Things you like or don't like about SH4

[RedHammer]

I know what i talk about, ive been playing Silent Hunter ever since the first came around on the old Commandore C64.

Um..... ok :rotfl:

r.

Oopsie!


RH

[Torpex752]

First I love where the game is, after 10 years it nice to have the pacfleet back. :)

Now.....

1-The Damage control interface......I knew it was gonna be a disappointment ..its all there (I believe) we just need a way to interact and know whats going on better. As a CO we need to know flooding levels, and the rate of flooding to decide if we press on or turn tail to fight again a different day! same as knowing 'about' when something is gonna get fixed. We need a proper DC control station. If the Dev team reads this, please know that I would be happy to lend my submarining and Damage Control knowledge to them to help fix this (for free). :know:

2-Let me talk to my crew please..especially the watch officer!

3- My planesmen sit there and do nothing...grab the wheel guys and give them a spin dangit!

4- I'd like to be able to click the TBT and use it, same as with the Key Officers and stations!

5- MK-10 torpedos didnt have any influence setting BTW.

6- I think some checking needs to be done on the fuel consumption rates. I dont believe an S-Class lasted more than about 11 days on station with 3-5 transit days each way.

I'll post more later, but this is a quick summary.

Overall I really like it so far, so lets get some patches! :up:

Frank
:cool:

[mookiemookie]

3- My planesmen sit there and do nothing...grab the wheel guys and give them a spin dangit!

Be careful what you wish for. Remember how in SH3 the planesmen would sit and spin the wheels even while you were surfaced? :lol:

[JScones]

It's early days for me yet - I haven't really played the game itself - but what has disappointed me so far is the apparent lack of attention to detail.

For example:

Freemantle is in England. Fremantle is in Australia. Why then can I start two war patrols from Freemantle?
Why does the Australian Roster have a Lancaster in the Pacific carrying an upside down US roundel? Whilst 1.1 seems to have replaced the US model with the British model, I'm still perplexed what one is doing over there in the first place!
Indeed, why are all Australian planes carrying US markings (similar problems with other nationalities too)?
Why are Indian ships flying the current Indian Ensign (similar flag problems with other countries too)?
Medals? Already done to death. ;)Minor problems yes, but distracting nonetheless.

But I am curious - was there a QA process on any of this stuff?

[AG124]

I've realized there is something else in SHIV that I have always wanted - optional variable tonnages for ships (a value which can be customized). Check the .cfg for each ship.:up: Some warships don't have it, as it would be unnecessary for them.

Hats off to the dev team (at least for me) for including this feature, assuming that is what it actually is - I might be wrong. Now, if I can only get my bonus materials...

[Tigrone]

But I am curious - was there a QA process on any of this stuff?

I asked about the Lancaster and was told by a moderator on the official site that it was probably due to young developers, who were not familiar with the subject.

Another moderator mentioned in a post that the game was not put out for independent or outside beta testing of any significance. Also, there do not appear to be any special consultants, as were used in SH3. The time available was very short. Due to the number of English language errors, I'm not sure there were many native English speakers involved at all, even as proof editors. These mistakes do not affect game play, which is a lot of fun and very pretty, and they are not bugs. The irritating thing is that they were designed.

I teach history myself, so these kind of errors grate on me. It makes it hard to get into game, when you keep getting tripped up by such silly trivial errors that steal from the story. In a way, I think it discourteous and kind of insulting to those who served.

[JScones]

Another moderator mentioned in a post that the game was not put out for independent or outside beta testing of any significance. Also, there do not appear to be any special consultants, as were used in SH3. The time available was very short. Due to the number of English language errors, I'm not sure there were many native English speakers involved at all, even as proof editors. These mistakes do not affect game play, which is a lot of fun and very pretty, and they are not bugs. The irritating thing is that they were designed.
So what did the "Lockwood Inn" people do?



Freemantle is in England. Fremantle is in Australia. Why then can I start two war patrols from Freemantle?Sigh. And the paper map has Fremantle spelt with two 'e's too. :roll:

Anyway, some positives (let's be fair ;)). I've been closely looking at the unit cfg files today. Looks like there is loads of potential there for date-based, country-based, or just random skin changes, all from within SH4. No need for "file shuffles", LOL!

The need to clone units to reflect equipment, skins or other minor differences now seems obsolete too. A great step forward from SH3.

The radio concept with date-based messages is also cool.

At some stage I will actually play the game. I'm still looking at the files for now. :)

[Drebbel]

Sigh. And the paper map has Fremantle spelt with two 'e's too. :roll:

But atleast Galverton disappeared from the map :D

[mookiemookie]

Sigh. And the paper map has Fremantle spelt with two 'e's too. :roll:
But atleast Galverton disappeared from the map :D
:rock: Finally...us Texans are shown respect enough to spell our cities correctly!

Speaking of other corrections....I think they've taken a cue from GWX and added the Moltenort Sub Memorial. Scroll over Kiel area and it's on the map there. If it's actually there, I don't know. My sub doesn't have the fuel to get over to the heart of Nazi Germany to check it out. :up:

[U-Schultz]

Ahh...a whiners page!
WARNING: These whines are my own based on my personal tastes and experiences playing every darn subsim since the early 1980's. No need for flamers. Have to get it off my chest.
My system: 3.6GHZ Pentium, 1 GB RAM, Nvidia 6800GT Video card, SB Audigy 2 sound card.

Summation: SH4 (or SH 3 1/2 as I like to call it) is a huge disapointment to me compared to my current yardstick of SH3 with GWX. Yes, yes I remember SH3 out of the box but in light of the developers supposedly paying attention to what has been done to SH3 by the modders I can't believe how SH4 shipped.

Pros:
Hmmmm.....to be honest I can't think of any off the top. And I'm a SH series"fanboi".

Cons:
Bugs: Many, and most already covered or mentioned. Every game has bugs and quirks but some of these are so egregious I have to wonder. Did anyone playtest the damn thing?

Attention to detail. Divebombing Lancasters (with upsidedown American markings!) during the battle of Midway? A small item? Hmmm....if this is present what other historical oddities/absurdities are in the game?

Graphics: Granted my vid card is a bit dated but I am not sure what the rave about the graphics are about. I think they are terrible. I have the settings maxed out (framerates are good though) and everything looks poor. The water is just O.K. up close but everything else....geesh....where to start. And despite my good FR the mouse seems laggy.

Interface: A mess, pure and simple. Hate it.

Periscope/TDC: Ditto.

Interaction with Crew: Poor. Even SH3 out of the box gave me more of a feeling of "being there" than SH4. And the crew? Weird looking...

Text Box: Dislike its current location.

Sound: ....

You know, I was going to continue but I think I'll just stop for now. I appreciate the work done by the Dev Team but thinking of what SH4 could have been (or should have been) makes it worse. SH4 is a huge step backward, in my opinion, and was shipped half baked. Thank god for the Modding Community here. SH4 is (hopefully after a couple of more patches) in your court now. Bless you!

Again, just my opinion, for the "Things you like or don't like about SH4" thread.

[OneTinSoldier]

I fill in the Sound part for you with just COUPLE of examples...

Audible Crew Announcements are very quiet


Try clicking for 20 degress to port. The crew response is...

"Yes Sir, Rudder 20 degrees."

In SH3 that response would have been, "Yes Sir, Rudder 20 degrees to Port." Which is much better IMO.

When you click the ' key on your keyboard in SH4 you get a crew response of "Yes Sir, Rudder." :roll:

In SH3 the response is "Yes Sir, Rudder 0 degrees." Which is much better IMO.


IMO, they have taken some rather large steps backwards from SH3 regarding sounds and crew interaction. It's that simple. I'm still wondering why they thought it would be better to NOT have a clickable Watchman, CE, Sonar Man, ect. Same with the gauges in the 3D compartments! :damn: Other than perhaps the on/off and range switch for radar, which does not move or have any markings! :damn: :damn:

[Onkel Neal]

It's early days for me yet - I haven't really played the game itself - but what has disappointed me so far is the apparent lack of attention to detail.

For example:

Freemantle is in England. Fremantle is in Australia. Why then can I start two war patrols from Freemantle?
Why does the Australian Roster have a Lancaster in the Pacific carrying an upside down US roundel? Whilst 1.1 seems to have replaced the US model with the British model, I'm still perplexed what one is doing over there in the first place!
Indeed, why are all Australian planes carrying US markings (similar problems with other nationalities too)?
Why are Indian ships flying the current Indian Ensign (similar flag problems with other countries too)?
Medals? Already done to death. ;)Minor problems yes, but distracting nonetheless.

But I am curious - was there a QA process on any of this stuff?

Hah! I can live with that kind of stuff, does not affect gameplay at all. Wait till you try the MP ;) As the convoy commander... you have no way of knowing what's going on out there. I played two games as the CC with 3 sub players... on HARD and NORMAL. I could not use the map, did not have any way of knowing when/if my escorts had a contact... and the manual is useless, does not explain anything in detail. Learn by trial and error, I guess.

Neal

[THE_MASK]

Quote Neal Stevens

"Hah! I can live with that kind of stuff, does not affect gameplay at all. Wait till you try the MP ;) As the convoy commander... you have no way of knowing what's going on out there. I played two games as the CC with 3 sub players... on HARD and NORMAL. I could not use the map, did not have any way of knowing when/if my escorts had a contact... and the manual is useless, does not explain anything in detail. Learn by trial and error, I guess. "

Well i would have thought that the escorts should at least signal via there signal lights if they had a contact . Maybe this could be patched up in the next patch .

[jbt308]

Not to beat a dead horse, but after reading many comments from various experienced subsimmers, I think we can all agree on this point. SH4 isn't necessarily a disappointment, but I think for a lot of us, it's quite different than we thought it would be. Some like it despite its early quirks, others don't for their own valid reasons.

I, for one, thought it was basically going to be like SH3 but in the Pacific and as Americans with some fixes/updates. What I got was something very much not like SH3 at all. I would say that we went from a sub commander simulator(SH3) to a submarine simulator(SH4), good or bad, I think that's what's happened. I enjoyed the immersion SH3 afforded and I'm not seeing that really in SH4. Graphics aside, I just can't get drawn into the game like I was with SH3, even the straight-out-of-the-box version, loved that game from start until I installed GWX.

I was disappointed because I thought the Devs were going to deliver something very much "play wise" similar to SH3, what I got was something I wasn't expecting. It's not bad, just not my particular taste. I agree with the previous statements about the interface and many of the other issues, they all lend, in a small way, to the sum total of the game. This is definitely a Grateful Dead sort of game, either you like it or you don't.

I closing I'll leave you with this. SH3 is to Red Baron as SH4 is to IL2. IL2 is a superior game in many ways to Red Baron, but for me, it lacked a soul, a real reason for me to keep coming back to play, I can see something similar in SH4.

Just my opinion, glad there are those who are enjoying it.

[Onkel Neal]

Quote Neal Stevens: "Hah! I can live with that kind of stuff, does not affect gameplay at all. Wait till you try the MP ;) As the convoy commander... you have no way of knowing what's going on out there. I played two games as the CC with 3 sub players... on HARD and NORMAL. I could not use the map, did not have any way of knowing when/if my escorts had a contact... and the manual is useless, does not explain anything in detail. Learn by trial and error, I guess.

Sober: Well i would have thought that the escorts should at least signal via there signal lights if they had a contact . Maybe this could be patched up in the next patch .

Yes, possibly the signal lights means "hey, player, over here". The really weird thing is, the manual says nothing about this. I'm hoping Ubisoft will release some design docs or something. Help files... something.

[edjcox]

I am astounded Neal...

You and a few select's were not consulted as this thing developed at all?

Are you saying that the Developers had little knowledge of SHIII and the mods in order to build on that foundation?

I suspect that language barrier was used as insular shielding and that true comprehension of the state of the game's maturity with the GWX release was completely overlooked by the SHIV team...

ahaaaa take the money and run..... UBI SH4 teams favorite song ???

let's hope not....

The GWX mod team ought to offer UBI their organization and consulting resources to fix this mess for a fee...

I to had "great expectations" but alas it was but a work of fiction...

:o

[Hylander_1314]

After playing the game for two days, I went and dipped into the new rig fund, and got a new ATI x1550 GDDR2 256mb vid-card, as the game was playable, but the the details were all on the lowest settings.

So after the second patrol out, I ran into a Japanese convoy and sinking 2 freighters, and damaging 2 others, and avoiding the escorts for 3 hours, I like what I've seen so far. The only thing to get used to is the key commands that are different than SHIII. No biggie.

The gameplay is quite interesting as you dodge the destroyers, and airpatrols. The dive times are a little different than the ones in SHIII, but it's nice to be able to sound general quarters, and not have to manually move everyone around, and then securing from the latter is easier too as again there's no manual effort, except for the guys who are put on damage control. I like the way that the crew is already furnished, without having to go through a list and add them myself.

I can understand the early war frustration with faulty fish, sank one, the first time out and damaged another with all torpedoes spent. This was with a Gar boat.

All in all, I'm very impressed with how well the game plays, and the quick effort to get the first patch out to get some of the quirks sorted out. The eye candy is very realistic too, and really makes it feel like you are on the ocean.

What ever is left to correct, I can live with. The fact that I was able to load the game, and get it fired up out of the box with no ctds, or lockups, was a big plus for me. Thanks Devs. :up: And thank you for going back to the Pacific Theater this time around.

[CybrSlydr]

I'm afraid my thoughts will mirror most already posted (didn't read all 258 odd replies...), but this is what I posted on another forum about Silent Hunter IV.

I love Silent Hunter III.

I had a blast with it from the moment I started playing it back when I got it on release (even preordered it).

Things only got better. All the mods, the dev support, GWX, JSoft Mod Manager, etc...

It's spoiled me.

Now, what I'm about to say is with 0 knowledge of American subs.

Silent Hunter IV has a distinct... unpolished feel to it. I'm sure most of you will agree - even the devs I bet.

Looking in the manual, you see references to having your Watch Officer give a solution for a torpedo shot. Not available in this game. Among other references that don't apply to this game.

When you look at the US Subs in the manual, very, VERY little information is given. The information given is practically usesless. Class, Tonnage, Length, Surface Speed, Submerged Speed, Range, Torpedo Tubes and number of Torpedos.

Nowhere does it say rated depth. Nowhere does it say how many reloads for each of the tubes (find out only once you get in game). Nowhere does it give any sort of history of the sub and it's conception.

When you compare the numbers between all the different subs (P, Tambor, Gato, etc.) practically all the numbers are identical - save for a rough doubling of the range on some of the later models. No reason for it given - just poof! Surprise! Instead of 6000nm, you can go 11000nm. The different "models" aren't even given a different name, just a different year in parenthesis.

Were US subs REALLY this generic and... static through the war years?

One feature of Silent Hunter III I really liked was the different officers are how you went about doing things. Want a watch crew on deck? Click the Watch Officer and select the "Crew on deck". Want to see the torpedo situation? Click the Torpedo Officer. Etc. You would then hear the officer acknowledge your order and repeat it to the crew. "Aye aye, captain. Watch crew on deck!"

This has been replaced by generic headings that have some boggling options beneath them. Also startling is the lack of some options - such as a "Range at this speed" option. Critical when computing how fast to go en route. Also gone is the depth under keel option. With the removal of the Watch Officer, you no longer have the option to spot out nearest contact. Etc.

Also gone is the one-click Damage Control crew. Replaced is a manual dragging of crew into each slot. You also no longer have rack space to place crew. Each position on the Crew Management screen is a duty position. Gone are the specific stations such as Radio Man and Radar man, replaced with the generic "Conning Tower" - and no description of what's there is given so you can tell who to put where. Granted, it's pretty easy to tell who goes in a Torpedo Room and by process of elimination, you should figure it out. But still... Also gone are medics - because there's nowhere to put anyone to rest them up or heal them. Someone injured? Hope it's not too bad...

Everyone is in a position, so the only crew that are really available to do anything are those with Zzz by their names, indicating their watch is sleeping. Which can royally screw up rotations with one watch not getting enough sleep. However, I do like that they have watch rotations. REALLY makes keeping things straight while cruising simpler. Just don't forget to secure from battle stations. You'll end up in port with a ghost ship.

The crew is startlingly silent as well. Gone are the, "We're taking damage!" letting you know, "Oh crap!..." and to go check the sub status. Most of the time, the only hint is that your sub has inexplicably imploded - and you know this because you get the "End Mission' screen with "Your Sub: Destroyed".

I'll also throw in the absurdly generic medals, the fact that if you lose your sub and are crushed at the bottom of the ocean... The next screen will be either your sub has returned to port, barely and they mechanics can't figure out how you did it - but the Admiral will grudgingly give you another commission OR you damaged Navy property and the Navy is putting you in the brig for the duration of the war pending Court Martial charges. BUT I'M DEAD!!!

Also amazingly frustrating is trying to use the AA guns facing either side - your view suddenly clips through the side of the turrent and obscures the entire screen - meaning the only places you can actually see to shoot are... directly to the rear and a sliver of 5deg. to the front. The rest is totally blind.

For most of my games, the meter for diesel fuel has been broken - gone to Japan and back without the meter ever moving off the full mark. Battery durations are woefully inadequate - ahead 1/3 (Slow) will give you battery for maybe... 7 hours? On the subsim forums, proof has been given that in War Time, the batteries, at 2kts submerged, were rated for 55 (!!!) hours! In game at 2kts submerged, you can barely manage 12hrs.

