UBOAT submarine simulator UBOOT

[Asid]

Update 2025.1.1
Wed, 26 March 2025



Dear Captains,

We are pleased to announce that the next update for UBOAT is now available for download.

Below is a quick overview of the changes included.


Reworked Deck Awash Mode
We've reworked the deck awash mode to provide a more realistic experience. When activated, the crew now floods the bow and stern ballast tanks, keeping the U-boat partially submerged.

In this mode, it's possible to walk on the conning tower, provided weather conditions are favorable, but not on the deck. Additionally, diving from this mode is quicker.



However, using this mode reduces both speed and fuel efficiency significantly. It also makes ventilating the U-boat more challenging due to a risk of flooding.


Adjustable Realism Settings
By popular request, realism settings can now be adjusted during a playthrough, with all changes reflected immediately. If you change your mind about any settings, it's no longer a requirement to restart the game.



The only exception is for those attempting to obtain the "Ace of the Depths" achievement. Changing realism settings during this attempt is restricted, as doing so would reduce the challenge required. If your game is eligible for this achievement, you will be asked for confirmation before any changes are applied.

More Frequent Encounters
This version introduces a new realism setting, along with its associated mechanic, to increase the frequency of ship encounters at sea. It was primarily designed for newer players but may also appeal to hardcore players seeking more action.



By default, all ships in the world are simulated minding their own business without taking our U-Boats into consideration. This ensures a coherent and realistic baseline but carries the drawback that, despite playing optimally, you might experience extended periods without encountering ships if you simply have bad luck and look in the wrong areas.

With this new setting activated, the game will periodically generate additional ships to appear at opportune moments, ensuring continuous engagement. These ships can appear either as visual or hydrophone contacts, but always in a manner that maintains coherence. They will not appear in locations you've recently checked.

This setting is now enabled by default on non-hardcore realism presets.

GOG Updates

This update also introduces achievements to the GOG platform. The Supporter Pack DLC will also appear there shortly.


Full changelog

Localization:
- Japanese localization update by かねのもうじゃ.
- Russian localization update by Hard.
- French localization update by FvJ and Placebo.
- German localization update by Ruby.

New Features:
- Reworked the Deck Awash mode with a more realistic implementation. When activated, the crew now floods the bow and stern ballast tanks, keeping the U-boat partially submerged. Additionally, it's now possible to manually order partial flooding or blowing of tanks on the valves. It's possible to walk on the conning tower in this mode, if weather conditions are good, but not on the deck. It's also faster to dive from it. Use of this mode comes at a cost of a much lower speed and fuel efficiency. It also makes it harder to ventilate the U-Boat without flooding.
- Added a new optional mechanic that increases frequency of encounters on the sea, by generating additional groups that are less challenging to locate. It's possible to configure it in the realism settings of the game.
- Added achievement support and introduced the Supporter Pack in GOG Galaxy.
- Introduced the ability to adjust realism settings during a playthrough with changes applied in real-time. A warning is displayed if the changes affect eligibility for the "Ace of the Depths" achievement.

Crew:
- If the captain is wounded or away on an external mission, another officer is now issuing all orders.
- Fix: The captain no longer verbally cancels silent running mode during the quick return to port cutscene if it was previously active.
- Fix: Resolved an issue due to which crew members that entered ragdoll state in a certain spot of battery room no. 1 could sometimes fall through the floor and eventually drown on Type VII U-Boats.

Graphics:
- Fix: Sun lens flare is now properly occluded by clouds.
- Fix: Fixed flickering horizon visuals occurring when raising the free camera above a certain altitude.
- Fix: Corrected an issue causing sun lens flare to briefly shift positions on-screen after using the time skip feature.
- Fix (regression of 2025.1): Resolved an issue where bow spray effects were visible after loading a saved game, despite the U-boat being fully submerged.
- Fix (regression of 2025.1 Patch 9): Rain particles could spawn under roofs.

UI:
- Added a notification to inform the player about attacking a friendly unit and explain the associated consequences.
- Fix: It was possible to see NPC U-Boats outside the sight range after pressing ALT.

Missions:
- Added a new objective in the weather station placement assignments that reminds about picking up the deployed group from land.
- Fix: It was possible to receive attack on Scapa Flow assignment right after completing the tutorials.

Technical:
- Fix: Addressed one more issue preventing game state saving under certain conditions.

