Okay is SH1 still alive? Do you play? [Archive]

Mikhayl

01-29-10, 07:49 PM

I just tried it with DoxBox and DFend, works great, some graphic glitches at times when changing view but they "autofix" if I move the mouse.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=169&pictureid=1093

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=169&pictureid=1094

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=169&pictureid=1092

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=169&pictureid=1095

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=169&pictureid=1096

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=169&pictureid=1097
Ouch :dead:

I'm surprised how well the game works, I had all sorts of troubles with AOTD and doxbox (sound, performances etc). Great memories, and really sound game, despite the age I felt right at home with the interface.

Task Force

01-29-10, 07:51 PM

Love to, but my current pc wont play it.

FIREWALL

01-29-10, 08:07 PM

I bought it new and unopened off ebay.

I keep it for collectors purposes unopened as with a copy each of all the Silent Hunter series.

Those pics are great. I'm tempted. No No No. :damn:

Also have unopened original DC.

These are all box versions. Earlier stuff has Great Manuals.

Shows how Quality has changed.

Mikhayl

01-29-10, 08:23 PM

Some more pics, sad story really :D
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=169&pictureid=1098

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=169&pictureid=1099

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=169&pictureid=1100

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=169&pictureid=1109

:lost:

Check the album to see some more: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/album.php?albumid=169

Buddahaid

01-29-10, 09:52 PM

Still can't get sound after the intro at the menu, and I get the video glitches as well. Can someone post back the PC requirements? I can't find my box and the manual doesn't say.

Anyway, I still have it running on the Xp machine.

Mikhayl

01-30-10, 07:09 AM

You're playing it on an old computer?
The manual (for SHCE) says:

- 486DX/66 MHz IBM PC or compatible
- 8 MB of RAM
- MS-DOS 5.0 - 6.22
- An Uncompressed hard drive with 35 MB free for the small install
- A 1 MB SVGA graphics with a color SVGA Monitor
- A 2X speed CD-ROM drive (350 ms access and 300 KB transfer rate)
- A 100% Microsoft or Logitech compatible mouse
- Microsoft mouse driver version 9.0 or higher, or Logitech mouse driver 6.24 or higher

and this:
SOUND CARDS
The following sound cards are supported: UltraSound, Sound Blaster 16; Sound Blaster Pro III; Sound
Blaster Pro II; Sound Blaster Pro I; Sound Blaster Regular; Media Vision PAS-16.
If you are experiencing problems with your sound card, try running the diagnostic software that comes
with your card. Eighty percent of all sound card problems are due to mistaken configurations. If you
are running a sound card that is not listed above, or are running a sound card in an emulation mode,
your results may not be optimal. This game was tested only on the listed cards.

Buddahaid

01-30-10, 12:59 PM

I thought I'd try a lesser emulation setting and see. I get preety hit and miss results trying to install older titles. Some just don't work, some can't install, some install with problems (Silent Hunter), and some work great.

I noticed the color glitches are gone in windowed mode, but I can't force the window size to change, the setting gets ignored.

More fooling around indicated.

czarnaszabla

01-31-10, 11:00 AM

i got commander's edition - simply copied the bud folder from the cd, then just dragged the entire SHCE folder across LAN from my PC to my netbook, and using DosBox - works lie a charm (though it occasionally crashes, but only when starting the game/simulation, so no real problems here).

Interesting to note, that the SH3 manual i got with the box, is nowhere near the SH1 one. Nowadays, a manual will only give key list, and some general pointers - which menu button does what. SH3 compensates with good interactive tutorials though, but it says a lot about games now and then.

razark

01-31-10, 12:09 PM

Interesting to note, that the SH3 manual i got with the box, is nowhere near the SH1 one. Nowadays, a manual will only give key list, and some general pointers - which menu button does what. SH3 compensates with good interactive tutorials though, but it says a lot about games now and then.

One of the things I love about the manual is how much of it is not about the game. It gives you a bit of perspective on your place in the war as you play.