Crush depths are also completely off. Crush depth at 185 ft?? The game was released with only meters being the available measurement, but in the 1.01 (1.1?) patch, Imperial was allowed. However... In game, the crush depths (I think) are still given in feet, but calculated with meters. I.E. - I take the sub to 185 feet, the game thinks it's 185 meters - poof!

From those who do the manual torpedo launches (damn math...), even they say one of the intergal tools (stadimeter) is broken. Dunno much about it as I've not looked too much since I don't use it.

When it comes to torpedos, no information other than the name is given. Mk. 14. That's it. No powerplant info, no range info, no speed info, no guidance info... Nothing. Zip. Grr...

Most sounds are direct carry overs from Silent Hunter III - not a big deal for me since I played that game with German voices and English text. So, I'm not familiar with the American dialog. Torpedo sounds are the same, sub sounds are the same, plane sounds are the same... You more often than not get a bug of a looping explosion sound if you hit a merchant. You see the ship sitting there and keep hearing these explosions - and nothing going on ON ship. Grrrr...

To give some positives, the graphics look nice - but still no AA. Doesn't even work if you force it through ATI Tray Tools or the Catalyst Control Center. Dunno about you nVidia guys.

Ships look pretty darn good too - excellent detail. Same with the seabed having rocks and plant life. Ports are populated (sunk a Kongo Class BB on my 2nd mission raiding a harbor) with the new patch. You can go as high as 8192x Time Compression (instead of the 2048 cap in Silent Hunter III, which via a mod was expanded to 4096). Resolutions (in my game) go up to my native of 1920x1200 instead of a cap at 1024x768 as in Silent Hunter III. Performance is very good on my machine. The water looks amazing.

This is all I can remember at the moment. I'm sure I'll add more as things go along.

Despite all of what I posted above, I'm still sort-of enjoying Silent Hunter IV. I don't know if it's me, but the Pacific just doesn't have the draw of the Atlantic with all the history and... sex appeal that the U-boats have. Yet. Dunno if that'll change.

I'm very disappointed that it appears the Devs were either not given enough time (where have we heard this before?...) or dragged tail a little. My guess is the former, not the latter. Once again, a game was released before it was ready, credit to the devs for having a patch ready to go to fix some bugs (and add the S-Class sub to the game) as quickly as they did. Word on Subsim is that they are still hard at work supporting the release like they did with Silent Hunter III. I'm happy to know that. :) They did a fine job with Silent Hunter III.

Once again it appears that the publisher has thrown the sim out with hopes that the community can fix it to their liking after the Devs are pulled off the job. Argh...

This sim has great potential (I hate using that phrase...). With what the community did with Silent Hunter III, I have high hopes for Silent Hunter IV.

I just wish that we didn't have to rely and hope for the Community's time and ability to do things right.

Please, if anyone bothers to read that whole spiel and finds errors that positively effect the game, lemme know!!!

[labo]

We have lost the torpedos salvo's now you have to do it manually

[Condor96]

I don't like that little book sitting in front of my hydrophone bearing indicator

[DaMaGe007]

Freemantle is in England. Fremantle is in Australia. Why then can I start two war patrols from Freemantle?



There is a Freemantle in Western Australia too.

[shegeek72]

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (Watercooled)
Intel Bad Axe 2 Mobo
Evga 8800GTX
2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8000
SB Fatal1ty X-FI Sound Card
150GB Western Digital "Raptor"
Silverstone OP1000 (1KW) PSU

That's one hell of a PS! :o

[geosub1978]

I regret to post this but I must express my points...

MANUAL TARGETINIG - SPREADES - GYRO ANGLE - STRAIGHT FIRING. All messed up...

BATTERY LIFE. Something is very misscalculated....

CRUE MANAGMENT. Too big deal for nothing....

SOUND. You must be joking. Especially that gun firing....

DEVICE HANDLING. Too big deal for nothing....

PERISCOPE INTERFACE-GRAPHICS-SCREEN. :down: :down: :down:

Hoping for the future!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JScones]

Freemantle is in England. Fremantle is in Australia. Why then can I start two war patrols from Freemantle?



There is a Freemantle in Western Australia too.
Where? Must be a mighty small place as it's not on any Australian touring map that I own. :hmm:

But that's beside the point and totally moot anyway. :roll:

[DaMaGe007]

Its in/near Perth (Capital of W.A.) it was used as a base for naval operations during WW2, so it is correct that you can do missions from there in Sh4.

EDit :

My bad sorry, were you commenting on the spelling ? I thought you were saying Fremantle is not in Australia that it was in England and therefore shouldnt be used as a base.

I live 30 mins drive from Fremantle, sucks I dont know how to spell it properly lol, how are those Romanians supposed to get it right ;)

[JScones]

Hehe. ;)

[Chuck D.]

I like the 'splosions. Very colorful and pretty. And with the sound turned, up, stuff blows up good, real good.

[Iron Budokan]

I like the 'splosions. Very colorful and pretty. And with the sound turned, up, stuff blows up good, real good.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

[OneTinSoldier]

Graphics are good, or are they? :lol: I play at my monitors native resolution of 1600x1200. The Bump-mapping and higher res textures, rust, ect. makes things look much more real! :yep: Modeled rooms are well done! Except some of the gauges could be more readable(probably due to higher res being 'faked'). Post Processing Filter is cool, and although my video card has trouble handling having Enviromental Effects turned on it looks very cool/great and makes things seem more realistic visually. I have a card on the way that should handle it without fuss, I hope(X1950 Pro AGP). Crew models are good and have decent animation. But in the end, my screen looks like a jaggy shimmering mess, inculding the great looking water, since it's made of polygons too. True, genuine, High Resolutions of the 3D Rendered World and Anti-Aliasing would be more than greatly appreciated!

I don't like the lack of features of some of the 3D stations. Radar doesn't have any labels or markings on switches that don't move. Something they got right with SH3 and took a definite step backwards with in SH4. Plus no clicking on and interacting with 3D crew members.

Improved Crew Management! Seems like it has some interesting features but I haven't gotten to play around it with much yet and I hear it has some bugs at the moment.

Great periscope view! Seems like it high res or something.

Awesome, and from my understanding, realistic TDC! Although it has a few bugs at the moment.

Sonar that doesn't work so well until you go a little deeper! The way it should be due to noisy water near the surface. And thermal layers! Very good.

Sounds... BAD! A number of crew sound like 12 year olds on helium. I command 20 degress to port and the response is... "Yes Sir, 20 degrees". In SH3 the response is "Yes Sir, 20 degrees to port". I press the ' key for rudder amidships and the response is... "Yes Sir, Rudder". :roll: In SH3 the response is, "Yes Sir, Rudder 0 degrees". Crew seem to whisper, unless I disable music, tweak the sound settings, and turn up the volume on my computer. Sounds of the engine, torpedo tube doors opening, and torpedoes being fired seem very subdued as well. And these are just a few examples!

Radar seems quite buggy and needs fixing, and 3D controls with markings and moving switches would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers

[OneTinSoldier]

I don't like that little book sitting in front of my hydrophone bearing indicator

Agreed!

[SnowCajun]

-The interface sucks
-The stop watch popping up is annoying .. All in all, it LOOKS like a great game, but it just doesnt play like one :cry: I've got to agree with this, I was expecting soooo much more and didn't get anywhere near the improvements I felt were coming. I miss the speed and ship type info in the scope also, I miss the clearity of the ships, they seem fuzzy and cheaply rendered, not sharp like was in SHIII .. Even the explosions are lacking in ways. I almost wish they'd have just taken SHIII with a few advancements and done the Pacific war vs Japaneses and let it go with that. I think the game play was better in SHIII to be honest. I hope they fix more of this, but I feel I have so much less control of my sub in SHIV than I did in SHIII .. I can well remember fighting to save my sub when badly damaged, now it seems to be all taken away from me. I'm still learning the game, there is a bit of a learning curve and I don't know it all yet, but I do know I'm not as happy with what I'm seeing as I expected I would be. Too bad.

[waste gate]

My short list:

-When I purposely go to the desktop to care for other things the game automatically pauses. It'd be nice if the game would continue in my abscence like in SH3. I know when its safe to walk away, and if not that is my bad.

-Subs sit too high in the water (I see the aft of the boat), and how can I run decks awash?

-The < and > commands don't allow for a fast zoom in w/o the shift key. How about allowing a fast zoom in and using the shift to slow the zoom in?

-Why can't I save my sub school, quick mission, and war patrols without finishing the exercise? Things come up and not all of us can sit at the computer continuously.

[Tigrone]

I don't like that little book sitting in front of my hydrophone bearing indicator

You can twist a little left and see it all, but at a slight angle. Straight on, the notepad blocks the bearing dial.

[Tigrone]

I've seen a lot of bug posts here that are simply a result of not reading the documentation or being unfamiliar with item. The manual, of course, is little help. It is really much thinner than it seems, because 30 pages of it is just Ships or Flag ID, which is duplicated in the Recognition Manual, and only 14 pages is about Options and Game Modes; many Options & Modes are not explained or even mentioned. The lack of documentation, even labeling of many dials, just causes confusion & frustration and makes people think things are bugs.

2 items:

The picture of the sailor in the office is just a picture. You can put any picture you like there, or your wife's to pacify her. It's a simple TGA file.

US subs did not have a salvo fire switch. Salvo's were fired by setting slightly different gyro angles on each fish and firing them in succession.

We are going to need our own wikipedia to explain things for us, as I don't think Ubisoft is going to help us at all. Except for technical patches, I think we are on our own again to figure it out. Did you ever try put a swing set together, out of the box on Christmas eve?

[OSO]

I don't think it is realistic to be dive bombed by aircraft in complete darkness; especially on 13 DEC 41.

I was ordered to patrol the area between Northern Luzon and Formosa. I made my way up there and was going about my orders. On the second night of the patrol I finally got a convoy report heading in my direction. I was in the process of positioning myself for a dawn attack out of the sun. All of a sudden my watch said they sighted an aircraft. The time was 0415, the moon had set, and I was moving at ahead slow.

Being naive, I thought there is no way this aircraft could spot me so I took no action. Minutes later an explosion hit aft. I thought, "No biggie" it is a chance to learn the damage control system. Once I got that all figured out and had repairs done I got another report of an incoming aircraft. By now it was 0445.

This time I thought I would be smart and ordered the crew to man the AA gun. I purposely spent renown on a sailor with a gun rating of 105 back at base to give myself an edge. Well.... He unloaded the whole clip on this AM62 and didn't hit it. The last thing I remember was seeing the bomb flying directly at me on the bridge. Needless to say this direct hit sunk my sub. The death movie was cool but I'm still a bit pissed about this event.

Difficulty was set to Normal with 100% realism for this career. Something is very wrong with this situation occurring given the date and time. I guess I'll have to crash dive at night when this happens until its fixed.

[joea]

I don't think it is realistic to be dive bombed by aircraft in complete darkness; especially on 13 DEC 41.



This for sure was in stock SH3.

[joea]

We have lost the torpedos salvo's now you have to do it manually

US subs did not shoot salvos.

[malkuth74]

I hate the fact they removed the Return To Base Exit. IN SHIII I used this all the time. I just don't have the time to take an empty sub home that can't do anything. And waste hour of my time waiting. When I only have maybe couple hours to play.

This annoys the hell out of me. In fact as I write this I am waiting for the dam sub to come home. Worse of all that for some reason I can only have it on 1024, because to much stuff going on right now in camp. Errrrr.

That feature in SHIII was great, even with the small renown loss I don't care.

[fidget]

I think the negatives have been covered so I'll just list the positives:

1) Graphics (espcially the oceans and ships/subs) are beatiful. Very well done!
2) Including realistic apects, such as including the manual TDC, are very cool.
3) I really like some of the music scores...adds a lot to the atmosphere in most cases.
4) The weather is very good. Fog and atmospheric effects are first rate.
5) The concept and overall design of the game are excellent.
6) The size of the simulated world is enormous. You get a real feeling for the expanse of the war in the Pacific.
7) The overall modability of the game, which seems to be actively supported in the design, provides a lot of replay value.
8) It's a sub sim!

Look forward to the patches and future mods!

[edjcox]

Ok

knocked of a convoy and the escorts off of Borneo... Last lucky NIP DD managed a proximity drop and blasted my stern....

Ran all the crew forward gave he damage control team prioroity for steering / rudder / rudder gear (transmission in Rumanian) and assumed they would initiate pumping to keep the water at bay....

Well sank the last DD and now running at Flank we surface.... Assumed it would be easier to pump out the Aft Torpedo room that way....

Well what do I see... The entire block over the Aft Torpedo room blue and totally flooded....

OK How do I get the damn water out???

SHIV lacks any instructions for that vital aspect of damage control. The boat handled and surfaced well even with the entire torpedo room flooded. No aft incline, no sluggish behavior, none of what we come to expect... Almost arcade style...

Come one UBI developers time to fix one for the gipper.....

I can see where he game can be moded to remove the boxes and place appropriate hull segments in it's place then the filling of the compartment would again be visible. Now clicking on the compartment sets that one up as prime for the pumps... Damage / list and sink rate all effected by the extra water load aboard...etc....

All these things should already be in there... Well tell us how to use watever hidden controls there are to select compartments prioritize pumping... Also on the surface pumping out should be loads easier...

Come on UBI folks you cannot be that out of it... Perhaps we need to set up a lend expertise and fix the game together effort...


So many unfinished things where to start....

Not even inerested in playing the game so dissapointing... My system with NVDIA 256mb card crawls, 2GB RAM, P$ AMD64...Mouse floats like it's drunk on Ceeze Whizz and skating in it, Like to see the statistics of user systems they baselined to ... That is how many actually owned said system...

Whine whine whine.... feeling really French...

Night:down:

[Jungman]

I would like to see a real submarine model picture like it was in SH3 for the room and flooding damage etc. I feel this is like a Windows spreadsheet program waiting for the final graphics.

Plus, I would like to see the real Battery, Fuel, Compressed Air, CO2 picture guages instead of a tiny small green bar placeholder. Immersion factor is lost.

Interface is rather counter-intuitive.

I like the new damage modelling and many gameplay improvements, but then the UI is just not as good as SH3.

The guage dials in the boat do not really work except for the Depth Guage. Use Shift-F2 to look around. In fact, there is less boat to look at anyway.

Overall, two steps forward, one step back. The Damage model is much better and that is worth alot to me. Gameplay is always better over the new graphics (which i must shut off, I need a Super Computer to run it at full graphics 3D -else why bother?).

[tener]

i,d like to see more ships,more targets.been on patrol for ages and only seen 2 or 3 ships :down:

[Trout]

What I don't like"


No difficulty sliders in the settings application. You cant make a game like this suit everyone’s tastes, but why not let people “tune” it for less or more realistic outcomes? There should be:

-a slider for enemy ship and plane AI difficulty
-a slider for the number of air attacks
-a slider for overall crew competence
-a slider for the amount of ship traffic encountered.

Relying on modders to tune these things is a cop-out, and basically puts tuning beyond the reach of most people (casual gamers don’t bother using mods, but they CAN and WILL get bored of the game just like anyone else)


ALSO:


They failed to take advantage of the 3d interior to help create an immersion factor. I dont think the DEVs really understand all the potential that a 3d interior can have, gameplay wise. Why bother having it at all when everything you need to do can be done with 2d images, pop ups and key strokes? They really took a step BACKWARDS in this regard.


Trout

[Werewolf13]

Crew uniforms are great. :up:

Officer uniforms are an abomination. :nope: How hard would it have been to get them right. :hmm: It is very annoying to see US Naval Officers dressed like freaking NAZI U-Boat officers. Getting their headwear correct would be a first step in the right direction.

Medals - again - how hard would it have been to get them right? Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Medal, Navy Cross, Silver Star, Bronze Star etc.

I can shoot the main deck gun when it is under water. :damn:

Crew management - once you get it figured out - big improvement over SHIII
Damage Control - realistic and an improvement over SHIII

The recognition manual is so bright that it hinders one's ability to ID targets at night. Tone it down some - make it grey or red or something so that when looking thru the scope or TBT at night target image isn't degraded. :down:

SD Radar - detects surface ships. :damn:

When I accelerate time it's OK to drop it down on a new contact but once I rack it back up leave it there until a brand new contact comes up - don't keep backing it back down. :roll:

[Iron Budokan]

I like the fact you can still use Shift + F2 to at least move around the control room a little.

I don't like the manual. Worthless doesn't begin to describe it. And there's stuff in there lifted straight out of the SH3 manual which doesn't have any gaming impact in SH4! It is to laugh. As a professional writer myself I wonder how the author got away with that. Sloppy work. In fact I hate the manual. Waste of valuable trees.

I do like the crew management, but I wish I knew how to use 'em. It appears the game already puts them in their best slots for you. Perhaps this changes as patrols mount up and then I get to move 'em around to maximize my management? I also like the fact they look different...at least the ones I see in the control room. My little boys are already playing SHIV (they loves it by the way and I let them play when they come home from school and finish their homework) and they said they heard the crew called to lunch! Now how cool is that?

I don't like the fact I've yet been able to turn on my radar despite the fact I bought a set in Pearl. Frankly, haven't learned how to listen to the hydrophones myself, either. I also don't understand why some of my machinery is highlighted red when I start out in the damage control page. And why doesn't the TBT lock onto a ship? Again....no documentation, no love. (See: manual sucks; authors should be strung up)

I like the skins for the subs a LOT. Ships...eh. AI...eh. Deck gun sound...BWAHAHAHA. Bugs...eh. (Though I expect many if not all of these will be repaired or worked around eventually.)

