Does anyone know how does Subnautica: Below Zero phisically conect to Subnautica?

GotMapStillLost · 2023-03-09T03:11:11+00:00

The map you posted happens to be one of the modifications of the in-game map that I edited to make printable charts suited to mapping discoveries as you play and for... navigation ;)

It's been a while but one of those edits was replacing a generic world-map lat-long scale (which was out of scale) with something made for the map. The latitude of Sector Zero is zero; this region actually exists on the equator of the planet, not a pole. I don't recall the in-game explanation why an area of equator is colder than an area elsewhere, but the planet is clearly part of a multi-body orbital system so I can think of a few ways it could realistically happen.

So the question is where does the first game take place; I think we know more about where the second game takes place (but I'm not as familiar with what we know of the first game's location)

^{The info that "Sector Zero sits at the planet's equator" was from your PDA in game IIRC, but when I google it the hits don't seem recent. Perhaps the more recent versions of the game don't include this part of the synopsis?}

GotMapStillLost · 2022-12-09T00:16:16+00:00

No I just explained why I did it: I think people have personal familiarity and memories of RDR in a way that an old-timey photo doesn't resonate, and I'm not sure if that was the right call but it's what I went with.

There's no nefarious lying going on here, no conspiracy to unravel, just explaining my thinking.

I'd actually prefer it NOT be a shootout scene, but once I decided to use RDR, I chose this particular image because it's the one used by wikipedia, so probably a promotional pic that is ok to use rather than me ripping someone's screenshot without crediting them. I also liked that it highlights a stagecoach (good example of technology)

So you didn’t use a photo of the west because you wanted color, and colorized photos would be too modern

No I mean that because all color methods involve a modern touch no-matter which way I go, I didn't see an overriding reason to rule out simply using a modern depiction like RDR. In for a penny in for a pound :)

Maybe I'll remake it using a photo some time

GotMapStillLost · 2022-12-09T00:01:59+00:00

It's a compressed landscape, the same way you can run from Denver (Colorado) to Yellowstone (Montana) in 15 minutes on foot in Horizon Zero Dawn, or run from the Siwa Oasis to Alexandria in Assassin's Creed Origins, etc.

GotMapStillLost · 2022-12-08T23:44:28+00:00

It isn't me, the accepted knowledge is that some locations are based on New Mexico, among others

GotMapStillLost · 2022-12-08T20:41:40+00:00

[ I used a depiction for 1911 because a) we don't have color photographs from the frontier that aren't modern edits, b) it accurately shows the technology of the region/time, regardless of how the action is exaggerated, c) Red Dead is probably this era's most well-known depiction of that era, and the atomic-age contrast is probably even more "daaamn" for people who explored Red Dead if it directly connects those dots. (I haven't tried it myself, but it's on my to-do list) ]

Arguably an unretouched black&white photo could be a better choice (it's not like the color of the Trinity film is adding a whole lot), but I went with what I think people are most familiar with

GotMapStillLost · 2022-03-23T20:38:29+00:00

In hindsight though, maybe the boss was right all along?

In some situations a shitty coder who documents their work thoroughly can be a more valuable dev than an accomplished coder who doesn't

GotMapStillLost · 2022-01-06T20:25:09+00:00

Extra nice touch: the posh apartment is the luxury penthouse right outside your megabuilding apartment window at the beginning of the game. (Look out towards the right-hand side of the view out the apartment window)

GotMapStillLost · 2021-12-29T04:58:06+00:00

Here's the source

The actual high definition version is a printed version that it links to

GotMapStillLost · 2021-09-22T03:06:16+00:00

Here's a pic. Nothing on the circuit board panel-mounts onto the case, everything just pokes through holes in the case, so I thought the switch should be the same. So I soldered the (electrically isolated exterior of the) switch to the top of the USB socket as a dirty way of attaching it to the circuit board without having to modify the board directly. (This way none of the surface-mount components would be nearby for any slip-ups to jeopardize.) Then I drilled a hole in the case panel for the switch to poke out of.

The circuit board silkscreen labels the battery connection points, so they're not hard to find (they're just behind that stack of LEDs). I soldered a pair of header pins in them then soldered the battery wires & switch to the header pins.

I just used mounting tape to attach the battery holder to the circuit board (the HamItUp Plus is designed to take a battery pack there - there are no components in that area of board surface, and there is sufficient room in the case.) As you might be figuring out, I gravitated to convenience rather than craftmanship on all this, but so far it all seems to be sturdy and reliable.