General:
- Compressed air reserves are now automatically refilled during quick returns to port.
- Realism preset selection is now a requirement when starting a campaign for the first time and all settings are on the defaults (the "Skip" button doesn't appear in such a case).
- Fix: Eliminated a delay causing crew portraits to appear approximately two seconds after loading a saved game, accompanied by noticeable performance lag.
- Fix: It's no longer possible to send a team to a merchant ship that is burning. The restriction on partially sunk ships was also increased.
- Fix: Eliminated incorrect reports of "smoke on the horizon" when observing units that do not produce considerable smoke (e.g., other U-boats or fishing boats).
- Fix: Extended the transmission duration of radio messages sent by command after attacking a friendly unit, ensuring players can receive the message even after prolonged dives.

Yours,
DWS

[Frankie]

From Zero to Sea Wolf : Uboat Basics - Best Introductory Youtube Video

I recently purchased Steam's Uboat at 70% discount on https://store.steampowered.com/app/494840/UBOAT. As a long-time fan of Silent Hunter series, I was blown away by the superb graphics of this game.

For a rat bilge like me, knowing where to start is always a problem

That's when I stumbled on MYSH's most excellent Beginner's Guide/Tutorial. MYSH teaches all the basics like how a uboat functions, calculating a torpedo solution, navigation and general crew mangagement. All in less than 18 minutes. Oh and he speaks fluent German.

Can anyone find a better tutorial to calculate the angle-on-the-bow as this dude? Explained in simple and plain English!

Hope this helps any one out there to better enjoy this fantastic U-Boat simulation!

Happy hunting Herr Kaluen!

Regards
Frankie Kam

[Asid]

Glad you like it Frankie 

[Asid]

2025.1.1 Patch 1
Thu, April 10, 2025


Dear captains,

There is a new patch available for version 2025.1.1.

Localization:
- Japanese localization update by かねのもうじゃ.
- Russian localization update by Hard.

Periscope:
- Fix: The internal stabilization system for periscopes has been rewritten to prevent issues in specific scenarios - particularly when the periscope was only slightly extended and the U-Boat was surfaced. These issues could cause torpedoes to fire in unintended direction when the periscope was manually aimed at the target, and the "center" button could behave incorrectly.

Crew:
- Fix: Officers were loosing energy and could eventually die from overworking, if they were wounded or had a tuberculosis and were moved from officer bunks to certain bunks typically used by sailors.
- Fix: Delivering personal news to a sailor who couldn?t speak (e.g. due to injury) would cause the game script to freeze and stop progressing.
- Fix: The game now automatically unpauses when personal news are being delivered to a sailor.
- Fix: The selection highlight could remain stuck on a sailor after delivering personal news.

Missions:
- Fix: In tutorial mission 4, it?s now sufficient to dive close to the seabed rather than reach a fixed depth. The previous requirement could be problematic in certain areas.

UI:
- Fix (regression of 2025.1.1): Resolved several font rendering issues in Cyrillic languages on the in-game settings screen.

General:
- When the U-Boat is in ?deck awash? mode, its visibility is now slightly reduced.
- Energy, air quality and stress levels are now recovering during time skipping (for example while loading cargo in port), if their gain value is positive.
- Fix: If submarine pens were built in a port in which U-Boat was currently docked and then another save file was loaded without leaving the port, many errors were appearing in the log.
- Fix: Additional fixes to smaller errors spotted in logs attached to bug reports.

Yours,
DWS

[Asid]

2025.1.1 Patch 3
Fri, 25 April 2025


Dear captains,

A new patch for version 2025.1.1 is now available, featuring a few additional fixes following the earlier public test.

Thank you to everyone who participated in testing and provided valuable feedback!

Localization:
- Czech localization update by Spid3rCZ.

Crew:
- Fix: It was not possible to assign a sailor to watch over valves on Type IIA and Type IID U-Boats.

Simulation:
- Fix: T5 torpedoes that lost their target could get stuck in a vertical orientation.

UI:
- Fix: On some systems, a "x0009" text string appeared instead of tabs in a radio message about the war with the U.S.
- Fix: After closing a recruitment UI and going back to a dialogue with a recruitment officer, there were additional UI elements present there that shouldn't be there. It was possible to break the state of UI a bit by interacting with these elements.

Modding:
- Fix: Resolved an inspector error related to the Hull component in the editor.

Graphics:
- Red lighting inside the boat no longer makes the screen brighter inside submarine pens, since it was making them too bright.
- Fix: After loading a save file with U-Boat already docked in a submarine pen, certain lights inside the pen that should cast dynamic shadows were having shadows disabled.