I like the fact I can turn off the music in-game. I'm trying to play a sim here. Although I do admit the in-game music is nice, enough with the music. So I do like that.

I give top marks for graphics. Low marks (very low) for documentation. Overall this is an unfinished game with a ton of potential. I think in six months or so with the mods coming on line this game is gonna rock our socks off.

What I like the best: We finally have a new sub sim! That in itself is worth the buggy state of the released game thus far, imho....


Kenneth Mark Hoover aka "Iron Budokan"

p.s. forunately, there are stickies on this forum which explain how to do a lot of the things the manual overlooks. Thank goodness!

[Jungman]

The same old thing from SH3 with the 'UNIT DESRTOYED' message popping up instantly after a kill..takes the thrill away to know when you 'instantly' sunk the ship.

Can it not wait a few minutes later? As in when the ship actually sinks completely under the water and not while I am still pounding away at it on the surface.

[Javelin]

In the short time I've had this game, I must admit I really enjoy it. However, there are a few things that while they may seem trivial nevertheless need mentioning.

1. I don't like the voices, there the same as in SH3.
2. asking the OOD of nearest sighting.
3 Rather see damage and compartment flooding
also like to see % of hull damage.

[Hans Schultz]

I really dont like that if you lose your rudder, (I did from being depth charged) there is no other way to turn your boat.

[Werewolf13]

I really dont like that if you lose your rudder, (I did from being depth charged) there is no other way to turn your boat.

:rotfl:

No rudder = no turn...

What would you suggest as an alternative?

[Rilder]

I like the fact that warships signal each other. :D bunch of other stuff I love, but I'l just list that.

[melendir]

Lots of bugs and bad decisions --> Propably will take many hours and patches to get SH4 to use it's potential.

Fortunately I can wait with SH3 + GWX...

But as negatives have been already told...I'd like to say something positive...

I like the crew's "automatic" shift change and possibility to command all crew to battlestations. I don't want to micro-manage my crew for every shift change, so this was welcomed feature for me :up:

ok, I promised, but still have to say some negatives: Memory leaks?
- After several hours, game was definately getting harder and harder for hard drive?!? So memory leaks? --> increasing hard drive swapping? (CPU: 3700, 1GB RAM, ATI X800 256MB)
I noticed that game was "getting heavier and heavier" after few hours constant playing. Even the radio messages went really "heavy", had to wait 10-20 sec. after pressing the key to actually get a radio report page and hard drive was going with full lights (=load)...

- I definately hope that it wasn't because of this game, but after playing SH4 and quitting the game, my newest hard drive's filesystem broke...
I lost my operating system and most of my data... after rescuing data that was left, I started testing hard drive....
The hard drive wasn't working very well. One partition turned to RAW from NTFS and couldn't be formatted in windows... Yes I know, I turned anti-virus protection off for a formatting time so it wouldn't reject the format. After other attempts I went and "Low Level" -formatted it outside windows. Then tests said it is ok, but I don't dare to use it anymore anyway, so I changed it to new with warranty (they agreed at shop that this hard drive can't be trusted anymore, if it broke just for no reason).

Anyway this is propably just a coincidence, but just in case that if someone else would have same incident with the same pre-events... then... I'd be worried.

- The crew voices are way too quiet (had to get other sounds to less than 50% to get some kind of balance).

- Chronometer popping by itself (=increasing time compression). We do have X key and we can get it in as well as we can get it out, so now automatic popping needed.

- No watch officer whom to ask about weather (that wasn't necessary since I haven't heard a blind captain, but it was still good for immersion)

Opinion:
I think that most important part of sub game is immersion since it is otherwise so slow for most of the time. That doesn't mean that I would like get those quiet parts cut away and turn it to action shooter. I still want to be forced to sail over weeks to search for prey, etc... I can't really explain, but most of you propably know what I mean. I would have been happy to get SH3 + GWX with that SH4 autocrew shift changes, lifeboat stuff, and few other features from SH4.

Anyway... I hope developers will take their time to make updates until crash bugs and major issues are solved.
And history incorrects too, they are pretty important for immersion too.

[Iron Budokan]

In the short time I've had this game, I must admit I really enjoy it. However, there are a few things that while they may seem trivial nevertheless need mentioning.

1. I don't like the voices, there the same as in SH3.
2. asking the OOD of nearest sighting.
3 Rather see damage and compartment flooding
also like to see % of hull damage.

Yes, I liked having the WO tell me what the weather was and give me distances to ships. Another cool feature sadly lacking. I hope it can be modded.

[Gildor]

I miss the city color showing if it was allied or axis. You know, changes color to show who owns what.

Manila falls so the city name changes to red to signify it is under Japaneze influence.

Looking at the map overall you can see the "front line" if you want to call it that.

Also, you can change the key configuration to get the weather report and distance to target. It is in the mod section.

The bogging down of the CPU is becasue of the massive amounts of contact reports stored in your message log after awhile. There is a mod to change the distance you get reports for thereby eliminating the massive load.

[Hans Schultz]

I really dont like that if you lose your rudder, (I did from being depth charged) there is no other way to turn your boat.

:rotfl:

No rudder = no turn...

What would you suggest as an alternative?
you can turn a ship by setting propeller RPM's.

[thehiredgun]

Is it normal after returning from your 1st patrol that when refitted that you only receive 10 out of your normal load of 16 of torpedo's ?? Also i see that your suppose to be able to use renown to use on replacing crew that are inexpierienced with expierienced . I cannot get sh-4 to do that either ! I much as i like sh-4, i think i'm going to put it back on the shelf until Uncle Neal offers up a super cd with all the approapriate fixes . If any of you can help in regard i would very much appriciate the help. Meantime i thank God for GWX.

[fausterwwii]

Got the sim today. Have to say I'm very excited. Played for several hours, and the only crash I had was when I hit "A" to Maintain Depth. But I believe that's a known issue and will be fixed in the next patch, so no biggie.

I like the little touches. The map tools are very cool. I like how the 3 dials in the lower right increase in size when you mouse over them. I like the dirty water. I like how I don't have to micro manage the crew. I like the potential the graphics have (as soon as they get the resolution/anti-alias thing worked out it will be absolutely awesome). Personally, I think we're only a patch or two away from greatness. It feels wonderful to be back in the Pacific again after so many years.

Other things: I'd like a "set course to view" button. I know it's lazy and gamey, but I'm lazy and gamey. :o
I'd like the deck crew to not be transparent. I'd like a cabin to retire to and customize. I'd like some way to fiddle with the sonar/radar stations. I'd like it to be Friday and I'd like to have a beer. :arrgh!:

Thanks!

[joea]

In the short time I've had this game, I must admit I really enjoy it. However, there are a few things that while they may seem trivial nevertheless need mentioning.

1. I don't like the voices, there the same as in SH3.
2. asking the OOD of nearest sighting.
3 Rather see damage and compartment flooding
also like to see % of hull damage.

Heard a lot about the same voices used in SH3 guess a lot of you must have played with english rather than german and subtitles. Also funny that most mods ofr SH3 remove hull % integrity.

[Boris]

In the short time I've had this game, I must admit I really enjoy it. However, there are a few things that while they may seem trivial nevertheless need mentioning.

1. I don't like the voices, there the same as in SH3.
2. asking the OOD of nearest sighting.
3 Rather see damage and compartment flooding
also like to see % of hull damage.
Heard a lot about the same voices used in SH3 guess a lot of you must have played with english rather than german and subtitles. Also funny that most mods ofr SH3 remove hull % integrity.

Wasn't 1.1 supposed to change the voices? Haven't played the game yet, so I don't know.

[melendir]

I miss the city color showing if it was allied or axis. You know, changes color to show who owns what.

Manila falls so the city name changes to red to signify it is under Japaneze influence.

Looking at the map overall you can see the "front line" if you want to call it that.

Also, you can change the key configuration to get the weather report and distance to target. It is in the mod section.

The bogging down of the CPU is becasue of the massive amounts of contact reports stored in your message log after awhile. There is a mod to change the distance you get reports for thereby eliminating the massive load.
Thanks :up:

That radio messaging was really getting on my hard drive and my nerve.
I have reinstalled my system after the broken hard drive and soon I'll start to install SH4 back to it. SH3 + GWX installed already :)

[hyperion2206]

In the short time I've had this game, I must admit I really enjoy it. However, there are a few things that while they may seem trivial nevertheless need mentioning.

1. I don't like the voices, there the same as in SH3.
2. asking the OOD of nearest sighting.
3 Rather see damage and compartment flooding
also like to see % of hull damage.
Heard a lot about the same voices used in SH3 guess a lot of you must have played with english rather than german and subtitles. Also funny that most mods ofr SH3 remove hull % integrity.
Wasn't 1.1 supposed to change the voices? Haven't played the game yet, so I don't know.

I think that they released a German voice patch, meaning that the cew now speaks German instead of English. I installed the patch without the German voices, it's bad enough that the message log always says "Herr Kaleun" instead of "Sir".

[melendir]

...The map tools are very cool. I like how the 3 dials in the lower right increase in size when you mouse over them. I like the dirty water. I like how I don't have to micro manage the crew. I like the potential the graphics have (as soon as they get the resolution/anti-alias thing worked out it will be absolutely awesome). Personally, I think we're only a patch or two away from greatness. It feels wonderful to be back in the Pacific again after so many years.

Other things: I'd like a "set course to view" button. I know it's lazy and gamey, but I'm lazy and gamey. :o
I'd like the deck crew to not be transparent. I'd like a cabin to retire to and customize. I'd like some way to fiddle with the sonar/radar stations. I'd like it to be Friday and I'd like to have a beer. :arrgh!:

Thanks!
Good positives and I'm with you on those features, except I'd like it to be Jack Daniels (I know that it's so usual label, but taste issues... are taste issues) :D

[Boogie]

:D Ahoy shipmates I have been away abroad for a few months so havn't been in the forums for a while however when i came back my welcome home from my missus aside from the obvious was a nice new copy of SH4 (don't you love Wives) so i am now now happily sinking The servants of the nippon empire in some very strange looking boats from the Adriatic fleet it's good to be back and i can't wait to see what some of you guys pull out of the bag for this one ;)

[melendir]

I now reinstalled SH4 (after my hard drive mishap).

I installed SH4 + v1.1 update

then mods (with JSGME Mod Enabler):
- Captain Midnight's CBS News Radio
- Harder Enemy Escorts and Aircrafts
- ParaB's Fewer Radio Contacts
- Realistic Battery Life
- Stormy Seas Sub Gun Fix v1.01
- Ultimate SoundPack

And I already had great time briefly with SH4 Modded and will have more of that today :up:


There's still bugs in the game, but now I can ignore them for a moment as I have other goodies to check :)

I also had to add that textile patch in Collector's Edition package was great addon even thought it doesn't affect the game anyway.
So if you live in Finland and see a badass looking biker with custom bike and with Silent Hunter patch, that might be me :ahoy:

[Penelope_Grey]

what I dislike is the sheer unreliablity of this game. You can tell it was built for Vista cant' you?

[Werewolf13]

I don't get what the problem is with battery life.

I have no problems with it and I run with all realism option on except no map updates.

Are y'all trying to run around submerged at speed. Even at 5 knots battery drain is pretty high and it should be.

I can run submerged for 16 or so hours as long as I keep the speed at 2 kts. Go to 3 and that drops to 12 hours or so.

Goto 5 and that drops to around 8 or so. Open up to full and IRL a WWII sub couldn't last but a few hours and at flank that'd drop to less than an hour and that is reflected in the game.

Those are realistic times for battery life.

I'm confused - what is the expectation?

[yellbird]

I practiced againt the convoy and five torps set at 13 meters at a tanker and its still
truckin, 2 nose shots in a destroyer at 9 meters and it just turned and went home.
If everything is that hard to sink,:huh: on the shelf it goes.

[Sailor Steve]

I don't get what the problem is with battery life...I can run submerged for 16 or so hours as long as I keep the speed at 2 kts. Go to 3 and that drops to 12 hours or so.
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=109120
Should be a lot longer than 16 hours at 2 knots.

[Tigrone]

7 or 8 patrols was not unusual, and nearly all the good early war skippers returned within a year with a new boat for a second tour. Hiram Cassedy of Searaven and Trigrone made some 8 patrols on Searavin, 42-43, then after a year's break was back with Tigrone in 44-45. Early carrer ending is not a lot of fun. I mean, it might be the strict average, but the best skippers are not average, and it's not fun. It needs to be easier to make say 9 patrols, then transition for 3 to 6 months and be back with a new boat. It definitely ought to be possible for an average player to have a carrer of 2 tours of about 9 patrols (18 months) each. That should take most anyone from Dec'41 to Aug'45.

[davest]

I think SH4 is fantastic! Sure it has a few bugs, but you can't compare it to GWX a sim that's taken years of maturity to SH4 which is barely a week old. Compared to SH3 it's leaps and bounds ahead.

Things I like most

TDC - Even for someone who hasn't spent too much time with manual shots can enjoy using the TDC and the added bonus of a hit when it's your own.

Graphics - Simply stunning,smooth frame rates and stutter free.

Environment - Again with graphics but sea swells,storms,fog,haze everything is excellent. Water transperancy,light,motion are all excellent.

Crew Management - I can now organise my crew into three watches, something which always anoyed me about SH3 and GWX was crew micro management. Plus they even look time and weather beaten as the patrol goes on.

Damage Control - Don't understand what everyones complaining about I find it very good with realistic damage repair times, assign a crew and set them to work.

Damage Modeling - Sub now sinks bow or stern first from flooding, ships capsize and sink. Plus I get to see big holes in everything.

Dynamic Campaign - War events in the Dynamic campaign, I almost got run over by a TF headed for Manila last night.

Aircraft Attacks - Aircraft not only look great but bomb and strafe without mercy.

Radar/Sonar - Everything works, again don't see what all the complaints are about.

Lifeboats - Gives my crew something to practice on with their 50cals.


Only real issues I have at the moment are lack of AI for the destroyers and convoy when attacked. If I sink or damage a ship they all slow down and/or stop. While the destroyers seem to take their time deciding what to do.

And of course the odd CTD, though these seem to of improved after installing latest graphics card drivers. Though the 'A' is still there and the odd CTD when I click on the TDC rangefinder.

Other then that I'm enjoying the sim very much, wonder if alot of problems people experience are just a case of RTFM. Easy to knock a new product but I think the Devs have done a fantastic job out the box.


Cheers,
Dave

[bboyer66]

Took on 5 Destroyers on the surface. Destroyed 3 of them with the mighty AA guns. Took forever for me to sink, even though I had numerous holes, plus I was rammed twice. Hell I didnt even have anyone assigned to damage control. Of course there is the A key bug. How the hell does that get past the testers and even the first patch. You mean no one noticed the thing crashes every time you hit A. Going back to SIlent Hunter III GWX. Someone call me in a year when this piece of garbage is fixed.

[-Pv-]

Battery Life??? "... I don't get what the problem is with battery life.

I have no problems with it and I run with all realism option on except no map updates..."

I totally agree. I have no idea what some over-aggressive modders are calling "realistic" battery life, but what's in there now is "realistic."

I seem to recall no few posts as SH4 went gold that a bunch of people were NEVER going to play SH4 and prefered 3 because the Pacific was was going to be too easy.

"...I practiced againt the convoy and five torps set at 13 meters at a tanker and its still
truckin, 2 nose shots in a destroyer at 9 meters and it just turned and went home.
If everything is that hard to sink,:huh: on the shelf it goes..."

Yup, no doubt about it. The Pacific war is just too easy.
Start setting those torps to a lower depth and use magnetic exploders. Yes, you have to be more clever with your shots and you have to get the depth right, but you can break the back of those buggers with one shot if you get lucky.

"...Other then that I'm enjoying the sim very much, wonder if alot of problems people experience are just a case of RTFM. Easy to knock a new product but I think the Devs have done a fantastic job out the box.


Cheers,
Dave"

Good assesment Dave. I agree completely.

"...Someone call me in a year when this piece of garbage is fixed."

oops, sorry I lost your phone number. The best is yet to come.

"...Not even inerested in playing the game so dissapointing... My system with NVDIA 256mb card crawls, 2GB RAM, P$ AMD64..."

Yup, you have very bad graphics problems. Need to upgrade. Sluggish mouse means your frame rates are too low and your graphics card is under-powered. That, or your system isn't tuned up and your CPU is interested in doing something else besides running your game.

"...i,d like to see more ships,more targets.been on patrol for ages and only seen 2 or 3 ships :down:..."

You're hunting target poor areas. The whole game isn't like that. You have to play smart and know a little WWII history.

"...They failed to take advantage of the 3d interior to help create an immersion factor. I dont think the DEVs really understand all the potential that a 3d interior can have, gameplay wise..."

When you look at the compartments that have been rendered in 3D, have you SEEN a more rendered submarine simulation? You're supposed to be looking out the parascope and sinking ships not staring at the pipes all day (as pretty as they are.) They did this in a year. Amazing.

About the target destroyed message...
"..Can it not wait a few minutes later? As in when the ship actually sinks completely under the water and not while I am still pounding away at it on the surface..."

