Sunless Sea - Unity 5 build testers needed!

[Liam Welton]

Hi all,

As you all probably know, we're currently developing Zubmariner, the expansion for Sunless Sea. We began work on this a few months ago and took the decision to develop it within the latest version of the Unity Engine, Unity 5.

While have been working in Unity 5 for a while now and have found that the core experience of playing Sunless Sea remains completely unchanged, it gives us access to a whole range of new tools and opens up a lot of exciting opertunities for the game.

We're keen to move across future builds of both Sunless Sea to Unity 5 so that everyone can take advantage of the enhancements we are going to introducing in future, but in order to do that we want to make 100% sure that it is stable. Which is where you come in!

We're looking for people willing to switch over to a beta build of Sunless Sea running in Unity 5 on Steam. As we say, there should be no differences between the current version and this new version, it's just to test it's stability. All that said, we would strongly recommend you backing up old save files before switching, just to be on the safe side.

To switch to the beta branch, right-click on Sunless Sea in your Steam library and go to Properties. From there, navigated to the Betas tab and enter the beta access code 'absinthegreen'. Your version of Sunless Sea should now have the suffix '[testing]', and when you start the game up you should see the Unity logo as a splash screen.

If you do opt into this beta, please let us know in this thread. If you experience any issues while on this branch, drop us an email at [e-mail] and be sure to mention you're on the beta branch.

Many thanks in advance! We're really excited about the opportunities open to us with this move to Unity 5 and look forward switching over soon.

[the-truthseeker]

It's Liam! *waves*

Oh, right the request.

I'm assuming it should port over all existing games, so I'll do it. Since I'm playing Merciful currently, I will simply make sure I save my game before and after the Beta conversion, just in case. If it doesn't work or crash with Unity 5, did you want us to report that just on the email, or here also and/or somewhere else?

[Prophet]

Alright, just put in the beta code, I do not have a [development] suffix, but a [testing] one. I do not see a Unity splash screen, just the regular Failbetter Logo followed by the Joseph Conrad quote before the main screen.

Currently listed version 1.0.2.2029

[Liam Welton]

Hi Truthseeker! Yup, it should work with all the same save files, as I say it's practically excatly the same code in there at present. if you do find any issues, please send us a support ticket to the email address rather than this thread (we get pestered more internally by people to clear our support tickets :D)

Prophet, I've just updated the post because, as you suggested, it should have the suffix [testing], not [development].

Strange though, it doesn't sound like you're currently on the testing branch. I would suggest closing and opening Steam to see if that switches you across (sometimes the client can think you've switched but it actually hasn't downloaded the new build yet).

Many thanks!

L

[Darkstrong]

Liam, I have the same problem as Prophet. I tried rebooting the Steam client just in case, thou it did download something after I switched to [testing]. The only change ingame that I noticed was a slight, but noticeable drop in performance (or was it the return of the old time stuttering?)

[Prophet]

I have tried unsubscribing from the beta and then resubscribing. Each time, Steam downloads something in regards to Sunless Sea in and around 75mb. I've rebooted my computer, closed steam, opened up steam and still do not see the Unity logo and current listed version remains at 1.0.2.2029.

[Cedarcomb]

I concur; same results as above, even after uninstalling and reinstalling the game. Do you maybe have to enter something into the 'set launch options' box after opting into the beta?

EDIT: I do notice that although the game shows as 'Sunless Sea [testing]' in my games list, when it's actually running it changes to 'Sunless Sea - Running'. That definitely suggests to me that it's still on the old version, as I'd have thought the new version would have said 'Sunless Sea [testing] - Running' when it did that.

[Feayr]

I'd be interesting in trying out the Unity 5 version of Sunless Sea as well. I'll give it a go this weekend and see how things work.

Edit: Yeah, I'm running into the same result of no Unity splash screen as the rest of them. I did have to "download new stories" again, however - unless the game has received another update since Christmastide, I think that's new.

Cedarcomb, mine does the same as yours. It's just at 'Sunless Sea - Running'.

[Liam Welton]

Hi all,

Sorry about that, there appears to have been a mistake at our end. If you restart your Steam client, you should now have the right build.

Many thanks!

Liam

[Cedarcomb]

Okay, it's working now - Unity logo screen to begin with, V1.1.0.2189. Observations so far, with some screenshots:

* While first booting the game, the video setting had returned to 'Adequate' and so disabled screen effects; there were also only three graphic detail settings (Adequate, Charming, Sublime) when I remember there being five before. I am also unable to change the resolution to my monitor's native 1920x1080, which the previous version had no problem with, although every other resolution seems to be working.

* There are some horizontal lines on the seascape of the title screen which I don't remember being there before, although this might be related to the screen effects not working properly.

http://s1374.photobucket.com/user/Cedarcomb/media/ss-title_zpsasleq5hy.png.html

* The ingame text seems to be a little finer and not as easy to read, although this might be down to my not using my usual resolution and might be an intentional font change.

http://s1374.photobucket.com/user/Cedarcomb/media/ss-text_zpssu4mwkto.png.html

* I was testing this with a new captain and I bought a merchant ship for the first time; I noticed that although I was able to equip items to the aft slot, it was still greyed out like it was for the starting ship.

* Zee-bat graphic isn't working properly; it functions fine as it you let it loose and then a few seconds later you receive a navigation message, but you don't see it fly off and return. When I hit the button a black shape appeared at the rear of my ship, and stayed there until disappearing with the navigation message.

* Fog is completely messed up. Easier to show than explain.

http://s1374.photobucket.com/user/Cedarcomb/media/ss-fogbank_zpsdbjzoihw.png.html

EDIT: Running on an AMD Radeon 6670 with official drivers if it matters.

[Darkstrong]

Most of the points that Cedarcomb mentioned, except in my case the "fog" was completely black and opaque.
I also get a significant drop in performance when screen effects are on (from 60fps without to 10-15fps with screen effects) which I had no problems with on previous version.
Also, the graphics used to look a little bit better, now, they look somewhat blurred.

[Liam Welton]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the feedback! Please remember to send them to [e-mail], it'll be easier for us to monitor them from there.

Liam

[Skinny Pete]

I am on Mac with the latest Yosemite, and have the same issue with lighting/fog, where portions of the screen are entirely invisible behind fog.

Here's an example:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=607050469

Another oddity is that when I attempted to save manually, it wouldn't allow me to change the name of the file, simply ignoring keyboard input.

[gkender]

Do you all still need people to help out?

Also, once we opt into the Unity testing, is there a way to opt out?

(Sorry if it was mentioned earlier and I missed it.)

[brisktea]

Opted in.

[Kalesin]

Tonight I try the beta; have a preference (pc desktop, laptop, all).

We have some news of Zubmariner?

Thanks and good luck.