This is currently possible in a hacky way. You can achieve this by first having a save while Zubmariner is installed, then closing the game, disabling internet access for SunlessSea.exe via some sort of firewall program, then deleting the "token", which is an extensionless file in your AppData\LocalLow\Failbetter Games\Sunless Sea folder with a long name consisting of random characters.
This will trick the game into thinking you don't have Zubmariner, but you will still have access to the content as far as I am aware, since it's embedded into the save file.
Is this project actively still being pursued? I am just curious about the status of the project and if there is a 1.1 release anytime soon.
Also, I am really curious about the string-builder nature of hardcoded text. Like were they just taking string literals and loading them into a string builder instead of actually building a string with it?
You could also consider using ChatGPT to help with some of the conversion process
The project is currently on hold because it doesn't make me any money. I received some bad medical finance news in October and have had to pivot to uses of my free time that fill that deficit, which SSS does not. Apologies for the late reply. No matter how much I try I cannot get Nexusmods to send me comment notifications to my email address.
The stringbuilders build strings around variables in the text. This is usually in the form of popups that say things like "You need X hearts to do this. You have Y" and so on.
ChatGPT would not be of any help whatsoever and indeed a massive hindrance. I do not really understand exactly what you think it would help with. In any case I do not have access to ChatGPT as my account was banned.
So will this mod eventually allow an enterprising (because there would still be a lot of additional work to do) modder to add new maps that the player can transition between, like making the surface an actually navigable map?
That's a question of far too vast a scope to answer at present, I'm afraid. At the moment the mod doesn't even allow replacing the tiles that do exist in the game. Theoretically yes, in that I would like to do that and I think it would add a lot of value, but until tile replacement is implemented (a ways off yet) I can't even begin to say if tile addition would be possible.
I assume this is also compatible with your Cloud Saving Fix mod? (Actually, probably this should just include that one as part of its standard files. It's not like anyone would possibly want that unfixed, the only reason not to install it is because you're - quite reasonably - worried about installing new code. And if you're installing this, that's happening anyway.)
When (or after) this allows map tile images, will it also allow new port spaces? I've always wanted to mod in a 'Shadow's Shadow' port tile, for Zubmarines docking into the underside of Khan's Shadow.
The reason that Cloud Saving Fix has not been included in this mod up until now is that I wished to retain a strict separation of function: That is, Sunless Sea Softcoded would ONLY softcode hardcoded content. It would do nothing else. A separate megamod would make changes that actually affect the visible functionality of the game (add QoL changes like Fragment Rollover and bugfixes like Cloud Saving Fix etc)
However, during feasibility scouting for the "text translation" side of the mod, I discovered that this will not be possible to do. Because of the technology used, SSS and other Bepinex mods cannot change "part" of a game function. They can either append code to the beginning of it, append code to the end of it, or replace the entire function. In SSS' case, most of the edits made have involved replacing the entire function with one that's almost the same but with the necessary changes made. This means that such mods are only compatible with each other if they never change any of the same functions, or if they have checks for each other embedded so they can change what functionality is modified if both are installed.
There is SO MUCH hardcoded text in the game (I've only just finished cataloguing all of it) spread across SO MANY incidental functions, that adding the capacity to softcode that text while maintaining this separation of function will be completely impossible. To that end, I have decided that next major update the mod's name will be changed to Sunless Sea: Unlocked, and it will perform all functions of both Sunless Sea: Softcoded before it and of this hypothetical "overhaul" mod. This means that all of my other mods (Fragment Rollover, Cameo Selector and Cloud Saving Fix) will be deprecated and their functionality added to this mod. Features that change the core game experience like Fragment Rollover will be optional via the mod's ini file. Superficial QoL changes like Cameo Selector will not be.
So to answer your first question: Yes, Cloud Saving Fix is compatible with this mod, however watch out for an update to this mod that will make it obsolete (given the softcoding of all hard text in the game will be a major feat, I doubt this update is coming soon, however).
As to your second question, I'm afraid I have no idea. I'm hesitant to make promises about such things. I don't really understand from cursorily looking at the game's asset files exactly how terrain and ports work, and until such a time as I do properly attack the subject and figure it out I don't want to say anything that might end up disappointing people.
Been a while since last update, but i do wanna say i am one of the guys who would want to make fan translations. So if this project of your would allow that :D it would be nice.
The good news is that the next major update should permit this. I've been working with Hoju, the creator of the Spanish translation of the game, to formulate a plan of attack on softcoding all the game's hardcoded text.
The bad news is... it's going to take a good while. I've only even just finished cataloguing all that text and there is still a lot of code to write and a lot of hard decisions to make about (e.g.) how the modder-facing end of it should look.
(For example: Sunless Sea contains these constructions called "String Builders", where a string or number variable is spliced into a sentence in order to display information about data that can change. The base game, being written in English, makes some assumptions about the construction of these sentences that won't hold true for all languages. In some cases, in English the variable starts the sentence so there's no replacable text at the beginning, whereas other languages would need to place it somewhere else and add leading text- for instance in Spanish one often puts punctuation like ¿ at the beginning of a sentence as well as ? at the end. Changing this is not so hard, but deciding how the resulting json schema should be laid out so that translators and text modders understand what it is they're looking at and don't get too confused when in English there's no text there at all is something that requires consideration).
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This will trick the game into thinking you don't have Zubmariner, but you will still have access to the content as far as I am aware, since it's embedded into the save file.
Also, I am really curious about the string-builder nature of hardcoded text. Like were they just taking string literals and loading them into a string builder instead of actually building a string with it?
You could also consider using ChatGPT to help with some of the conversion process
Apologies for the late reply. No matter how much I try I cannot get Nexusmods to send me comment notifications to my email address.
The stringbuilders build strings around variables in the text. This is usually in the form of popups that say things like "You need X hearts to do this. You have Y" and so on.
ChatGPT would not be of any help whatsoever and indeed a massive hindrance. I do not really understand exactly what you think it would help with. In any case I do not have access to ChatGPT as my account was banned.
When (or after) this allows map tile images, will it also allow new port spaces? I've always wanted to mod in a 'Shadow's Shadow' port tile, for Zubmarines docking into the underside of Khan's Shadow.
The reason that Cloud Saving Fix has not been included in this mod up until now is that I wished to retain a strict separation of function: That is, Sunless Sea Softcoded would ONLY softcode hardcoded content. It would do nothing else. A separate megamod would make changes that actually affect the visible functionality of the game (add QoL changes like Fragment Rollover and bugfixes like Cloud Saving Fix etc)
However, during feasibility scouting for the "text translation" side of the mod, I discovered that this will not be possible to do. Because of the technology used, SSS and other Bepinex mods cannot change "part" of a game function. They can either append code to the beginning of it, append code to the end of it, or replace the entire function. In SSS' case, most of the edits made have involved replacing the entire function with one that's almost the same but with the necessary changes made. This means that such mods are only compatible with each other if they never change any of the same functions, or if they have checks for each other embedded so they can change what functionality is modified if both are installed.
There is SO MUCH hardcoded text in the game (I've only just finished cataloguing all of it) spread across SO MANY incidental functions, that adding the capacity to softcode that text while maintaining this separation of function will be completely impossible. To that end, I have decided that next major update the mod's name will be changed to Sunless Sea: Unlocked, and it will perform all functions of both Sunless Sea: Softcoded before it and of this hypothetical "overhaul" mod. This means that all of my other mods (Fragment Rollover, Cameo Selector and Cloud Saving Fix) will be deprecated and their functionality added to this mod. Features that change the core game experience like Fragment Rollover will be optional via the mod's ini file. Superficial QoL changes like Cameo Selector will not be.
So to answer your first question: Yes, Cloud Saving Fix is compatible with this mod, however watch out for an update to this mod that will make it obsolete (given the softcoding of all hard text in the game will be a major feat, I doubt this update is coming soon, however).
As to your second question, I'm afraid I have no idea. I'm hesitant to make promises about such things. I don't really understand from cursorily looking at the game's asset files exactly how terrain and ports work, and until such a time as I do properly attack the subject and figure it out I don't want to say anything that might end up disappointing people.
The good news is that the next major update should permit this. I've been working with Hoju, the creator of the Spanish translation of the game, to formulate a plan of attack on softcoding all the game's hardcoded text.
The bad news is... it's going to take a good while. I've only even just finished cataloguing all that text and there is still a lot of code to write and a lot of hard decisions to make about (e.g.) how the modder-facing end of it should look.
(For example: Sunless Sea contains these constructions called "String Builders", where a string or number variable is spliced into a sentence in order to display information about data that can change. The base game, being written in English, makes some assumptions about the construction of these sentences that won't hold true for all languages. In some cases, in English the variable starts the sentence so there's no replacable text at the beginning, whereas other languages would need to place it somewhere else and add leading text- for instance in Spanish one often puts punctuation like ¿ at the beginning of a sentence as well as ? at the end. Changing this is not so hard, but deciding how the resulting json schema should be laid out so that translators and text modders understand what it is they're looking at and don't get too confused when in English there's no text there at all is something that requires consideration).