The purpose is you DON'T just keep pounding away wasting ammo on a dead ship. The sinking part is for fun.

"...I really dont like that if you lose your rudder, (I did from being depth charged) there is no other way to turn your boat..."

The crew is supposed to use ores? Even if they had used differenential engines, would have taken hours to do a 180. Subs are hard to turn even WITH rudders.

"...I miss the clearity of the ships, they seem fuzzy and cheaply rendered, not sharp like was in SHIII..."

You are too used to traditional computer rendering. The real world isn't in 256 colors looking like a daytime soap video with all that contrast and all black shaddows. Reality IS fuzzy at sea where there are mists, clouds, high humidity, complex reflections off the water confusing the eye. Rusted ships painted in cameo. Anyone who has lived on or near the sea watching ships in the morning or late evening where you can barely make them out only a couple miles away will understand what I'm talking about. Land Lubbers have no idea how a sub sim should look.

"...The time was 0415, the moon had set, and I was moving at ahead slow.

Being naive, I thought there is no way this aircraft could spot me so I took no action. Minutes later an explosion hit aft. I thought, "No biggie"..."

The time that is displayed in the sim is the time zone you left port. Sundown and Sunup are when the SUN where you ARE appears and goes away. The world is ROUND. Look at the lighting. If you can see stuff, the stuff can see you. Obviously it was light enough fo you to see the bomb. You are VERY vulnerable to being sighted 1 hour before and after Sun rises or falls. Decreasing chances of being seen after that. You have to know physics, geography, world history to get the most out of a realistic simulation. If you want to play at max realism, you have to know how to play the game and take advanatage of all you know about the world and the technology at your command to outsmart the enemy. It IS possible. Running surface when you have a perfectly good battery in enemy patrolled water during the day is ASKING to get bombed.

"... 3- My planesmen sit there and do nothing...grab the wheel guys and give them a spin dangit!.."

They DO. Give a depth command and watch. Occasionaly they give it a little tweak.

"...Graphics: Granted my vid card is a bit dated but I am not sure what the rave about the graphics are about. I think they are terrible..."

Too bad you will never see what the people with nice cards are raving about.
I play a lot of games. Never seen anything better than this one in a naval sim.

"...Well i would have thought that the escorts should at least signal via there signal lights if they had a contact . Maybe this could be patched up in the next patch ..."

Why should they when they could use radio and not give away their tactics?
Here I am. I have spotted you and now I want you to sink me. Please hurry as these lights are burning out my generator and they are expensive to replace.

" Are you saying that the Developers had little knowledge of SHIII and the mods in order to build on that foundation?"

You are misinterpreting. Some the SH4 team made SH3 and if you watched some of the promo movies they made prior to release, it was stated explicitly they took some ideas from modders. How about the nice zoom speed, direction and depth controls? Have you noticed they removed the shaded backgrounds from most of the controls?

"...the batteries, at 2kts submerged, were rated for 55 (!!!) hours! In game at 2kts submerged, you can barely manage 12hrs..."

Nonsense. I've gone over 30 hours in the Porpoise submerged and had over 1/3 left, and this was in a storm. what macines were "rated" for what what you got in war conditions were EXTREMELY different. Ask any war vet.

"... To give some positives, the graphics look nice - but still no AA..."

It has been widely posted the antiA is being worked on. Like you said, it's just too much trouble to read all the stuff others have posted, but you rage for a whole screen and a half. Yes I know, my posts are long too, but like you see with my quotes, I at least READ stuff.

"...hopes that the community can fix it to their liking after the Devs are pulled off the job..."

Wild assumption on your part considering the "Devs" have not been pulled off the job and have relseased one patch within hours of the game distribution with more to come.

"...Yes me too. I feel sorry for us too, all these drive-by-posts "OMG outrage". Look, if you don't want to play the game, don't buy it. But why tell us about it all the time? It is as interesting by now as if you shared observations on your morning stool.
This is the Silent Hunter IV forum. For people that play Silent Hunter IV..."

WELL SAID!

"...as the German emblem has no swastika, just a red field and white circle. (ok that one was VERY nitpicky, but still).."

I want to sink rising suns. Maybe the devs will give us a sim where we can sink Nazis some day. This is not that sim.

"... 6. does the radio do ANYTHING other than play that same tune endlessly?.."

YES. Did you read the documentation? The RADIO IS MODIBLE! There are already rich content you can add to the radio in the mod room. The Devs REALLY tried to provide some unique experiences in this game and with a year to work on it, the game has some future LIFE by making it expandable without totally depending on them. Even without the mods there is more to the radio than music.

Really. I've never in my life seen so much narrow minded, childish ranting in all my life and I've been using the Internet since the 80s. 90% of it is unsubstantiated rubbish. Take the game back. I don't want to read any more.
Start your own "I hate submarine sims" web site where all you guys who make up stuff and don't read posts by people who have solutions to your complaints and you can preach to each other the sky is falling and the world is going to burn up in global warming because we're not using enough florescent light bulbs, and eveyone agrees because they are ignorant of the sim's features, ignorant of history, ignorant of physics, and care nothing about the people who are enjoying the game and insist they should be able to play the game on systems that do not meet the minimum specs. And if they DO meet the MIMIMUMS, they expect to have all the eye candy the people with $500 video cards have on their $100 card. For those who love SH3 so much they can't stop talking about it, There IS a SHIII forum here. Why not use it?

-Pv-

[Fat Bhoy Tim]

Aye, you're feeling better now aren't you -Pv- ?

[1mPHUNit0]

Hooo....it's a perfect game
Totally complete and playable
Without buggs
A real improvement, all it's better and working
there is all we want all we dream

....nonsense, Is this constructive criticism?
The game is still unplayable bugged and incomplete
But i dont' want talk about that

What i like:
1. Station icons on the control bar is more sim-like than SHIII
2. Multiplayer ideas of using escorts playables a little but playables
3. Missions are better and have good ideas
4. Improvement in 3D graphics but without ....well ...we know...FSAA
5. improved of time compression
6. Better damage models but bad a loot bad damage room an data retrival
7.The overall modability of the game

What i dont like
1. The User interface is much less intuitive and clunkier than SH3
2. Too much was changed around from SH3 for no good reason
other than "change is good!"
3. Very bad 2D interface, and instruments realized not well,
and are not working well, or at all, or there are
a loot of missing instruments for a real sim
4. no more immersive graphics of dials
5. Interior sounds are bad
6 All the menus seem a unfinished work....from Accademia to all
you have no choice! when you're selecting they
7. Training missions done very bad or missing
8. The manual is....we know...i suppose
The information given is practically usesless. Class, Tonnage, Length, Surface Speed, Submerged Speed, Range, Torpedo Tubes and number of Torpedo
and so on
9. Radar doesn't have any labels or markings on switches that don't move.
10. The weather buggy and no real or dinamical
11. The navigation map....orribile
And of course a loot of bugs, incompleteness not cited and unplayability
due to frustration
This is all I can remember at the moment.

[davest]

"8. The manual is....we know...i suppose"

Out of all your negatives I can't help but reply to this one and put forward one simple question. When was the last time you played a sim since Falcon 4.0 that had a manual good enough to take to the bathroom?

... That's what I thought, so why expect one now?



Cheers,
Dave

[melendir]

I like the crew management of SH4 very much :)

Taste issue, but I think that when they are put on their places (good torpedo man to torpedo team, and so on), it's good that they change shift automatically and I don't have to change them. --> Still have a meaning with who's sitting where, but eases the micro-manage part and let's you concentrate other issues :)

[Sailor Steve]

Battery Life??? "... I don't get what the problem is with battery life.

I have no problems with it and I run with all realism option on except no map updates..."

I totally agree. I have no idea what some over-aggressive modders are calling "realistic" battery life, but what's in there now is "realistic."
"Over-aggressive modders"? You state categorically that 'what's in there now is "realistic"'. Can you show the documentation for this, or is what you state as fact just uninformed opinion?

[Iron Budokan]

"8. When was the last time you played a sim since Falcon 4.0 that had a manual good enough to take to the bathroom?

I'd be very happy to take the SH4 manual to the bathroom and use it for the only purpose it was obviously meant for....

[SnowCajun]

:rotfl: No rudder = no turn...
What would you suggest as an alternative?
You could turn it, though not sharply, by separate use of your engines, port engine forward and starboard engine reverse, or vice versa. What's so "rotfl" about that, it's common nautical knowledge? At least you could get it home that way if it'd only been programmed in to use engines separately in the game as in real life.

[Guido]

I think the damage control is rather unfathomable tbh,

Either the crew dont fix anything because its a bug, or they are fixing items, but you have no idea how well they are doing.

Sorry it needs to be easier to understand........ I had a crew repairing the flooded aft section - so funny the sub almost vertical at times, the crew just laughed at me after they were ordered to start fixing - "send us to the moon" they shouted, or maybe I was just imagining it all.

[Fat Bhoy Tim]

:rotfl: No rudder = no turn...
What would you suggest as an alternative? You could turn it, though not sharply, by separate use of your engines, port engine forward and starboard engine reverse, or vice versa. What's so "rotfl" about that, it's common nautical knowledge? At least you could get it home that way if it'd only been programmed in to use engines separately in the game as in real life.

Submarine screws are practically side by side, so the effect is minimal. As was said, it would take hours even with differential gears that allowed one to run forward whilst the other reversed.

[Schultzy]

The main things I don't like, aside from the bugs of course, ;) are, in no particular order:

I don't like that there is no auto drop to 1xTC when/if a ship is spotted, or you're getting hit by shell fire from said ship, that you didn't know was there in the first place. (I'm sure that's easily fixable in the text files though) But, we shouldn't have had to, imho.

The damage control thing.
I don't really understand it.
I thought that damage control teams were made up from the existing crew but in base I can fill all three watch slots, so I have a full crew, then I can also hire additional sailors to fill the damage control.

I admit I know nothing about american boats and how they crewed them, but that seems wrong. (if i'm wrong please tell me.) :)

I wish instead crew members with the Mech skill were automatically selected when I activate the damage team and they would be moved from their watch station to the DC slots and then when the damage is repaired they returned to station. Seems more sensible to me. As it is now, I have 10 or so extra sailors that never sleep.

Sorry for the rant. :)

[melendir]

...As it is now, I have 10 or so extra sailors that never sleep...

I understand what you mean by using same guys to man other stations and not only damage control... but as sidenote... guys in a damage control, deck gun and AA gun slots do sleep when they get fatigued and aren't at "alert." :)

[Schultzy]

guys in a damage control, deck gun and AA gun slots do sleep when they get fatigued and aren't at "alert."

Really? I'd never noticed. Well, that's a bit better then. Thanks for the info mate. :up:

Still, I still prefer my idea though ;) :cool:

[yellbird]

Just tried again, this time first mission, put 10 torps in a medium old freighter and it will not sink, tried the deck gun no help.

I have e6600 chip, geforce 8800gts and 4 mg of ram, Vista. The game at times brings it too it knees, some nice features but alot of wacky features, give me back SH3 until they get this worked out.:nope:

[Onkel Neal]

Just tried again, this time first mission, put 10 torps in a medium old freighter and it will not sink, tried the deck gun no help.

Be sure you are using a legal version of the game, and don't use a NoCD crack; otherwise the copy protection handicaps the weapons.

[rhohltjr]

My SH4 dosen't run very long before it locks up requiring a reboot. It seems to lock up a lot when looking through the deck binoculars and at other times just whenever it gets tired of living. Unplayable for me at present.

:down: :gulp:

[Joe S]

I have only playes SHIV for an hour or two, so far here are my impressions:

1)It is/was a bad idea to change the interface. There was nothing wrong with the way SHIII was set up, changing it around only makes it harder for us to stay involved with both sims
2) Voices /sound effects are a bad joke, total failure. I would not put my name on such a product, especially in view of the work that has come before, AOD,SHI,SHIII, etc
3) I had one CTD so far, hopefully that will not be a trend, time will tell.
4) no apparent ability to determine how far we can go on remaining fuel, since it was done in SHIII and even in SUb Battle Simulator, no excuse for that one.
5)interface is more timeconsuming to use, the little icons are really bad, not intuitive at all, why not just replace with text?
6)Manual TDC seems to be OK, but I havent played with it that much.
7) No chart for sunrise/sunset, a complaint in SHIII that should have been addressed
8)less verbal crew responses than in SHIII, a huge dissappointment
9) it is obvious that the dev team spent all their time/money on graphics instead of gameplay, which is silly, because in a sub you are only supposed to keep the scope up for a few seconds at at time anyway. Interior graphics are very nice and practical, you can actually read the guages. However, the water transparency and a lot of other eye candy is really superfluous. The exterior graphics are very nice, but I was happy with the graphics in SHIII, and would have preferred some of the gameplay issues to be resolved.

10) have not had to mess with damage or crew management, I just hope we can opt out of it.

I have not engaged the enemy in combat yet so I dont know about enemy AI , etc.

Overall, a dissappointment so far, hopefully our friends the modders can fix the sound effects and speech problems. Joe S

[Schultzy]

I know i've been only saying things I don't like so far.

So, just a quick post about something I do like...no really like.

The new TDC is brilliant. The way you input the data is intuitive and the Stadimeter is great. Top marks from me for that. Manual TDC is now not scary, or baffling, but fun and highly rewarding!

oh and I love the way the warships signal to each other when they smell trouble... on a slight aside, any morse experts know what they're saying or is it just random?

[yellbird]

It is from Amazon and have the patch installed. Even in the practice mode ships were hard to sink when it would sink them. I have had the dept from 9-15 feet and nothing, oh I am not using a crack. Thanks anyway.



Just tried again, this time first mission, put 10 torps in a medium old freighter and it will not sink, tried the deck gun no help.
Be sure you are using a legal version of the game, and don't use a NoCD crack; otherwise the copy protection handicaps the weapons.

[Harmor]

I like the way the campaign works .. I am really immersed and to me it feels like I am indeed just a small part of a huge war going on around me. I think the dynamic campaign is well done except .. yeah, I understand that american sub captains were retired after a few patrols, but I think there should be the option to turn this on and off for gameplay purposes. I do like the new damage model and the fact that ships have interiors etc .. also the love for detail like lifeboats etc. Nice!

With all that said however, I am right now discouraged to continue playing cause when your career saves keep getting corrupted by CTD's, it somewhat defeats the purpose of playing a career to begin with. The game is very unstable out of the box as well as with Patch 1.01 and crashes a lot, either when you try and load an older savegame or just randomly. I just hope they are going to look into this very soon.

Overall, when none of the above turns me off from playing, I definately enjoy SH 4 more than SH 3 (not talking GWX btw) and think they have done a good job especially with the campaign. The artistical part of the game is outstanding, but the technical aspect needs some major patching. A german mag here rated the game 80 % which I think is spot on, saying it could easily get another 8-10 pts once the bugs have been ironed out. I fully agree with that.

[melendir]

...Even in the practice mode ships were hard to sink when it would sink them. I have had the dept from 9-15 feet and nothing, oh I am not using a crack. Thanks anyway.
You might be just unlucky... maybe?

I noticed that it might took sometimes 3 to 4 torps to sink small ship, sometimes 1 (I think), so it might be very important where you hit them. I didn't "snipe" them in exact parts, I just shot them, so propably that's why it was so different every now and then...
I also sink very large ship once with 1 or 2 torps (I think it was 2).

Oh and if you see that they sail "deeper" or "out of balance" after 1 or 2 torp hits, start chasing some other ship and give the first ship enough time "to get flooded" and sink.
I had shot one ship with 2 torps and it did go "out of balance", but no any messages of sinking. So I went after other ship to even cripple it, so it won't run away and while shooting it, I got log entry of sinking that first ship... so give them time :lost:

[fair_weather]

Pros :sunny: :
- Awesome visuals :rock: (Shooting a merchant at night and seeing her boilers explode...*wipes tear from eye*

- Fairly straight forward learning curve. I picked it up on Monday, and it's Friday and I'm sinking ships left and right...and no I don't save...often...I don't save before going into battle...I save in the middle of the sea, with no contacts around...and surfaced because of the save bug (but oh well, I can live with it.)

- Fairly realistic in weapon damage (Torping a ship in the magazine kills mostly anything...I one shot killed the tutorial cruiser a couple minutes ago, right smack in the forward mag, lucky and a pretty cool kill!)

- Excellent time consumer :lol:

Cons :nope: :

- A couple bugs, haven't noticed alot of them, but what can you expect from a new game! There is bugs everywhere in every game!

- Need more ship classes! I hate going out on patrol and seeing the same damned destroyers and cruisers everywhere! How many did Japan have anyway? Also...is it hard to ask for some Italian ships and subs? Seeing as how, flipping through my "Submarines of the world" By: Robert Jackson, I'm seeing loads of Italian subs that were used in WW2. Maybe for SH5?

- DDs are evil...EVIL I TELLS YA! ( *ping* DIVE DIVE DIVE! HIT YOUR BURNERS PILOT!!! )

- Doesn't support widescreen gaming properly...which will hopefully be fixed in one of the later patches cause alot of the gamers now-a-days have widescreen aspect monitors...I have two 20'' CRTs...so ya...Tis one thing I'd like to have in one of the later patches.

[Curious142]

I don't like crashing to the dreaded Blue Screen of Death after only a few minutes practically every time I run SH4 even though I've done practically everything that I can reasonably think of to prevent it. This has to be the most fragile software that I've ever run on my machine. Hopefully there will be a patch someday that will fix this problem.

