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2024-10-31 Sea Power Day 4
2024-10-31T16:23:15Z Okay this day is already long way done for me, I spend a lot of time in mission editor at PMC DevSurf computer, chatting with Martin of Triassic Games in discord and only now mere half an hour ago or so switched to PMC Gaming computer and started to play.
Today there is a new Build #69 (14037) of Sea Power, I could not pick up anything interesting in the changelog like formation manager being broken, but there was note about sonobuoys, they cant detect surface ships anymore and convergence zone was removed, I can only assume that this means no more 35nm and 60nm detections like I had yesterday.
New version is: Sea Power 0.1.0.14037 (Stable #69)
So I restarted my Reuben James NACV mission, yes its terribly long and now that I'm playing it for the third time its going to be boring, been there done that and all, but its a mission I know well right now, so I thought I could get that sonobuoy detection stuff tested. Also I would like to see if game starts to stutter in this new version too, there was nothing in the changelog about such things but you never know what might cause it.
Maybe I should create some smaller more compact missions like lets say max 15-30min duration where I get to test various units and situations in the game, I cant rely on other peoples missions for testing I need to create my own. Would be nice to have basic quick shoot'em ups for ASW, anti surface group combat, aircraft carrier and hmm what else.
In-game 1985-06-26T08:12:06Z new passive contact from Reuben James towed array sonar from 60.62nm way, first catch of the day, cool! 
Moments later it was classified as either echo 2 or november, as I have played this mission two times before I would say that this early in the journey this is going to be the november.
Asked in Microprose Sea Power discord #sp-beta-team channel that can the game run on the background so I could write these war stories while ASW search is going on etc, Martin replied that there is a usersettings.ini line for RunInBackground which I can switch to true, but that feature is not fully tested yet, well let me be the first to test it then. I'm just not wanting to abort this mission right now, will play it out first I think.
In-game 08:41:58Z SH-2F sea sprite arrived at the scene of passive sonar contact, dropped AN/SSQ-53 and immediately got a new contact. This one now shows unknown contact, speed 5krs, course 145 and depth 35ft, hmm its on periscope depth, hoh.
Then dropped the helo to 20ft and streamed MAD, flew over the sub and got a hit. It was now classified as soviet sub, however still not visible in 3D game world.
In-game 08:53:41Z got the final classification, november class K-11, well hello old friend from previous gaming sessions, how are ya? 
She is now running 20kts, course 215 and depth 510ft, shes quite deep.
In-game 08:54:08Z SH-2F dropped MK-46 torpedo, attack is ON! 
About three minutes later torpedo hit, K-11 didn't hear it coming from the baffles, hit was kind of like upper back dunno how to describe, slightly on the right side (sorry still haven't googled port/starboard terminology, I'm busy playing haha). Propellers stopped, now its a waiting game to see what happens.
In-game 08:57:34Z K-11 started to surface, it actually raised the nose up a bit or bow how its called in submarines. It also looks like she got propulsion back.
I'm again so excited, so happy, so enthusiastic about playing Sea Powers that I'm almost shaking, this soviet sub hunting in northern atlantic ocean is so fucking cool I cannot describe it to words.
Same thing happened again, sub came to periscope depth 35ft or so, stopped there like on train tracks for a short moment, then started to dive again, propellers are running she is cavitating, speed 10kts.
In-game 09:07:08Z K-11 is now changing depths beween 441ft and 444ft, not sure why, I mean I remember this from Cold Waters when my los angeles class sub got hit it didn't maintain depth, I had to put over 10kts speed and use dive planes to keep her from sinking when there was flooding, maybe same thing is happening here now. Anyways I set helo to drop another sonobuoy in front of the sub just in case I would lose contact.
In-game 09:14:38Z was time accelerating a bit waiting to see what happens as K-11 was still far off from its torpedo range from my ships, so I had plenty of time. Now it started to dive deeper again, not sure if crew controlled or could this be soviet sailors losing the battle against flooding. Speed reduced to 5kts as well.