General:
- Added a loading screen hint explaining that the crew will automatically open the main hatch for better ventilation in good weather, along with instructions on how to disable this behavior.
- Fix: After loading a save file from the main menu and then loading another save file with a different type of U-Boat, 15000x time compression could become unavailable until the game was restarted.
- Fix: NPC U-Boats could in certain circumstances try to dock in the same spot as the player after loading a save file with U-Boat already docked inside a submarine pen.
- Fix: Addressed several issues that could degrade game performance.
- Fix (regression of 2025.1.1 Patch 1): In some cases, it was not possible to rotate the periscope, UZO, or binoculars up or down within their normal range.
- Fix: The camera could switch to the wrong person after exiting the radio screen in specific circumstances.
- Fix: Various minor technical improvements.

Yours,
DWS

[Asid]

Development blog: Update 2025.2, Type IX: Distant Coasts DLC
Wed, 28 May 2025



Dear captains,

After releasing two updates earlier this year, we?re now dedicating ourselves full-time to the next free update and the Type IX DLC, which we plan to launch together.

This work will still take several months, but we wanted to give you a heads-up and an overview of what?s on the way.


Type IX: Distant Coasts DLC
As we announced in October, we?re bringing the Type IX family of U-boats into the game. These will be the largest boats yet, with 6 torpedo tubes, capacity for 22 torpedoes, and a cruising range that outclasses every other U-boat.

Since the previous dev-log we?ve been modelling the interior from historical references. The compartments and most major devices - launchers, diesel engines, electric motors - are largely complete. We still need to finish some equipment, such as the TDC.



In June we?ll begin integrating everything into a fully functional boat. Based on our experience with earlier U-boats, this phase will take a few months.



Alongside the Type IX itself, we?re creating new content and missions in distant theatres, tailored to these long-range boats. Work is already under way, and we?ll share more once the design is mature enough to commit to it.


Update 2025.2
Now, let?s talk about the next free update. Version 2025.2 will add a few major features, some of which are already in development.

Weather forecasts
This update will introduce weather forecasts to the game. Radio bulletins will be transmitted at set times each day; your radioman will be able to receive and decode them into plain text. The forecast will also appear in a dedicated forward-looking UI element on the map.



This control will also visualise the local day-night cycle, making sunrise and sunset times easy to see - something that was previously often confusing to determine.

We believe this will be a game-changer feature for attack and mission planning.

Mission flexibility
With this update, it's going to be possible to accept new assignments over the radio while still at sea, without going back to port. This capability is particularly useful for the long-range Type IX, but seasoned captains will appreciate it in other boats too.



In addition, you?ll also be able to inform command by radio that you can?t pursue an optional side-mission for operational reasons, so that its objectives won?t clutter your mission summary.

Modding improvements
We?ve begun collaborating with a known modder from the community to make improvements and fixes to the game?s modding tools.

While we?re at it, we?d love to hear suggestions from the wider modding community on how to make modding easier and more accessible. We can?t promise to implement every request, but we?re committed to making improvements in this area for the next update.



Thank you in advance for your participation. If you?re interested, please post your requests on our modding forum https://steamcommunity.com/app/494840/discussions/8/?snr=2___

Yours,
DWS

[Asid]

Development blog: Type IX, Flotilla Headquarters, Missions Other Improvements, Release Date
Mon, 1 December 2025



Dear captains,

We are back with a new development blog! This time it's a long one.

As always, we?ve been working hard on the next updates for UBOAT. Let?s dive into the details.



Type IX

We are wrapping up work on the Type IX family, which will consist of three variants.

Type IXA is available from the beginning of the war in 1939. It's unique in that it has three periscopes.

Type IXC has an extended range over the IXA and is the main workhorse of the Type IX line.

Type IXC/40 has even greater range and an upgraded conning tower by default.

These will be the largest U-Boats in the game, with the highest range and vastly more living space. This makes them the best choice for distant operations.














Flotilla Headquarters

We've finally managed to improve the part of the game that, to us personally, has needed improvement the most for quite some time. We've reworked how port stays feel and function in many ways.



Read on...

[Asid]

Update Regarding Type IX: Distant Coasts DLC and Update 2026.1 Release Date
Tue, 20 January 2026



Dear Captains,

We have made the tough decision to move the release date for the Type IX: Distant Coasts DLC and the free Update 2026.1 from January 29th to April 17th.

