SH-IV Graphic Capabilites ?

[TonyPiech]

Just curious to know the graphic capabilities in SH-IV. If the sim is out in 2007, VISTA and DX-10 should be out; will SH-IV take advantage of those graphic features or will we be limited similar to what we had in SH-III?

Hopefully we can have some graphic scalability in SH-IV.

[MadMike]

More focus needs to be on correcting deficiencies in off the shelf playability and historical accuracy, not high end graphics.

Yours, Mike

[John Channing]

Originally Posted by MadMike

More focus needs to be on correcting deficiencies in off the shelf playability and historical accuracy, not high end graphics.

Yours, Mike

While that may be true from the perspective of the so-called "hard core" grognard, that is certainly not what lead to sales in excess of 300,00 for Silent Hunter III (which is what had lead to Silent Hunter IV).

Top end graphics is what sells. Gameplay and immersiveness is what keeps 'em coming back.

And as to the ever growing urban myth about the state of release of Silent Hunter III, most of the "deficiencies in off the shelf playability" actually turned out to be deficiencies in people's systems or abilities to read the manual.

I know. I was one of the ones ammending the hundreds of threads that were headlined "NEW BUG" with the end-tag "SOLVED".

Any serious problems that did exist were subsequently and quickly corrected by the developers.

With over 15 years of experience with simulations I cannot remember one of this scope and magnitude that was in better shape out of the box.

And the proof is in the sales!

JCC

[TonyPiech]

Originally Posted by MadMike

More focus needs to be on correcting deficiencies in off the shelf playability and historical accuracy, not high end graphics.

Yours, Mike

Mike, I'd like to respectfully disagree; it may just be "different stokes for different folks" . I had a high-end machine for SH-III and I'll probably have even a higher-end machine for SH-IV. What I didn't get in SH-III was some form of graphic scalability, hopefully that will change in SH-IV. Those that have lower-and-midrange systems should have the capability to view SH-IV. However many computer gamers will move to VISTA and DX-10 when it arrives in January or February of 2007; the developers will hopefully recognize this certainty and give us something to play with rather than remain stuck in the past.

[PeriscopeDepth]

I'm guessing not. I do wonder if the game will be coded to take advantage of dual core systems though.

PD

[MobyGrape]

did a quick search on Widescreen..did not find anything..Will widescreen support be available with proper aspect..?

[Marriott]

I'd like to see better crew graphics. Seeing a nice beautiful sunset and great waves and rust on the boat and then turning and seeing horrific crewmembers that look like they were made with lego is abit of a dissapointment

[enaceo]

From what I see in the screen-shots the graphics look pretty good ,but they aren't really changed soo much from SH3-some new ,more "clean" textures,and some effects that were kind of poorly modeled in Sh3.I'm pretty confident that I'll be able to run it fine ,just like SH3.
I also would like to see some nice-looking crewmen,a little bit more "wear-and-tear" on the sub (that screenshot with the submarine is really cool) ,some more detailed rooms and less weird bugs when the crew-men are in the t-stance or their bodies/heads dissapear.Also,a bit more work on the damage textures would be in order
The water already looks pretty good ,so do the ships.The sub should be the "center of atention" for graphics improvements since you see it most of the time and interact with it most of the time.The other ships look fine in my opinion,and the only thing they need is a few more crewmen on deck and some lifeboats or other debris than boxes when they sink.

[Immacolata]

Not sure if the OP really understands what DX10 is all about. It is more of a redesign of the system, new driver model etc. And then there is shader model 4.0, Where DX9c runs 3.0 I think. Microsoft claims the rewrite will lead to much faster access times, but that is theoretical. Shader Model 4.0 is also a sort of rearrangement of the mechanics behind how you use pixel shaders. Again, this can lead to better performance.

So when you wish for DirectX 10, is that because you believe that DX10 automagically makes the game use better textures made by superior artists, more polygons in the models and will have shaded pixels coming out of its nose? Or is there some kind of specific advantage in DX10 that you know will provide a great boost to the design team of SHIV? They do not need to chase phantom technology to make SHIV look better. They just need better textures and more variation, higher poly count on some models. That is all it takes.

Oh, and by the way, MS claims that DX10 is Vista only. So if you run XP you will not be able to play SHIV, should they chose DX10 model.

