Time compression bug fix?

[evildrtran]

Hello all, I have the Uboat missions version of SH4, is there a fan fix for the time compression glitch I keep getting on my patrols? My rig is pretty decent, I7 intel, 12 gigs ram, gtx 960. I already tried the LAA program it made the game load faster but it still doesnt fix the stuttering issue I get when I'm in the middle of a patrol near a busy enemy port.

Also, this only happens so far on the US campaign. DOes this also happen on the Uboat campaign missions/patrols?

[propbeanie]

That is unfortunately only 'fixable' by slowing the Time Compression (TC) to about 128x approx. A little more, a little less, dependent upon the computer. Pearl is probably the worst, but any place that has a lot of traffic spawning, especially airplanes, will do that. Some mods added traffic to the areas, and others have tried to make things more 'efficient'. Are you using any mods? In Fall of the Rising Sun Ultimate (FotRSU), we've split the Jap_HarborTraffic file into 'layers', like the majority of the rest of the campaign files, and that does seem to help (disclaimer: not scientifically proven). The plan calls for splitting the US_HarborTraffic file next (yikes!), but no timetable yet.

[evildrtran]

I'm using a couple of the bonus mods for supporting subsim. Graphic enhancement for the envirnment and the GFO mod.

[captcrane]

Ahoy evildrtran just to be sure open LAA again and check to see if sh4 is checked true and not false

[propbeanie]

captcrane make a good point there. If SH4 is write protected, LAA won't 'stick'.

In addition, post back with where you have SH4 iinstalled on your computer. An example would be "C:\ Program Files (x86) \ Ubisoft \ Silent Hunter Wolves of the Pacific \" or "C:\ Games \ SH4GFO \" ??

[evildrtran]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

captcrane make a good point there. If SH4 is write protected, LAA won't 'stick'.

In addition, post back with where you have SH4 iinstalled on your computer. An example would be "C:\ Program Files (x86) \ Ubisoft \ Silent Hunter Wolves of the Pacific \" or "C:\ Games \ SH4GFO \" ??

I made sure the LAA confirmed my copy was true and the exe is no longer "read only". Also my folder is under the program folderx64/steam/steamapps/common. I only have the steam ver. so should I create a new games folder and reinstall there?

[torpedobait]

Originally Posted by evildrtran

Hello all, I have the Uboat missions version of SH4, is there a fan fix for the time compression glitch I keep getting on my patrols? My rig is pretty decent, I7 intel, 12 gigs ram, gtx 960. I already tried the LAA program it made the game load faster but it still doesnt fix the stuttering issue I get when I'm in the middle of a patrol near a busy enemy port.

Also, this only happens so far on the US campaign. DOes this also happen on the Uboat campaign missions/patrols?

I have a pretty good rig myself, but have always encountered TC-related stuttering near busy ports. I've found that it will generally disappear once I get 25nm from the port (Pearl, Midway, plus many Japanese cities with ports). They are high traffic areas that consume resources like crazy!

As for the U-Boat missions, the same occurs when near a busy port, especially Singapore and Fremantle. A bigger problem with the U-Boat missions is the amount of traffic in the Indian and South Indian Oceans. The number of friendly and enemy task forces is totally unreal. When you combine that with incessant air cover out of land bases and ship-borne planes, travelling through either one becomes near-intolerable. I spent a lot of time underwater, with very little time to recharge batteries, even in the dead of night. Every plane is radar equipped and heading dead for you. Takes the joy out of the gameplay, IMHO. It is impossible to recharge batteries when within 100-200 miles of Fremantle. I know it is an important base for the Allies, but really??? End of U-Boat Missions rant!

[evildrtran]

Originally Posted by torpedobait

I have a pretty good rig myself, but have always encountered TC-related stuttering near busy ports. I've found that it will generally disappear once I get 25nm from the port (Pearl, Midway, plus many Japanese cities with ports). They are high traffic areas that consume resources like crazy!

As for the U-Boat missions, the same occurs when near a busy port, especially Singapore and Fremantle. A bigger problem with the U-Boat missions is the amount of traffic in the Indian and South Indian Oceans. The number of friendly and enemy task forces is totally unreal. When you combine that with incessant air cover out of land bases and ship-borne planes, travelling through either one becomes near-intolerable. I spent a lot of time underwater, with very little time to recharge batteries, even in the dead of night. Every plane is radar equipped and heading dead for you. Takes the joy out of the gameplay, IMHO. It is impossible to recharge batteries when within 100-200 miles of Fremantle. I know it is an important base for the Allies, but really??? End of U-Boat Missions rant!

