[REL] FOTRS Ultimate Project

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by Immelmann

What he said. I have posted about this twice, and have not had anyone comment on this glitch. Is this one of those SH4 vagaries that we can do nothing about?

Just to let you know, this has not been forgotten. I did lose more than I realized on my old computer when the hard drive crashed, but I have found "the culprit" again:



Now, as to why he is the only cpo, don't remember, but we'll find it. maybe... Personal hygiene while onboard a USN sub must be upkept! Shave!

Originally Posted by propbeanie

Just to let you know, this has not been forgotten. I did lose more than I realized on my old computer when the hard drive crashed, but I have found "the culprit" again:



Now, as to why he is the only cpo, don't remember, but we'll find it. maybe... Personal hygiene while onboard a USN sub must be upkept! Shave!

I have no idea why the "Family Guy" skit about Abraham Lincoln making fun of his one advisor who can't grow a beard popped into my head but it did! LOL!

We didn't allow babies on our fleet boats!

[Rich8]

Just uploaded, gonna be a while for HD to load

This bug I've found pertains to Day and Night desyncing I've found, which may have been an underlying cause to why I've been having so much difficulty with task forces and just being spotted very early in general

[cdrsubron7]

Originally Posted by Rich8

Just uploaded, gonna be a while for HD to load

This bug I've found pertains to Day and Night desyncing I've found, which may have been an underlying cause to why I've been having so much difficulty with task forces and just being spotted very early in general

Hello Rich8. Welcome to Subsim. Happy to have you with us.


Now as to this de-sync problem, I can truthfully say that I've never encountered this problem before and I've played SH4 since it first came out. Could you supply some basic info on your SH4 setup? Is your SH4 version a downloaded version or from a disc? What version of the game are you using? What mods besides SH4 and FOTRSU are you using if any?

[Rich8]

Originally Posted by cdrsubron7

Hello Rich8. Welcome to Subsim. Happy to have you with us.


Now as to this de-sync problem, I can truthfully say that I've never encountered this problem before and I've played SH4 since it first came out. Could you supply some basic info on your SH4 setup? Is your SH4 version a downloaded version or from a disc? What version of the game are you using? What mods besides SH4 and FOTRSU are you using if any?

Using the Steam version with Uboat missions so I'm on v1.5, no mods besides FOTRSU

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by Rich8

Just uploaded, gonna be a while for HD to load

This bug I've found pertains to Day and Night desyncing I've found, which may have been an underlying cause to why I've been having so much difficulty with task forces and just being spotted very early in general

Ahhh, another issue that has been discussed, but a good while ago... After starting the game, look in the Options menu, and under "Graphics Settings", look in the lower right corner for the "Vertical Sync", and it should be enabled. But that is only part of the problem. You could read Front Runner's thread "Base Time" but just be bored to tears. There was a lot of supposition going on, but we did find issues with the CareerStart file back then, which is what led us to "discover" that Silent Hunter 4 is an old DirectX v9c game (really??), written for Windows XP, and was to be played at a 30 Frames Per Second rate. There was no such thing as 60fps back then. Time compression, low or high rate, and no Time Compression, all influence the game's "clocks" - yes, multiple... It has to do with tying the cylindrical world in SH4 with the simulated "dome" cycle of the heavenly bodies. Most computers play the game much faster than 30fps, so the "time" of the world advances, but the celestial "time" remains constant (or do I have that backwards??). Anyway, suffice to say that using the nVidia Inspector applet to limit your nVidia card, as outlined in Front Runner's Post #66 of that same thread goes a long way to maintaining the game's clocks. I have no idea how you would do that on an AMD / ATI card, or an Intel onboard - but it does work with the nVidia cards, especially after I fixed the CareerStart to not crash Front Runners 1x game play after a Save... - anyway, limit the computer to only play the game at 30fps, and the clocks stay synced, and night is night, day is day. Just remember that Pearl is -10.5 hours zulu in the game (but the game messed that up too), while Tokyo is +9, so it's "tomorrow" already. When you leave Pearl, you are on the Pearl clock. If you leave Fremantle, you are on the Fremantle clock...