[Driftwood]

Originally Posted by Immacolata

Not sure if the OP really understands what DX10 is all about. It is more of a redesign of the system, new driver model etc. And then there is shader model 4.0, Where DX9c runs 3.0 I think. Microsoft claims the rewrite will lead to much faster access times, but that is theoretical. Shader Model 4.0 is also a sort of rearrangement of the mechanics behind how you use pixel shaders. Again, this can lead to better performance.

So when you wish for DirectX 10, is that because you believe that DX10 automagically makes the game use better textures made by superior artists, more polygons in the models and will have shaded pixels coming out of its nose? Or is there some kind of specific advantage in DX10 that you know will provide a great boost to the design team of SHIV? They do not need to chase phantom technology to make SHIV look better. They just need better textures and more variation, higher poly count on some models. That is all it takes.

Oh, and by the way, MS claims that DX10 is Vista only. So if you run XP you will not be able to play SHIV, should they chose DX10 model.

Damn! Decisions, decisions....... It's hard for me to imagine that this will be lost on Ubisoft. Especially considering that Vista is expected to be released around the same time as SHIV. Take a look at GRAW (a Ubi title). Its one of the first games on the market to make use of the new PhysX card for advanced graphics. Can they do any less for SHIV? I certainly hope not. I think John Channing hit the nail on the head earlier. While most of us who hang out in here can certainly be considered "hard core grognards" when it comes to sub simming, eye candy sells. Especially when it's teamed with a good sim.

[Safe-Keeper]

Top end graphics is what sells. Gameplay and immersiveness is what keeps 'em coming back.

That might just be true, sadly.

And as to the ever growing urban myth about the state of release of Silent Hunter III, most of the "deficiencies in off the shelf playability" actually turned out to be deficiencies in people's systems or abilities to read the manual.

The game was pretty defunct when it came out, and many of the things in it were bugs.

With all due respect to the developers, who probably did all they could to get things right, I don't think it's my inability to read the manual that causes destroyers to so frequently run aground. The game has its share of faults, and had even more of them when it came out.

With over 15 years of experience with simulations I cannot remember one of this scope and magnitude that was in better shape out of the box.

That says more about the low standards than about the game, though, doesn't it? I enjoyed the unpatched Silent Hunter III, I really did, I also noticed that it needed patching.

I remember back in the old days when there was no such thing as "patches" and games were finished when they came out...

[TDK1044]

SH1V is going to be targeted at XP. The number of Vista based computers sold at the time of the SH1V release will be relatively small, even assuming Microsoft hits their current deadline. Upon the release of Vista, a lot of people will wait at least 6 months to observe the new OS before upgrading. Therefore, from a sales point of view, it would be total madness to make SH1V a Vista based game. If you're looking to sell 300,000 copies of SH1V, you go with XP. If you're looking to sell under 10,000 copies, you go with Vista. Easy decision. Silent Hunter 5 is a different story!

[enaceo]

I personally will wait about an year,maybe more untill upgrading to Vista.Like all it's predecesors,it will have a lot of bugs/problems/incompatibilites which need time to get sorted out.I mean it took about 3-4 years after XP was released untill software makers stopped supporting 9x series completely.

[TonyPiech]

Originally Posted by TDK1044

SH1V is going to be targeted at XP. The number of Vista based computers sold at the time of the SH1V release will be relatively small, even assuming Microsoft hits their current deadline. Upon the release of Vista, a lot of people will wait at least 6 months to observe the new OS before upgrading. Therefore, from a sales point of view, it would be total madness to make SH1V a Vista based game. If you're looking to sell 300,000 copies of SH1V, you go with XP. If you're looking to sell under 10,000 copies, you go with Vista. Easy decision. Silent Hunter 5 is a different story!

Why can't Ubi make SH-IV a VISTA and XP Sim? Microsoft is doing it with Flight Simulator X. It's to hit the shelves this October when all that's available is XP. When VISTA arrives, FSX will run on VISTA. Maybe Ubi isn't as big as MS, but it isn't a minor player in the video game market. I'll like to see the odds that SH-IV will hit the shelves in Q1 of 2007; it probably won't.

[CWorth]

My opinion is why should they create something for unproven technology.Neither Vista nor DX10 is even out yet.And we all know how screwed up M$'s first releases are.

So its best to wait and see how things turn out.That way bugs get worked out before Ubi needs to program for and then having to spend money and time fixing game glitches that occur due to said unproven technology.