CTarana

02-06-10, 05:29 PM

I'm going the same route, using DFend and Dosbox and running SH1 that way. It's actually really fast and I haven't gotten any glitches yet with the video. I'm using WinXP Pro SP3 now and not running Silent Hunter was grating at me!

ChristopherT

Snow White Sorrow

02-16-10, 02:33 AM

SH was the first and still the most memorable Sub Sim for me. Back in its day, the graphics and sound were astoundingly good.

While 3D graphics technology have left 2D games like these in the dust, the immersion is hard to get.

And oh, manuals. Don't remind me. I even write my own for some sailing games I play.

aanker

04-10-10, 12:46 PM

OP reminded me. I play as often as I check down here for posts which isn't often enough.

In my opinion SHCE has never been equaled - however the pretty graphics of SH4 have even won me over. I do miss the historical accuracy of the different boat classes but that can be 'fixed'. Also, IMO the radars & TDC are much better in SHCE. Capital ships do not appear in-game after they were sunk in real life. For example in SHCE after Oct-44 you won't find a SHOKAKU CV and after Jun-42 there are no KAGA, AKAGI, or SORYU CV's.

SSI had "Bud" Gruner - a WW II submarine captain as a consultant when SH1 was created and it appears they tried to make SH1 close to the real thing. Once Hawk made his utilities, SH1 - SHCE was almost right on. Kim Rønhof furthered Hawks original work to put the frosting on the cake with his utilities but by then the 3d games had really taken over and there were very few of "us" left.

The SMK movies from the SHCE CD can still be viewed with a Smacker movie viewer so there are about 30 min of Buds reassuring voice explaining submarine operations in the Pacific Theatre that apply to SH4.

I try to mod my SH4 install to perform like SHCE (as if with Kim's & Hawks utilities installed too). I wish the Dev's had sunk a year into playing SHCE before making SH4 or had a team member that had - who had more input. Of course the folks at headquarters want a product so the Dev's did the best job they could and fortunately they made SH4 very easy to mod.

All in all SH1 - SHCE had and has a big impact on me and my style of playing even though I don't play often enough.

Happy Hunting!

Art

jtm55

04-11-10, 12:12 PM

Hi All

I couldn't agree with you more Aanker. For me, Silent Hunter Commanders Edition is the best Subsim ever. I have it installed on my new Windows 7 64 machine with DosBox & it works great.

I have the complete Silent Hunter series & the rest in my mind pale in comparrison.

Hitman

04-11-10, 03:50 PM

If only SHCE had been so moddable as SH4, and with a real 3D environment :damn: I could pass on the dated graphics (Which were excellent for their time BTW) but watching the ships "jump" when the AOB changed was not very inmersive.

In my mind, AOTD and SH1 are equally good games; AOTD was better in the true 3D environment and SH1 in the amazing manual TDC with position keeper.

I wish the Dev's had sunk a year into playing SHCE before making SH4 or had a team member that had - who had more input. Of course the folks at headquarters want a product so the Dev's did the best job they could and fortunately they made SH4 very easy to mod.

I think the main constraint the Devs had was time, and the need to make SH4 out from a german subs base. In all, SH4 ended up being little more than an "official" mod for the Pacific theatre to SH3, but nonwithstanding it is a reasobaly good sim because it can and has been modded into something much better. There are still rough edges, but many can be polished. It's just that we lack enough talented and dedicated modders :damn:

Gryffon300

12-10-10, 12:45 PM

dannygjk

12-28-10, 05:52 AM

Hi, I still play SH1. Right now I'm trying to get through the war realistically, (If I die, I'm DEAD, and have to start the war from scratch-this also means NO aborting!). Also, I always play with realism 115%, even when I play a mission. I recommend playing this way, it's more intense to play as if it's real. Plus it means you make sensible decisions.

Dan

ps. I have the SHCE CD and I wouldn't sell it for $500 :D

aanker

01-21-11, 12:54 PM

OK, so I'm not a Systems Analyst or other form of computer geek, but I surprised and delighted myself with the download and apparent good operation of SHI (v1.11) straight off the disk. So far, so good.
Next question, for those of you using with dosbox, is on the question of upgrades/patches (even no-cd crack, if such a thing exists, to save the disk from - God Forbid! - damage).