This is honestly heart breaking for me since SH4 rekindled my fascination of US Pacific Subs from the days of Silent Service on NES. I'm half interested in the UBoat Atlantic side but there's something about the large WW2 US Subs that fascinate me. I dont know. It sucks that I wont be able to fully enjoy this game knowing the time glitch thing will happen. Is the glitching experience similar on SH3 and 5?

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by evildrtran

I made sure the LAA confirmed my copy was true and the exe is no longer "read only". Also my folder is under the program folderx64/steam/steamapps/common. I only have the steam ver. so should I create a new games folder and reinstall there?

Originally Posted by evildrtran

This is honestly heart breaking for me since SH4 rekindled my fascination of US Pacific Subs from the days of Silent Service on NES. I'm half interested in the UBoat Atlantic side but there's something about the large WW2 US Subs that fascinate me. I dont know. It sucks that I wont be able to fully enjoy this game knowing the time glitch thing will happen. Is the glitching experience similar on SH3 and 5?

As for where your game is installed, Windows "protects" the Program Files folders from alteration if it doesn't come through a Windows "certified" app, which JSGME is an old WinXP app. Therefore, 'modern' versions of Windows will roll back most of the mods' file changes. If you want to do mods to the Stock game (most folks do), you should move the game's folder. If you have a 2nd hard drive, you can create a Library folder there, using the Steam App on your computer, and put another copy there. I made a post a while back about Moving Steam Apps, and that has the Steam App way, with a link to the Steam forum where both the Steam App way, and the Manual Method of doing it are discussed, which you would have to to the manual method if you have just one hard drive, like most laptops do. I've got my SH3 and SH5 Steam apps installed to "D:\Games\", and Steam adds all of the folder structure below that for the games. If you move the current install, you should de-activate all mods before you do the move, and you might also have to delete the JSGME.ini file in the game folder, and the same file in the MODS folder, so that it generates new versions with the correct "path" for the game's install. Don't mess with those unless you have to though.

The "stuttering" problem you describe is the same in the SH series, and has more to do with Campaign structure than anything. The game engine can only do so much. In SH3, the whole game loads as it starts, so you can ~really~ slow down in it, but they didn't do the HarborTraffic as thick, like they did in SH4. Some of the "layers" in SH4 span the entire war, while others only run for a year of so of time. The ones that run the entire war are what cause most of the "stutter" near harbors. If you've got 35 groups set to spawn every 900 hours (37.5 days), at a 35% rate, that's still over 3 groups for each of the 35, each year, or a total of over 119 groups. Most of those do not "terminate", or go away. So by 1944, you would have almost 240 groups in that harbor area, all vying for the same water. Osaka Bay on the Inland Sea is like that, and it actually has quite a bit more than 35 RGG there. I'm sure Tokyo Bay is worse.

In spite of issues like that, the game is a blast. It might just be that you've got partially activated mods, and the game isn't running at its best in the Program Files folder. Moving it might improve things. You could also try Fall of the Rising Sun Ultimate, and see if it runs better for you in those areas, but even if you don't, just reduce your TC in the harbor areas, and enjoy the game for what it is, which it is now almost 12 years old officially, but actually, counting the SH3 underpinnings, over 15 years old. It really doesn't do too bad for something that old - "old" as defined by computer life spans, and not human. We could explain how far your boat would travel at a given TC setting, and why you should reduce it, but I've bored everybody enough already...

[evildrtran]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

As for where your game is installed, Windows "protects" the Program Files folders from alteration if it doesn't come through a Windows "certified" app, which JSGME is an old WinXP app. Therefore, 'modern' versions of Windows will roll back most of the mods' file changes. If you want to do mods to the Stock game (most folks do), you should move the game's folder. If you have a 2nd hard drive, you can create a Library folder there, using the Steam App on your computer, and put another copy there. I made a post a while back about Moving Steam Apps, and that has the Steam App way, with a link to the Steam forum where both the Steam App way, and the Manual Method of doing it are discussed, which you would have to to the manual method if you have just one hard drive, like most laptops do. I've got my SH3 and SH5 Steam apps installed to "D:\Games\", and Steam adds all of the folder structure below that for the games. If you move the current install, you should de-activate all mods before you do the move, and you might also have to delete the JSGME.ini file in the game folder, and the same file in the MODS folder, so that it generates new versions with the correct "path" for the game's install. Don't mess with those unless you have to though.

The "stuttering" problem you describe is the same in the SH series, and has more to do with Campaign structure than anything. The game engine can only do so much. In SH3, the whole game loads as it starts, so you can ~really~ slow down in it, but they didn't do the HarborTraffic as thick, like they did in SH4. Some of the "layers" in SH4 span the entire war, while others only run for a year of so of time. The ones that run the entire war are what cause most of the "stutter" near harbors. If you've got 35 groups set to spawn every 900 hours (37.5 days), at a 35% rate, that's still over 3 groups for each of the 35, each year, or a total of over 119 groups. Most of those do not "terminate", or go away. So by 1944, you would have almost 240 groups in that harbor area, all vying for the same water. Osaka Bay on the Inland Sea is like that, and it actually has quite a bit more than 35 RGG there. I'm sure Tokyo Bay is worse.