btw: Now that I've seen the vid - Do not Save and then Load like you do in the video, that will corrupt the Save. It is sort of like going from the Museum, then into the game. All sorts of stuff goes wonky. If you Save the game, and want to re-Load that Save, exit the game, re-start, and then Load the Save. Big thing with the game is to not "shell out" to Windows in any form. If you need to use a digital tool for targeting or a help file, use your fone or a tablet. Do not use the computer the game is running on. Again, the game was designed for WindowsXP, a single-threaded OS, that gave exclusive use to the game, and did not change addresses on things, like Windows from Vista on do now. If the newer Windows "sees" that you've left the game, it might re-assign the resources to something else. When you go back in the game, Windows re-assigns the needed resources, but they might not be in the same place that the game was using them. Instant data corruption, which manifests itself as rising O2 levels in the sub, killing your crew in spite of being on the surface. Or maybe it would be looping audio that normally doesn't, things like that... sorry - we now return you to the thread...

[Rich8]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

Ahhh, another issue that has been discussed, but a good while ago... After starting the game, look in the Options menu, and under "Graphics Settings", look in the lower right corner for the "Vertical Sync", and it should be enabled. But that is only part of the problem. You could read Front Runner's thread "Base Time" but just be bored to tears. There was a lot of supposition going on, but we did find issues with the CareerStart file back then, which is what led us to "discover" that Silent Hunter 4 is an old DirectX v9c game (really??), written for Windows XP, and was to be played at a 30 Frames Per Second rate. There was no such thing as 60fps back then. Time compression, low or high rate, and no Time Compression, all influence the game's "clocks" - yes, multiple... It has to do with tying the cylindrical world in SH4 with the simulated "dome" cycle of the heavenly bodies. Most computers play the game much faster than 30fps, so the "time" of the world advances, but the celestial "time" remains constant (or do I have that backwards??). Anyway, suffice to say that using the nVidia Inspector applet to limit your nVidia card, as outlined in Front Runner's Post #66 of that same thread goes a long way to maintaining the game's clocks. I have no idea how you would do that on an AMD / ATI card, or an Intel onboard - but it does work with the nVidia cards, especially after I fixed the CareerStart to not crash Front Runners 1x game play after a Save... - anyway, limit the computer to only play the game at 30fps, and the clocks stay synced, and night is night, day is day. Just remember that Pearl is -10.5 hours zulu in the game (but the game messed that up too), while Tokyo is +9, so it's "tomorrow" already. When you leave Pearl, you are on the Pearl clock. If you leave Fremantle, you are on the Fremantle clock...

btw: Now that I've seen the vid - Do not Save and then Load like you do in the video, that will corrupt the Save. It is sort of like going from the Museum, then into the game. All sorts of stuff goes wonky. If you Save the game, and want to re-Load that Save, exit the game, re-start, and then Load the Save. Big thing with the game is to not "shell out" to Windows in any form. If you need to use a digital tool for targeting or a help file, use your fone or a tablet. Do not use the computer the game is running on. Again, the game was designed for WindowsXP, a single-threaded OS, that gave exclusive use to the game, and did not change addresses on things, like Windows from Vista on do now. If the newer Windows "sees" that you've left the game, it might re-assign the resources to something else. When you go back in the game, Windows re-assigns the needed resources, but they might not be in the same place that the game was using them. Instant data corruption, which manifests itself as rising O2 levels in the sub, killing your crew in spite of being on the surface. Or maybe it would be looping audio that normally doesn't, things like that... sorry - we now return you to the thread...

Hmm I see, that really does explain quite a lot then, thanks for that.

I have this on my SSD and the procedure you stated for using saves is something I've just started practicing after uploading the video. It's not too bad since I have this installed on SSD. And it makes a bit of sense as to why I don't see this issue in SH5. Before you mentioned that it corrupts the save, saving and loading like I do in SH5, I noticed evidence of corruption of the save on some marks on the map I had, that previously red "Mark 1, Mark 2" and then read " #*&@@#' €" lol

Anyway, I just tried reloading an engagement on an Ada Maru I just found after uploading the vid, with night-time and 15 m/s wind, and I'm surprised that he never saw my periscope. Even from 2kyd away, which before was presenting me a probably against even merchants. Who were already behaving like they had spotted me from 13-15kyds away. So now I just have to find a task force and stalk it until night time and see if the destroyers either had "desyncular night vision" or they are just extremely attentive.