I'm concerned if I run a patch, like to v1.3 etc, the .exe file will no longer be recognised by d-fend. Experience?
I don't use DOSBox but am searching for a procedure for someone else regarding running SH1 from DOSBox and I stumbled on your message.

Sure, upgrade 1.1 to 1.3. DOSBox is running SH off the exe or a bat file (whatever you told it to run from). I'd copy your entire SILENT folder that works to a backup location, upgrade to 1.3 and if it doesn't work delete it and put your working install back.

To run without the CD copy the entire BUD folder from the CD to your HD and point to it rather than your CD. The game is looking for the movie that is the largest smk file in the BUD folder. For example copy the BUD folder to SILENT\BUD\. Then edit BUD in SHPATH.INI:
BUD =BUD\

Happy Hunting!

Art

As a side-note, the smk movies can be viewed with a program that plays smacker movies.

Edit - Oh yeah, my SHCE CD is worth more than $500.00 it is priceless!

TorpX

01-21-11, 03:22 PM

When I first came into my Windows 95, it was already old. I happened to find SHCE in the bargain bin at a Comp USA store. I didn't have any computer games and was eager to find one that would run on my system, so I bought it. It stayed in a drawer for some time before I got to messing around with it. Initially, I was most impressed by the interview movies. I played some of the missions, off and on, before learning it was possible to have a "career". I was using auto targeting, not realizing for a moment that any other method was possible. Then one day, when I was goofing around with the TDC, I turned the auto/manual switch, and SURPRISE! Who knew this thing actually worked? I had just assumed it was eye candy--just another part of a computer game. This is why I fell in love with the game. It is the difference between shooting ducks in a computerized shooting gallery and having to think, plan and calculate to hit your target. After that, I figured out how to manually calculate a firing solution without the TDC. This gave me a chance to use my high school geometry for a change.

When I got my Windows Vista machine, I tried to install SHCE, but couldn't get it to work, but I still have fond memories of playing. More importantly, the lessons and tactics I learned in SHCE (and reading some of the books about sub ops) help me to play SH4.

I agree with others about the SH4 devs not making use of the lessons to be learned. It's a pitty really, SH4 could have an exemplary sim that set new standards, instead of being, playable only when modded. Apparently, they didn't learn much from the experience either (SH5:down:).

I still have the cd, of course. I may still try to get it going again. The biggest improvment in SH4, IMO, is being able to sail over the entire Pacific. The small, box-like, patrol zones, and teleporting from base to the zone, was a weak point.

Gryffon300

01-21-11, 04:27 PM

Hey TorpX,
I have been a little distracted of late getting up to speed with SH3 + GWX3.0+SJGME+Commander+MFM3.2 +++ mods, plus, simultaneously FreeSpace Open +Mods (they are as crazy dedicated over there at Hardlight as this lot are here - incredible stuff!)

Anyway, I've played briefly with DosBox, Defend Reload & IsoBuster with SHI. Looks to me that I will be able to resurrect the game. If you got as much out of it as you report, I would recomment having a go with the above-mentioned programs. (There seems to be a pretty good Forum group over on DosBox that are willing to talk you through issues.)

Gryffon300

01-21-11, 04:31 PM

Thanks, Aanker. That's MOST helpful.

When I free up a couple meg of brain drive space, I'll have a wack at getting a clean run at it. I was last fiddling around with ISO images of the disc, trying to get DosBox to point to that instead of the disc in my DVD drive - your information should let me get it sorted - thanks.

Hylander_1314

02-01-11, 09:41 PM

So does the new 1.3 version of dosbox work woth Vista 64 bit? Last time I tried to fire up my old SH 1 game, it would just lock the computer up, and I would have to hit the reset button on the tower to exit out of it. So I figured something was goofy with dosbox or a compatability problem between dosbox and SH 1.

Man I loved SH 1 in the old days! Made it real easy to watch my kids when they napped in the afternoon. Spent many hours playin' that one. Have the original on CD, plus the upgrade on CD.

aanker

02-01-11, 10:04 PM

Check this out, Ed just wrote it: (install procedure w/64 bit - top link)
http://www.subsowespac.org/

Happy Hunting!