In-game 09:22:38Z guess soviet sailors saved the boat, she is now sailing solid 5krs, course 275 and depth 410ft again, not going up and down anymore. Very very interesting.
Also at this time I realized that Sea Power now runs in the background when ALT-TABbing to write this war story, so it read usersettings.ini during run time, cool
But now I have to pause the game to write these "In-game..." UTC timestamps, otherwise the time runs out on me while typing 
In-game 09:25:09Z decided to drop second MK-46 torpedo on K-11, its time to die.
She popped a noise maker and started to run.
In-game 09:26:59Z torpedo hit on the left side of the back, almost the same area as previous torpedo. Propulsion was knocked out but she was still maintaining depth. Now things get interesting, she is near dying for sure.
In-game 09:27:28Z she lost the fight, she died, its sinking now, bubbles coming out. Goodbye K-11.
2024-10-31T18:58:47Z Used quicksave F5 and exited Sea Power, time for a restroom break and to test if that quick save and quick load feature works.
2024-10-31T19:33:52Z hahaha, forgot to take the restroom break, was so excited to play, this is CRA-ZY!
Mission Restart
Anyways, in-game 07:50:30Z this is now a new mission run but well I wont list the full UTC. I got a new sonar contact, but it faded immediately, sending a helo there to investigate while I am now going to take that restroom break
In-game 08:21:05Z got another passive sonar contact which faded quicker than I managed to disengage time compression and go check what it is, but SH-2F is almost on top of it now, soon I'll get more intel.
In-game 08:24:14Z contact got classified as hostile submarine, speed 5kts, course 280 (shes turning) and depth 410ft. Yeah this feels like our old friend, K-11...
Moments later; oh didn't even notice while directing two other SH-2F's to drop sonobuoys by the convoy, now K-11 has been identified. Okay its time to attack.
In-game 08:29:39Z dropped MK-46 her. She immediately launched noise maker and ran away high speed.
In-game 08:31:03Z torpedo hit! This time it was on right side rear, not at the aft but between middle and aft, interestingly RIGHT SIDE propeller is out of the action but left side is still working, hey how cool is that! 
Soon after she is doing 10kts and surfacing, or well heading towards surface.
Next the exact same thing happened as before, sub got to periscope depth fast, then almost hit like a geometry block before reaching surface, then seconds later started to dive again. I wonder if there is some function missing like the crew getting into life rafts or something, I have seen it before but this feels like something goes wrong in this surfacing thing, it makes no sense for the sub to get into periscope depth and then dive back out again, or maybe I don't know how they will blow ballast or something at that depth safely, I didn't see any bubbles or hear any sounds so to me it looked like mechanical train track running to periscope depth and then function started again to make it dive. Dunno, I've seen this many times over, almost every time same thing happens.
BTW when the sub reached periscope depth unit information panel for a short time showed visual detection as one contact method, so guess my helo saw the sub even though I didn't see any masts what so ever in 3D game world.
In-game 08:36:16Z she imploded at 247ft depth, or maybe that was just something giving up not like a real implosion, but she started to sink as the icon in tactical display turned black/gray, she is gone. Another kill for me.
Then when I was typing the above timestamp there was another sonar contact, but this came from really crazy distance, from furthest sonobuoy to the closes tip of the yellow vague contact area circle, it was 179nm, now that is some huge distances. Hmm hmm 
Hmm that is so far out that I don't think I'm going to send a helo there to investigate, even if these current stable #69 build helos don't have any fuel usage, its still too far for helos. I mark tactical display and continue my search pattern until getting closer.
2024-10-31T20:51:33Z Now its time to grab a lunch break, my eyes feel somewhat tired already but I'm risking it, going to eat now which theoretically gives me 7hrs 30min of gaming time before sleep, but most likely I cant stay up that long as I already feel it on my eyes, but yeah, lunch break ...