The one issue I am still trying to figure and will record when I run into is the destroyers being able to track me with unbelievable precision while there are absolutely no active sonar pings bouncing off of my hull.

[Immelmann]

Originally Posted by Rich8

I noticed evidence of corruption of the save on some marks on the map I had, that previously red "Mark 1, Mark 2" and then read " #*&@@#' €" lol

I have experienced this in v0.81 also. Thanks for bringing it up because, until you did, I had forgotten to mention this.

Originally Posted by propbeanie

Most computers play the game much faster than 30fps, so the "time" of the world advances, but the celestial "time" remains constant (or do I have that backwards??). Anyway, suffice to say that using the nVidia Inspector applet to limit your nVidia card, as outlined in Front Runner's Post #66 of that same thread goes a long way to maintaining the game's clocks.

I will add this setting to my SH4 NVI profile. Thank you.

[propbeanie]

I have been loosely "testing" mine since using the Inspector, and it is almost scary how accurate the sun rise and set times are, the moon phases, etc. Like a different game. We do need someone who knows their stars to check them out with that set-up.

I seldom go over 1024 TC anymore, and during daylight, seldom go over 256 anymore. If anything is around me, I'm usually no more than 32x, and have learned to relish 1x during the approach / attack phase. "No, not quite yet... patience, Padawan."... "But skipper! The sonar line is at 15° Port!"... "Wax on, right hand. Wax off, left hand. Wax on, wax off... breathe deep through your nose, out through your mouth..." - oh, wait! Wrong movie!

[Michael Wood]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

"No, not quite yet... patience, Padawan."... "But skipper! The sonar line is at 15° Port!"... "Wax on, right hand. Wax off, left hand. Wax on, wax off... breathe deep through your nose, out through your mouth..." - oh, wait! Wrong movie!

LMAO

[Rich8]

Does Ultimate have it to where we have the Mk14 torpedo scandal modelled? Because before I set out on my 2nd patrol I check to make sure dud torpedoes were on because so far, including my second, every Mk14 I've fired has not dudded and I feel like I'm developing a false sense of security lol.

[propbeanie]

Yes, it is "modelled" (though they used an ugly "model"), and the game's "random number generator" isn't very random, being along the lines of the old Donkey Kong game, and very predictable. However, you should have had a few duds. Even when getting a "good" run, I have never gotten more than eight in a row that were good. I have had some ~really~ long strings of duds though...

Now, there are several things that can contribute to issues with the torpedoes, and other aspects of the game. The main one is the Save folder. The game is an old beast with a proprietary file format used with the Save folder. A lot of the data is text-based, some of it formatted in certain ways and / or the bytes "counted", but there are several binary files that hold info we cannot "see" and have no clue what it is. When that segment holds invalid data, it messes up the game. The game runs a goodly portion from the Save folder, not the game folder. So when you activate the FotRSU mod, you have to empty (delete) the Save folder, which is usually found at "C:\Users \UserName \Documents \SH4", unless you've used MultiSH4 to alter that. If you don't empty the Save folder, you stand a good chance of suffering from "cross-contamination", where you have a bit of FotRSU, and a bit of what you had before. Sort of like letting raw chicken touch the cooked food...

Second on the list is probably "shelling out to Windows", where you maybe pause the game, hit the Windows key and something else and go noodle on the Windows desktop, looking for that Is-Was or Banjo app you ~know~ you have somewhere on your hard drive. Maybe you use <Alt><Tab> or some-such. Either way, what happens is that the game gets confused. Being the old-fashioned beast that it is, it expects to find the audio stream and the video stream, as well as that all important Save stream where they were when you left the game to go to Windows. Windows, being so magnanimous, sees that you've "Paused" the game by putting it to the background, will then release the audio, video and disk streams for other programs to use - Oh! You're opening the Banjo jpeg file! - whoops! wrong kind of banjo!... When you go back, Windows no longer has the game's data where it was, and the game doesn't know that, so proceeds to over-write portions of itself in memory. Then, you Save the game, and all that corruption... Don't "shell-out" of the game.