We understand that a delay is never good news, especially so close to the expected launch. However, after evaluating the current build, we believe this extra time is necessary to ensure the DLC is truly ready for release.


UBOAT - Type IX: Distant Coasts



Command the long-range Type IX U-boat in the Distant Shores DLC! Patrol the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean, operate from the port of Penang with the Monsoon Group, and master three new submarine variants. Experience authentic historical campaigns far from friendly shores.
Available: 17 Apr 2026


How we are using the additional time

Our primary goal with this extension is to deliver a stable and polished experience from day one. Specifically, this time will allow us to:

  - Improve Stability: We feel that extra time is needed to fix several issues introduced by the new content and ensure a smoother gameplay experience.

  - Ensure Save Game Compatibility: We will use this time to ensure better compatibility with your existing save games, as we discovered a few issues that initially slipped under our radar.

  - Expand the Features: Since we have this extra time, we plan to take the opportunity to include a few features that we originally couldn't fit into the schedule. This includes external water-tight torpedo canisters, a feature highly requested by the community.


Pricing

When the Type IX: Distant Coasts DLC launches, it will be priced at $16.99 USD. We will also be offering a 10% launch discount following the release.

Thank you for your patience and for sticking with us as we work to get the Type IX ready for sea.

Yours,

DWS

[Asid]

Type IX: Distant Coasts is out now - Update 2026.1 launches alongside!
Fri, 17 April 2026



Dear captains,

The day has finally come. Type IX: Distant Coasts and the free Update 2026.1 are live. After months of extra work, testing and polish, we're proud to finally hand you the keys to the Kriegsmarine's most ambitious ocean-going U-Boats and send you to theaters of war you've never been able to reach before in UBOAT.

Thank you for your patience with the delay from January — the extra weeks paid off. The update is more stable, more compatible with existing campaigns, and noticeably richer than what we could have shipped at the start of the year.

UBOAT - Type IX: Distant Coasts



Type IX: Distant Coasts — the DLC


The Type IX family was purpose-built for oceanic warfare: larger, longer-ranged, and better armed than any U-Boat currently in the game. From today you can take them into the South Atlantic, around the Cape of Good Hope, and deep into the Indian Ocean — where the war looked very different from the North Atlantic convoys most captains know by heart.

Three new U-Boats

•     Type IXA — the earliest vessel of this class, available from the opening days of the war in 1939. Three periscopes and extended capacity make it an ideal long-range patroller right from the start.
•     Type IXC — a significantly improved version with expanded fuel capacity for extended patrols in distant waters. Supports three different conning tower configurations.
•     Type IXC/40 — the pinnacle of the IX series. The longest operational range in the game, with a quick-diving forecastle and an armored conning tower as standard for increased survivability.

All three share six torpedo tubes and a capacity of 22 torpedoes, making them the most heavily armed U-Boats UBOAT has ever had. They also feature external water-tight torpedo canisters — a feature the community has been asking for for years, and one we're very happy to finally deliver.




New theaters, new ports

The Type IX opens up the parts of the world the Atlantic boats could only dream of reaching:

•     Penang, Malaysia — your base of operations in the Indo-Pacific, held by the Empire of Japan and home to the "Monsun Gruppe".
•     The journey to Penang is an operation in its own right: across the Atlantic, around the Cape of Good Hope and Madagascar, and into the Indian Ocean — a voyage of thousands of nautical miles through enemy-controlled waters.
•     New enemy ports and naval bases — Mombasa, Colombo, Mumbai, Aden and more. We've also overhauled how ports in general are defended: coastal forts, regular patrols and searchlights now make coming close to an enemy harbor a far riskier proposition than it used to be.

Historical campaigns


Distant Coasts adds new scripted operations inspired by real Kriegsmarine history:

•     Operation Kiebitz — a daring rescue mission off the coast of North America to bring escaped Kriegsmarine officers out of a POW camp.
•     The Laconia fallout — pick up survivors in the aftermath of one of the most morally fraught incidents of the U-Boat war.
•     Monsun Gruppe patrols — transport Japanese officials and critical cargo through hostile waters, all the way to the Indian Ocean.
•     South Atlantic Wolfpacks — take part in group patrols inspired by Cape Town, Eisbär and Seehund, departing with a surface tanker and several other U-Boats on a single long-range operation.