2024-10-31T21:18:00Z Feeding time is over, back to Sea Power.
2024-10-31T22:04:00Z Now I'm again seeing those occasional game freezes, but they are very minor, still it has the same feel as days prior, it starts small and not very often, then increasing duration and shortening the time between them. Hopefully it wont get that bad on this new update released today.
In-game 18:27:32Z new passive sonar contact right next to my AN/SSQ-53 sonobuoy I just dropped, man this boat got close. Unknown contact, speed 5kts, course 236 and depth 230ft. Okay the hunt is on. This contact is 43nm away from Reuben James.
In-game 18:29:55Z contact classified as soviet sub. Possible matches charlie 1 and 2 and victor 3. Attack sub then, huh. Okay, bring it on baby. Edit: pay no mind, keep reading...
In-game 18:33:45Z its classified as charlie 2. Okay time to prepare helo for torpedo drop. Also charlie 2 class is not an attack sub, maybe my naval warfare skills aren't as sharp as they used to be, been a while since I did hardcore Cold Waters or CMANO game-play, charlie II class is guided missile submarine SSGN. This bitch carries the SS-N-9 Siren which got 59nm range, so its well within shooting range.
Oh crap! 
Okay I'm immediately ordering helo to drop two torpedoes, I'm not going to be messing around with this guy as its already within missile range. Man I've been so cocky in Reuben James NACV mission that it hasn't even come to my mind that I might actually get shot at some time, heh but this is now already in danger zone as charlie II got so close.
In-game 18:35:09Z ordered SH-2F right on top of the sub to fire 2 torpedoes, but unfortunately AI interpret it that he has to fly around for an better angle, so he didn't drop right away. Okay next time don't get right on top of enemy sub, you have to give some "targeting space" for the AI, gotcha.
In-game 18:36:13Z first torpedo hit charlie ii on starboard (heh I googled it!) side, not in the belly but directly in the side, it was between conning tower and stern. She still had propulsion.
In-game 18:37:03Z second torpedo hit port side almost at the same place as the first. Propulsion is now knocked out.
Oh right forgot to write it down in my excitement, this is charlie II class K-209.
In-game 18:37:53Z charlie II lost the battle, bubbles came out without any sounds and she started to sink to the bottom of the north atlantic ocean, goodbye K-209.
2024-10-31T23:56:36Z Crap, the stutters are back, so todays update stable #69 did not solve that issue, uh oh. Its now often getting a over 1sec freeze when selecting the next unit, at least when switching from helos to ships I think. Occasional but luckily not too often freeze just for no reason. I bet in few hours that occasional turns into every 30-60sec and that is a major pain then.
In-game 21:17:11Z new passive contact, no detected by info (maybe this is already disappearing when I managed to deactivate time compression), its location is super scary, its only 24.27nm away from Reuben James group! 
I immediately ordered ships to ahead 1/3 speed to reduce noise, then vectored nearest SH-2F to drop two sonobuoys along the contact path. Contact info is speed 3kts, course 147 and depth 32ft, oh wow its on periscope depth.
As soon as returned to real time again after issuing those orders and writing this text, contact faded.
In-game 21:29:38Z SH-2F dropped first sonobuoy N-NW side of the latest contact and contact was re-established.
Few moments later helo flew over the contact and got visual sighting as it said so in unit information dialog, however in 3D world I didn't see anything yet and it was still classified as unknown contact. Maybe it was a periscope so AI cant identify sub just by its periscope.
Hmm I bet this guy is the romeo, the location kind of feels like its where I whacked the romeo last time. This is bad to play same mission again without any randomization for enemies as seen here. I mean its a huge big open ocean so you cant point anywhere and say that the bad guy is there, but still, the general flow of the mission, this romeo is in the same general location it was before.
In-game 21:32:35Z contact was classified as romeo dimitrovski komsomol.
Dropped torpedo few minutes later but it missed on first pass, oh wow.