CB

[BlackSpot]

Yeah, I also get way too many CTD. However there are some nice touches in SHIV. I tried out an S class, torped and sank a merchant and noticed the soundman and sonarman celebrating giving some high fives. Nice :D

[ejvind]

Got a destroyer's left side dead ahead at 1500 yards doing 19 knots. I'm using the automated firing solution and have the tube open - green triangle and all. But EVERY time the torpedo misses by a mile to the rear of the destroyer, and it DOSEN'T speed up or change course. What the hell is the deal with that?!?

So far i'm not impressed with SH4 - still haven't got the crew to repair anything, either :down:

[John Channing]

ComSubPac has sent an alert that there is a problem with the fast setting on MK14 and MK23 torpedos and BuOrd is working on it.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?p=473866#post473866

Do NOT use the fast setting for torpedos. Use only the Slow setting for now.

JCC

[ReallyDedPoet]

So far i'm not impressed with SH4 - still haven't got the crew to repair anything, either :down:
Welcome:up: Imagine being there, actually there, it's a sim. Yes an unfinished presently, give it time:yep:

[Teh_Diplomat]

Yes, albeit there is some bugs that could be fixed, and the 'A button Crash to Desktop' is a gamestopper, literaly. That however, is not where the core discrepancy of the game lies. Patches will be released and mods will be built to correct the other list of current bugs/errors.

Where the problem lies is its lack of immersion. Silent Hunter III(SH3) excelled at this. The ability to move around enough of the sub to be immersed and 'feel' (touch, look, listen contact with your Officers/Radio crew). Anyone who has seen Das Boot can relate to seeing how similar the two are in comparison. The gramaphone, the reports from your crew - all variations however 'unimportant', ie: Weather - made the game feel all that much more immersive.

One can clearly see how Das Boot could* have been a reference point for the Game Designers as the basis of making SH3 a fantastic game.



Silent Hunter 4(SH4) on the other hand while taking a step upwards has also taken the series a step backwards. That is to say while improving the Campaign and graphics it removes what we've been discussing in the previous paragraphs.

The removal of interaction with your Officers and the two dimensional radio/Sonar stations is what prevents this game from keeping up with the pack, so to speak.


Thoughts?




*As i have no such proof it is hypothetical.

[Banquet]

Completely agree with you.. the lack of crew options makes it almost pointless being in the command room (except after diving, there's no where else to go!) In SH3 you could take over any position, click the dials to alter speed, depth, etc and generally felt you were in a room with a living crew.. SH4 is missing this badly..

It's not a gamebreaker for me by any standards but it is sorely missed.. I hope this functionality will be re-added in a future patch.

[ryuzu]

Yes, albeit there is some bugs that could be fixed, and the 'A button Crash to Desktop' is a gamestopper, literaly. That however, is not where the core discrepancy of the game lies. Patches will be released and mods will be built to correct the other list of current bugs/errors.

Where the problem lies is its lack of immersion. Silent Hunter III(SH3) excelled at this. The ability to move around enough of the sub to be immersed and 'feel' (touch, look, listen contact with your Officers/Radio crew). Anyone who has seen Das Boot can relate to seeing how similar the two are in comparison. The gramaphone, the reports from your crew - all variations however 'unimportant', ie: Weather - made the game feel all that much more immersive.

One can clearly see how Das Boot could* have been a reference point for the Game Designers as the basis of making SH3 a fantastic game.



Silent Hunter 4(SH4) on the other hand while taking a step upwards has also taken the series a step backwards. That is to say while improving the Campaign and graphics it removes what we've been discussing in the previous paragraphs.

The removal of interaction with your Officers and the two dimensional radio/Sonar stations is what prevents this game from keeping up with the pack, so to speak.


Thoughts?




*As i have no such proof it is hypothetical.

So what you're saying, is the films made about the Pacific theater just aren't as good as those (or the one!) made about the Atlantic ;) Good luck with that!

However, while I understand entirely what you're saying there are a couple of factual points to make - The weather reporting is in the game - just apply the Key Commands mod to get at it, and the gramophone and radio provide a better environment than that of SH3 as far as music/voice broadcast goes.

However, the missing compartment(s) and lack of direct crew interaction are unfortunate given that they were already in the engine once (and apparently were supposed to be there again given that some of the crew respond to mouse clicks).

Personally, I never bothered with the crew clicking in SH3; I would have like to have seen SH4 go much further in terms of having a proper crew onboard...That is the essence of any ocean going vessel (well, except for solo sailors I guess). Too much AI and thinking required for that, so instead we got a graphics massage...

As to your final point about "keeping up with the pack" - what is the pack?

r.

[Charlie901]

Yes, albeit there is some bugs that could be fixed, and the 'A button Crash to Desktop' is a gamestopper, literaly. That however, is not where the core discrepancy of the game lies. Patches will be released and mods will be built to correct the other list of current bugs/errors.

Where the problem lies is its lack of immersion. Silent Hunter III(SH3) excelled at this. The ability to move around enough of the sub to be immersed and 'feel' (touch, look, listen contact with your Officers/Radio crew). Anyone who has seen Das Boot can relate to seeing how similar the two are in comparison. The gramaphone, the reports from your crew - all variations however 'unimportant', ie: Weather - made the game feel all that much more immersive.

One can clearly see how Das Boot could* have been a reference point for the Game Designers as the basis of making SH3 a fantastic game.



Silent Hunter 4(SH4) on the other hand while taking a step upwards has also taken the series a step backwards. That is to say while improving the Campaign and graphics it removes what we've been discussing in the previous paragraphs.

The removal of interaction with your Officers and the two dimensional radio/Sonar stations is what prevents this game from keeping up with the pack, so to speak.


Thoughts?




*As i have no such proof it is hypothetical.


I totally agree!!!

SHIV feels like a Microsoft "WINDOWS" version of SHIII. I feel like I'm clicking a "WINDOWS" interface instead of being an integral part of my sub and interacting with my crew/stations and equipment. It all comes down to the fact that I just don't feel the same connection to my sub/crew that I felt in SHIII. I guess it is due mainly, to the things that you mentioned and other little things that made playing the game so much more INVOLVED and FUN. It feels more like the game "Dangerous Waters" than a true sub sim for me. My PC can't handle the "Environment effects" anyway so eye-candy is secondary to IMMERSION" for me.

I shudder to think when I up the Difficulty and remove "EXTERNAL VIEWS" how boring/lame this game is going to get. :down:

[ryuzu]

Just tried again, this time first mission, put 10 torps in a medium old freighter and it will not sink, tried the deck gun no help.

Be sure you are using a legal version of the game, and don't use a NoCD crack; otherwise the copy protection handicaps the weapons.

Can I ask how you know that the game security might inhibit the weapons? The dev's message only talked about 2D guys and numbers being read out. Have they said something specific about possible gameplay effects?

I ask because how would someone know if they're being incorrectly affected by the security? I don't get any 2D guys or numbers and the targets (that I hit!) seem to sink within a reasonable number of hits but how could I or anyone else know for sure?

r.

[Teh_Diplomat]

So what you're saying, is the films made about the Pacific theater just aren't as good as those (or the one!) made about the Atlantic ;) Good luck with that!

However, while I understand entirely what you're saying there are a couple of factual points to make - The weather reporting is in the game - just apply the Key Commands mod to get at it, and the gramophone and radio provide a better environment than that of SH3 as far as music/voice broadcast goes.

However, the missing compartment(s) and lack of direct crew interaction are unfortunate given that they were already in the engine once (and apparently were supposed to be there again given that some of the crew respond to mouse clicks).

Personally, I never bothered with the crew clicking in SH3; I would have like to have seen SH4 go much further in terms of having a proper crew onboard...That is the essence of any ocean going vessel (well, except for solo sailors I guess). Too much AI and thinking required for that, so instead we got a graphics massage...

As to your final point about "keeping up with the pack" - what is the pack?

r.
I wasn't stating any opinion/comparison on movies related to WWII Submarines; where did you deduce that from?

I merely stated that SH3 has a clear advantage in immersing the player(you) into the game. Afterall one of the many points of a game, moreso with Simulators is how well you feel you are actually controlling the action around you.

This is not to be confused with overeccentricies of control. But the lack of interaction with key crewmembers that was previously established in Silent Hunter 3 seems a bit odd no?

[C-4]

If torps miss to the rear, it's definately the fast setting causing problems. Hopefully they get that patch out soon. Too bad the 1.2 patch thing today was an April's Fools day joke.

[Tigrone]

The removal of interaction with your Officers and the two dimensional radio/Sonar stations is what prevents this game from keeping up with the pack, so to speak.

Well, we did gain some pretty exteriors and a lot of sexy things, such as major fleet & air, that were meant to draw in the casual first person shooter players; but, we lost a lot in the process. We lost 10 of the 12 modeled interactive 3D spaces that are in SH3. We now only have the Radar station and the Sonar Station, as spaces were you can see and do things, and those spaces have restricted views and are not fully implemented. The other 3 spaces left to us in SH4 (forward conning tower, main control room, and helmsman) are completely static, or, at least, I've not found anything to do there.

The control room is particularly frustrating because it is so large and beautifully detailed and dead. It reminds me of a date I had once with a truely gorgeous girl, who had no personality at all. There's just a crowd of zombies in there and nothing to do. I find the limited interior we have is becoming boring.

A skipper's cabin with links to orders, log, chart/map, radio messages, and a picture or 2 would have been wonderful.

An interactive navigation officer at the chart table with a view of the chart and a link to it would be nice.

A TDC station in the control tower with tube door switches would be nice.

Some markings on the working switches would have been nice, as would a few more working switches.

Oh, the clipboard that partly covers the hydrophone dial is not nice.

Beautiful exterior body work may sell cars, but we do spend our time inside, driving the car. I just hoped for a few more interior options.

[Llewennek]

I must express my disappointment with some of the basic document-details in this sim.
If the developers ever issue another patch, have a look at these, please, and correct them too:-

It's "Fremantle", NOT "Freemantle". You have it spelt correctly in one part of the game but not in another.
English grammar in several of the mission outlines is woeful and gives the impression that the description has been put together by amateurs.
"Ship spotted", when referring to a shore battery or a survivor treading water, is unacceptable. Either don't mention them or use the correct references.Also, a query:- Why don't shore batteries fire at the submarine?

Other than that, I like the sim very much. It's more immersive than SH3 - probably due to the greater scope, particularly for entering vast numbers of ports.

Llewennek.

[Teh_Diplomat]

I must express my disappointment with some of the basic document-details in this sim.
If the developers ever issue another patch, have a look at these, please, and correct them too:-
It's "Fremantle", NOT "Freemantle". You have it spelt correctly in one part of the game but not in another.
English grammar in several of the mission outlines is woeful and gives the impression that the description has been put together by amateurs.
"Ship spotted", when referring to a shore battery or a survivor treading water, is unacceptable. Either don't mention them or use the correct references.Also, a query:- Why don't shore batteries fire at the submarine?

Other than that, I like the sim very much. It's more immersive than SH3 - probably due to the greater scope, particularly for entering vast numbers of ports.

Llewennek.



Yes, I forgot about the addition of details to the 'world'. The ports being much more active help to set it above the level you would have seen in SH3 Vanilla.

[-Pv-]

"...I don't like crashing to the dreaded Blue Screen of Death after only a few minutes practically every time I run SH4 even though I've done practically everything that I can reasonably think of to prevent it. This has to be the most fragile software that I've ever run on my machine. Hopefully there will be a patch someday that will fix this problem..."

I haven' had ONE blue screen running the program in 9 days and somewhere between 50-60 hours. Anyone who does has a hardware/spyware/driver problem.
If EVERYONE who played the game got a blue screen every time they ran it you would hear more screeming than you do now. It's a VERY stable sim.

"
Originally Posted by ejvind
So far i'm not impressed with SH4 - still haven't got the crew to repair anything, either"

The crew damage control DOES work. You have to play smart though. If you let the enemy beat you to pieces the crew cannot repair it. Same goes for the over 40 US subs lost in the war.

"...
Where the problem lies is its lack of immersion....
...Weather - made the game feel all that much more immersive....
...That is to say while improving the Campaign and graphics it removes what we've been discussing in the previous paragraphs..."

The weather is MUCH more improved in SH4 ove 3. There are more 3D crew than SH3 (although you cannot walk up and hold a converstation with them.) It's not that kind of sim.

" An interactive navigation officer at the chart table with a view of the chart and a link to it would be nice."

This exists. Visit the mods section.

"...Also, a query:- Why don't shore batteries fire at the submarine?..."

They do. I was sunk by a pair of them once trying to enter a harbor. Maybe the ones you experienced were friendly.

-Pv-

[Tigrone]

"'An interactive navigation officer at the chart table with a view of the chart and a link to it would be nice.'"

Pv, "This exists. Visit the mods section."

Where Pv, I've never seen such a thing? What is it called? I'm a compulsive mod collector and thought I had seen them all.

[Llewennek]

...They do. I was sunk by a pair of them once trying to enter a harbor. Maybe the ones you experienced were friendly.-Pv-
No...I was at Wake Island after the Japs had secured it. Sank a small freighter, a gunboat, a sampan and a fishing boat - all with gunfire. Yet the shore batteries never fired a shot.

Also, how in God's name did that tanker get to a wharf that is unreachable from the sea?!!
Very odd!

Llewennek

[yellbird]

I don’t know but it seems this game was put together as an after thought. You would think they could improve on some things as well as include what the modders did on SH3. As far as I am concerned they took a good game (SH3) and just slapped this together to get it on the market. Damage Control worked fine before how could they mess that up? Missions are a mess, Manual doesn’t explain enough and I have a e6600 Geforce 8800 gts with 4 G’s of memory and it will bring it to it’s knees at times.
What a shame
Whats with all the life rafts? The nav-map is almost useless if you sink alot of ships as you spend all your time sorting them out.

[davejb]

UPS:
(1) Nice graphics, be even better when they stop locking the resolution and AA.

(2) A popular theatre of war, great fun if done well

(3) It's a sub sim - what else needs saying?

DOWNS:
(1) The devs have 'skinned' SH3, and the longer I play this (crashes allowing) the more I find wrong with it. I started out thinking what nice guys the devs were and how they'd get it fixed. It's obvious now that this is little more than a graphics update to SH3. The numerous items in German, and references to U-boats in the files show that this is an SH3 mod, not a new program.

(2) God how I LOVE trekking across the entire Pacific at 2/3 speed in 4096 Jerk-O-Vision. really makes my day....and most of the night as well.

(3) The game is playable, exclusively thanks to the modding community on here. Well done guys, thanks for all the new cfgs that make this game less frustrating, keep it up! (I say exclusively as UBI has done **** all, other than to put some seriously whacky values into some of those files - eg the average transitting sub 500 miles SE of Wake Island sees more Jap aircraft overhead than spectators at the Tokyo airshow 1941.)

(4) Immersion - two dimensional at best. Upgrade everything pretty much by patrol 2 - inlcuding the crew - no significantly obvious change in how things work on your sub. The gun upgrade, for example... what's the difference, apart from you can bow mount it (losing the gun crew's ability to man it in exchange... see point 5!)

(5) Completely pathetic QA of the finished (hah!) product. So many things in this program (1.1) are obviously wrong that it was either not play tested at all, or they gave it to Tommy to check. (WHO reference).

(6) The manual sucks big time, I'd have preferred a DC Comic - they did one about a PT Boat skipper with a wooden leg I used to like, I'd settle for the one about the German WW1 fighter pilot or a Sgt Rock of Easy company at a push. Granted the comic wouldn't have helped work anything out in the game, but then neither does the manual.

[Iron Budokan]

I used to read and collect Unknown Soldier. That was my favorite war comic!:rock:

[Ducimus]

Arguably its probably too early to write any "fair" review until the next patch, but im at a point where i think ive about formulated my 2 cents worth on this game, so i may as well spell it out. Im focusing primarly on the design of the game, or the implentation as i see it, as opposed to the bugs, and to that end sh4 is quite the mixed bag. Some things i like, some things i don't like, so its hard to know where to start. So i guess ill start with the negatives first, rather then end this post on an unhappy note.


My list of negatives:
1.) Lack of crew interaction. I really miss being able to interact directly with the crew. (IE, sonar man, cheif enginer (OOD), radar operator, watch officer, etc). Like when in SH3, you could click on one, and he would look at you with an expression of, "your next order is?"

2.) About half of the UI i dont like. The part i don't like is related the point number 1 listed above this one. In a away is suppose this UI makes more sense, seeings how your not tapping your crewman on the shoulder anymore, but given the choice, i much preffered having my station icons like in Sh3. I do however, like the implentation of the 3 gauges on the right of the UI. If the game could have had interaction with the crewman, with the station icons on the bottom left from SH3, i think the UI would have been near perfect.

3.) Lack of sea squares. While i cant find a chart as an example, patrolling historically asigned areas like "area 6" or even "area 7" would have been a nice touch.

4.) Lack of sub emblems. Probably fluff, but it helps with game emersion.

5.) my list of bugs ( http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=478845&postcount=684 )


My list of Positives:

1.)The game engine itself. Without going into too many details, Its much quicker loading, higher time compressions possible with less ingame lag then in Sh3, many more advanced graphics options are available, and is as mod friendly as SH3, if not moreso. You don't really realzie some of this until you start digging around the game files, but many of their redesigning in the file structure itself, deserves a big A+ and 10 out of 5 star's to boot. Campaign scripters rejoice, this is game is a dream come true.