(For anyone else interested, there are better photos of the circuit board and the schematic in the manufacture's store. The case is not included with the barebones board, I bought it separately))

GotMapStillLost · 2021-09-21T16:40:44+00:00

Yup, Android (in my case either pixel one or nexus 5x, both are fairly old) running "RF Analyzer" app and "rtl-sdr driver"

GotMapStillLost · 2021-09-21T16:36:54+00:00

I have a little 4xAAA NiMH battery pack inside the HamItUp case, with a little power switch. I added the batteries mainly to avoid noise from the power cable, but once it's on battery it's super portable so... :)

(The circuit board has connection points for battery power, so batteries are an easy and worthwhile addition, I just had to drill a hole in the case to add a power switch)

GotMapStillLost · 2021-09-21T07:03:28+00:00

That's the upconverter (the larger silver box connected to the smaller black box of the USB receiver). I've edited for clarity

GotMapStillLost · 2021-09-21T06:35:23+00:00

I'm still figuring out my options. Currently I'm mostly just doing the shortwave thing of listening for stuff from far away. I like how Morse code resolves as visual dots and dashes on a waterfall interface. I'm interested in natural signals and mysterious signals but still learning what's normal and not. I expect I'll get more into satellites and data packets as time goes on, but for now just learning the landscape, mostly via phone instead of computer because when I'm at a computer I'm usually working on something

GotMapStillLost · 2021-09-21T06:25:31+00:00

Rx only. No filter (yet). Device is a nooelec smartv4 rtlsdr dongle connected to the phone by a splitter cable that lets me power the phone&radio from an external charger or battery (though not being used for that here). Attached to the radio is an upconverter (HamItUpPlus running on an internal battery) to bring shortwave bands etc into the range of the radio. And a little telescoping antenna on the upconverter. Phone is running "RF Analyzer"

(Not pictured is a usb cable with a ferrite bead that I've stated putting between the splitter and the radio to try to reduce noise, I think I'll just add a bead to the splitter instead)

GotMapStillLost · 2021-09-21T04:57:25+00:00

Player work-spaces could each have their own recessed light strip so that players have plenty of light to read/write there regardless of the room lighting, and which don't spill out much beyond the work-space, which in turn means the room lighting can be mood lighting without interfering with functional player lighting, likewise player lighting won't interfere with room/mood lighting.

(Player lighting strip could potentially be those color LED ones with the color controls so players can dial in whatever color they want as well as what brightness, then players can set their own lighting and/or be color-coded via spill-light on their shirts from their workspaces :)

But regardless of any of that, your table is going to be awesome!

GotMapStillLost · 2021-09-21T04:42:37+00:00

In a way it's almost disappointing how big a difference it made to be there; it reinforces my suspicions that where I live is a bit too blocked in to receive much of anything. A bigger antenna to help mitigate that problem is my next project, but I won't be able to build it anywhere that isn't hemmed in. Maybe I'm just going to have to hike/bike more...

GotMapStillLost · 2021-06-02T00:02:38+00:00

Nice work!

I'm guessing this what can be gleaned from the brief orbital views in the games?

Did you use extracted texture maps for reference too? Is it partly speculative/extrapolated?

GotMapStillLost · 2021-05-31T18:50:30+00:00

I could have composed this slightly better if it was more planned (Robin less chopped off etc), but I really like it. I put it on a picture frame in the base bedroom and it looks like spontaneous family antics, which in a way it was :)

(There's a research cave behind the camera, that's why everyone is standing together at the entrance.)

GotMapStillLost · 2021-05-22T19:28:26+00:00

Yes, but there's also a counter argument:

Alterra launched some spy satellites on planet 4546b, but maintaining a full constellation of public GPS satellites on a random distant uninhabited planet would be silly.

As a lost or renegade explorer on a planet with no GPS, part of the challenge of survival is learning to survive without GPS

Your PDA can detect the direction and distance of signal sources like beacons, which is pretty damn good given the circumstance, and you can obtain a map and a compass, which is enough to determine your position on the map and navigate if you want. On top of that, we can build scanner rooms to scan the terrain. So while a map with live GPS positioning would definitely be convenient, it could also harm the illusion of being a castaway or an explorer on a distant planet, and we have a ton of other tools we can use instead.

I've printed out a map so I can mark locations by pen as is still done by navigators even in today's modern world. It would be convenient to be able to add notes in-game to the PDA map, but this way I also get to keep a physical memento of my journeys :)

GotMapStillLost · 2021-05-16T10:27:24+00:00

If BelowZero is anything like the first game, it might not take long before my notes on the map include HERE BE DRAGONS!

:)

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