New to SH4, few Q's for the salty dogs

[SemperFi]

I just stumbled upon SH4 about a week ago and been watching videos on YouTube that people have made. Needless to say I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I don't keep on games too much since I don't come across too many that really catch my attention. I'm going to install this puppy on my PC this weekend after I put a new hard drive in along with OCZ 2X1gb Ram stack. Seeing some of these graphics made me worried that I didn't have enough PC to run it. Anyways, cutting to the chase. I'm going to list what I plan on doing, I just need the green light from the pros to make sure I don't screw the pooch.
1. Install SH4
2. Reboot PC
3. Run the game once?
4. Download Patch 1.3 from Ubisoft...or whomever
5. Reboot/Run game once?
6. Download/install JSGME
7. Download ROW files
7a. ROW Main game load screen (It appears it's optional, but hey why not)
7b. ROW Camera 2b (I'll try it without sway I guess, might have to try sway sometime)
7c. ROW: All 3 reflections; sub, object, and ship+caustics
7d. ROW: I have some uncertainty here in reference to Sea Foam.
I want to make a guess and say ROW New Sea Foam might be best?
I have a 256Mb 7600 GeForce card, so I might not be able to swing the Hi-Res
7e. ROW Camera w/o flair....what you guys think?
7f. ROW Special Effects with Stock Zone (I'll take one step at a time, I won't be going with the NSM yet, and I have a question on the Triger Maru Mod) So perhaps w/Trig Maru mod depends on latter response.
7g. ROW Sky and Ocean Reflection
7h. ROW Very slow clouds? Poll seems to favor them. What's up with the new 3D clouds?
7i. ROW Sound Effects, both files.
8. Reboot PC/ Start up SH4

Trig Maru MOD, I read through a few post and it appears to be an AI mod mostly? Is this correct? I'm guessing I should hold off for a bit before I attempt this MOD, it might be out of my league.

I'm pretty much behind the power curve when it comes to gaming, so if I wrote anything that doesn't make sense let me know. Anyways I'll close by saying thanks to all those who contribute to this forum and game. I've been reading these forums a fair amount since my discovery of SH4. I've seen many photos, videos, and read many features of the game. If it's half as good as it sounds and looks, I'm in for a real show.

Happy Thanksgiving,
SemperFi

P.S. My last submarine sim/game was Nintendo Silent Hunter...:rotfl:I think I burned that game out since I played so much when I was kid.

[CCIP]

Trigger Maru is a lot more than an AI mod. It's better-described as an unofficial patch/fix since it substantially improves a number of aspects of the game, especially if you lean towards a mix of realism and challenge (as opposed to realism and...more realism, or challenge and less realism). Does a number of good graphical improvements.

I would suggest getting TMaru and the accompanying graphical add-ons to it before installing RoW on top of it. RoW doesn't conflict with TMaru changes (as far as I recall from my own install), so you can install it safely on top of it - but NOT the other way.

[SemperFi]

Outstanding, good to know. I'll arrange my ROW downloads then for Trigger Maru MOD. So I'll throw in the TMaru MOD, then the appropriate ROW Mods.

Thanks for everything

[CCIP]

Actually I may be wrong. Ducimius says in the TMaru instructions that you should install it in this order...

ROW Objects Reflections vs1
ROW Ship Reflections vs1
ROW SUB Reflections vs_2
ROW Textures VS_2
ROW Classic Sea Foam
REL_Trigger_Maru_GFX_PAK_2_2
REL_Trigger_Maru_1-6-5
:hmm:

(don't trust me too much, I'm an old hand but I've not been able to play SHIV for a while and just got back myself :doh:)

[SemperFi]

Ah, I'm tracking. I just read that after you told me about TrigMaru mod. We shall see Friday, hopefully all loads up well as I'm not to savvy with modding files or anything. Hence the reason I made such a methodical post on installation.

Thanks again

[-Pv-]

I suggest getting to know the game a little before jumping straight into the mods. This will give you a feel for what the mods have changed, what is a real game bug and what is a mod bug. You also get a feel for what the devs intended the game to be as opposed to what some people thought it should be.

I'm more inclined to pick and chose what features of the game I would like changed rather than a comprehensive mod that changes a few things I like and a few things I don't like. Playng stock patched will also let you know if performance issues are stock game or mods. Play the game enough so you find settings that work for your system and balance enjoyment, then add mods and see if performance drops.

Also keep in mind there are one or more official patches ahead of us and the modders go back to school each time a patch comes out.
-Pv-

[ReallyDedPoet]

Welcome to SUBSIM :up: SemperFi


RDP

[Rockin Robbins]

Welcome to SUBSIM!

I'd recommed that you commit to nothing until you have tried all manner of mods in all manner of configurations. Although Ducimus says TM last, I have it first, then ROW and I like it better that way. Since Ducimus recommends the other way around, that means you can go either way and have a playable game with a slightly different balance of features. Become familiar with those and make your own individual choice.

RSRD is now compatible with TM. However, if you load it last you get the infamous International Dateline bug back. You can't run it the other way around without conflicts between the campaign modes if I understand the present circumstances correctly. So you have choices there too.

Play with no mods for awhile to get a feel for what the mods change. How can you know if you like the change if you don't know what it is?

JSGME makes it easy to do all of this, and you can do multiple installations if you want to get fancy and have the disk space.

And read everything you can on SUBSIM, especially the rants that call Ubi all kinds of colorful names and say they're leaving forever. Notice how if the poster sticks around it is mysteriously discovered that the problems are a hardware or software conflict. If you have problems, don't imitate these now embarrassed people. Ask for help and most likely we can get you up and running, having a great time. Patience, grasshopper!:hmm:

[-Pv-]

Since the dateline bug is about to be removed, best wait for that, then wait for the change to be made in TM that doesn't let you sail out of Pearl Harbor.
-Pv-