2.)Implentation of torpedo troubles. This is .. well, to put it bluntly, im just ****ing impressed all to hell with torpedo's. Again, this isnt somethign you realize until you start looking at the associated files themselves. Normally, something like increasing dud rates, or deep runing torpedo's or whatever other historical problems that existed.. recreating that is usually by mod, and the mod is often nothing more then a "hack" for want of a better term. Not so here. There are real settings for this, and are intrisnicly supported. Deep running torpedo's, dud rate, prematures, and even Looping torpedo's. All that's needed here is the soundman calling out "torpedo running hot straigt and normal" when it is, and a cry of terror when it isnt.

3.) Crew management and the crew.
Here the dev's most certainly listened to us. Crew managment here is a dream come true. Without getting into too many details, they've made it important, and yet, not a source of constant aggrivation. The crew itself feels like a living crew to some degree. They go about their buisness and occasinally if your not in TC mode, you will hear the change of watch, which is a nice touch. It's a pitty that we can't interact with them. (see negative point 1.). But one last item of note here, nice touch on the daamge control team, and even the T shirts coming off the planesman because their wet, or hot. (although i think that graphic would have been better served by the use of silent running when all the fans were shut off, as opposed to when the boat is flooding)

4.) The career campaign.
While it might have a few quirks, for the most part its done really well. Gone are the days when all you did was go to a grid and sit there for 24 hours for no other reason then obtaining renown. The way good performance is rewarded, and bad performace punished ( i think, i usually do well so this isnt a problem), varying missions, and how the player is drawn into the battle in the pacific during a campaign game is all a really nice touch, and you don't have the impression of being by yourself all the time as in SH3. In sh4, you more or less feel like your part of the conflict and contributing to the effort to win it. (example: Dropping off a spec ops agent on a remote shore, you did your part to get him there, now he's got to do his part, as you watch him paddle off into the darkness for the shore )


5.) Realistic damage, realistic repairs, and the damage mangement system.
Theres a bit of controversy around this (not to mention at least one bug that ive seen), but i believe i see what the intent was. In real life, if a sub's pressure hull had a hole in it, it couldn't dive. In Sh4, this is indeed the case. If your bulkhead (pressurehull) gets a hole blown into it, as in real life, diving is simply out of the question. And i most certainly think twice before popping the hatch and engaging with the deck gun.

Realistic repair times are just that. Realistic. If you have a diesal damaged, it could take all day to fix that thing as the mechanics have to take it part, which is not a quick job. Take any car to a mechanic, with engine trouble and it will be there all day. So is the same with Sh4. Clicking realistic repair times means something in SH4, and isnt just someting you'd click in sh3 that didnt really do much except contribute to how much renown youd be awarded for a sinking.

The management system takes a bit of getting used to, but overall it feels much more interactive then in SH3. In SH3, you basically clicked on an area, it woudl list what was damged or destroyed, and told the damage control crew to go to work on a certain area. In SH4, its much more flexible then that. It feels much more interactive in that you can prioritize repairs base on what you feel is more important. For example, lets sayf your main pump was inoperative, along with some other items in the control room, and your aft batteries, were also damged. In Sh3, you'd tell the damage control crew to fix the control room, and then the aft quarters. In SH4, you can tell tell the crew to fix the main pump, ignoring the other damged parts in control room for the time being, and then proceed directly to the aft battery.

Thats about all i got i think.

[Ping Jockey]

Don't like to have to return to home port in order to end patrol.:nope:

[Marko_Ramius]

I complete first entire patrol yesterday, and i saw really good things on the graphic part of the game :

Wheather effect, the wind on the surface of the sea ; In rough sea, the effect is awesome. There's some wall of water who get high, low ... Amazing.

The sunrise, sunset, all this is very good. Please, devs : Make the filters of graphic cards able to be on use cause, for sure, SH4 will rock with this.


Crew management is really better than before. The battle station order is great. I wonder if we would have more motion and noise from the crew at this moment.


Into this patrol (part of a begining carreer), the ennemy was really stupid ; Don't know if it was the level of the difficulty i choose ( normal), but they were blind, and could not hear me even at 500 meters away from them. I could surface and shot with deck gun at a little convoy with 3 escort ships. Not a gun shot on me. Must be an issue, i guess.

I don't like at all the screen just before to go into the sub, in carreer mode (the office).


But i really more enjoyed what i have saw despite my first look. I really hope things will be good on patching and modding, cause it's a great potential that we got there.

[SKurj]

Just played the Midway quick mission.

I love how the Japanese aircraft all swarm after me, and bomb their own dd's trying to hit me!

:rotfl:

[flyingdane]

Sure wish my gunners had helmets like in sh3. :doh:

[aurgolo]

Something I really hate: the tube doors seem to close again each time you choose another tube. I do not know if it is related to historical accuracy according to different US subs models in WWII.....
Anyway in SH3 I could use the 3d-switches in conning tower to keep the doors open, in SH4 there aren't any anymore...the conning tower seems a christmas tree and you never know if a tube is open or not before firing.........this generates a less accurate hit........I HATE THIS.......!!!! DO SOMETHING.....!!!

[aurgolo]

Something I really hate: the tube doors seem to close again each time you choose another tube. I do not know if it is related to historical accuracy according to different US subs models in WWII.....
Anyway in SH3 I could use the 3d-switches in conning tower to keep the doors open, in SH4 there aren't any anymore...the conning tower seems a christmas tree and you never know if a tube is open or not before firing.........this generates a less accurate hit........I HATE THIS.......!!!! DO SOMETHING.....!!!

[ScottD]

I had high hopes for the program when I got it, but like many other people here, it seems just like a SH3 reskin with many of the same bugs! I enjoyed SH3 (so far) more then SH4..

A couple annoyances:

Time compression is still jerky as hell

Hitting the A key during navgation causes a crash to desktop

Getting the same mission during my campain 3 times in a row made me put it away till the next patch.

Getting asked to retire because my sub was banged up, after sinking a Kongo class BB and Fleet CV on the way out to my mission! You'd think they would have given me at least a Silver Star or CMH...ugh

The game has alot of potential, but right now its a mess and I'm disapointed since Pacific theater Sub Sims are near and dear to my heart since the very first computer game I played was Silent Service on the Commodore 64.

Oh well lets see what 1.2 Patch can do to fix these problems.

[U-Bones]

The career after death messages are insane. Two I have encountered that totally kill any immersion are...

1. Demotion /desk job etc

2. Assignment of a new sub if you want it / or retire

Also, the career feeling has been killed by everything after New Career becoming Save or Load, and after a while a loading a standalone patrol is no different than loading a career patrol.

[tater]

^^^ yeah, career UI should bring you to a list of careers, when you pick one you should default to last save in that career. The ability to delete them (entire careers) would be nice as well.

Unrelated to that, I wish that the path of your ship, and the observed path of ebemy ships was drawn on the map. Ie: you make observations on enemy shipping, and it gets plotted to your map.

[davejb]

On a happier note....
my comments relate to 1.1. Obviously there is a lot of potential here if they sort some of the screwy bits out - with a lot of feedback on the silly things that are seen future patches could turn this into a good game. I'm very pleased that the files etc suit the modders - I'm playing with some of the files myself, but programming etc time is limited these days so doubt I'll produce anything earth shattering.

[High Command]

"Things i dont like with SHIV"

Well thats a easy anwser, its an extremly unrealistic game.

The only hope for this game is somone to Mod it!
Ubisoft cant imporve the Realism, because thay need to have the game extremly noob fraindly or thay wont sell to thair profit goal.

However somone can mod it, that may save it..

[Beery]

...also like to see % of hull damage.

Why? It was the least realistic part of SH3 and it actually made the game less tense and less exciting. Why would anyone want that back?

[ref]

...also like to see % of hull damage.

Why? It was the least realistic part of SH3 and it actually made the game less tense and less exciting. Why would anyone want that back?

Perhaps not an exact percentage, but something like "we have a hole the size of your a** in the hull skipper, we can't dive" would be nice.

Ref

[davejb]

On damage -
in real life you'd be able to talk to the repair crew, the chief of the boat, the exec - or supervise it yourself even - and get everything from expert advice on a repair to a shrug (flowered up a bit). As that level of interaction isn't available, or likely for a few years yet (we're talking 'uprated RPG interaction' here, I'd guess that's a few years off at least) then something like a 'your boat is 28.7954% damaged' is an easy way to convey the state of your boat, albeit in a not terribly realistic manner.

Unfortunately the damage gauge isn't a realistic way to deal with this, but some way to determine roughly the state your boat is in is pretty essential imo - otherwise every time you take damage you should motor gently back on the surface avoiding rough boys and the like. At the moment it's too digital - either (1) we've taken damage, let's go to PD, oops we're all dead because nobody noticed the entire aft section of the boat is open to the sea. (A slight problem that, had it been known, would prevent the more cautious skipper from running dive drills that afternoon), or (2) Boats okay, let's go to PD and sink the Yamato.

[Avatar]

I like seeing people walking around on the ships. I would like to see a mod where they blow off the deck when the torpedo hits near them. GRRR!!!:rock:

[ReallyDedPoet]

SH3, see the people, I am sure SH4 Modders will do this. Maybe it is in the game now:hmm:

http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/5025/explosionspectacular3rp.jpg

[dkunath]

When refiting your boat at any friendly harbor other than your home port, you don't get any shells for the guns. This means that once you use your inital load you have to do without your deck gun and AA unless you want to spend days returning to home port. This is not a bug but what a stupid and anoying way to program this aspect of the game! If you can get torps at port while refiting you certainly ought to be able to get shells too; afterall, the ports also serve DS's and other war ships.

My other major grip is the lag time in getting the captian's log up after having been in the patrol awhile, this makes the feature almost useless.

Dwayne

[Beery]

When refiting your boat at any friendly harbor other than your home port, you don't get any shells for the guns. This means that once you use your inital load you have to do without your deck gun and AA unless you want to spend days returning to home port. This is not a bug...

I'd say it was a bug. A feature that should be there clearly didn't get implemented properly. In my view that's a bug.

[Silent Munter]

LIKES
Beautiful graphics, even on my old x800xl - the sea and the crew have noticeably improved since SH3.

Better realism than SH3 (lifeboats, damage modelling).

Its more immersive, with the harbour traffic & news updates. I don't feel like I'm the only person in my navy.

Music


DISLIKES
There is a lack of useful information available to the player:

The manual doesn't tell me the abilities of the different US subs, nor does it explain the difference between Mk10 and Mk14 torpedoes. Its all left to trial and error.

In the game I cannot find out my current range at a certain speed (useful for when you're 6000km from base), the time predicted to replace a torpedo, or weather reports.

Also, on the in-game map its sometimes hard to tell which ports are friendly or not. Different coloured text would solve this.

Subs & ships don't move realistically on the surface of the sea.

[Wave Skipper]

Thanx for all the headsup - as usual I see some ubi-clones here to make asilk purse out of a sow's ear.

[Immacolata]

Yeah, well, they couldn't really make an ass out of you, that you managed very well on your own.

[master cylinder]

howdy.first let me say i think sh4 is amazing and will only get better.submarine warfare is great-from a desk top ! hats off to you guys who did your time in a real tube.anyway,i was out on my first patrol in the porpoise.some things i saw and some i didnt.no periscope wake.day or night at any speed.also the bow planes never extended.also i noticed after a wee surface conflict,i had a leak in the control room and a gaping hole in the starboard bow but no indication in damage control.so im on my way back to midway for repair and got attacked by aircraft.did a crash dive but they hit me in the stern and took out all propulsion.anyone see these issues? oh,by the way i did an emer. blow but now im dead ! :huh:

[Wave Skipper]

The games I saw over a week ago are still there - not moving. Ubi will only keep making updates if this clunker makes money. They stopped making the needed patches for the better game SH3 quite early, pissing many off.

You will be lucky to get one more patch and be lucky if it fixes more than it screws up.

[Beery]

The games I saw over a week ago are still there - not moving. Ubi will only keep making updates if this clunker makes money. They stopped making the needed patches for the better game SH3 quite early, pissing many off...

They made four patches in about four months. I don't remember many people being pissed off. I was happy that it was going to be a stable platform for mods. True, some stuff got missed, but it was hardly essential game-killing stuff.

[JSBirdmann]

:up: The Good:

Theater of operation, accuracy of the depicted environment, The sound, The level of emersion as presented, The general level of the graphics i.e. (textures, light maps bump maps etc..), the pedigree, The modding potential.

:down: The Bad:

The amount of bugs contained on release, The little things done wrong or missing (just one example: Why can't I get to the chart screen by left clicking on the chart table??), The amount of bugs contained on release, The trimmed down level of emersion (examples: The periscope controls, and periscope position gage as offered in SH3 were cool...and now GONE! Auto crew management buttons i.e. surface cruising, submerged attack, etc...as offered in SH3 were cool....and now GONE!), Shall I go on... Oh, and did I mention The amount of bugs contained on release! I have to have a Shell "No Pest Strip" hanging above my computer before I can play this game.

:88) The Ugly:

The amount of deception contained on release in the form of mis-information (choice of screen resolutions, GIVE ME A BREAK, even though I'm sure there are some idiots out there changing theirs and saying to themselves UUUUHH, DAT LOOK MUCH BETTER, you know the same people that have yet to discover turn signals in their cars)...Then there is the good old Lack of information (the manual...you know stuff you need to know about...you know, SUBMARINES, and maybe sims of submarines....and maybe some stuff to get you more excited about playing the game as far as why submarines were so important...the roll they played.) But most of all...more honesty about the product, and where it truly is at before asking for my money.

:know: The Conclusion:

Now, before some bozo starts crying....ooooooo, you complainer...their trying their best...it's not an easy thing to do, making a game and all...if you don't like it, don't play it....get a refund, I want to state right up front that I believe in the franchise, I believe in the program, and I believe in the team that's making the game. What I don't believe in, or condone is a company blowing sunshine up my butt in the form of how great their product is, why I should spend my hard earned money now (key word here is NOW and UNFINISHED), for their product, and on top of that tell me I'm getting soooo much more (extra content disc) if I do purchase it now, when all any of us wants is a product that works as advertised and promised for the price of admission. I choose to stay for my reasons. I just thought, and would just rather have had the money they spent on the nifty extra content disc re-routed into...I don't know...maybe...FIXING THE GAME BEFORE SHIPPING IT...would have been nice.

I know allot of you out there will fall back on the "they'll fix it eventually...and besides...something is better than nothing" supporters. You do realize however, that you are only able to say that because you know the modding community...you remember...you and me, are going to be the ones to really fix this thing and make all the hurt go away in anywhere close to a timely fashion. The key problem with the attitude is that the wrong people are being held responsible for the fixing, and if for one moment you actually think that the release of a broken product, and it's having to be fixed will prevent "Poindexter" in the corner office at Ubisoft from getting his new C-Series Mercedes from the initial sales returns (broken product or not), you are sorely mistaken, because he will. He's counting on the modders to fix it, and he knows we will, HE IS COUNTING ON IT! The only reason there is an SH4 is purely because of the head of steam that was built up for SH3 due to what the the modding community did for it.

Look, my point is, we all stay or leave for whatever our own personal reasons and motives are. That's fine, there's nothing wrong with that. The ludicrous thing is the bickering back and forth, pro and con in regard to the responsibility of a 16 BILLION dollar broken gaming industry, and how that industry should treat the people that have made it all possible in the first place. You don't dump where you eat. You don't use your audience as a means to make more $, and do less. That's exactly why the industry is so one sided to the point to where, the four titles that I've bought in as many weeks either already have, or are in the process of being patched. A couple of them (SH4 included) had a patch out a full 24 hours before the product even shipped.

So if someone wants to spout off about the fact that they think the mother ship (publishing company) of the product they just bought is the south end of a north bound moose...that's their right. they paid the price of admission, and probably didn't know it was broke when they bought it (not allot of companies out there advertising..."Hey folks...it's broken..but would you please buy it anyway?") Face it, if you bought a new car, and they told you."yeah, about that no engine thing". Yeah, I'm sure most of you would say "Daaa, don't worry I'll just have it towed to my house and put in the driveway, Daaaaa...let me know if, and when the engine is ready"....I think not.

:damn: Sooo maybe, when you've found yourself so tweaked about broken software like I do to much of the time, you can re-direct your energy like I do. You think this is long winded...you should see the letter I sent to Ubisoft corporate...and Eidos corporate...and Atari corporate.....and so on...and so on....and so on...and so on... Power of one can't even compare to the power of "THE MANY"

[Beery]

Good rant! I enjoyed reading it and I agree with most of what you say. I must admit though, I'm in the "chill out, they'll fix it eventually" camp. Still, I always like a well-thought-out rant. As John Lydon said: "Anger is an energy!"

[Mush Martin]

What I like most about SH4 is that for better or worse
love it or hate it.

it promises to provide years of puttering in my favorite hobby.

[Der Graf Von Rudklide]

I dont like that you cant control or select the difficulity in the Carrer mode like it was posible in SH3.

I dont like doing the same mission of insertion of agents at the same spot over and over again in the carrer mode.

Else i love the game :up: And even more when the bugs are patched.