Art

bishop

02-02-11, 08:04 AM

So does the new 1.3 version of dosbox work woth Vista 64 bit?

With with latest version of Dosbox 0.74, I have SHCE running on a Vista 64bit laptop and Win7 64 Professional desktop with no problems at all. It was an easy migration from my aging XP machine, I just copied the existing Dosbox and SHCE folders over to the new rigs, and they worked like a charm.

Sailor Steve

02-02-11, 12:51 PM

Aw, man!!! I miss the 'Classics' forum for a few days and I miss an awesome thread.

I too am one of the ones who's hooked on graphics even while I deride the whole concept of graphics over gameplay. :oops: I agree with Hitman that AOD and SH1 are the best of the genre, yet I too spend most of my time playing SH3 and SH4.

That said, I'm not playing SH3 at the moment because I'm so caught up in the latest mods that I have to wait for a new computer before I'll play SH3 again. My current rig won't run it with all the mods I want to use, and I won't play without them. SH4 U-boats is better, but none of the mods I like have been done for it. SH4 Pacific is awesome, but I have this fixation with playing multiple campaigns, and 1942 is a long way off.

My copy of SHCE is buried in my storage at the moment, but I do have AOD on my computer and I put it on from time to time, but it just doesn't look the same anymore.

Do I have issues or what? :damn:

Gryffon300

02-03-11, 12:45 PM

Aanker - thanks for the link! Man, is that ever what I was looking for. "Install DosBox & SHI for Dummies".

I sort of figured it out on my own with a hint here and a clue there with ISO images and mapping to virtual drives hidden under a rock till later, got the thing working until I broke it all trying to get it to play without the disc in the drive. That was a couple of weeks ago, but been so busy getting SHIII up to snuff, its been low on the to-do list. Now, I can go at it again with much more confidence.

One thing that occurs to me from this thread, as well as the SHIII Mods Forum.

Lots of people struggle with CTD and installation issues. Now, a lot of it revolves around stupidity and failing to read instructions, but some are clearly system/hardware related (like SHII being unplayable on nVidia cards, due to text getting graphically murdered.) Scattered through all these threads are lots of hints and tips about 4Gig patches, 3 Gig switches, optimising page file settings etc, programs to minimise background apps, and switching off interrupting programs (like firewalls).

These things would appear to be important to know about regardless of which game one wishes to play, or which platform/OS/or hardware configuration you have, but the LOWER your computer's spec, I would say the MORE IMPORTANT these tweaks become. My guess is that the majority DON'T have a 64 Bit OS with 8Gig of RAM and anther 4 Gig on their graphics card.

So, would it be possible for someone with computer smarts to compile a SEQUENTIAL list of recommendations to optimise hardware performance ESPECIALLY relevant for those wishing to run additional Mods - hence requiring much more of the system?

I have seen something like this done for an individual, where a kind poster was trying to step someone through a series of 'do this, then that and get back to me for the next step if that doesn't work' - sort of an escalating list from the simple to the more intrusive to get the whole show working to it's max capacity.

That, I think, could be a really useful sticky on its own, or accompanying any supermod release etc. For example, in my own case, I don't know whether the 4Gig/3Gig 'fixes' would even be appropriate for my machine (with 2.95Gig of RAM), and I don't even know what setting virtual memory/page files from the 'current' default 'custom' level to Min=max="recommended" does, but I did it anyway.

Anyway, with help I think I have got my 32 Bit (whatever that means) XP Pro machine to maybe 90% optimised, and I run (mostly) SHIII+COMMANDER+SJGME+MFM3.2+1 (sometimes 2) Skins+ a bunch of little mods. Not bad, but still not as stable as I would like.

