Silent Hunter Iii On Steam!!!

[XanderF]

If you ever wanted to pick up the game without having to use a CD in the drive, here ya go!

It's on Steam! (http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=app&AppId=15210&cc=US)

Note that for only $28, you can buy a pack that includes Sh3, Sh4, and the 'U-boat Missions' for Sh4.

I'm re-buying these on Steam, myself (if for no other reason than this is ultra-portable. Even if the disks are scratched and no longer readable some day, any game bought on Steam can always be downloaded and played on any PC you'll ever have.) I'll be sure to report on how the mods work - so far, I've never had a problem with mods in Steam games (they are almost always VERY mod friendly), so we'll see how it goes!

This is FANTASTIC news! Advertised on the front page of Steam, no less! :D :up:

[XanderF]

BTW - mods work. Just tried the GWX 2.1 mods, and a bunch of other user-created mods. No problems!

[Teh_Diplomat]

Fantastic news, and good to hear about the mod ability as well. Much appreciated.

[nirwana]

I got a downloadversion of sh3/4 and addon, but i still have to get a new key from the vendor for sh4/addon as soon as i redo the os or move it to my 2nd bootpartition. Im really p...ed :damn: now. 4 weeks too late.

[krylon666]

what patch version is the SH3 from steam? I just got the SH3/SH4 bundle - but didn't want to install SH3 until I knew if it had starforce or not. I'm enjoying SH4 but I'd like to give 3 a try too (and try out the atlantic campaign).

[nirwana]

afaik no game on steam has a starforce copy protection - it is not accepted by the steam user community at all - but goto the forum at steam there are posts dealing with this issue

[krylon666]

the only thing i saw on their forums was the same question as mine, and nobody answered him. if someone can verify that the steam version is running the latest patch version then we'd know it didn't have starforce. i'm pretty sure the 1.4 patch is SF free.

unfortunately, steam is not know to run the latest versions on their 3rd party games (like jagged alliance for instance) which causes problems with mods etc. SH4 is version 1.3 on steam and I'm pretty sure thats not the latest patch (correct me if I'm wrong though, I'm new to this game)

[Sailor Steve]

If it's brand new it should be 1.4b. The only problem is that if they used the original version of the patch, it says 1.3 when you install it. When you run the game does it say 1.4 on the Loading Screen?

[krylon666]

i haven't installed SH3 yet, so i don't know what version it is. but i do have Silent Hunter 4 installed, and it displays 1.3 on the main menu (pretty sure thats where i saw it). i haven't noticed any other patch number in SH4.

anyway, i'm just trying to find out what version SH3 is from steam - as they dont always have the latest versions, and i want to avoid the starforce crap.

[krylon666]

well i finally got my reply from a CSR at steam. the steam version of SH3 does NOT contain starforce and from what i read on the forums it is indeed the 1.4 version of the game. time to install when i get home! hopefully getting the hang of manual targetting in 3 won't be too difficult (i understand how to do it in 4).

[XanderF]

well i finally got my reply from a CSR at steam. the steam version of SH3 does NOT contain starforce and from what i read on the forums it is indeed the 1.4 version of the game. time to install when i get home! hopefully getting the hang of manual targetting in 3 won't be too difficult (i understand how to do it in 4).

If you select 'Properties' on the .exe, it tells you that it is version 1.4.0.1

So....yeah, we are good to go.

Note that, as noted elsewhere, you don't even NEED Steam running to play it. You can run it from the .exe directly - which, of course, allows for Sh3Commander (et al) usage.

[Morts]

this is...great !
im gonna order this when i get back to denmark and start playing SHIII again:D :rock:

[onelifecrisis]

Looks like it's only available on Steam in the US.

[JackhammerJohn]

well i finally got my reply from a CSR at steam. the steam version of SH3 does NOT contain starforce and from what i read on the forums it is indeed the 1.4 version of the game. time to install when i get home! hopefully getting the hang of manual targetting in 3 won't be too difficult (i understand how to do it in 4).

If you select 'Properties' on the .exe, it tells you that it is version 1.4.0.1

So....yeah, we are good to go.

Note that, as noted elsewhere, you don't even NEED Steam running to play it. You can run it from the .exe directly - which, of course, allows for Sh3Commander (et al) usage.

So just confirming . . . if I buy SH3 from Steam, I can still back it up on a DVD, but it doesn't need a dvd or Steam running? (I assume that it will need to STEAM at first to register it). This is good. Real good.

[XanderF]

well i finally got my reply from a CSR at steam. the steam version of SH3 does NOT contain starforce and from what i read on the forums it is indeed the 1.4 version of the game. time to install when i get home! hopefully getting the hang of manual targetting in 3 won't be too difficult (i understand how to do it in 4).

If you select 'Properties' on the .exe, it tells you that it is version 1.4.0.1

So....yeah, we are good to go.

Note that, as noted elsewhere, you don't even NEED Steam running to play it. You can run it from the .exe directly - which, of course, allows for Sh3Commander (et al) usage.

So just confirming . . . if I buy SH3 from Steam, I can still back it up on a DVD, but it doesn't need a dvd or Steam running? (I assume that it will need to STEAM at first to register it). This is good. Real good.

There is actually a facility within Steam itself to 'back up game data'.

And if you are an absolute performance FANATIC, it's worth pointing out that Steam *does* run when you hit the sh3.exe. However, for purpose of internet connections, it's only needed to be 'online' the first time you run it to validate it. After that, Steam has an option to 'run in offline mode'. Just set that choice. Next time to run sh3.exe, you'll get a quick popup that says "Steam is in offline mode, which means many features like friends and server browser will not work", and it asks if you if you want to go online now, or just keep running it in offline mode. Just hit the 'start in offline mode' button, and you are in Sh3, happy as a clam, no internet connection needed.

It's really a HELL of a lot less intrusive than Starforce. No CD needed, no crack needed, nothing - it just works.