Medals...why are they not the proper names?

[aso544]

Why did they change the name of the medals?

MOH is now a Medal of Valor
Navy Cross is called a Victory Cross
Purple Heart is now a Wound Medal
Silver Star is a Patrol Star

Seems pretty lame to me:down:

[sgt.weasle]

ya seems really lame. could it be for legal reasons???? anyone?

[NefariousKoel]

Victory Cross? Wound Medal?

Sounds like an amalgamation of British and German medals. Hopefully they were placekeeper names until they got around to giving them proper ones.

[SeeFalke]

What kills me is not only are the names wrong but the images of the medals are all wrong as well. I hope that either they fix this in a future patch or someone more talented than me in the modding community make realistic ones.

[Tigrone]

They obviously were developed to be purely generic and symbolic. They only vaguely look like US medals. The 'Medal of Valor' looks much more like a Soviet Order of Glory than it does any US Medal. I don't like this. I find it annoying.

I think this goes along with the Lancaster with the upside down US star. It's not designed to simulate what was real.

[fullmetaledges]

yeah pretty lame, sh1 had real ones altho I remember getting the navy achievement medal and that didn't come about until the 50's. rather get that than the stupid make up crap. Hows about MOH, Navy Cross, Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Submarine War Patrol Badge

[daft]

It's probably because of legal reasons.

[fullmetaledges]

like you can't be falsely awarded graphic representations of real medals unless you earned them in real life. It's not the same as wearing medals or claiming to have been awarded medals in real life, it's a video game, it's not like the congressional medal of honor is trademarked. they even have games named after the medal of honor.

[P_Funk]

Well in SH3 guys were able to change the medal textures so I'm sure that they can make them look real. And I'm sure that somebody will do that right quick.

I'm having a vision...

I see a thread in the... the... the SH4 Mod forums... it starts with a [REL]... Yes the name underneath?... nvDrifter? I'm not surprised at all...

;)

[Grothesj2]

Although I cant effectivly play the game yet becuase of my crap video card, I noticed these faux medals in the manual. Ridiculous to spend so much time detailing everything else so superbly then using these bogus medal knock-offs.

[daft]

I'm 99% certain that most US real life medals are copyrighted or in some way protected from being used arbitrarily in commercial products. Hence the fake medals.

[Grothesj2]

If actors in movies can use them, no reason why a game company cant. Heck I remember games like that old Apache helecopter sim had proper medals even back then. Didnt IL2 have proper names for medals, even if the images were stylized some?

[fullmetaledges]

so did the original b-17 flying fortress from microprose

[daft]

Yes, but we don't know if you have to get permission before using them in a game/movie. I'm speculating here, but it seems very odd if the devs just decided to make some medals up instead of using the real ones just to cut some corners. That would only mean more work, not less. I would also find it rather strange if the US didn't give a toss about how their medals are used. I would imagine that some kind of approval would have to be in place first.

[P_Funk]

Of all the games out there though, don't you think that SH4 is the last game that wouldn't get approval? I mean its a sim. Most sims don't exactly insult the memory of the fallen.

[daft]

Of all the games out there though, don't you think that SH4 is the last game that wouldn't get approval? I mean its a sim. Most sims don't exactly insult the memory of the fallen.

It depends I guess. Point is we really don't know why the medals are faked. Yes, the devs could be at fault, but it could also be a number of other reasons outside their control.

[hyperion2206]

I'm 99% certain that most US real life medals are copyrighted or in some way protected from being used arbitrarily in commercial products. Hence the fake medals.

I have the DE and in the manual they depicted the Bronze Star, Silver Star, Navy Cross and Medal of Honor. They all look correct so they can't be protected, meaning that there must be another reason why we only get medal of Valor or how they call them in-game.

[fullmetaledges]

here somebody write them and ask


Chief of Naval Operations
Awards and Special Projects Branch (Code N09B33)
2000 Navy Pentagon
Washington, DC 20350-2000

but seriously, look how many games use the real ones I'm almost positivly sure that it isn't an infringement

[LukeFF]

I'm 99% certain that most US real life medals are copyrighted or in some way protected from being used arbitrarily in commercial products. Hence the fake medals.

Then explain why there are real medals for the US in Pacific Fighters, aka another Ubi-published sim?

Something tells me the devs took a shortcut here, for whatever reason. It's not like there are a lack of American medal references out there to research...

[fullmetaledges]

There are files in the sh4 directory with the real medals, no idea why they didn't use them.

[LukeFF]

There are files in the sh4 directory with the real medals, no idea why they didn't use them.

Where at?

[Tigrone]

Well in SH3 it was easy to replace the file, but here they are not worn in game. If the real ones exist there ought to be a way to replace the file.

The ranks are wrong too for WW2, Senior Chief and Master Chief (E8 & E9) did not exist then, Chief was the highest grade.

[fullmetaledges]

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?p=460728#post460728

[JScones]

The ranks are wrong too for WW2, Senior Chief and Master Chief (E8 & E9) did not exist then, Chief was the highest grade.
Yes, they've used the same rank labels as they did in SH3, which was OK there because they were reflecting a translation of German ranks, but it's not OK here as they are meant to be actual US ranks.

So, what *should* the ranks be?

Apprentice Seaman
Seaman 2nd Class
Seaman 1st Class

Petty Officer 1st Class
Chief Petty Officer
Warrant Officer

*Ensign
*Lieutenant J.G.
*Lieutenant

*I assume one starts as a LtJG, so these may need to be:

Lieutenant J.G.
Lieutenant
Lieutenant Commander

Does this sound right for the time and SH4 framework (I can't correlate the labels to the actual in-game rank insignia as I can't view the dds files)?

[hyperion2206]

The ranks are wrong too for WW2, Senior Chief and Master Chief (E8 & E9) did not exist then, Chief was the highest grade. Yes, they've used the same rank labels as they did in SH3, which was OK there because they were reflecting a translation of German ranks, but it's not OK here as they are meant to be actual US ranks.

So, what *should* the ranks be?

Apprentice Seaman
Seaman 2nd Class
Seaman 1st Class

Petty Officer 1st Class
Chief Petty Officer
Warrant Officer

*Ensign
*Lieutenant J.G.
*Lieutenant

*I assume one starts as a LtJG, so these may need to be:

Lieutenant J.G.
Lieutenant
Lieutenant Commander

Does this sound right for the time and SH4 framework (I can't correlate the labels to the actual in-game rank insignia as I can't view the dds files)?

As far as I know there is only 1 rank the player can hold: Lieutenant Commander. I haven't played long enough but I don't think that you can be promoted nor demoted.

[Lukemb]

WW2 US Navy enlisted/warrant officer rank structure should be:

Apprentice Seaman
Seaman 2nd Class
Seaman 1st Class

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Petty Officer 2nd Class
Petty Officer 1st Class

Chief Petty Officer

Warrant Officer
Chief Warrant Officer

Chief Petty Officer (CPO) was the highest enlisted rank on a US sub. Usually there were 6 to 8 CPO's on a sub with the most senior holding the title of Chief Of the Boat (COB).

[JackChen]

I guess the game is not that historically accurate.

I went through a few of the developers list and most of them are actually Romanian. So I guess, they didn't do more research