Maybe it could be better with a few more tweaks, and a coherent step through would certainly save a lot of frustration for a lot of noobs/computer non-geeks who want to spend their time battling battleships, not wrestling with CTD's & buggy installations. I sometimes feel like I am oh, so gingerly!, trying to push a wheelbarrow with a squirming three-year-old across a tightrope over a chasm. The support & assistance has been great, but I wonder if a step-through would have saved us all time? :hmmm:

aanker

02-03-11, 03:39 PM

..... (like SHII being unplayable on nVidia cards, ........
I'm not so sure, I'm running SHCE, SH2 Pacific Aces, and SH4 on a NVIDIA card now with no problems - and other than me just being lucky I don't know why I can.

In the past I've torn a lot of my hair out doing one on one installs through email using other, older install procedures.

Sure am happy that DOSBox has made it possible and easier to keep playing these old classics on modern computers. I think it's only going to get better!

Happy Hunting!

Art

BelegDraug

02-08-11, 01:18 PM

Sure I do! With my netbook...

TorpX

02-14-11, 06:32 PM

Lots of people struggle with CTD and installation issues. Now, a lot of it revolves around stupidity and failing to read instructions, but some are clearly system/hardware related (like SHII being unplayable on nVidia cards, due to text getting graphically murdered.) Scattered through all these threads are lots of hints and tips about 4Gig patches, 3 Gig switches, optimising page file settings etc, programs to minimise background apps, and switching off interrupting programs (like firewalls).

These things would appear to be important to know about regardless of which game one wishes to play, or which platform/OS/or hardware configuration you have, but the LOWER your computer's spec, I would say the MORE IMPORTANT these tweaks become. My guess is that the majority DON'T have a 64 Bit OS with 8Gig of RAM and anther 4 Gig on their graphics card.

So, would it be possible for someone with computer smarts to compile a SEQUENTIAL list of recommendations to optimise hardware performance ESPECIALLY relevant for those wishing to run additional Mods - hence requiring much more of the system?

:hmmm:
I think it's a good idea. There is a lot of technical info on the forum, but sorting through it is very time consuming. This would save people from having to re-invent the wheel. :up:

oche

03-08-11, 11:01 AM

What i really miss about SH1 is the TDC. Best of all series. If i would go back to SH1 this would be the No. 1 reason.

aanker

03-08-11, 12:25 PM

Yup - combine the SHCE game with the SH4 world & graphics, and somebody could make a good sub sim!

Happy Hunting!

Art

TorpX

03-08-11, 11:59 PM

What i really miss about SH1 is the TDC. Best of all series. If i would go back to SH1 this would be the No. 1 reason.
Yes, the TDC was good. I tried to start up a session with on my old computer, but the CD drive is not working.

The thing that bothered me about SHCE was the teleporting between areas and the way the patrol zones were goofed up. That, and the overabundence of shipping. I've read that the game was not "moddible". Does anyone know if that's true?

aanker

03-09-11, 12:09 PM

Yes, the TDC was good. I tried to start up a session with on my old computer, but the CD drive is not working.

The thing that bothered me about SHCE was the teleporting between areas and the way the patrol zones were goofed up. That, and the overabundence of shipping. I've read that the game was not "moddible". Does anyone know if that's true?

That is mostly true. I'm sure you are aware of Hawk's Utilities that made the boats more realistic, changed the tonnage on all Maru's, edit your rank, Patrol Zone selector, New boat and hull number...

Then Kim made his Torpedo Change Tool that did all of the above plus change the torpedo type and loadout.

We desperately wanted the Gilbert's and other areas and I got a taste of a reverse engineered PZ discombobulator and actually saw the Sun & Moon in the PZ for every day along with a lot of code and colored blocks of code representing things. Kim was looking into making a 16th PZ then SH4 came out.

I think he could have done it. The Lat & Long are off several degrees in SH1 so he made a Lat/Long offset in a plotter tool.

Aside from Hawk's Utilities and Kim's TCT SH1 is hard coded and not moddable.

I would ignore a percentage of contacts because of the over abundance of shipping. At least the shipping routes were reasonably accurate.

Happy Hunting!

Art

TorpX

03-09-11, 03:23 PM

That is mostly true. I'm sure you are aware of Hawk's Utilities that made the boats more realistic, changed the tonnage on all Maru's, edit your rank, Patrol Zone selector, New boat and hull number...