In spite of issues like that, the game is a blast. It might just be that you've got partially activated mods, and the game isn't running at its best in the Program Files folder. Moving it might improve things. You could also try Fall of the Rising Sun Ultimate, and see if it runs better for you in those areas, but even if you don't, just reduce your TC in the harbor areas, and enjoy the game for what it is, which it is now almost 12 years old officially, but actually, counting the SH3 underpinnings, over 15 years old. It really doesn't do too bad for something that old - "old" as defined by computer life spans, and not human. We could explain how far your boat would travel at a given TC setting, and why you should reduce it, but I've bored everybody enough already...

Thank you for your patience, time and effort in writing this post! I'll definitely give your sugggestions a go and update u on how it goes!

[evildrtran]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

In spite of issues like that, the game is a blast. It might just be that you've got partially activated mods, and the game isn't running at its best in the Program Files folder. Moving it might improve things. You could also try Fall of the Rising Sun Ultimate

I am trying FORS mod and holy cow the difference is huge! I havent reached a point where the TC glitch would jump in but Ive already sailed past busy harbors and I could sense the mod giving a sense of better stability to the overall gaming experience! Great job on the mod also great job on the sound ambience and water graphics! Is this mod compatible with the GFO mod?

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by evildrtran

I am trying FORS mod and holy cow the difference is huge! I havent reached a point where the TC glitch would jump in but Ive already sailed past busy harbors and I could sense the mod giving a sense of better stability to the overall gaming experience! Great job on the mod also great job on the sound ambience and water graphics! Is this mod compatible with the GFO mod?

No, it is not compatible with GFO. Webster did an excellent job in gathering together a wide variety of mods that fixed little parts of the Stock game, and melded them all together into a cohesive whole. For those wanting to play Stock, GFO is the way to go (I'm a poet, and didn't even know it). Peter THEBERBSTER has taken Webster's GFO a step further, and made a really good mix of it, All In One Beginners Mega Mod, with lots of guidance in the documentation. Both versions are 'mega' mods, basically compatible only with mods built for them. However, they don't add ships and planes, nor touch the campaign files the way FotRSU does. Most mega mods are not compatible with other mods.

[KaleunMarco]

Originally Posted by evildrtran

Thank you for your patience, time and effort in writing this post! I'll definitely give your sugggestions a go and update u on how it goes!

dr evil,


PB gives some good advice by playing either GFO or FOTRSU. they are excellent mega-mods.

however, if you are playing a different mod and run into the Time Compression issue ask yourself if you really care about US Harbor traffic as being a large part of your SH4 game experience. if the answer is No, not really (as mine was) then you can do what i did, which is make a copy of USHarborTraffic.mis and then edit the file, select all, delete, save, exit. or make yourself a JSGME Mods folder, copy the harbor traffic file into it, clean it out, save it, then apply it using JSGME. in either case, TC problem solved.

[torpedobait]

Originally Posted by evildrtran

This is honestly heart breaking for me since SH4 rekindled my fascination of US Pacific Subs from the days of Silent Service on NES. I'm half interested in the UBoat Atlantic side but there's something about the large WW2 US Subs that fascinate me. I dont know. It sucks that I wont be able to fully enjoy this game knowing the time glitch thing will happen. Is the glitching experience similar on SH3 and 5?

I was glad to see further below that you gave FOTARSU a shot. It is a fantastic mod.

I did encounter the TC Stuttering in SH3 in the Calais area, notably. Tried to get there once during the Dunkirk evacuation. Big mistake! But aside from Dunkirk, any passage by Calais will slow you down considerably. Oh, and so will the many minefields planted later. Easier to just avoid the channel after May 1940 or so per radio advice.

[Treetop64]

Originally Posted by evildrtran

Hello all, I have the Uboat missions version of SH4, is there a fan fix for the time compression glitch I keep getting on my patrols? My rig is pretty decent, I7 intel, 12 gigs ram, gtx 960. I already tried the LAA program it made the game load faster but it still doesnt fix the stuttering issue I get when I'm in the middle of a patrol near a busy enemy port.

Also, this only happens so far on the US campaign. DOes this also happen on the Uboat campaign missions/patrols?

This isn't so much a bug as it is a natural consequence of using TC where there is a lot of stuff happening. Your machine still needs the real time it takes to load objects into memory (which cannot be "time accelerated") and put them in the environment once loaded. That's asking a lot of your hardware. Hence the stuttering.

Simply slow down TC when approaching busy harbors.