SH4 Recommended now?

[Sierra6.0]

Came from Silent Hunter 3 in 03, but haven't been able to play since a computer crash (dang star forge).

When SH4 was released, there were a number of game killing bugs reported and I've heard SH5 is a disaster.

But the call of the ocean is coming again, and I'm itching to command a boat once again.

So is SH4 recommended now? Which version? Which mods? I finally have a PC to push high frame rates (i7, 2GB Radeon vid card), so any texture/graphics mods recommended).

So should I go with SH4 or SH5, or try to get SH3 running again?


As for my history, I started with Silent Service on the Atari ST, then moved to Silent Service II on the IBM (enjoyed 1 better). Moved up to Command Aces of the Deep when moving from Dos to Win95, and finished with Silent Hunter 3. I'd prefer the pacific theater, if SH4 is now in a recommended state.

Thanks guys.

[Torplexed]

Welcome to Subsim.

I'd recommend SH4 with one of the supermods, like Real Fleet Boat (RFB) , or Trigger Maru Overhauled (TMO). You can even play U-Boat captain in the Atlantic with in Operation Monsun.(OM)

I haven't played SH5, but apparently you only get the Type VII U-Boat to command, and it sounds like you need to add a mod soup to get it running in a way that players find desirable.

[MKalafatas]

One of the "old heads" could give a more credible answer, but my feeling is yes --- I recommend SH4. The bugs have been worked out and the game is terrific. Think someone mentioned they bought it recently for $9.

If you get one new, it should be v 1.5. If not, you can patch it to v 1.5.

Since you go so far back with sub sims, you'll definitely enjoy it.

The most popular mods are the Trigger Maru Overhaul II (TMO), and the Run Silent, Run Deep Campaign (RSRDC), both available in the downloads section. There are also good sound mods for the radio, depending on your tastes in music and/or news.

Welcome aboard.

[Sierra6.0]

Thanks everyone. I'm thinking of Steam since I was forced to use it for Skyrim. It is $9 for the main game and $9 for the "u-boat" expansion. No gold version though.

Thanks for the help. I'm getting itchy to see the waves of the Pacific on my 50" plasma via HDMI, so I may pull the trigger tonight, too bad my crappy Internet connection is going to require a darn near all day download!

[Sailor Steve]

SH4 has been good for at least four years. Too bad you didn't find this out sooner. The mods recommended by Torplexed are both excellent.

Where are you in the world? SH4 Gold can be purchased fairly cheap on any Amazon site, and if you use the link at the bottom of the page Subsim.com also gets a cut.

[Flaxpants]

SH4 is a beautiful game, especially with the aforementioned mods. Better to get the gold edition if you can though.

[Rockin Robbins]

SH4 Gold Edition may not be the PERFECT submarine simulator, but it is the best in the world. Sure wish they had updated SH3 in a similar manner because SH5 was no substitute or improvement on SH3, but instead is a whole different kettle of fish. And those fish smell really bad......

I heartily recommend SH4 as a worthy stable-mate with SH3, but without the save game scrambler and micromanaged crew system. Yes, they lost some goodies in the translation, but they made some new ones too. I think you'll enjoy it.

Just remember: you are not playing SH3. A fleet boat is NOT a U-Boat. Just because they are both submarines does not translate into everything working the same. You'll have some frustration with the TDC. You'll have some frustration with the HUD layout and game controls. Neither is better or worse than the other. The devs just made some very arbitrary choices that made the games very different. It's all good!