Yes, I used Hawk's Utilities, at least most of them.

We desperately wanted the Gilbert's and other areas and I got a taste of a reverse engineered PZ discombobulator and actually saw the Sun & Moon in the PZ for every day along with a lot of code and colored blocks of code representing things. Kim was looking into making a 16th PZ then SH4 came out.

I think he could have done it. The Lat & Long are off several degrees in SH1 so he made a Lat/Long offset in a plotter tool.

I didn't try any plotter tool.
What I was refering to is the Lat/Lon being far off in the PZ's. By that I mean a degree being only 25 or 30 nm instead of the correct 60 or whatever. I made a table with the in-game values so I could calculate interceptions when needed. For some reason every PZ was different (but all were wrong); I could never figure out why. IIRC, the island of Borneo was only about half it's real-life size in the game! I always wanted to change that. Stuff like that just bugs me. :x

Aside from Hawk's Utilities and Kim's TCT SH1 is hard coded and not moddable.

Too bad.

aanker

03-09-11, 04:37 PM

I didn't try any plotter tool.

What I was refering to is the Lat/Lon being far off in the PZ's. By that I mean a degree being only 25 or 30 nm instead of the correct 60 or whatever. I made a table with the in-game values so I could calculate interceptions when needed. For some reason every PZ was different (but all were wrong); I could never figure out why. IIRC, the island of Borneo was only about half it's real-life size in the game! I always wanted to change that. Stuff like that just bugs me. :x Poor Kim must have tore his hair out making the ENOPTC plotting tool because like you say, they are all off and none are the same-off. I know what you meant by they are off though.

From his Readme:
In SH 1 latitude minute is equal to 1 longitude minute and this varies in distance from map to map.

The navigational program actually has corrections factors for longitude as well as latitude – I never dreamt that anyone with any navigational knowledge would so bluntly disregard what any sailor knows – that there is a difference of longitude and latitude minutes in distance, one varies with position and the other is constant. I took me a long time to recognize this, I was full of disbelief.
The (complicated) tool used a large jpg of the PZ and you could navigate using it by calculating course, distance, speed and time. I think one could draw both red and blue lines on this map. Sightings on the in-game big map were only permitted if the weather was not overcast. Pretty hard not being able to zoom out to the big map.

It was a lot of fun back then.......

TorpX

03-12-11, 12:24 AM

In SH 1 latitude minute is equal to 1 longitude minute and this varies in distance from map to map.

The navigational program actually has corrections factors for longitude as well as latitude – I never dreamt that anyone with any navigational knowledge would so bluntly disregard what any sailor knows – that there is a difference of longitude and latitude minutes in distance, one varies with position and the other is constant. I took me a long time to recognize this, I was full of disbelief.

That was pretty much my reaction.

I kept checking my figures looking for a (reasonable?) expanation. :88)

Well I'm glad I wasn't the only one who was bothered by this.

oche

03-12-11, 01:48 PM

My biggest dissapointment with SHIV is that it does not have an independent view to the TDC like SH1 had where you could back to see the gauges of the TDC. I know that the Pacific Aces mod has the SH2 engine limitations with the TDC engine and did not have a "manual" Position keeper function for the TDC but still you can "track" ships in AUTO mode and go back to the independent TDC station to see the TDC gauges rolling so i guess for the mod purposes that passes for an automatic TDC with a PK, just like in subs with more than 4 bow tubes the tube 5 and 6 are allocated to tube No. 4 because of the SH2 engine limitations.

TorpX

03-12-11, 05:19 PM

I agree, the lack of a proper TDC in SH4 was a big slip up. I've never played SH2. It seems like SH 1,3, and 4 have their fans, but not so much SH2. I was thinking of trying either SH2 of Destroyer Command sometime.

aanker

03-12-11, 07:17 PM

I enjoy Pacific Aces which uses the SH2 game engine however because of the save game bug you need to do the patrol in one session. If you save mid-patrol the Escorts are no longer aggressive when you resume your patrol. Otherwise it is a nice mod. Keep in mind it is older so don't judge it by SH4 or 3 standards. I should be clear that the save game bug is a SH2 bug not a PA bug.

