Is the new Experimental mode causing visual issues? Here's how to remedy it!
Tarkannen
North Carolina Join Date: 2016-08-15 Member: 221304Members
North Carolina Join Date: 2016-08-15 Member: 221304Members
So, earlier this month Obraxis asked us to test out new Experimental stability changes and give feedback regarding the much improved gameplay changes. I decided to stay with the Experimental mode, both to test further changes to the game and to see what new stuff would go 'live' in the game as it was added. I slowed down gameplay a bit until the next Stable update hit, then decided to restart a new save file. Upon doing so, I learned that some of the game's models were messed up, most noticeably the Peeper model. But that didn't bother me that much, so I decided to keep on playing the game regardless. Well, minor stuff kept happening, such as various fragments spawning on the surface of the ocean... but this unusual change was fun as I was able to unlock the Seamoth, Bioreactor, Scanner Room instantly without any exploration. But what broke the straw for me was the severe oddity of the SeaGlide, either spazzing out when standing still or when swimming around. 
After this I decided to switch over to Stable mode, and continue my trials on 4546B. But upon trying to load my game, I got this error message regarding my save file. For some reason the game won't load the file, as it assumes the build number is too high for the engine to run. But I was not willing to restart over again, even with console-commanding my way back to where I was before... there had to be a way to force the game to load my save file! After some poking around and research, I was able to resolve the problem! In short, if you're having the same issue and want to do this, it should let you convert over just like I did:
1. Make SURE you've set your Subnautica setting from Experimental to NONE first! Else this won't do any good.
2. Locate your Subnautica save file, typically at \Steam\steamapps\common\Subnautica\SNAppData\SavedGames\slotXXX
3. Open the GAMEINFO.JSON file with either Notepad or some other text editor
4. You'll notice some entries in this file, I'll note my observations here as well:
* gameTime, dateTicks and startTicks have something to do with the time passage in your file, and how long you've played
* userName is your Windows profile name, and machineName is whatever nickname you've set for your system
* cyclopsPresent, seamothPresent and basePresent likely flag whether you've built said items in the game (and likely flag the file icons)
* gameMode is likely whichever of the four game mode options you chose: 0=Survival, 1=Freedom, 2=Hardcore, 3=Creative
* isFallback I have no idea what is for or it does...
5. This leaves the final entry "changeSet" to behold. This simple number dictates what engine build you're on!
6. Just change the changeSet value to the current Stable build, which at this time is "52328". Save the file, and close all your windows.
Now when you start Subnautica and choose Play, your greyed-out file should show back up aqua blue and playable once more! Not only that, but the graphical issues of the Peeper and SeaGlide are fixed, and I've yet to encounter anything weird in my game since. Hopefully this will let everyone else be able to play the game without frustrations while the devs iron out these minor issues. Keep up the great work devs, we appreciate all that you do!
After this I decided to switch over to Stable mode, and continue my trials on 4546B. But upon trying to load my game, I got this error message regarding my save file. For some reason the game won't load the file, as it assumes the build number is too high for the engine to run. But I was not willing to restart over again, even with console-commanding my way back to where I was before... there had to be a way to force the game to load my save file! After some poking around and research, I was able to resolve the problem! In short, if you're having the same issue and want to do this, it should let you convert over just like I did:
1. Make SURE you've set your Subnautica setting from Experimental to NONE first! Else this won't do any good.
2. Locate your Subnautica save file, typically at \Steam\steamapps\common\Subnautica\SNAppData\SavedGames\slotXXX
3. Open the GAMEINFO.JSON file with either Notepad or some other text editor
4. You'll notice some entries in this file, I'll note my observations here as well:
* gameTime, dateTicks and startTicks have something to do with the time passage in your file, and how long you've played
* userName is your Windows profile name, and machineName is whatever nickname you've set for your system
* cyclopsPresent, seamothPresent and basePresent likely flag whether you've built said items in the game (and likely flag the file icons)
* gameMode is likely whichever of the four game mode options you chose: 0=Survival, 1=Freedom, 2=Hardcore, 3=Creative
* isFallback I have no idea what is for or it does...
5. This leaves the final entry "changeSet" to behold. This simple number dictates what engine build you're on!
6. Just change the changeSet value to the current Stable build, which at this time is "52328". Save the file, and close all your windows.
Now when you start Subnautica and choose Play, your greyed-out file should show back up aqua blue and playable once more! Not only that, but the graphical issues of the Peeper and SeaGlide are fixed, and I've yet to encounter anything weird in my game since. Hopefully this will let everyone else be able to play the game without frustrations while the devs iron out these minor issues. Keep up the great work devs, we appreciate all that you do!