep or 2 but a save and reload def fixes it. My Brig which I've spent alot of time and money to get nice and stable is now flopping around like a dying fish if I play too long wo a reload.

[krysohmyz]

Originally posted by ElGordo:

Yes. I thought maybe this was how it was supposed to act. (I have no previous exp w sailing) Spent a couple days testing and can confirm Im seeing this too. Im not sure if its 1 sleep or 2 but a save and reload def fixes it. My Brig which I've spent alot of time and money to get nice and stable is now flopping around like a dying fish if I play too long wo a reload.

Thank you!
At least I know I'm not crazy.
Now let's just hope the author does something about it or it sorts itself out in one of the physics updates.
Because as of now, sailing Sanbuq is downright impossible and sailing the Brig kind of annoying. Mainly because of the impossibility of precise navigation. Not only beause it's hard to get an exact reading due to all the swaying but because when you go to sleep and the ship locks the course, if it happens at the wrong enough time, you can easily end up going like 20-60 degrees off the desired course.
Oh well.

[boris.glevrk]

last time I played was in May and there were no such issue... swaying 90 degrees is definitely wrong.

[taylortooned912]

im having this same issue as well. borderline game breaking especially in the buq compared to the brig. seems like its rudder related maybe? the steering in the buq is super twitchy and unrealistic when the bug is happening. also makes it near impossible to hold a course.

[krysohmyz]

Originally posted by taylortooned912:

im having this same issue as well. borderline game breaking especially in the buq compared to the brig. seems like its rudder related maybe? the steering in the buq is super twitchy and unrealistic when the bug is happening. also makes it near impossible to hold a course.

Yes, exactly. Who knows whether it's rudder-related or just that the physics breaks, somehow, and the ship has no lateral inertia or something like that.
If any of you have a Discord, you could try bringing it up there as well, this forum doesn't seem very lively. And considering the dev posts are out of date horrifically, Lion probably doesn't even visit it here, anymore.

[ling.speed]

I've seen screenshots of boats drifting many months ago on discord, its probably tricky to nail whats causing it. Never had it myslef. This forum runs so calmly that im sure dev is visiting it.

If i was to make a far fetched prediction, its something that only specific CPUs can get. Hope it gets fixed soon but sometimes these things take time when you dont have a machine that can reproduce on hand.

[krysohmyz]

Originally posted by ling.speed:

I've seen screenshots of boats drifting many months ago on discord, its probably tricky to nail whats causing it. Never had it myslef. This forum runs so calmly that im sure dev is visiting it.

If i was to make a far fetched prediction, its something that only specific CPUs can get. Hope it gets fixed soon but sometimes these things take time when you dont have a machine that can reproduce on hand.

CPU (or simply performance) is a good bet, I think.
I now remember there were some weird things happening in relation to certain FPS counts that got patched recently. Maybe it's also related.
I will try fumbling around with the game performance, V-sync, frame caps and other stuff in the Adrenalin and see what happens.
Thanks for a potentially helpful pointer.

[Spark Sunbright]

I've seen the same issue on my system with the Sanbuq. I had removed the mizzen without centering the main, so I simply assumed it was because the only sail was too far forward on the deck, but if others are having the same problem, I can only conclude that, though it may be specific to certain systems, nevertheless there's an issue with the game physics that is causing it.

[krysohmyz]

Originally posted by Spark Sunbright:

I've seen the same issue on my system with the Sanbuq. I had removed the mizzen without centering the main, so I simply assumed it was because the only sail was too far forward on the deck, but if others are having the same problem, I can only conclude that, though it may be specific to certain systems, nevertheless there's an issue with the game physics that is causing it.

Thanks for another data point. I shall try experimenting with sail balance. I usually try to have the sheets balances on centre to minimise rudder drag or with a slight forward bias (it helps with stability on some ships).
So far I've managed to find a partial workaround (partial because it only fixes the symptom, not the underlying physics bug) but if I load my ship towards the bow, it lifts the rudder out of the water and that seems to lower the effect its erratic movements have on the oscillations.
We'll see what happens in the next update.

[boris.glevrk]

I sailed for the first time in a few months and here's my take:
It's not CPU, it's not hardware. It's rudder reaction and turning authority.

First thing I noticed after coming back to helm is how slow the rudder wheel reacts. This includes the automatic "stabilization".
When you are sailing anything but downwind (running), your front and back sails would each create considerable turning effect, that has to be smoothed by rudder.
especially when you are using a ship like Sanbuq that usually, under player customization, has a tendency to turn into the wind (lateen sail problems), that would require some serious rudder input.

But that rudder input now reacts very slowly to your front/back sails fighting for turning the ship, hence the yaw shake. Not to mention that rudder often gets out of water in rough seas and loses turning authority.

Also I think the lateral thrust (=sail-induced turning) has been buffed, further complicating the issue.

[gregoriskat]

Originally posted by boris.glevrk:

last time I played was in May and there were no such issue... swaying 90 degrees is definitely wrong.

You think everything is fine, The game is crazy,constant headwinds winds and huge waves like a mountain. We have said this a hundred times but nothing has been fixed until now.
in real life there are not typhoons every day all the time nor do the islands have wind turbines that drive away the ships.
Only masochists enjoy this game.

[NoStinkingBadgers]

Same thing's been happening to me. If you get into the dead spot after sleeping a couple times, you can't get out until you save/quit and start again.

[gregoriskat]

Originally posted by NoStinkingBadgers:

Same thing's been happening to me. If you get into the dead spot after sleeping a couple times, you can't get out until you save/quit and start again.

In the discord there are mod that make the waves very small and the winds favorable,only with them You can play this game without your face turning red from your nerves.

[ElGordo]

Sadly, this issue is still present after the new patch. I have a couple of short videos of it happening so maybe I should go look into putting em on the discord.

[NoStinkingBadgers]

Thanks gregoriskat for the tip. I'll keep the normal wind patterns for the randomness and to have the need to tack though. If there was a mod to slightly reduce the frequency of storms, I might install that.