Once I finish re-installing SH4 and have it configured again SHCE is next - through DOSBox. Third on my list for this new computer will be PA!

Happy Hunting!

Art

oche

03-14-11, 12:34 PM

aanker

03-14-11, 01:07 PM

Yes, the SH2 save game bug is a real turn off. I know that fleet boats had also sonar heads under the keel but one good thing about Pacific Aces and SH2 that adds realism is that you can turn off your sonar heads while surfaced so you don't cheat (is it cheating?) listening incoming ships while going at flank speed.
IMO, anyone patrolling at flank speed isn't interested in realism. The US boats could pick up sonar contacts while patrolling surfaced at realistic speeds - or even stopped on the surface as one famous skipper would do.

"Is it cheating?" - I know in my heart if I am cheating - or intending to cheat. I try to patrol realistically - yes, I do RTB with a bag full of sunk ships that is a higher number than some boats sunk their entire life, but that is the game part of it.

All in all, PA is still a great sub sim.

Happy Hunting!

Art

Canonicus

04-15-11, 08:12 AM

Other than "eye candy" and fancier graphics all subsequent Silent Hunter versions are inferior to the original.

Seems they got it right...the first time!

TorpX

04-15-11, 09:42 PM

Yes. I find myself tempted to try to install SHCE on my Vista machine. I am not crazy about sorting through 30 mods to fix all the weak points of SH4. Considering how long ago it was released, SH1 was very good indeed.

Sailor Steve

04-16-11, 12:40 AM

Other than "eye candy" and fancier graphics all subsequent Silent Hunter versions are inferior to the original.

Seems they got it right...the first time!
Yes, but the first time wasn't Ubi. :yeah:

Major Johnson

04-16-11, 12:18 PM

Yes, but the first time wasn't Ubi. :yeah:

That's right!! It was SSI! And they did SH2 as well. As I recall, they had a bunch of good games. Steel Panthers was another game I played for years.

FIREWALL

04-16-11, 12:54 PM

Could someone please post some screen shots of SH1 ?

My copy imho is too valuable to break the seal and open it.

Thank you in advance. :salute:

Sailor Steve

04-16-11, 01:10 PM

And they did SH2 as well.
Not exactly. UBI was planning Destroyer Command and worked with SSI to make SH2 compatible. When SSI was too slow for them (I assume they wanted to make a good sim and that was too much for UBI) they bought them out, fired the whole team and made SH2 themselves. The result, SH2, was the worst of all of them, except for the multiplayer part, and even that had to be fixed by an expert who was paid by Subsim.com.

aanker

04-16-11, 01:29 PM

Right here should be an old review with screenshots Firewall:
http://www.subsim.com/silenthunt.html

I remember another one with photos of SH1 on a CRT monitor around here someplace too.

Edit - there is that link at the bottom of the above page:
http://www.subsim.com/ssr/sh_gallery/sh1_pics.html

I'm happy these are preserved here.

Happy Hunting!

Art

Major Johnson

04-16-11, 04:00 PM

TorpX

04-17-11, 10:28 PM

The result, SH2, was the worst of all of them, except for the multiplayer part, and even that had to be fixed by an expert who was paid by Subsim.com.
Subsim paid someone to fix a Ubi-game??? :o

Could we take up a collection to fix SH4?
Or would this cost 20 million dollers? :88)

aanker

04-26-11, 02:08 PM

Could we take up a collection to fix SH4?
Or would this cost 20 million dollers?

In this economy I wouldn't think it would take much.

S3D has allowed talented people to do some fantastic things and fix almost everything.

The biggest obstacle remaining is working with the EX .... err .... exe, and getting permission/access for that is probably next to impossible.

I doubt they would sell it.

Happy Hunting!

Art

dannygjk

05-28-11, 04:37 PM

Yes, I used Hawk's Utilities, at least most of them.

