New to SH4 - New to subsims
 

Howdy all. Not so long ago I bought the basic, non-Steam version of Silent Hunter 4: Wolves of the Pacific. I did so because I wanted a break from air combat sims, plus I have a copy of Clay Blair's "Silent Service", that provided plenty of inspiration.
Anyway, I jumped in at the deep end, so to speak, and started a career in 1943. My first mission - set at medium reality - was to land an agent near Yokosuka, which I did, plus I managed to sink/kill/destroy/ruin 39,635 tons of shipping, including an 18,000 ton European liner, a destroyer, two oil tankers and a modern composite freighter :D.
Got safely back to Midway BUT I could not end the mission, yet I could "Refit" or "Postpone".
I take it/am hoping that this is a glitch in the basic program that has been corrected via various patches? If not, is this something that other players have encountered?

I have since uninstalled the program and downloaded V 1:4 and Silent Hunter 4 Corruption Management System v1,5, with the aim of reinstalling when I have enough free time. (BTW: I'm using Windows 10, 64 Home, Version 1709, OS Build 16299.309)

You end your patrols at the "Home Port", such as if you leave from Pearl Harbor, you return to Pearl Harbor, unless ordered elsewhere. In either case, if you look at the Navigaion Map while in your boat, "Home" is designated by a tilted anchor, while re-fit ports are shown with straight vertical anchors. However, there are time periods in the game where a "Home Port" won't show on the map for a few days, such as during the early war period when the Asiatic boats are moved from Manila to Surabaya to Fremantle.

In the meantime, do you happen to know which version of the game you have is? Does it say "Gold" on it? Does it have Uboats in it? Is it a disk or a download? When you re-install the game, do not install it in the default "C:\Program Files (x86)" folder, which is a Windows protected folder. Myself, I have taken the path line, and just deleted that windows portion of the path, and used "C:\Ubisoft\..." as the install path (keep the "Silent Hunter Wolves of the Pacific" also...).

btw - "Welcome to SubSim! :subsim:

A Warm Welcome To The Subsim Community > NZSharkbait
Subsim <> Make A Donation <> See The Benefits <> Support The Community
SH3-4-5 Tutorials And Other Information Links In My Signature Below

Welcome to Subsim, NZSharkbait. Happy to have you with us. :salute:

Do you have "Silent Hunter 4 Wolves of the Pacific" v1.0
or
Silent Hunter 4 U-Boat Missions - the Gold v1.5 version?

If you have v1.0 there is an update in the Downloads that will update you to v1.4 of the game.

You can only end your patrol at your Home port - usually the port you depart from. You can refuel and rearm at any friendly port. In v1.5 your Home port has a tilted anchor, I forget what v1.4 does - probably the tilted anchor too.

Your Home port changes more in Asiatic which can catch you by surprise. In Stock un-modded SH4 if you depart from Pearl it will be your Home port. Some mods change this.

If you decide you like SH4 I recommend you update to v1.5 the U-Boat missions. It costs some $$ but is worth it. In addition to the U-Boat side there are many improvements to the US boats too. Most mods are for v1.5 although there are a few for v1.4

Happy Hunting!

Cheers and thanks for the warm welcome. The version of SH4 I'm using is the plain vanilla disc sans U-Boats. I never install games in the default Program Files folder, preferring instead to use a "Games" folder that is in a separate partition; hence D:\Ubisoft\Silent Hunter . I have now reinstalled Wolves, plus the v1.4 patch, and am looking forward to having the time to get stuck in and become another heroic submarine captain, willing and able to face everything SH4 can throw at me.

Now, a question: Where do I find the game save files for missions I had already started before uninstalling SH4 so I could reinstall it with the v 1.4 patch ? None of the saved files can be recovered since I reinstalled SH4 and I want to delete them to clear out the clutter.

:gulp:

PS I protest at 1942 - '43 vintage A6M2s being able to bomb my sub whilst over 200 Nautical Miles from the nearest airbase - could someone tell the pilots that A6Ms didn't start carrying bombs until around October '44? It is disconcerting telling my crew that a lone Zero is no real threat, only to have it blowing holes in the hull and wrecking my engines. :timeout:

You are indeed installed in a good location. The save folder is in your Documents folder, and named SH4 - usually "C:\Users \YourName \My Documents \SH4\..."

As aanker says, it is highly recommended that you purchase the Uboat Missions add-on. You can puchase download versions from Amazon and others of that ilk, but if you don't have the Steam v1.3, don't buy their Uboats. Not compatible. The link below is for the US Amazon, and it's $3.39 when I looked...

Amazon US Uboats Add-on Link

The airplanes are a bit unrealistic, but a WWII skipper would not have stayed topside with one buzzing around, so the game makes them dangerous and more numerous, with super-capacity fuel tanks. Webster made a mod Better Air Patrols, which decreases the amount of planes encountered, though making them slightly more deadly. :salute: