User Manual

[TDK1044]

Please Ubisoft, don't underestimate the importance of producing a very good user manual for Silent Hunter5.

The book for Silent Hunter 4 was useless and a total joke. It seemed to have been created by people who had never actually seen the game.

Silent Hunter 5 feels like an exciting new venture into the ice cold waters of the Atlantic U Boat campaign, please give us a user manual that reflects the excellent work of your Devs, and not some useless book that's full of pretty pictures.

Thank you in anticipation....:)

[Reece]

Yes, I will always gladly pay more for a good printed manual,:up: I hate pdf manuals!!:nope:

[The General]

:nope:I'm gonna counter this by saying that PDF's are fine. If you want a printed manual, print your own. Enough with the cutting down trees already!

[Dread Knot]

:nope:I'm gonna counter this by saying that PDF's are fine. If you want a printed manual, print your own. Enough with the cutting down trees already!

A lot of people print out their PDF files or take them in to be professionally printed and bound. The ones that print them themselves usually use the typical 8.5 by 11 inch paper which is larger than most printed game manuals. So the trees die anyway.

[TDK1044]

If I'm paying $49.99 for a game, I want a nice, glossy, well thought out, informative user manual. Keep the pens and the cheesy gimmicks....just give me a decent user manual. :DL

[Ducimus]

If I'm paying $49.99 for a game, I want a nice, glossy, well thought out, informative user manual. Keep the pens and the cheesy gimmicks....just give me a decent user manual. :DL

Considering this is supposed to be a simulation, i'd say your god damn right. For a simulation, Id expect a manual on par with Aces of the Deep, or Silent Hunter 1. Anything less is a crock of excrement.

[Snestorm]

Why a printed manual?:
Because one may need to access information while playing the sim.
The print should also be large enough for easy reading!

You should have seen the manual for Avalon Hill's Advanced Squad Leader.
It was a full sized looseleaf binder.

[karamazovnew]

How about an old looking manual, like the official ones, with ugly typewriter fonts and schematics instead of color screenshots? They could make a bunch of them, at least for the Collector's edition:
Uboat Operation manual : which describes procedures and equipment, including "tips" of how to get along with the crew.
Tactics manual: which describes in detail the types of attack, convoy tactics and so on...
Ship Recognition Manual: with a hard plastic folder type cover and clear tabs so you can add your own custom pages.
SH5 Game manual: for Install, game options, Mission editor and the other pc stuff.

[ichso]

A lot of people print out their PDF files or take them in to be professionally printed and bound. The ones that print them themselves usually use the typical 8.5 by 11 inch paper which is larger than most printed game manuals. So the trees die anyway.
The idea is valid. Even if some enthusiasts print out a manual, this will use up much less paper than when each buyer gets a copy on his/her own.

Also, after so many titles of SH and similiar games, there is nothing left to be learned from manuals anyways...
The few new controls and such are figured out quickly - they are supposed to be rather intuitive. The most helpful (or at least interesting) manuals come either with GWX or are posted here as time goes :03:

[Reece]

Snestorm said:
The print should also be large enough for easy reading!Yes I agree with that, I don't like having to use the magnifying glass all the time!:O:

[Lord Justice]

man some you guys would flip out at the first piece of rust that appears on our u- boats, dont expect a free map with new shiny user guide then lol, As for less basic instruction yes :rock: because this might hinder the newcomers to the hunters series!! waste of man power and subs they more prone to KIA quickly and contibute less to our war effort, thus giving up and revertin back to thier all games consoles. Keep the small amount of knights crosses to be earned the hard way.:woot:

[SteamWake]

Haha ... trees... they grow back you know.

anyhow.

The developers know full and well that the manuals espically for SH4 were a running joke, coasters, level tables, and so on.

Fortunatly alot of pepole found subsim. But unforuntatly alot did not.

Those that did not were left with a weak and runny descripton of the game and even downright erronious information.

A very sad showing from a 'professional' house.

Lets hope they do better this time.