Third on the list is the use of the LAA applet. CapnScurvy has an excellent thread Windows10; Large Address Aware; SH4 Install. About all that a person could add to what he says is to emphasize to double-check your SH4.exe file and make certain that it is not write-protected, else the LAA won't "stick". After using LAA, open it again and make certain that LAA is set to "TRUE". LAA allows Silent Hunter 4 to use more of your computer resources, ~IF~ you have a 64-bit OS...

I'll quit for now.

[merc4ulfate]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

Yes, it is "modelled" (though they used an ugly "model"), and the game's "random number generator" isn't very random, being along the lines of the old Donkey Kong game, and very predictable. However, you should have had a few duds. Even when getting a "good" run, I have never gotten more than eight in a row that were good. I have had some ~really~ long strings of duds though...

Now, there are several things that can contribute to issues with the torpedoes, and other aspects of the game. The main one is the Save folder. The game is an old beast with a proprietary file format used with the Save folder. A lot of the data is text-based, some of it formatted in certain ways and / or the bytes "counted", but there are several binary files that hold info we cannot "see" and have no clue what it is. When that segment holds invalid data, it messes up the game. The game runs a goodly portion from the Save folder, not the game folder. So when you activate the FotRSU mod, you have to empty (delete) the Save folder, which is usually found at "C:\Users \UserName \Documents \SH4", unless you've used MultiSH4 to alter that. If you don't empty the Save folder, you stand a good chance of suffering from "cross-contamination", where you have a bit of FotRSU, and a bit of what you had before. Sort of like letting raw chicken touch the cooked food...

Second on the list is probably "shelling out to Windows", where you maybe pause the game, hit the Windows key and something else and go noodle on the Windows desktop, looking for that Is-Was or Banjo app you ~know~ you have somewhere on your hard drive. Maybe you use <Alt><Tab> or some-such. Either way, what happens is that the game gets confused. Being the old-fashioned beast that it is, it expects to find the audio stream and the video stream, as well as that all important Save stream where they were when you left the game to go to Windows. Windows, being so magnanimous, sees that you've "Paused" the game by putting it to the background, will then release the audio, video and disk streams for other programs to use - Oh! You're opening the Banjo jpeg file! - whoops! wrong kind of banjo!... When you go back, Windows no longer has the game's data where it was, and the game doesn't know that, so proceeds to over-write portions of itself in memory. Then, you Save the game, and all that corruption... Don't "shell-out" of the game.

Third on the list is the use of the LAA applet. CapnScurvy has an excellent thread Windows10; Large Address Aware; SH4 Install. About all that a person could add to what he says is to emphasize to double-check your SH4.exe file and make certain that it is not write-protected, else the LAA won't "stick". After using LAA, open it again and make certain that LAA is set to "TRUE". LAA allows Silent Hunter 4 to use more of your computer resources, ~IF~ you have a 64-bit OS...

I'll quit for now.

I have had patrols where half the load out were duds. It is definitely modeled.

[cdrsubron7]

I've created a new single mission for FOTRSU called "Northwest of Midway" There is nothing complicated about it, but you may find it somewhat more difficult then your usual missions. So, for any of you veteran skippers out there who feel like giving it a try, feel free to do so. It is in zipped format for traveling purposes. Just unzip it and copy + paste it to your Single Missions folder in your SH4 game folder. So it would be SH4/Data/SingleMissions. Let me know what results you get and any other comments you might have. This was created using the stock game and v.81 RC2 and nothing else. If you have other mods installed, my mission may not work correctly.










Northwest of Midway

[merc4ulfate]

Originally Posted by cdrsubron7

I've created a new single mission for FOTRSU called "Northwest of Midway" There is nothing complicated about it, but you may find it somewhat more difficult then your usual missions. So, for any of you veteran skippers out there who feel like giving it a try, feel free to do so. It is in zipped format for traveling purposes. Just unzip it and copy + paste it to your Single Missions folder in your SH4 game folder. So it would be SH4/Data/SingleMissions. Let me know what results you get and any other comments you might have. This was created using the stock game and v.81 RC2 and nothing else. If you have other mods installed, my mission may not work correctly.










Northwest of Midway

Loved the weather. The DD were very aggressive. I was not able to report and I do not know how many CV there were due to such short visual range in the weather but I did manage to sink two DD and two CV.