UBOAT
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When the mods don't work...
By salamander
I have compiled this guide based on my experience from troubleshooting of issues with my own and other's UBOAT mods from the workshop. The guide is addressing the basic steps that you can try yourself before reporting the problem in the mod thread, as well as where and how to collect information to provide useful feedback for the mod developer.
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Basic steps:
I will go from the top to the bottom from the easiest to perform, to the more difficult steps. Most of those tips will also help when the issue is not directly caused by the mods, but come from the game itself.

#1 Verify integrity of game files:
You have probably seen this simple tip more than once, but it really helps in lot of cases.
Right click on the UBOAT in you steam library, select properties, local files, verify integrity of game files...

#2 Clean the locally built temporary files from UBOAT folder:
This one is also relatively easy to perform,
go to the C:\Users\[YourWindowsUserName]\AppData\LocalLow\Deep Water Studio\UBOAT. Make sure the UBOAT is not running. Delete the contents of "Cache", "Data Sheets" and "Temp" folders. Do not delete the folders themselves as the game will complain. UBOAT will generate new content of the folders when you launch the game again.

#3 Unsubscribe and resubscribe from the mod that appears to be not working:
It might happen that the mod files are not downloaded properly or are not updated to the latest mod version, so this might help, although it should be already covered by step #1.

#4 Check the mod description:
I also usually read the manuals only when something is not working (as most people), so this is probably the right time to check the mod description in detail. I always have Features and Known issues (if there are any) sections in my mods. My mod descriptions are usually quite long read, but please check if the conditions you are experiencing are not actually the intended behavior, or already listed in known issues. Also check discussion below the mod, it might be that someone already had the same problem as you and there is already solution or explanation.

#5 Check the mod compatibility:
Sometimes some mods do not work together, you might find this information in the mod description or in the discussion below. Obviously if the mod was created for previous version of the game, there is chance, it is not working after the game update. I try to keep the compatibility information always up to date in my mods.
Advanced steps:
After none of the above helped, the chances are, there is a real bug in the mod, which you can help fixing by providing useful feedback.

#6 Check the content of output_log.txt
You can find the game log under C:\Users\[YourWindowsUserName]\AppData\LocalLow\Deep Water Studio\UBOAT\output_log.txt. Open the file with text editor of your choice and have a look for few things:
Is the mod loading? Do you see some message from the mod? My mods contain messages with [Mod Name] so you can identify them as well as most of the other mods. Mods that only change Data Sheet values will not make any message in the game log.

If you see the mod has loaded, try searching for word "error" and "exception". If you find some, its not yet the win, as the game itself will produce them from time to time, even with no mod running, but it is a good start. In any case, save the log file where you think the bug in the mod happened as it will be useful for the analysis by the mod developer.

One hint to the logfile. It is updated immediately after the game writes messages in the console. Console is quite limited in the span of messages you can see, but you can open the log file while the game is still running with no problems and scroll thru the whole history of messages. The log file will be keep all messages when you close the game, but will be cleared when you launch the game again.

#7 Check the contents of Data Sheets and Temp folders:
The folders, which contents were cleared by you before, will be populated with new files on the next game launch. Temp folder contains the .dll files compiled from the mods that contains scripts when the game is launched. It can happen that because of some problem with the mod, the game will fail to compile the dll and it will have size of 0kB. Name of the dll should be similar to the name of the mod like magnetic-detonators.dll for example.

Second folder to check is the Data Sheets folder which contains the binary versions of .xlxs files from the vanilla game and .xlxs files from the mods. The files here have .dat extension and their name should give you hint from which mod they come. Again look if some of the files does not have 0kB size.

#8 Try to figure out the sequence of actions that leads to the bug:
Bug report with the steps to reliably reproduce the problem is hands down the best one, as the mod developer can analyze situation in detail on its own. Try to be very detailed in description as sometimes the smallest details is what matters. Providing a save game with condition that leads to the bug is also very helpful.

Well that is all I can think about at this moment. In case of problems with my mods, just contact me directly on Steam or on UBOAT Discord after none of the basic tips helped.

salamander

11 Comments
xander.bullock 28 Nov, 2023 @ 9:21pm 
My issue is that I can't seem to turn salvage into repair parts - I've taken apart the whole inside of my boat - have 30 kg of scrap, but can't create repair parts?
CaptAnblasen 3 Jun, 2023 @ 7:49pm 
My issue has been getting any mods at all to download into the game. I subscribe on them in workshop but they don't show up accept to unsubscribe them. When I click on the mod button next to the news button I get a blank window witha button "create a mod". If I try to uninstall the game it won't let me while the game is on. So that option won't work. I have beta off and pretty much tried eveything. I am on a mac and us steam.
kittenpaws22 8 Jun, 2022 @ 1:24pm 
um i used to play with so meny mods that i was lucky if the game even loded for dont ask why but no more mods for me i have like i think 58
salamander  [author] 21 Jun, 2021 @ 1:57pm 
Well depends, if two mods are patching the same method the outcome is in any case different from what at least one of the mods expected. I had such problem with the T5 mod clashing with the TDC mod over the torpedo gyroangle control. Those were postfixes. It was not really solvable with priorities and the TDC mod needed to be sligtly modified to not touch the gyroangle after the torpedo made the initial steering turn. Then T5 guidance took over after it activated after 400m run.
ждун 20 Jun, 2021 @ 1:13pm 
maybe i don't know for sure. Harmony documentation also states that if a prefix is returning false, it will prevent any following prefexes from execution. Doesn't however affect the postfixes and transpilers. So a mod which has a prefix returning false may break other mods.
salamander  [author] 20 Jun, 2021 @ 11:59am 
Hello ждун thanks, yes conflict can or sure arise, but as far as i found, the order of patches being applied has to be resolved by setting the priority for the patch within the mod to put it before or after patches from the other mod. Load order in the launcher will not change patch order as far as I tried.
ждун 12 Jun, 2021 @ 3:20pm 
>> Its not really important for the scripting mods. The Harmony patches to the game are not necessarily applied in the mod loading order.

When two mods are patching same method there can be conflict though. Depends how they are implemented.
ждун 12 Jun, 2021 @ 3:17pm 
thanks salamander finally somebody sums it up
salamander  [author] 21 Feb, 2021 @ 8:40am 
Its not really important for the scripting mods. The Harmony patches to the game are not necessarily applied in the mod loading order.
For mods replacing something in textures, sounds or datasheets, the loading order matters.
The mod that is on lower position (from top to bottom of the launcher list) will overwrite changes of mods above it, if they are changing the same texture, sound or line in the datasheet.
suzukawa1 21 Feb, 2021 @ 4:54am 
I wonder if the loading sequence of several mods is really important or not? I could imagine maybe for graphical or audio mods which interfere with each other. How does this work?