In-game 21:42:18Z MK-46 torpedo hit romeo dimitrovski komsomol in port side near stern, I believe I heard instant secondary explosion inside the sub, propulsion was knocked out.
In-game 21:43:16Z heard two explosions inside the sub, no bubbles or anything but camera shake activated, so something went badly wrong inside her tummy.
In-game 21:43:29Z bubbles erupted, she is sinking, another soviet sub kill for the US Navy helicoper pilots, hooyah!
Alright shifting focus to the northern sub contact, its now classified as soviet sub, echo 2 or november class. Speed 18kts, course 208 and depth 344ft.
In-game 21:47:58Z noticed that its now classified as echo 2 K-1. Hmm am I not remembering which subs have I killed so far in this mission repeat play sessions or is this K-1 a brand new enemy for me, hmm.
In-game 21:50:47Z MK-46 hit K-1 port side middle of the boat, propulsion was knocked out.
Hmm I'm hearing some odd whooshing sounds in repeat from the sub, hmm very strange.
In-game 21:53:56Z didn't even notice in the 3D view underwater that sub is now surfacing, let me guess; it stops at periscope depth like hitting invisible geometry block, then moments later starts to sink and goes down, hmm
Yep I was right, exactly as I said above. But once it reached 350ft depth contact faded, not sure if the 3D world view of this contact was just frozen in time when contact was lost, or is it really just floating in 350ft depth not sinking anymore, its still listed as alive in tactical display.
In-game 22:02:35Z echo 2 got propulsion back online, she is moving. Okay dropping another torpedo on it. In fact I'll just start dropping 2 torpedo salvos all the time from now on, just saves time with these odd periscope depth behaviors.
In-game 22:03:49Z weapon away!
In-game 22:04:50Z MK-46 hit echo 2 K-1 starboard side between stern and conning tower, propulsion was knocked out, again.
I'm hearing those whooshing sounds again, it doesn't sound like flooding to me or if its supposed to be that, water rushing inside a metal tube, its not a very good one.
In-game 22:07:10Z game over, bubbles come out, sub is sinking and tactical display shows black/gray map icon, she is dead.
2024-11-01T01:32:14Z As Sea Power was stuttering so much again I checked win10 task manager, was shocked to see my PMC Gaming computer 16gb RAM almost completely used, it was 90% usage, and maybe even more shocking was nvidia RTX 3060 12gb GPU at 98% utilization! Whoah what the hell, I have *NEVER* seen that with ANY game before!?
I mean its good that GPU gets utilization, but the system RAM and GPU this way, err is that legit, I mean could there be some memory leak or something on a long missions, how can that be as 16gb RAM even in 2024 should be plenty of enough and I would say the same for 12gb VRAM, I mean whats the alternative, was there 16gb VRAM version GPU's or does it immediately jump to 24gb mega monster GPU's then, hmm.
I think tomorrow I have to debug some more about this, like what is the stats in this mission right from the start. I'm speculating that those values might be really low, that would then suggest a memory leak. And my best bet is sonobuoys.
2024-11-01T01:41:02Z Okay I'm going to call it a night here, I'll do a quick win10 reboot to clear the memory, then launch Sea Power back up with task manager open, I want to see how RAM and GPU utilization looks on fresh boot. Overall I'm dead tired just snoozing off, I will struggle through that quick test but after that its good night.
Did PMC Gaming power off to clear RAM and everything, then launched only steam and Sea Power, well RAM usage was not the same it was like 47% and GPU VRAM was only 7gb also, but GPU utilization was massive 100% heh. So in that regard yeah I would say that either there is a memory leak or that there is some sort of texture buffer/cache which slowly fills up as you go along, that might explain the almost full VRAM use. Tomorrow I have to google minimum hardware specs too to double check what those say.
2024-11-01T01:54:50Z Now I'm dead tired, in full zombi mode, time to get some sleep, tomorrow Sea Power learning and most likely playing, perhaps mission editing as well, continues. Until then, good night.