Customization

Make your Type IX your own: custom conning tower emblems let you personalize your boat with iconic symbols — the clover, the crocodile and the tiger.


Update 2026.1 — free for everyone

Alongside the DLC we're shipping a major free update that every captain benefits from, Type IX owner or not. New ships have been, by a long way, the single most common request we get from the community — so we'll start there.

New ships

•     HMS Royal Oak and the Revenge-class battleships — Royal Oak has been at the top of the community wishlist for years, and she's finally here. The Revenge-class dreadnoughts are now fully modelled in the game, from their distinctive silhouette on the horizon to their role in convoys, anchorages and port defenses. Yes — Scapa Flow captains, you know what this means.
•     HDML (Harbour Defence Motor Launch) — small, nimble, and armed patrol boats used by the Royal Navy to protect ports and anchorages. Expect to meet them any time you try to sneak into an enemy harbour, and treat them with respect: they're exactly the kind of escort that turns a quiet infiltration into a very bad night.

This is the first batch — there's more in the pipeline, and new ships will continue to be a focus in upcoming updates.



Flotilla Headquarters

Each port now has its own flotilla headquarters where you can interact with its staff. The command structure is now represented more faithfully, with every flotilla featuring a Flotilla Commander, a Chief of Operations, an Adjutant and a Quartermaster. A briefing room and a staffed communications room round out the flotilla HQ so it feels lived-in and authentic.



Mission flexibility

You can now accept new assignments over the radio while still at sea, without having to return to port. Especially useful for the long-range Type IX, but seasoned captains will appreciate it across every boat type. You can also inform command by radio that you can't pursue an optional side-mission for operational reasons, so its objectives won't clutter your mission summary.

Weather forecasts

Radio bulletins are now transmitted at set times each day. Your radioman will be able to receive and decode them into plain text, and the forecast will also appear as a dedicated forward-looking element on the map — so you can plan storm avoidance and surface transits with real information for once, instead of guesswork.

Environment overhaul

•     Fog simulation — fog is now simulated faithfully depending on the date and location. Summer months in the Arctic have plenty of foggy days; fog is far less common in the warmer seas. You'll also encounter the entire spectrum of visibility conditions now, instead of just "fog" and "no fog" with a short transition between them.
•     Sea waves — after years of glancing at the spectrum code, we finally found the missing line that prevented waves from dissipating into negative energy. The result: no more waves that shouldn't exist, and a noticeably more convincing sea.
•     Sea shader and clouds — the sea now uses more modern shading formulas, and clouds interact correctly with atmospheric scattering. Overall the sky and horizon look much more alive.
•     Stars — and celestial navigation — stars are now much more clearly visible, and we've fixed a number of bugs related to their display. Technically speaking, it should now be possible to navigate by the stars. We'll be honest: we haven't tested every possible edge case here, but we're at the point where we can commit to it and fix anything that slips through. If you want to try it, please do — and let us know how it goes.
•     Time zones — the game now models time zones. Until now the clock always showed German time, no matter where in the world you were — so sunrise in the Indian Ocean could happen at a very strange hour on your watch. From 2026.1 the on-board clock follows local time, matching what the sun is actually doing outside. Radio communications are still time-stamped in German time, as they were historically — so BdU transmissions remain consistent across every theater.

Performance

•     Terrain generation is now roughly 3× faster, which means shorter waits when entering a new area and a smoother experience when moving across large distances on the map.

Gameplay polish

•     Tanker boardings — it's now possible to stop tankers and send crew over to them, just like with other merchant ships.
•     Type IX engine animation — the diesels are now animated far more closely to how real engines work, with the correct firing sequence for each cylinder.
•     Character faces — 11 new face types, 3 new complexions, and the option to choose eye colour, for crews that don't all look like they came from the same village.
•     Modding tools — we've added tools that let you unpack any in-game prefab into a modding project and use it as the starting point for your own mod. That should make it significantly easier to build on top of existing content instead of having to recreate it from scratch. Note: the updated modding tools will arrive with a slight delay of 1–2 weeks after 2026.1 goes live.

Thank you

Distant Coasts is by far the most ambitious expansion we've ever built, and 2026.1 is one of the densest free updates we've ever shipped. Getting here took longer than we planned, and we're grateful for your patience, your bug reports and your feedback through every development blog along the way. Fire up the game, pick a flotilla, and take a Type IX south. The Indian Ocean is waiting. Fair winds and following seas — and good hunting.

Yours,

DWS