[Vorkapitan]

Hi All,

IMHO - (based on final patch/mods)

Things I like / enjoy;
The graphics (I get no jaggies 1024 X 768) :D
The environment - colors, graphics, sounds, realism, weather etc. (very immersive) :p
The "thermal layers" :D
The sub detail. :p
The new crew managment. (Almost no hands on)
Being able to attack ports
Damage modeling

I believe when all patches / mods are completed, this will outshine SHIII.

Wishes / hopes
Remove stutters
More detail options for graphics
A way to position sub closer to mission objectives. (takes soooo long to get there) :down:
Resupply points?
Map with shipping lanes
Picking points to hit

[JSBirdmann]

Good rant! I enjoyed reading it and I agree with most of what you say. I must admit though, I'm in the "chill out, they'll fix it eventually" camp. Still, I always like a well-thought-out rant. As John Lydon said: "Anger is an energy!"

Thanks Beery, I liked it to. It helps to dispel some of the bad energy I find myself dipped in from time to time. I find it also helps to be a graduate of the Dennis Miller school of focused ranting. If you truly like a good rant, read his books.."Rants"..."More Rants"...you'll be rolling.

Anyway, in regard to your position with SH4, I'm in the same boat my friend (no pun intended), and I believe that my previous post supports that at least to the point to where my hypocrisy is not of major league status, and all encompassing. The problem with well designed software being released before it is truly finished almost always has nothing to do with the software itself, or the team that's doing the work on it. It's a limitation thing (usually time constraints). It does however, almost always have to do with a corporate decision to take that lump of modeling clay that is the software, and have it hurled into the kiln, glazed shipped, and displayed proudly in the store window before it's actually a plate, or a vase...just kind of a real shiny lump of clay. Oh damn, there I go again "shiny", that damn extra content disc reference creeping back into my dialogue. I apologize to one and all...you know..."old habits"...or was that "old hobbits"...well anyway, back on course (once again, no pun intended).

It just appears to me that, like your comments Beery, we are all here for the same reason, and we can agree to disagree without feeling the need to fly the confederate flag and secede from the forum, or from playing the game. It truly is just a matter of consumer fair play, that's all. Something that I wish more people on more of these forums would try to embrace, instead of automatically perceiving "off" comments as strictly declarations of war against one another. It really would make life on the forums easier to digest, and quite possibly create a stronger foundation for dealing with the all to often "software messes" that we all find ourselves putting our money out for. There really is safety in numbers so to speak. Like I stated in my previous post "THE MANY" really CAN work when implemented properly, and in a timely fashion. I mean, when the wolves (publishers) have surrounded your camp (user forums) in the dead of night, you don't ignore the wolves to beat the tar out of the guy who built the fire just because you don't think his opinion of how a fire should be built doesn't jive with yours. Wasted attention, and wasted energy in the completely wrong direction.

Being that I find it all to easy to get carried away with these posts, nuff said, I'm going to quit while I'm ahead.......

Once again, I appreciate the comments Beery. I wish more would comment. That's why I post...to stir things up. Remember what Einstein said "If everyone in the room is thinking alike, than someone isn't thinking". Oh, that's right, he also said "Life is an illusion, albeit a persistent one", so neeever miiind....:dead:

[Beery]

...we can agree to disagree without feeling the need to fly the confederate flag and secede from the forum, or from playing the game.

I agree in principle, but then again there are some people whose opinions are so grotesque and unpalateable to me that they should all die horribly! :arrgh!:

That's why I post...to stir things up. Remember what Einstein said "If everyone in the room is thinking alike, than someone isn't thinking".

Yeah. Diverse opinions are what forums should be all about. Too many people believe that disagreement and argument are dangerous things. On the contrary, spirited disagreement is healthy, just as reasoned criticism is healthy. I hate all those folks whose attitude is "Love it or leave it". Those who truly love something are willing to criticise it and help to make it better. Refusing to see anything wrong with a game no matter what is not love - it's delusion. Fanboys and trolls are equally harmful to a game - both those attitudes come from the exact same mental laziness and the actions of both hurt a game - one by direct assault and the other by attacking the critical process that helps a game grow. No one ever helped a game to become better by blindly praising it and stifling dissent.

[rulle34]

I wonder if the dev team bother to test the game properly before releasing it:down:
How is it possible to miss that the speedcalculaor in manual mode doesn´t work?
Just to many bugs...:nope:

[JSBirdmann]

Those who truly love something are willing to criticise it and help to make it better. Refusing to see anything wrong with a game no matter what is not love - it's delusion. Fanboys and trolls are equally harmful to a game - both those attitudes come from the exact same mental laziness and the actions of both hurt a game - one by direct assault and the other by attacking the critical process that helps a game grow. No one ever helped a game to become better by blindly praising it and stifling dissent.

Exactly my friend...EXACTLY!


“You cannot be disciplined in great things and indiscipline in small things. Brave undisciplined men have no chance against the discipline and valour of other men. Have you ever seen a few policemen handle a crowd?”
- General George S. Patton Jr -

[yellbird]

:damn:Game is going on shelf until they fix,

Had no damage went to periscope depth and it just sunk like a rock, could not stop it, I had just saved it so tried a couple of times not good.

1100 meters from Battleship, ship crossing right in front of me fired 5 torps and one hit at fan tail.

Put 4 into a gun boat and would not sink, ended up killing it with deck gun.

For whatever reason Rader is always getting damaged, no reason, same with deck guns.

Could go on and on but no point, this is not ready for prime time yet, reminds me of some stock I have owned.

[rulle34]

I think it should be an "exit patrol" choice, like in SH 3, so you don´t have to sit with TC and just wait for coming home to port after a succesful patrol

[jdski]

I played aversarial mode last night, and one thing I wished I had as CC was binoculars. I was constantly trying to zoom with my mouse to use them. I guess just out of habit. It seemed to be the first thing I missed in that position.

[Torpex752]

Maybe I am asking for too much, but I would like 3 things added to the current TDC.

One; a mark bearing button, so regardless of the accuracy of my solution (usually +/- 2-3 degrees) I can input "final bearings and shoot!"

two; I would like The AOB indicator to track the target properly.

Three: The dials to be a tad bit clearer and slightly larger so i can see the degrees down to 1-2 degrees, not guess +/-5!

On a seperate note, after doing some re-research...

MK-10 torpedo's verified to be aboard the USS Seadragon in December 1942, so making them available to all boats in 1942 would be historically accurate.

"S" Class boats did have a conning tower, however configuration and equipment installed TBD.

Depth Charges should have a "click"-"WHAM" sound under water.

Passive sonar ability on the USS Seadragon was about 6000yds for high speed DD screws & 4000yds for merchants


Frank
:cool:

[Javelin]

Accessing the Caption's Log is annoying and just not worth opening. Also, since my last patrol when in the attack screen cannot see my torpedo line to target anymore. They were there before.
I wish they would improve the voices as there quite bland and seem to be just a copy of sh3.
More of the sub's compartments would be a big plus.

All in all I enjoy playing SH4.

[tycho102]

I'd like to see the torpedo loadout screen easier to use. Rather than having to drag torpedoes over, I'd like each type "stacked". And I'd like to be able to select a location, then just double click on the type of torpedo I want loaded into that space -- as well as vice versa with just double clicking a torpedo to unload it back to the supply queue.

For the crew space, I'd like to be able to move people around by selecting stations and either double or right-clicking to move individuals or the entire group.


I'd really like some general double-click and right-click functionality in the sub and crew management pages. Between managing torpedoes and crew attributes, I wind up spending a lot of time dragging icons; and then cursor lag causes issues with the entire process.

[Teh_Diplomat]

I think I'm in Simulation Heaven; SHIII/GWX and SHIV :sunny:

[Fearless]

WOW, a lot of reading :) But here's my two bobs worth. I have yet to see any new program being released that doesn't need a patch of some sort. SH4 unlike any other program are in the same boat. The community as a whole realistically are the testers for any released program that's why we read about the numerous amounts of complaints, rights, wrongs and hope that with a general consensus, problems get solved.

Anyway getting back to what the original post was about.

Firstly, I have a PC below the requirements.

AMD XP 2400+
512 RAM DDR 333
nVidia 6200 256Mb Graphics
Onboard Sound AC97

And after a bit of tweaking, SH4 is running reasonably well provided I fiddle with the graphics settings and giving the program some virtual RAM. So in reference to graphic option settings, I really like to have the environmental setting given seperate options for:

yes/no clouds
yes/no rain
yes/no seastate
yes/no shadows
yes/no fog

Because having it all bundled up into one option doesn't give you much choice if FPS is a major factor in either having it turned on or not.

Secondly,

I miss the weapons officer controls on the hud panel.
I can't seem to find the option for selecting multiple torp tubes for firing a spread of torpedos.
There is no warning 'voice' advising that we've reached critical depth. Testing this out, I was too late with EBlow.
I miss the Captain's cabin unless there were non onboard US subs.

No doubt there are many others such as missing key commands. Apart from all that, the program is acceptable to me. I just hope that issues are solved to make the program last a long time.

[DanielMcintyre]

Playing Silent Hunter 1, and 3 I very rarely managed to sink a big capital ship because they were historically the least numerous ships and they were very well protected and very fast.

Making the larger ships common makes them unexciting and I would prefer to see them much more rarely (REL) in my campaign games.

/Rant off

[Beery]

Playing Silent Hunter 1, and 3 I very rarely managed to sink a big capital ship because they were historically the least numerous ships and they were very well protected and very fast.

Making the larger ships common makes them unexciting and I would prefer to see them much more rarely (REL) in my campaign games.

/Rant off

I agree. There are far too many big ships in the game.

[pj]

The in-game graphics give me a headache - I'm nearsighted, and it seems as if I'm not wearing my glasses! If the images were sharper, as in SHIII or II, it would be fine. Other than that I have no complaints, bugs or not.

PJ

[Old Dog]

The first time I started up SH IV I got an alert from the Mcafee anti-virus that the game wanted internet access.
The game didn't ask me and I didn't see any reference to that in the manual. I am unable to find anywhere the information to be conveyed...without my knowledge.
On the Mcafee alert screen I didn't click the "Do not allow", I clicked "Hell NO !"
That kind of behavior (accesing the Internet without permission) by any kind of application is totally and absolutely unacceptable.
Microsoft was pilloried in the media when they sprung their "Microsoft Genuine Advantage" on an unsuspecting public.
This is absolutely not acceptable.

Old Dog

[JDHartman]

this has probaly been mentioned somewhere in this thread but i'll say it again. There are way too many damn airplanes flying around!!!! Very annoying how they operate in this game! They always know where you are.They come and circle around your boats position every other ingame hour.:damn:

[Beery]

this has probaly been mentioned somewhere in this thread but i'll say it again. There are way too many damn airplanes flying around!!!! Very annoying how they operate in this game! They always know where you are.They come and circle around your boats position every other ingame hour.:damn:

I've heard this a lot, and I heard it from people when I was playing SH3 too. But I've only ever had that problem when I sailed surfaced in daytime. If I submerge during the day I hardly ever see an aircraft.

[Onkel Neal]

this has probaly been mentioned somewhere in this thread but i'll say it again. There are way too many damn airplanes flying around!!!! Very annoying how they operate in this game! They always know where you are.They come and circle around your boats position every other ingame hour.:damn:

Sort of like a war out there, huh? :D

[FIREWALL]

this has probaly been mentioned somewhere in this thread but i'll say it again. There are way too many damn airplanes flying around!!!! Very annoying how they operate in this game! They always know where you are.They come and circle around your boats position every other ingame hour.:damn:

Check the new mods section. A reasonable fix there.

[edjcox]

1. the torpedoe selection dials stink, they are clutzy and I find myself over or under the settings i want with drift even after releasing the mouse.

2. a more easilyused interface to select torpedoe speed and perhaps an option to default to high speeds and contect vice low and magnetic field triggers.

3. Target speeds for those of us not interested in using the manual methods.. I would like to know if I slowed the bugger down with the three torpedoes in it's guts or isthat carrier really going to get away.... Let's me prioritze my targets, husband my torps, be a better skipper...

4. Early on the said you'd be able to cram extr ammo or other supplies aboard... Many skippers did, how is that??

5. Sound effects for outer doors, perhaps an Outer door tube 1 opens sir!! or outer door tube 3 closed sir !!!

6. American subs carried medics, whya isn't there one and how about the same concept of putting wounded in with the medic for healing .....

7. Weren't there 4 periscope settings vice two....

8. How about incindiary shells for the deck gun and the MG's... A flare guns was commonly used both for illumination and signalling.. Submarine warfare doctrine used white, red, blue, and green flares...

9. I'm not hearing sound effects i heard before...

10. Game integrity check.. Is there anyway to tell if the games files are all intact.

11. Depth charts... We had them and some depth indication on the charts would benice to have... Hate to crash dive into all those gorgeous aquarium rocks down there...

12. How about fixing the skipers perspectives by allowing him to climb up onto the shears for a lookouts POV or for that matter a means of selecting one of the quadrant lookouts as the POV for observations. This would realistically put you back in command and give you a 3D battleview perspctive on your ships situation..

13. Why can't I zoom all the way into the sub and ships as before... Seems the zooms restricted to a certain distance...

14. Dive speeds are way to slow.. A crash dive below a minute to get under surface was routine.. These boats take several minutes.... not real at all.

15. When a dive is called for the decks are cleared... Gu crews secure and get down that hatch.... So far my crews seem to play around and like to absorb aircraft MG's even though a crash dive was called for.... not real....

16. The ability to select multiple tubes and there respective fises speeds would be nice.... Games is really taking to many mouseclicks for my likeing..

17. Damage control team ought to auto select replacements when teir watch time pulls them to regular duty and the DC team is still in repair mode.. This interface is still a loser to me...

19. When something is fixed it either works or not.. If it can't be trusted a crewman ought to announce it.. Sir, the deck gun is repaired but only operating at 75%... Sir Toepdoe tube 6 is operational but will take longer to cycle.. Sir the bow planes are stuck in the rigged out position.... Sire the radio antnnae is fixed but we can only crank out 50% power... Sire the pumps are keeping ahead but the flooding continues in the aft torpedoe room.. you get my drift....


Good night:roll:

[AVGWarhawk]

When something is fixed it either works or not.. If it can't be trusted a crewman ought to announce it.. Sir, the deck gun is repaired but only operating at 75%... Sir Toepdoe tube 6 is operational but will take longer to cycle.. Sir the bow planes are stuck in the rigged out position.... Sire the radio antnnae is fixed but we can only crank out 50% power... Sire the pumps are keeping ahead but the flooding continues in the aft torpedoe room.. you get my drift....

Sir, your dinner is ready in the main dinning room;). Sorry I could not help myself.

[Sailor Steve]

17. Weren't there 4 periscope settings vice two....
There were in SH1. I don't know about real life.

8. How about incindiary shells for the deck gun and the MG's... A flare guns was commonly used both for illumination and signalling.. Submarine warfare doctrine used white, red, blue, and green flares...
According to the best source I've seen (Campbell's Naval Weapons Of World War Two) quoted here:
http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_4-50_mk9.htm
http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_5-25_mk10.htm
http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_5-51_mk7.htm

the deck guns carried AP, HC and/or HE; nothing else. A flare gun is a small hand-held pistol. How common was their use in combat?

Several different types of rounds were used in machine guns:
http://www.inetres.com/gp/military/infantry/mg/50_ammo.html
but they were loaded randomly on the belts. Since an AA gun can start onboard fires, I would assume that incendiary rounds are represented in the game.

[antiwup]

the thing i dont like is the american fleet carrier! it doesnt look like any carrier ive seen. it doesnt look like the lexington or the yorktown, or the hornet or enterprise or any of the late war carriers. i wish pearl harbor had battleship row mangled in it. you can sail by the sunk arizona or capsized oklahoma. i thought that could have been cool.

[antiwup]

Playing Silent Hunter 1, and 3 I very rarely managed to sink a big capital ship because they were historically the least numerous ships and they were very well protected and very fast.

Making the larger ships common makes them unexciting and I would prefer to see them much more rarely (REL) in my campaign games.

/Rant off

I agree. There are far too many big ships in the game.
japan and the US had tha largest fleets engaged with a huge number of capitol ships they fielded in the war. there should be a large number of capitol because there where tons of them. the game doesnt even have them all.
13 japanese battleship
1 settsu class battleship
4 kongo class battleships
2 fuso class battleships
2 ise class battleships
2 nagato class battleships
2 yamato class battleships
16 japanese carriers
1 akagi carrier
1 kaga carrier
1 ryuju
1 soryu, 1 hiryu (soryu class)
1 shokaku, 1 zuikaku (shokaku class)
1 hiyo the junyo
1 taiho carrier
1 shinano (yamato convert)
1 taiyo, 1 Unyo, 1 Chuyo (taiyo class)
1 Unryu, 1 Amagi, 1 Katsuragi (unryu class)

[The Oncoming Storm]

Random crashes two hours into a patrol are almost as infuriating as being buzzed by air patrols every ten minutes or so for hours. Only way to avoid it is to dive deep, and even then they're still up there. I wouldn't mind them combing the area if they'd seen me, but they patently haven't or else they'd attack. Changing direction whilst deep doesn't put them off the scent either. The algorithm that determines the spawning of planes needs tweaking urgently.

[Beery]

japan and the US had tha largest fleets engaged with a huge number of capitol ships they fielded in the war. there should be a large number of capitol because there where tons of them. the game doesnt even have them all.