I didn't try any plotter tool.
What I was refering to is the Lat/Lon being far off in the PZ's. By that I mean a degree being only 25 or 30 nm instead of the correct 60 or whatever. I made a table with the in-game values so I could calculate interceptions when needed. For some reason every PZ was different (but all were wrong); I could never figure out why. IIRC, the island of Borneo was only about half it's real-life size in the game! I always wanted to change that. Stuff like that just bugs me. :x
Too bad.

Actually it is ONLY latitude degrees which are equal to 60 Nm. The size of a degree of longitude varies according the latitude at which it is located.

dannygjk

05-28-11, 05:16 PM

I would gladly mod silent hunter 1. All I need is the tools which are used to write/edit the assembly language/machine code. I have a legal copy of SHCE.

I learned assembly language programming back in the early 80's and my bro and I used to mod games all the time. I had bought an app to write and mod assembly/machine code and after 2-3 months of study we started to work on games.

It's a time in my life that I greatly miss altho I did spend too much time in front of a computer. Over the years we wrote some small games for our and our friends amusement. It takes a helluva lot of time tho to write software and sometimes a lot of time even to make small mods. I haven't done much coding for several years but always craved to get back into it. One problem tho is it's so addictive, lol.

The initial stage of studying the piece of software is very time-consuming-can take weeks just to get familiar with it.

Then of course there is the legal issue as to whether it is legal to distribute modded copies, (even for free).

TorpX

05-28-11, 07:00 PM

Actually it is ONLY latitude degrees which are equal to 60 Nm. The size of a degree of longitude varies according the latitude at which it is located.

Yes, I realize that. What I meant is that neither the longitude or latitude are correct. If you still play the game check out the island of Borneo, it's much smaller. All the zones are too small. I guess someone just made a mistake with the numbers.

The initial stage of studying the piece of software is very time-consuming-can take weeks just to get familiar with it.

Oh, I believe you. I tried to mod it years ago. After much effort, I had to throw in the towel. The only thing I was able to do was insert a girl's picture and a map into the Captain's cabin. Very minor eye-candy. I wanted to fix the patrol zones, change the periscope/ TBT marks, reduce the shipping and ultra traffic and a few things like that. As you said, someone with the proper tools and know-how could do this, but my computer skills fall far short. I suspect the people who wrote the code, could have done it in a couple hours, if they had but understood the value of it. :cry:

Then of course there is the legal issue as to whether it is legal to distribute modded copies, (even for free).

This is something I will never understand. I mean how software companies can sell something that is in need of, for lack of a better word, "maintainance", wash their hands of it, but prevent anyone else from fixing it. I have to think the legalities of this will change one day.

Onkel Neal

05-29-11, 12:28 AM

Not exactly. UBI was planning Destroyer Command and worked with SSI to make SH2 compatible. When SSI was too slow for them (I assume they wanted to make a good sim and that was too much for UBI) they bought them out, fired the whole team and made SH2 themselves. The result, SH2, was the worst of all of them, except for the multiplayer part, and even that had to be fixed by an expert who was paid by Subsim.com.

What? Not sure where you got that info, Steve.:timeout:

SSI was bought out several times during the SH2 dev cycle, Mindscape, Broderbund: The Learning Company, & Mattel Interactive had the helm, before selling the interest to Gores Technology. Ubisoft aquired many of the SSI titles from them. But SH2 and DC were developed and close to release before Ubi was in the picture. Destroyer Command was being developed by Ultimation (another company with a "U"name), and SH2 started out under Aeon, the SH1 dev team. Aeon were not hitting the benchmarks, so they were dismissed and Troy Heere and Ultimation rewrote much of SH2 with their Janus engine. By the time Ubi came into the picture, they did some testing, that's about it. (Page 170 of the 2008 SUBSIM Almanac (http://www.amazon.com/2008-Submarine-Almanac-Editor-Stevens/dp/061518426X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1306646802&sr=1-2) ;))

After SH2 and DC came out, you are right, it was determined the original MP software (rTime) was pretty crappy, or badly integrated, so I was able to talk Ultimation and Ubi into turning the source code over to me, and lined up a programmer to convert it to some Microsoft MP code.

Neal