TDCs in U.S. subs are driving me Nuts!

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by Hitman

I think he was wrong, but in any case for the purposes of explaining to Benzin what he wanted to know we are comparing SH3 TDC vs. SH4 TDC
so it's no big deal what they had in real life, what we have in the games is what matters to sink virtual tonnage

Virtual tonnage to feed the virtual fishies!

[Benzin1973]

I feel comfortable with the US TDC now. Still its no fun watching about 70% of my shots being useless due to the torpedo passing under the keel of the target (even tho i set them to minimum dept allowed) or bouncing harmlessly off it.
Yes i know the game is being realistic, but it kind of takes the fun out for me, setting up the intercept, getting into position, doing the solution, etc. Just to watch the target laugh at me as he goes away. over, and over, and over again. Or worse, an angry destroyer storming towards my direction trying to find the joker who threw that useless tube of metal at him!
Sure i could use the "torpedo duds" option on realism settings, but then i wouldnt get ANY duds. I do like to get some duds, just not so many.

You know guys, not to bash on the game or anything, but i must say its not "cutting it" for me. I just cant get immersed in it.
I dunno, maybe its this (realistic) issue with the torpedoes,
Maybe its the fact that my crew are obviously ghosts and zombies from hell (the ones on deck are semi-transparent ghosts, the ones inside have blood red eyes),
Maybe its the fact that my sub is so HUGE, theres an echo whe some one talks (they reply "yes sir, yes sir, yes sir" 3 times),
Perhaps is the 16 colored universe, where the night sky and the sea under the surface are a collection of clearly visible color bands (gradient)...

But i just cant get nearly the level of immersion (and just plain fun) i get from SH3 + GWX.
As for the graphics being better, well in all honesty the sky and underwater look a LOT better in SH3 for me. I know not everyone has this "banding" issue in SH4, but for those of us who have it, it looks terrible.

Again, not trying to bash on the game, nor am i "whinning" about it. Just sharing my opinions here.

I also have SH5.... I better not get started there.

I think its fair to say that to me, SH3 is by far the best SH game.

[Rockin Robbins]

Last screen shot is from the upcoming Fall of the Rising Sun Ultimate supermod.

[Benzin1973]

Awesome!
I wish mine would look like that.

[Rockin Robbins]

I thought you might enjoy seeing what the game is supposed to look like. These are screenshots taken while playing with no post processing of any kind. I hope you can get yours to look like this and can't think of any reason it wouldn't! It must be some setting on the graphics card.

Hope you can get it sorted out! I think the game looks pretty magnificent with middle of the road equipment!

[Benzin1973]

Thanks for your good wishes!
The main problems with my game are the "banding" i get during night (sky is but a "rainbow" of bars), and during the day when looking under water. That and the bugs in the crew that make me feel like im captain for the un-dead crew My guys inside the sub have either no eyes, or red eyes. And the ones outside the sub (on deck), 80% of the time are semi-transparent ghostly apparitions!

I too belive its a matter of the game not getting along with my card. (Nvidia GTX 750ti). I just cant pinpoint what exactly is the problem to try to solve it.

[propbeanie]

nVidia website forum has this Noticeable color banding in gradients 4 page thread posting. A lot of people complaining about it there. The last post there now, from 5/22/16 says "this is always going to be present on 6bit displays" - whatever they mean by that - I'm not very literate when it comes to graphics displays. All I know is "I like that" or "I don't like that". When they start talking about most aspects (including the screen resolution...) of display hardware and software, my eyes start to glaze over, my mouth starts to leak even more drool (kind of comes naturally anyway), and my head starts to bobbing... less than two minutes later, I'll go "thunk!" on the desk with my face and wake-up, but only for a moment, and the process starts all over again...

Now, I do not have the particular card you have, and I have no idea if this would be appropriate for your situation, since this guy talks about "color fix", but you could look at on toobyu, and see if it's applicable... Oooh, from 2012: Tip for nVidia users using HDMI..., which again, may not apply to your situation... Is it "crushed" RGB, or is it limited bandwidth on the display monitor?...

[Benzin1973]

Thanks propbeanie! very informative thread.
I had no idea this was a common issue with nvidia cards. I been using nvidia non stop for about 10 years (had really bad experiences with my last two ati cards), and i never had this problem in other games. Nor do i have it with any other game i currently play.

I also have no idea what that guy means by "6 bit displays"
Will have to look deeper into this issue.

[BarracudaUAK]

I finally remembered to switch SH4 to manual before I started this last time...

I've hit with my first shot , but I had to play with the TDC a lot, and compare to the attack map often.


I just want to clarify the order, so I can "tweak" less...


1: enter SPEED. (I used the radar to measure distance over time.)
2: turn PK on.
3: enter AOB (by determining course, I used radar data.)
4: enter BEARING (used sonar.)
5: enter RANGE (again, used sonar, 30,000yard out!)

6: Double check when in visual/torpedo range.
7: shoot


The biggest thing for me is the fact that I have to keep switching "tabs" on the TDC input, I like the SH3 version where they are all visible at the same time.
I am also very partial to the ability to manually set the range, rather than setting the "height" and letting it do the work... major pain!
I've managed to do a passive sonar only run in sh3 twice, and I hit both times... so I've got the basics down!


Anything I missed here?

Barracuda

[Rockin Robbins]

That should get it. Keep in mind that there are slight errors in sonar range and bearing, so it is good to update those numbers pretty frequently as they approach.

The video that really got me started with manual targeting with sonar:


It's like being instructed by Henry Kissinger.

[BarracudaUAK]

I saw that video which searching for something else... I watched about half of it before I had to run, I'll try to finish watching it soon.

When I did my passive sonar runs in SH3, I would manually move the hydrophone until I picked up the ship I was tracking, noted the bearing, then I moved around until the sound faded /stopped, noted the bearing again, then I would go to the "center" of the "range" and enter that as my "bearing" for the TDC. In SH3 asking for the bearing, it always gave you the bearing to the propellers.

I used the same method when I entered the bearing in SH4, the hydrophones picked up the ship between 42 and 58 degrees, so I entered 50 into the TDC...

Ranged seems to be the big problem... Even when using the staidometer (I know I spelled that wrong!), it's a bit difficult to get it to the top of the mast. They tend to "flicker" in and out of view at range. The really sad part about this is, I use a 42" TV for a monitor (have for the last 6 years... it's beyond awesome), and it's still annoying.

Are there any mods that would allow me to just input the range manually?

Time to get back to it I guess....

Barracuda

[babybud]

Originally Posted by BarracudaUAK

Are there any mods that would allow me to just input the range manually?

OTC mod allows this. Works great for inputting range data from the radar.

[BarracudaUAK]

Thanks, I'll look for it when I have some more time...

I ran across this mod, and was about to post it when I saw your reply...
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/down...do=file&id=717


I haven't tried it out yet, but I will give it a go as soon as I can...

Barracuda