The problem is, what the game does have it spawns over and over again and in multiple places at the same time. I've seen three Yamatos in the same battlegroup - there were only two ever built.

[joea]

japan and the US had tha largest fleets engaged with a huge number of capitol ships they fielded in the war. there should be a large number of capitol because there where tons of them. the game doesnt even have them all.
The problem is, what the game does have it spawns over and over again and in multiple places at the same time. I've seen three Yamatos in the same battlegroup - there were only two ever built.

Don't have the game yet but agree, read the USS Archerfish's patrol logs...just saw one big ship (Cv Shinano0 on her 5th patrol and nearly didn't get it. The escorts seemed to act like the dummies people complain about sometimes.

[patcroft]

Ok so I have been wrestling with SH4 since it was released and when I was very excited about it.

My first impression was wowed by the enhancements regarding the holes in the boats by torpedoes and looked realy foreward in reviewing it.

However for the life of me I cannot believe that something so successful as SH3 was completely changed in SH4. It is like someone from UBIsoft saw and liked the improvements from Microsofts Word 2000 from Microsofts Word 5. Some great things cannot be improved upon and the improvements generally become an end-users hinderance. The same can be said with SH4.

First and foremost I started playing Sub Battle twenty years ago and was excited about seeing SH3 because it resemble Sub Battle.

I have an entire list of things that do not work or do not work properly and it has become so frustrating that I am ready to chuck it and go back to the full enjoyment of SH3. Right now I am in a mission where if I submerge to avoid an assaulting aircraft the boat keeps going down and down and down untill it implodes. There is no possiblility of recovery.

Damage Control is pourly thought out and there is no measurement of the degree of trouble that we are in and nearly impossible to fix the damage.

The AA gun gets hidden from view when striking at an incoming plane.

Torpedoes cannot be tracked in the battle map. It worked once when I first installed the patch but I have been unable to see a torpedo hit a ship since.

There is no way to exit a mission once all the torpedoes are spent. And it is a struggle getting back to base if you cannot submerge without devastating disaster.

Wounded or dead sailors turn pink! huh! yah! Pink!

Can't track the planes and hard to track the ships meeting at night!

And what is with that silly chronmeter that keeps popping up. Very annoying!

And this list goes on and on.

I am thinkng that SH4 should have never been released with these fractions, and has a long way to go before it is fixed. Leads me to believe that the developers do not play their own games nor have any salty experiences to them.

They need to put the Pacific version into the SH3 version.

Thanks Much!
Pat

[scalelokt]

Lots of good rants, support, opinions, etc. in this thread.

For my two cents:

The Good
1. Graphics are amazing. I'm no graphics whore, gameplay is everything to me. But you have to admit, watching the sub sail by in free cam mode makes for a beautiful sight, and to me it adds a lot of immersion.
2. Crew management is pretty easy. They do their rotation, if I call battlestations they all do what they are supposed to pretty much.
3. Ship models and details are amazing, really lifelike and very immersive
4. Even though there is some occasional slow down, the game runs very smoothly on my machine, which is pretty "middle of the road". I'm impressed with what this game can do on a mid to low end machine, didnt think it was possible.
5. Seems pretty easy to mod so far, thats a HUGE bonus since our mod community is the best of the best.

The Bad
1. Hardly worth saying since its been said a million times already, but the number of bugs is pretty overwhelming
2. Some of the game didnt seem too well thought out. Especially things like damage reports, crew voices, repairs, etc.
3. The graphics options are too few. The Environmental Effects especially is too "all encompassing". You either have transparent water, fog, etc etc or you dont get any of it. My machine runs with the transparent water pretty good, but the fog kills it so I have to do without both. Sounds like 1.2 will address this however.
4. The game in its release state doesnt make Ubi look too good, and honestly in the future I'll be likely to avoid buying games on the release date from them until I've read some reviews to see if the game was finished before it was shipped.

One word on all the bugs in the game. I see a lot of people post saying things like "how could the devs have missed this???" or "the devs must not have tested the game at all".

I'm no expert on the software industry, not even close. But to me it is obvious the Devs didnt have a thing to do with all these bugs. It was Ubi forcing its release before they had a chance to finish. My question is what do we do as the buyer to discourage companies like Ubi doing this?? Hell if I know... You could refuse to buy the game, but that would probably backfire. Sales would be low, they would interpret it as a loss of interest in sim games and just not make anymore, plus they wouldnt use the resources to get the game patched up to standards. You can be optimistic about the bugs being fixed and buy it, but then you encourage this business practice and sit on a game that is all but broken for a few months before its finally patched up. Kind of a catch 22 I guess.

My personal opinion is next time I wont be buying right away like I did this time. I cant encourage companies like Ubi to force the game devs to release an unfinished product. Not only that but you all know what its like to be really excited about a game and then it comes out unfinished like this, its a bit of a let down to be sure. Last point: another reason I feel I have to take some kind of a stand against the business practice of releasing games before they are done is this: I'm a big time believer in PC games (as are most of you obviously). Consoles are cool but PC is my thing. The problem is that PC games can be patched and consoles (unless this has changed without my knowing) cant be. You release a game for XBox and it either works or it doesnt, no fixing it after that. On PC it can always be fixed later so what the hell, release it whenever we want, fix it later. By the time the customers realize its unfinished it will be too late, they will have already bought it. Thats the only real blemish in the PC game industry, I hope someday companies like Ubi decide to stop that kind of practice. But if they get the same money either way I doubt it will change anytime soon.....

[edjcox]

2143 From position six miles ease of FEINIF Island on the eastern reef,
commenced zigzag search to the southwest at ten knots. Fired green Very
starts every fifteen minutes at the turns and midway of each leg, hoping
for any sort of answer from one of the rafts. The only reply, sighted on
some occasions, was a series of red or white lights in the neighborhood of
UMAN Island, which changed bearing rapidly as if flashed along a runway.
One of the pilots we recovered the following day had sighted our stars, but
was afraid to answer them.


1800 Held demonstration of all identification flares and stars (ex-smoke bombs)
for the benefit of the aviators on board, none of whom had seen them
before.

IDENTIFICATION:

The twenty tow aviators who witnessed a demonstration of submarine
identification flares Mk 10, 11, and 12, submarine emergency identification
signals Mk 2 Mod 2 (ex-smoke bombs), and Mk 1 comets (Buck Rogers gun),
unanimously doubt their ability to note any but the Mk 1 comet, and that one too
if already diving for an attack. Along this same line is the fact that every
pyrotechnic we could fire did not deter a friendly submarine from making an end
around on us during our last patrol forcing us to avoid at high speed as soon as
he dived. Sure identification is becoming increasingly important as we traverse
a thousand extra miles of U.S. patrolled waters. Further, it may not always be
possible or desirable to establish sanctuaries in coming operations, such an
incident arising in this very patrol when an enemy submarine shared our area for
a day or more.
Means for reliable identification is at hand in the simple Mk 3 (mortar
type) signal projector which was issued to submarines during 1938, but ordered
turned in before many were installed. The order to turn them in was based on
the fact that the submerged signal gun could fire pyrotechnics of similar color.
The person issuing the order evidently did not consider the prohibitive delay in
the use of the submerged gun for a surface projector. The Mk 3 projector
mentioned above provides a healthy pyrotechnic where it can be seen in a matter
of a second or two, and its effectiveness was demonstrated on one of our
submarines who reinstalled one prior to returning to the coast after her first
patrol. It successfully warded off numerous army planes, certainly the crucial
test. It is our present intention to procure one, at least for demonstration
during the training period. The fact that one of the pilots later recovered observed our green Very
stars during our night search east of TRUK but was afraid to answer, indicates
the need for a simple identification under these circumstances. Rather than
reverting to any complicated arrangement using a two or three color cartridge,
especially as there is no advantage in having the submarine signal visible at a
greater range the that from the raft, the following procedure is suggested as
standard. If accepted and publicized among aviators, it could well facilitate
some rescues:
(a) Submarine fire single green stars during night searches
as conditions permit.
(b) Raft reply with one of the five or six red stars with
which each is now provided.
(c) Submarine on sighting red star immediately reply with
green stars and close the bearing, firing additional stars as necessary.



:sunny:

[cyttorak]

when sub is set for "silent running" and giving order to surface, loud horn goes off.
the horn sound can be avoided by giving a "periscope depth" order.

i know this is only cosmetic bug, but anyway; i think it shouldn't be possible to play horns in a sub which is under "silent running"?

[PopManiac]

Hello y'all, it's been an extremely long time since I posted in the forum, but work obligations and the daily toll kind of kept me off the SH saga permanently, at least until I bought SH4. (Quite a hefty amount of money I had to pay since to play the game I also needed a new graphics card and ultimately a new PSU but anyway SH4 was the best excuse I needed!:cool:).

Having been 'out' for a long time I believe may provide me with a more distanced view of some things missing in SH4.

To begin with, where is the command to navigator (????) from SH3 that provides the range given the available oil reserve?

There is nothing more frustrating than to leave Pearl Harbor (in 1941), resupply in Midway, reach Honshu and begin a great and exciting patrol but then run out of 'gas' on the way back!!:down:

Whereas in SH3, all you had to do was ask the navigator (???) and you had a very clear picture of the range given your current oil reserve.

On the other hand, there might be such a command somewhere that I missed on the manual, which brings me to another issue - why does Ubisoft issue great games with crappy manuals :p? (Same story with Lock On where no printed version of a manual was even present!).

At least charge a €1 or 2 extra and package a decent manual!

But I believe this opens a totally different chapter and I may be taking this too off-topic.

Anyway, great to be back!!!:D

[Komrad Mal]

Like the Graphics hate the bugs guess we need to wait for the patches now

[Snacko]

Just a short request.

Can you make the Chronograph, Radio, Message box, etc.... Remember where they are and stay in position even after I exit the game.

PS:
I also wish we could zoom in REAL close and much farther (x3) away in Unit Views (, .)

[Hans-Ulrich Rudel]

There are far to many planes, it is driving me nuts, it took me an hour to travel from Hawaii to Japan. Very boring trip.:damn:

[PopManiac]

Why do I get the feeling that this thread will go on and on loooong after even Patch 1.7?:p

Since I started playing today, I have been having one crash after another, possibly the bug reported about loading some saved games....:damn:

Somehow I sense an old feeling.... a feeling that takes me back to the days of Falcon 4.0 release 1.0 :smug:

[LZ_Baker]

I just went out on my 11th war patrol. Wasgiven command of the brand new Balao for all my hard work (1 battleship, 2 heavy crusiers, 2 carriers, tons of tonnage) I didn't do my objective (drop a spy in Tokyo Harbor) but I sank 51,000 tons. I get back to Brisbane to find out I was transfered to Freemantle (thanks for telling me) I finnaly dock and get retired. I don't mind retiring (got to sell the war bonds and such) but the game says I was retired becuase my boat was out dated???? I was just given the lead boat of a brand new class!

[Gizzmoe]

This thread has served its purpose, time to unsticky it.

[geetrue]

Wow! This thread is like a ship that lost it's anchor ... on it's way down.

My post might be the last one before it reaches the portal of no return ... :down:

Lets see now things I like about SH4 ... it's about submarine warfare in the Pacific in WWII ... :up:

Things I don't like about SH4 that both patches 1.1 and 1.2 don't come on the original DVD ... :x

Will we be able to get a version of SH4 DVD only with both patches? :hmm:

[Hans-Ulrich Rudel]

Problems with SH4.

I have some questions and quires that need to be addressed in SH4.

1. I have a problem with medals and promotions. When I return to base after a patrol and go to the crew section I notice that I have been awarded with numerous promotions and medals. I am informed that by dragging a promotion or medal over a highlighted crew member that it will result in that crew member being able to receive the medal or promotion. This is not the case as there are no highlighted crew to receive as such. So I have numerous medals and promotion that I can not award. Why this is happening is beyond me! I spent plenty of time around the area to be patrolled, yet the game says that I have not completed the patrol even though I have 95k Tons shipping sunk on that patrol, I have to date a total of 305k Ton of shipping for 4 patrols and yet I have not been able to award anyone anything! Can some one please explain this? It maybe that I have not completed the patrol as the tick box said I did not. This is crazy as I spent all my patrol time in the area designated to the point of entering Tokyo harbour and surrounding harbours and sinking every ship (21) in those harbours. Note that it was far too easy to do this, in real life it would have been an impossible task. Just try sneaking through Gibraltar in GWX.

2. The crew management section has a lot to be desired, GWX is a far far better system, the manual that comes with SH4 is pathetic, as there is not nearly enough information on crew management, submarines available, weapons systems (Torpedos, Subs, Machine guns, Flack guns, Deck guns, Radar and Sonar) In GXW there is a time line on the availability of weapon systems, which allows you to plan your career. Please note that there is no explanation why there are ‘Men down on the deck” while on patrol, when I have not been attacked. These crew members seem to be suffering from psychological problems, and will result in the crew member icon turning pink; he is not dead, just totality useless. I would have thought that there would be at least an explanation of this in the manual, and how to avoid it if possible. These crew members can be replaced, at considerable expense in renown for decent crew.

3. The time line needs to be addressed as this game should be about total submersion as in GXW. The historical aspects are important as are the explanation of weapon systems, specifications and date availability. Note that the manual on GWX runs to 173 Pages and is full of historical and game play information. I need to make the point here is those upgrades really made a great game really fabulous. My hat is off to the wonderful crew at GXW.



4. I feel that SH4 was not ready for public release and that UBI soft need to get their act together on the management of the part of the company that handle, software development and sales and marketing ( At least they could have had a liaison with the crew at GXW). I feel that the person who wrote the copy on the manual for SH4 did not spend much time actually playing the game, or just assumes that you know as an example why a crew member turns pink. I could write a manual that would be 100 times better. Remember at $100 this game is not cheap! Maybe UBI reply to the software development team opinion that the game is not ready is “ We take on board that you guys in software are telling us the game is not yet ready yet for public release but you guys need to realise the accounting aspect, so we are going to release the game and get Joe Blogs from marketing to write a quick manual, don’t you guys worry about the bugs, we can fix that with patch 1.1 ,1.2, 1.3,1.4, 1.5 and so on, also remember GXW, those guy did it all for free, and so did the guys from Subsim with all their add ons, so stuff the public and release the game.”

5. I have noticed a time compression bug. When starting a patrol time compression works well but after time it slows down to the point that coming home can be a real pain, try 512 time compression and it will take 3 hours to get home. You can not set it and go watch TV as you will be attacked and sunk by aircraft! I think that this happens because on patrol I save often, as you should! Remember that a decent patrol with all torpedos and deck ammunition used can take a better part of 6 hours in real time, that saving games is a must for obvious reasons. If you play the game smart you can on average receive 100k ton per patrol. The problem in regards to this is not my computer as I have tried turning the graphics down to low on the return home and it makes no difference, only when I start my next mission will the bug be fixed but at the end of that patrol the problem will raise its ugly head again.

6. I paid $100 for the collector’s edition of SH4; it came with a recognition manual. The keel depth on every ship is incorrect! on every ship I have sunk. As you are aware exploding a torpedo below the keel is the most efficient way to sink a ship with the minimum of weapons. As running depth of torpedos is only efficient to approximately .5 of a metre this information is critical. I also notice that the ship recognition manual when in game attack mode keyboard key (N) cannot identify merchant shipping as merchant shipping is not there. If there is a system to identify merchant shipping I would like to know how to do it.

7. The Medals are historically incorrect. If I am wrong or there is a reason for this, please advise if I am wrong. .

8. The depth setting gauge for torpedos is too small, hard to adjust and should be in at least .5 metre increments.

I have a lot more complaints in regards to SH4, but I have at this stage written enough for food for thought as of now. My comments are in no way a bad commendation for SH4 as it is still a great game, just sort out the bugs, improve the game play, rewrite the manuals (by someone who understands the game play and the historical aspects 100% and UBI soft will make one of the best games EVER!) Please note that I could be wrong in my observations and conclusions of SH4. I would be please to be shown wrong in the above.

As can be seen I have put in a considerable amount of time and thought in the above copy. It could be that I have missed items and instructions in the game play or maybe I am a bit stupid. Please advise!

Remember that I paid good money for this game and I know that in business there is only one thing and that is customers. As a customer I am extremely disappointed in the game play of SH4 and feel strongly that it was and is not yet ready to release to the general public. My comments are only my opinion, and we all have one of those too! But in the long haul I am a customer and I demand excellence for the exchange of my hard earned money. In summery the graphics and detail in SH4 are superb, but I am far more interested in historical aspects and true and workable game play than in pretty pictures. A lesson need to be learned from the guys at GXW.

In parting remember that submarine SUMULATION GAMES are all about TOTAL SUBMERSION.

[DimDoms]

this is where I should add my likes and dislikes of of SH4, and since 1.2 and with a few mods it's looking really good, both visually (turning off Volumetric Fog an improvement for me, also FSAA) as well as gameplay/rpg, though I look forward to a working chronometer and a properly working radar, more obedient staff (is it training I ask myself?), and removal of the funnies (anyone seen the somersaulting plane crash or stayed on deck as the water goes over?)

Reckon a few more tweaks (convoy AI as well as the above) and this game will be unstoppable for a while. I'm already looking forward to the rest of my patrol in the Bismarck Sea (more areas, more missions (another improvement!). Hoping there's more improvements to come.

Bring on SH4 Commander!

D.:ping: