Matrix Games Forums

Using beta 1.01.34 with DLC in Win11. I can save a .sdf ship design into "Custom Files". But, I don't see a way to read that file with the ship designer in order to make further corrections. Am I missing something?

I asked the same thing a while ago and they responded...

MaximKI wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2026 5:01 pm We've noted that there's a bug that may be causing issues in the game where it's looking in the incorrect place. We're expecting to release an update that hopefully resolves this issue very soon. Please keep your eyes open for it.

You can however open the stock design and then find your ship design by changing the the correct folder it is in.

Thanks for trying to help! But, I don't know what you are saying.

I am using RTW3 1.01.34 with the DLC. On the title screen, there is a
box on the right that says "Ship Designer". I press it, and it launches
the DLC Ship Designer window. On the bottom right, there is a box with
a blue arrow that says "Save and finish". That works!

In the DLC Ship Designer I do not see a button or a menu option
anywhere that says "Read", or "Input", or "Open,", or "Load", or "Import".
It is not a question of where the .sdf file is stored. I can not
get the DLC Ship Designer to even attempt to access *any* .sdf file.
I can't even get the DLC Ship Designer to say "file not found".

Is there some hidden key-combo that will make the DLC Ship Designer
read an existing .sdf?

In another thread:
https://forums.matrixgames.com/viewtopi ... f282b66029

"...why on earth can't I open a prototyped design for editing if I made some mistake on it..."

I totally agree with this thought.

Can the developers help with this?

The custom ship designs are held in your Documents folder. Look for them under <Path to your documents folder>\Documents\My Games\Rule the Waves 3\Custom Files.

It looks like the Custom button doesn't look there, so the devs might want to make sure it is WAD. You can open your custom design by clicking the Open button (see below) and selecting the Stock button, then navigating to the Custom Files location mentioned above.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Your little picture (ShipDesign.png) showed me *exactly* what I needed.
That tiny file folder has a tooltip "Open existing design". Perfect!

Yes, the Custom button does not point to my Documents folder tree (so sad).
But the Stock button lets me reach over to my saved design and load it. (yay!)

Silly me, I thought the Open button would be next to the "Save and finish" button.
GUI design is not an easy subject.

Thanks again!!

Outstanding!