[Faamecanic]

Use recycled paper....no trees were harmed in the making of this manual :woot:

Sad to think that SH1...a 8 bit game that fit on, what, a 256kb floppy :) had a manual that was to die for. BUt yet if you look at SH4 it was printed on leftover paper from SH3 (the background picture on all the pages was of a Uboat...the same background image from the sH3 manual).

[karamazovnew]

At least you guys HAVE a manual. My SH3 and SH4 came in DVD boxes with the disk and lots of air....:shifty:. Oh God, please bring back Microprose...My 600 page Falcon 4 manual and 400 page M1 Tank Platoon one need company.

[GoldenRivet]

the trees comment brings my bumper sticker to mind...

"Erase your carbon footprint... Kill yourself you fu%$in' hippie."

:yeah::har:

[Torplexed]

the trees comment brings my bumper sticker to mind...

"Erase your carbon footprint... Kill yourself you fu%$in' hippie."

:yeah::har:

Awwww GR. Now you've made her mad. :D

http://pyxis.homestead.com/Molotov-Maggie.jpg I wonder what the carbon footprint of a Molotov cocktail is? ;)

[GoldenRivet]

LOL

tell her to put the Molotov down, shave her arm pits, turn that frown upside down... and the making of love will be considered. :haha:

[Torplexed]

LOL

tell her to put the Molotov down, shave her arm pits, turn that frown upside down... and the making of love will be considered. :haha:

Done....of course the miniskirt doesn't hurt either. :D

http://pyxis.homestead.com/MiniSkirt.jpg

[GoldenRivet]

Where are you published?

[Torplexed]

Where are you published?

Mostly in boring places like catalogues and brochures in the form of design and layout. The cartooning is just a hobby.

However I save trees by doing it on the web. :D

[GoldenRivet]

no boring place to be published i guess.

cartooning as a hobby :o... i really love your work man!

I used to dabble in cartooning in another life long ago and still consider myself to be a decent artist... but you really have got it.

is there a web site or gallery somewhere in which i might view more of your toons and other works?

[Torplexed]

Just the small gallery in my profile which needs updating. :oops:

[GoldenRivet]

fine stuff :yeah:

get to work on that SH5 manual for us Torplexed!

illustrated of course.

[Torplexed]

fine stuff :yeah:

get to work on that SH5 manual for us Torplexed!

illustrated of course.

Aye-aye Captain! :salute:

http://pyxis.homestead.com/SHV-ManualCover.jpg

[Hitman]

All right, make it in recycled paper and go on with the 300+ pages of detail, history and tactics :rock:

[JScones]

I'm sure we'll get the same rubbish that we got with SH3 and SH4 (you know, "oh sh!t, only one week before release, we better start the documentation").

Does anyone remember the Microprose manuals from the 1980's? Now they were manuals. :up:

[Rockin Robbins]

No staples! When I made kitty litter out of the SH4 manual the staples ruined my shredder. Sending Ubi the bill...:D

[PL_Andrev]

Perfect manual guide: - short historical description - description of management - tactical and strategic notes - advices for new players - equipment's parameters (to compare) - advantages and disadvantages of systems - "how it works" (how game calculated results) I purchase SH5 by internet with PDF guide but only price will be less than box version...

[Platapus]

I'm sure we'll get the same rubbish that we got with SH3 and SH4 (you know, "oh sh!t, only one week before release, we better start the documentation").

Does anyone remember the Microprose manuals from the 1980's? Now they were manuals. :up:

It does seem a shame that documentation frequently seems to be an afterthought when it comes to software development.

But as a counter point, I once worked with this guy who would never read any computer game manual until he played it for at least 6 months. Then, after reading the manual, in his own words - "It was like getting a brand new game!"

A very strange individual. But I wonder in the computer gaming world (not just sims) how many customers actually RTFM?

I would imagine that in the Simulation community, it would be pretty high, but in other games??

[TarJak]

Judging by the existence of this Forum, I would suggest that like most male humans, RTFM is the last thing anyone does until they hit a problem they can't solve by button mashing.:DL