[fearless1]

Hi everyone, first timer here (noticed I'm now a Bilge Rat!).

I'd like to take the dive into SH4 Gold V1.5 (no mods for now) and have noticed three major ways to acquire SH4G:

1) buy SH4 DVD + U-Boat Missions V1.5 expansion DVD

2) buy SH4 Gold DVD (already V1.5)

3) just download SH4 Gold (say from Amazon).

I noticed with SH4 DVD, one can get a printed manual, map/recognition posters, and a documentary DVD. Are the posters of any practical use for game play? Are there PDF versions of the map and recognition posters somewhere?

Is patch 1.4 still needed if using the 1.5 expansion?

The download of SH4 Gold from Amazon is appealing with many positive reviews. Are there any problems with Amazon download of SH4 Gold. Does the Amazon download of Gold version require an activation code of some kind and patching too?

Thanks,
F1