hi , im new and i have a lot of questions ...

[sonny_c]

hi ppl, im new on this forum . recently i descovered SH4, didnt knew that ubisoft could make such a game and im trully addiected to it, never played a game like this , im a RTS player , to be more concrete i played Starcraft all my life ( apm , tactics and economics, macro micro and s**t) and im a lil' behind with al this complicated stuff that lurks arround SH4 and other games.

So to cut things up and go to the subject. I instaled Sh4 like 2 moths ago , didnt played to muth cos of my licenta at university, but now i have the time . I thoughed that SH4 was gest a game that i could play like any other game, but it isnt , and then like 2 weeks ago i got into this forum and all the things got even complicated. I am reading this forum for almos 2 weeks and u all talk in this forum with abreviations, mods, bearings and all stuff. I gest parallel. Hmmmm ....... complicated man....but i would like to learn more.

For the begining : i play SH4 stock v1.4 - sargo class, easy level with manual aiming, all obtions are off , meaning all realistic obtion like air, Co2 and batery are off. My sargo class has instaled a skin, wathered skin or smthing, after i read a topic on this forum and its looking very nice. I took a look on other topics but im afraid to instal or modefy the game cos im afraid that will not work after. Thats why i would like to know better with what im dealing with.

First of all : WHAT THE HECK IS A MOD ( TMO - trigger maru, RSRD - run silent rund deep, RO - red october) ????????

For exemple, what is this : "I just started 1.9. When I played 1.7 I had about 20 extra ships added, but many I add to manually add for them to work. I'll have to play awhile and see what ships were added, because I love as many different ships as possible.

TriggerMaru_Overhaul_19
TMO19_Patch_081209
RSRDC_TMO_V502
TMO19_interior3d_GATO_overhaul
TMO_Stock_Gramaphone
PE4 Lifeboat and Debris
Full Screen Scopes for TMO or FOTRS
Longer_Ship_Wake_V1_TMO1.7
PCOkinoshima
New Frieghter
TGT AOB TO PK FIX - TMO
TGT DIALS TO PK FIX - TMO
Sky_Environment_Opt3
sh4lighthousemod
Map Labels 1.3
SS185 USS Snapper Fooskin Salmon HI-RES BLACK
ROW Sound Effect v_9
EAX_sound_sim_
Map Colour Original with terrain"

- What is the advantage to install a mod and how do i do it, and what mod do u recomand me to start with, and what mod works on what version of SH4 ???

- Than in 1 mission , i was spotted by a distroyer( dd= ??, Ds (or smthing) = ??) and pressed crash divind, then after 20 meters of diving i setup my depth to 30 meters and i crushed....whyyyy ... note that distroyer didnt reached me yet ??

- why my radar doesent work , it is cos i opted for such lil settings from games option menu ??

- i dont know to use my subs sonar and microfones

- i saw how to manual aiming on this forum , but i thinki im doing something wrong , cos im better on manual manual sinking distroyers like setup the direction of the torpedos form the tab where u push the position keeper button, from 1000 meters, if u belive or not but i do this all the time , follow the merchant , and then i reconfigure the path of the torpedo to meet the patch of a ship.


- now i got a mission to patrol the luzon strait an sink merchants. Hell with it , i patroled all filipines and astralia and nothiiiiiing...no ship, i even sit duck and waited in luzon strait.....noting again , where the hell are thouse merchands... ?? :)))))))))))

Im a liltle pain in the *** for u all , but i have to live to , and i like this game so mutch that made me register to this awesome forum. Sry for all this questions. If u will post here , post like u would explain things to a moron.... im not familiar with all the abreviations u use in this forum ...and i would like to learn more...10x to all hunters in this forum.....gl

[Nisgeis]

Hi Sonny C, welcome aboard!

A 'MOD' is a MODification to the original game, so that the game is changed in a certain way. Each mod changes the game in a unique way, so you can customise the game you play the way you want. There are 'supermods' that are collections of other mods and also a large amount of original work, designed to change the game in a specifi way, for example RFB, which stands for 'Real Fleet Boat' strives for Realism. 'RSRD' is a campaign modification and alters all the scripted shipping traffic, so that it accurately represents world war two traffic and is well worth downloading.

Radar is bugged, so that even though it appears installed in the 3D view, it is not installed on your boat and you can't access it.

Sonar station is... F8? Anyway, you can click on the sonar through the menu buttons.

[AVGWarhawk]

You need JSGME...Jones Soft Generic Mod Enabler. :03: http://www.users.on.net/~jscones/software/products-jsgme.html

This will install mods for you automatically. Start with a clean vanilla install of SH4. Then follow the instructions for the mod enabler. Once installed then you can start installing/activating mods automatically. All mods here work with JSGME. It is a reall no brainer once you understand and use JSGME.

[ERPP8]

You need JSGME...Jones Soft Generic Mod Enabler. :03: http://www.users.on.net/~jscones/software/products-jsgme.html (http://www.users.on.net/%7Ejscones/software/products-jsgme.html)

This will install mods for you automatically. Start with a clean vanilla install of SH4. Then follow the instructions for the mod enabler. Once installed then you can start installing/activating mods automatically. All mods here work with JSGME. It is a reall no brainer once you understand and use JSGME.
JSGME is useful because it helps you prevent "MOD soup"

[Sailor Steve]

WELCOME ABOARD!:sunny:

[RodBorza]

For the begining : i play SH4 stock v1.4 - sargo class, easy level with manual aiming, all obtions are off , meaning all realistic obtion like air, Co2 and batery are off. My sargo class has instaled a skin, wathered skin or smthing, after i read a topic on this forum and its looking very nice. I took a look on other topics but im afraid to instal or modefy the game cos im afraid that will not work after. Thats why i would like to know better with what im dealing with.



First of all, welcome aboard to one the net's best communities. We sub skippers really watch for each other, you know?

So, let's go. If its your first time with a subsim, I recommend that you keep playing as you are until you build confidence, learn the basics, and get the joy of sinking some ships and evading destroyers. Once you get the hang of it, it's a lot of fun. But remember, this is not a game where things happen easily fast. You'll have to take your time, learn to be patience. Usually, if you have a real life (RL) that forces you to sleep early and wake up early the next day, a mission will take two or even three days to finish and a patrol will take from one to two weeks to finish. But it's ok, the more time you spend with the game, the more you'll learn from it and will enjoy it. "An hour of SH4 a day, will keep lame games away!!!"


- What is the advantage to install a mod and how do i do it, and what mod do u recomand me to start with, and what mod works on what version of SH4 ???


Mods are nice, there are lots of mods out there that fix many things and of course, as someone already said, there are the supermods. Supermods are nice when you have a certain level of experience and are bored of the stock. A lot of guys out there, myself included, would have deleted SH4 from the harddrives if the mods didn't came along. I never played RFB mod, but with TMO you get an entirely new game. It makes your life harder (smarter DD's (that's destroyers), more frequent and deadly air patrol) and also easier (fast access to attack map, more functionalities, more crew help).


- Than in 1 mission , i was spotted by a distroyer( dd= ??, Ds (or smthing) = ??) and pressed crash divind, then after 20 meters of diving i setup my depth to 30 meters and i crushed....whyyyy ... note that distroyer didnt reached me yet ??


Were you in shallow waters? Shallow waters are marked by white areas (100 ft) on your map. Light blue are a little deeper (300 ft) dark blue (>1000 ft) is where you want to be.


- why my radar doesent work , it is cos i opted for such lil settings from games option menu ??


*sigh* That's a problem with stock SH4 that not even the mods could fix. Depending on your ship, you don't have surface radars, only air radar. (and be glad for it!!!)



- i dont know to use my subs sonar and microfones

- i saw how to manual aiming on this forum , but i thinki im doing something wrong , cos im better on manual manual sinking distroyers like setup the direction of the torpedos form the tab where u push the position keeper button, from 1000 meters, if u belive or not but i do this all the time , follow the merchant , and then i reconfigure the path of the torpedo to meet the patch of a ship.


Look out for a sticky on this forum called Sub Skippers Bag of Tricks. Download the videos from a very nice gentleman called Rocky Robbins. He has a video about auto targeting and others on manual targeting. I recommend that you learn about Dick O'Kane's method of manual targeting. I believe it is the easiest way to make the transition from auto to manual targeting. It's a simple, straightforward and very lethal method of attack.



- now i got a mission to patrol the luzon strait an sink merchants. Hell with it , i patroled all filipines and astralia and nothiiiiiing...no ship, i even sit duck and waited in luzon strait.....noting again , where the hell are thouse merchands... ?? :)))))))))))



1)Look, where is your first assigned patrol area? Don't stray too much away from it. One good thing you should do is to pay attention where enemy action is taking place. If it's on the start of the war, the Japs are attacking the Philippiness. So all you have to do is to think that they need suplies from the Japanese main islands. Now, all you have to do is to draw a line from the Phillipines to the ports of Tokyo or other that you main find and sail along this route. The probability of finding one convoy will be greater.

2) Look out for radio contacts. On the stock game they appear on the map on the form of small ships stating it's speed and course. Get them, and plot an interception course to them.


3) Also, pay attention to your time compression. It's an old trick from SH fans. When you are at, let's say, 1024 or 2048, if the clock stutters or is not going as fast as usual, it's time to go back at 1X and jump to sonar station and make a sweep by yourself. It means that a ship is nearby and your sonarman is not able to detect. You will have to do it a lot, because auto sonarmans are not that good to pick up contacts than you are.

That's it. There is a lot you need to learn, read the sticky forums above and play it, learn it. Don't get frustrated if you get killed by DCs (depht charges). Lots of us who brag about our tonnage and escape tactics also have already seen the bottom of the ocean many times before! :arrgh!:

[sergei]

Very comprehensive set of answers.
I'll just add that Surface search radar does not become available until Summer of '42 (June or July I think).
Maybe sonny_c is running a career before that date, which is why the radar is unavailable.

EDIT: Welcome aboard, by the way!

[magic452]

Welcome aboard mate. :yeah:

I did notice one thing you're running SH4 v1.4. Stock

Most of the mods you listed are for SH4 v1.5 and will not work on v1.4.
v1.5 is the U boat addition and is available from UBI as a download.
There is also a DVD version called SH4 Gold edition. Can be had on Amazon.com or other like site for 10 to $15.00

As Rodborza said, stick with stock for a time, read all the guides,etc. and than move to mods later.

The supermods change many things about the game and each in a different way. All add environmental graphics.

TMO= Tiger Maru Overhauled. Many different versions. 1.5, 1.7 and 1.9.
RFB = Real Fleet Boats
FOTRS = Fall of the Rising Sun. A rework of TMO, adds many more ships.
These are the supermods.
RSRD Run Silent Run Deep. Works with the above three.

If there are other abbreviations, etc. you don't understand, just post and you'll get an answer pretty quick. There are just too many to list.

There is a steep learning curve to this sim but stick with it. Once you get it there is plenty of fun to be had.

Good luck and good hunting.

Magic

[sonny_c]

I play a career from august - september '41 i think....and my start port was a port island near by phillipines...cant recall his/her name....

- how do you chose ure torpedo sets : m10, m12 or m14 ??? and whitch ones are better ? note that im not playing with full realistic options....so dud are out of the questions regarding the version of a torpedo. From what i know after i watch a video from a very skilledful player , that m10 has a shorter range.

- if i want to play , lets say 3 mods . cronological speaking, i install TMO, after i finish it or if im bored with it , can i install next RSRD or any other mod ??? or i will need to uninstall every mod before i install another... ?? ( BTW what is OM with OMEGU = ??? )

- what is the submarine maximum depth that i could submerge ????



BTW : thank u all ppl for this very WARM RECEIVING, im glad that ppl on this forum are not sarcastic or smting.......

Good hunt to u alll

[THE_MASK]

Hi , you have to be in port to enable / disable mods in JSGME(mod enabler) or your game will get corrupted (and you shouldnt save while submerged or when you have a contact ) . My best advise would be to buy the expansion that brings you up to patch 1.5 . If you get bored with TMO then when you get back to port uninstall TMO with JSGME and install another mod and restart your career under a diffrent name . If you want to go back to TMO where you left off then uninstall other mods , reinstall TMO with JSGME and resume your career using your TMO save game .

[Q3ark]

Welcome aboard :sunny: Sonny c

Generic mod enabler is your friend http://www.users.on.net/~jscones/software/products-jsgme.html

[sonny_c]

10x guys , i understood the mod thing...

- i played today the game in luzon strait, i was in a patrol in the night .... and guess what i found...:)))) the ghost ship that i saw in a video on youtube... that was a very nice expierence....


- btw i found why i cant submerge deeper than 30-40 meters. My hull is damage to 79%. How can i repair it ????? I read a topic way back on the forum but no one could answere concrete to that question....

[magic452]

79% hull damage requires a trip back to your home base for repairs. ( the one with the tilted anchor) Your start port is most often your home port but it may have changed during your patrol. That is the only place you can repair hull damage.
With that kind of damage you should not submerge more than periscope depth (PD) and maybe not even that.

Found the Ghost Ship, Flying Dutchman, so soon, some old time players haven't seen it yet. :up:

Magic

[Andrew82]

Hi Sonny, welcome aboard! :salute:

There are lots of people who can answer all of your questions here.


Good hunting!

[Armistead]

79% hull damage requires a trip back to your home base for repairs. ( the one with the tilted anchor) Your start port is most often your home port but it may have changed during your patrol. That is the only place you can repair hull damage.
With that kind of damage you should not submerge more than periscope depth (PD) and maybe not even that.

Found the Ghost Ship, Flying Dutchman, so soon, some old time players haven't seen it yet. :up:

Magic

the ghost ship doesn't exist and I tire of people talking abou it.

[Jan Kyster]

Yeah! Have played this thing since release and never seen any ghostships either! :timeout:

Myths I say! http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z15/subject_rod/smilies/biggrin3.gif

[AVGWarhawk]

Ghost ship? :yep:

[FIREWALL]

Welcome sonny :salute:

[sonny_c]

well i found the ghost ship.... i have screenshots, if anyone interested i could upload an rar.

- my home port was taken by japs, for a long time i was refiting in java island, but that was taken to by the japs, now i im refitind in midway or in australia weast side , but i couldn't dock therefore i cant repair my hull. Is that the cause that i cant dock in any of these ports cos my home port was taken by japs...resulting this in no hull repair ??

- btw im terible at manual aming.....only like 40% of my fired torpedos has impact with ships :(, i cant calculate the AoB corectly. On youtube , there is an exemple , but that is the easyeast position to manual aim a ship, for more complex position i don't know really to calculate AOB , and i do that by looking on the map and suposing the AOB, i think that is why i have a low rate of torpedos impact. I had observed that for large tankers or merchands i have to damage them with 3 torpedos for them to sink, i was fireing only 2 and they still float. When o submerged with the free camera to see the damage, it was no hole there , like no torpedo damaged them but the ships were on fire. I have to note here, that my torpedos allways have impact in the stern of the ship or the engine area of the ship :(. It could be this a cause that a merchant will not sink if there was 2 torpedo impact in thouse areas... ??

- how do i calculate target speed : mark the tip of the stern on map with an x, i wait 30 sec and mark the stern of the ship with an x, measure the distance an i divide it with 30 s. V= D/30. Is this a good way to determin the targen speed.. /?? i saw on this thread : http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=153347 that they divide distance by 100, why .. ???

- how many torpedos is needed for a DD to be sinked ??

- what is a "draft" from the identification manual... ... ??? it could be the depth of the ship's hull .. ??

I could say that i have more patient now with a mission and the results are starting to show... :D....im glad...gl ppl 10x for answers....

[SteamWake]

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh312/UlteriorModem/Yarr3.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh312/UlteriorModem/Yarr5.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh312/UlteriorModem/Yarr8.jpg

:salute:

[RodBorza]

well i found the ghost ship.... i have screenshots, if anyone interested i could upload an rar.


Steamwake...wow! Nice screenshots. The thing is real!!! Wow...

Sonny_c, let's go:


- my home port was taken by japs, for a long time i was refiting in java island, but that was taken to by the japs, now i im refitind in midway or in australia weast side , but i couldn't dock therefore i cant repair my hull. Is that the cause that i cant dock in any of these ports cos my home port was taken by japs...resulting this in no hull repair ??


Look, you'll have to look for your new home port. All ports you can refit, but no, they won't repair your ship. The only place to do that is at your home port. Your home port is the only port tha has a slanted anchor. Look very carefully. All the others must be with vertical anchors and only one with a slanted anchor. Also, you may have received a message from headquarters stating which port is your new home now that your old home was overran.
Also, since you have 79% of hull damage, go to your home port and don't refit: dock! HQ will be very understanding of your situation. Usually, when I get about 30% of hull damage at a patrol, I go home. Better live and fight another day.


- btw im terible at manual aming.....only like 40% of my fired torpedos has impact with ships :(, i cant calculate the AoB corectly. On youtube , there is an exemple , but that is the easyeast position to manual aim a ship, for more complex position i don't know really to calculate AOB , and i do that by looking on the map and suposing the AOB, i think that is why i have a low rate of torpedos impact. I had observed that for large tankers or merchands i have to damage them with 3 torpedos for them to sink, i was fireing only 2 and they still float. When o submerged with the free camera to see the damage, it was no hole there , like no torpedo damaged them but the ships were on fire. I have to note here, that my torpedos allways have impact in the stern of the ship or the engine area of the ship :(. It could be this a cause that a merchant will not sink if there was 2 torpedo impact in thouse areas... ??


Ok, it's a common thing to make mistakes. Calculating AoB is kind of tricky. If you want to cheat a litle, you can extend one end of the protractor tool on the course of the enemy ship and the other end to your sub. Now you have your AoB. Of course, compensate a little bit (~5 dgrees) because you take some time to insert the data on the TDC and turn the PK on.
Another way is to use DickO'Kane's tactics. If you are using them, you are already at 90 degrees of your target, and you CHOOSE the AoB you want to fire the 'fishes'. Let me explain. You managed to come at 90 degrees of target's course and looking straight ahead is your periscope zero mark. Your target is coming at you from right to left, let's say, at bearing 50. You want to fire when she is on bearing 20. Now you have to set your AoB on the TDC at 70. Why? 90 -20 = 70. I mean, when you fire, the AoB of the target in respect to you will be 70 degrees. If you did everything right, the torps will hit at a near perfect 90 angle on the broad side of the target.
Of course, there are more complicated methods to master, called vector analisys (do a search). But it takes a lot to master. Not recomended to you at this time...

About the torpedoes required, well, the higher the tonnage, the more torps you will need. Also, torps hitting on the side are less damaging than torps hitting below the hull. That's why sometimes a tanker will take only two (below hull) and sometimes it will take three or even more, depending on the ship, place hit, etc...

And if you are hitting the machine room and ships stern, it means that you are miscalculating speed. Ok, it's normal. And it takes us to the next topic...


- how do i calculate target speed : mark the tip of the stern on map with an x, i wait 30 sec and mark the stern of the ship with an x, measure the distance an i divide it with 30 s. V= D/30. Is this a good way to determin the targen speed.. /?? i saw on this thread : http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=153347 that they divide distance by 100, why .. ???


Say WHAT??? Man, that's complicated.

Look out for the 3-minute rule.
It's say that you can get a ship's speed by measuring the distance it travels in this time period. Let's do an example: you mark a ship initial poistion, uses a clock (either in-game or a external clock) and counts 3 minutes. After the time is passed, you mark the ship final position. Using the ruler you measure the distance. It reads 1200 yards. The math says that 1200 yards is equal to 0,6 nautical miles.
Thus , we have:
1) 1 kts is 1 nm per hour;
2) 3 min x 20 = 60 min = 1 hour
3) 0,6 nm x 20 = 12 kts

Complicated, uh ? Not that much. But the bottom line and what you'll must always remember is that the distance measured in three minutes already gives you the target's speed. So, in our example: 1200 yards in 3 minutes = 12 kts. So, if you have 600 yards in 3 min = 6 kts! 800 yards = 8 kts! 2400 yards= 24 kts! So, it's easy..measure the distance and take out the last two zeros. If you watch closely, that's what Rockyn Robbins uses on the videos to determine speed.


- how many torpedos is needed for a DD to be sinked ??


Usually only one. But take care because the early war torpedoes (Mk 14) usually go deeper than what you set. And DDs have a very shallow draft. So, when attacking DDs, be sure to set your torps to the minimum possible. Yes, I know how it is to fire and fire at a DD and seeing your fishes going below it and not exploding...


- what is a "draft" from the identification manual... ... ??? it could be the depth of the ship's hull .. ??


Yes, you got that right. Use it to set your torpedoes depht. What you really want is to have a torp right below the ship's hull because it will tear it apart. More destruction with less torpedoes. Side shots do less damage. With all the other torpedoes, you can set their depht about 5 feet below draft. They will blow by magnetic influence and they'll work nicely. However, Mk 14 had this terrible problem of not keeping set depht, and for these you will have to actually set them more or less 5 feet ABOVE draft, because they will sink, and, luckily, you have some of them strike on the side of your target. Also, if you watch it, that's what Rockyn Robbins do when setting up the torpedoes.


For more on this, read the very comprehensive sticky post by Ducimus, called "A Brief Introduction to the Pacific Submarine Warfare" or something like that.


I could say that i have more patient now with a mission and the results are starting to show... :D....im glad...gl ppl 10x for answers....

You are welcome! Welcome aboard!!!

[magic452]

Doublepost sorry

[magic452]

@ armistead Sour grapes there my friend. :haha:

Magic

[sonny_c]

@ RedBorza

10x mate that is very good info written in ure post.

- i know what im doing wrong with speed calculation. I think my method is good, BUT, i have to make transformation from meters to nautical miles. Cos i wait 30 sec after i mark the stern , and after the second mark i have 150 meters after 30 sec. I have to transform 150 meters in nautical miles and divide it by 30 i think and i got my speed ....is that right ... ??? if not , tell me.
The reason i wait only 30 sec is that it takes me a lot time to introduce the data into the TDC. After i do that i go to the war map and verify my data looking to the white x on the map and what course i have for the data introduced into the TDC, if data is wrong i will tweak them in concordation to obtain a good aiming. This takes me a lot of time cos im at begining, note that im not playing with keyboard , only mouse :)) ( P- presicope deph , s - surface the boat , the are the only keys i play with :D )

- i think that the motiv to wait 3 min and dont know how many secs is the reason of transformation in SI measurments.

- i will look on the map to see where is my next port home , didnt knew that.

For another question :

- i was ataking a port in the marians islands. There with my manual manul skill :)))) i consumed all my torpedos to sink a distroier , it was kind of funny, cos him chased my tale , i was chasing his in a circle :)) , he managed to avoid my torpedos from like 1500 meters. I was like OMG OMG ******* etc etc. After i locked him good sank him with 3 torpedos. I had only 1 torpedo left in the back. Managed to position my self to aim a submarine in the port , again with my manual manual aiming :)). Hit it. The jap submarine gest bounced around like a rubber ball , after he consumed all the cinetical energy given by the torp , he gest float again from the bottom of the sea.. ???? what ??? He gest emarged again .... what da' ??? If i found other subs in port i will never shoot them now .... It was like i shooted a brick . Why he didnt sank .. ???

- one more question . This is regarding my PC hardwear and the game. i have this configuration :
*1,8 ghz athlon 64 processor
* Nvidia 6600GT 256 ram ddr2 - gpu - 500 mhz and 1000 - mhz to mems.
* 768 ddr memeory
- when im loading my save that has 25 mg , it takes me ages, like i have to wait 20 min to load my saved game. Is the cause my Pc configuration or is the stock games full of erros .. ??? this makes me to not reload the game if i miss or do something wrong. Its time consuming, stresfull :( .

- second question : when im playing a lot like 5 h , i want to emarge and click on the binoculars icon the control menu. after this my game crashes , the error saying something aboute my procesor( i will come with the screenshots as soon i learn how to upload pics on this forum , now im at work) . I know the games minimum reqierments are above why i have :(, or the stock is full of errors as i was reading on internet when game was lunched .. ???

thanks for feedback , wish u all goodhunting...

[RodBorza]

@ RedBorza

10x mate that is very good info written in ure post.

- i know what im doing wrong with speed calculation. I think my method is good, BUT, i have to make transformation from meters to nautical miles. Cos i wait 30 sec after i mark the stern , and after the second mark i have 150 meters after 30 sec. I have to transform 150 meters in nautical miles and divide it by 30 i think and i got my speed ....is that right ... ??? if not , tell me.
The reason i wait only 30 sec is that it takes me a lot time to introduce the data into the TDC. After i do that i go to the war map and verify my data looking to the white x on the map and what course i have for the data introduced into the TDC, if data is wrong i will tweak them in concordation to obtain a good aiming. This takes me a lot of time cos im at begining, note that im not playing with keyboard , only mouse :)) ( P- presicope deph , s - surface the boat , the are the only keys i play with :D )


First thing and just out fo curiosity: are you in the U.S.? I am at South Brazil and I play with authentic measurements on. Nothing against you playing with metrics on, but I just found it a little odd. Also, authentic measurements will give you the answer directly.
One thing that you could have in mind is:
1 kts = 1 nmi/h
1 nmi ~= 2 km
1kts ~= 2 km/h
1 feet = 0,3 m - It's easy to do a mental conversion. If you are at 100 ft, multiply by 3 and take out the last zero. So, if you are at 100 ft x3 = 300, then you'll have 30 meters. And so on and on...

Regarding your method of finding out speed, actually you are missing something important: to multiply it by 3600.

Follow me on this simple Rule of Three:
Let's say 150 m ~= 0,08 nmi

Then we have:

nmi - s
0,08 - 30
x - 3600

Did you follow it? You have 0,08 nmi in 30 s, so you'll have x in one hour (= 60 min = 3600 s). So 'x' (the distance) will be: x = (0,08x3600)/30. In this case ~=9,71 nmi in one hour. Since you know that 1kts = 1nmi/h, there you have it: 9,71 kts. Round it up to 10 kts. There you go.

But man, again... Why are you taking so much time to input data on the TDC? Is it because your computer is slow? Once you detect a contact, you may follow it by sonar lines on the nav map or visual contact (either surfaced or submerged) And the longer you wait, the best the speed estimation will be. That's why you have a 3 minute rule, a good compromise between time to get speed and time to input data.




For another question :

- i was ataking a port in the marians islands. There with my manual manul skill :)))) i consumed all my torpedos to sink a distroier , it was kind of funny, cos him chased my tale , i was chasing his in a circle :)) , he managed to avoid my torpedos from like 1500 meters. I was like OMG OMG ******* etc etc. After i locked him good sank him with 3 torpedos.


Hahahaha! It seems that you are having a good time!!! :up:
Wel, the reason I believe that the DD was able to avoid your torps is because they are smart. (stock AI is not THAT smart, but not dumb anyway). If either merchants or warships see your torpedoes they will change speed and course. Merchants are slower, but if they spot you they WILL change speed (usually speeding up) and they will zig-zag. In this way they will spoil your firing solution completely. Warships will change course and speed. DD's particularly are the "sports cars" of the naval warfare world: very fast and very maneuverable. Not only they can see the torps better than merchants (beter trained crew, etc) they can hear them being fired (they have passive sonar!). So, this is the very foundation of the submarine warfare: the silent service. Being so stealthy that nobody knows that you are there until the ships starting exploding. :arrgh!:



I had only 1 torpedo left in the back. Managed to position my self to aim a submarine in the port , again with my manual manual aiming :)). Hit it. The jap submarine gest bounced around like a rubber ball , after he consumed all the cinetical energy given by the torp , he gest float again from the bottom of the sea.. ???? what ??? He gest emarged again .... what da' ??? If i found other subs in port i will never shoot them now .... It was like i shooted a brick . Why he didnt sank .. ???


I got say you are a very lucky man, or a very audacious one. You have already found the ghost ship and now you find a jap sub in port? Wowwww!!!
Here we have two possibilities:
1) I have never fired at another submarine before, but the reason I believe why he didn't sunk was because the sub was in port. You see, when in the dock, you are at a very shallow depht. Do the test: put the external camera on a ship in dock and try to look under the hull. You can't, because the camera pass the ocean floor. The depht under keel must be something around 1 meter or shallower. So, you hit that sub, but he didn't sunk because of that. To be sure, look the Captain's Log (K) to confirm the kill.
2) You didn't hit the sub at all. The torpedo must have hit the other side of the tender. Yes, it will explode, but will because it had hit a submerged concrete wall or something. Harbor attacks can be trick because of that.



- one more question . This is regarding my PC hardwear and the game. i have this configuration :
*1,8 ghz athlon 64 processor
* Nvidia 6600GT 256 ram ddr2 - gpu - 500 mhz and 1000 - mhz to mems.
* 768 ddr memeory
- when im loading my save that has 25 mg , it takes me ages, like i have to wait 20 min to load my saved game. Is the cause my Pc configuration or is the stock games full of erros .. ??? this makes me to not reload the game if i miss or do something wrong. Its time consuming, stresfull :( .

- second question : when im playing a lot like 5 h , i want to emarge and click on the binoculars icon the control menu. after this my game crashes , the error saying something aboute my procesor( i will come with the screenshots as soon i learn how to upload pics on this forum , now im at work) . I know the games minimum reqierments are above why i have :(, or the stock is full of errors as i was reading on internet when game was lunched .. ???

thanks for feedback , wish u all goodhunting...


Man, you got upgrade. As I see it, your problem is in here:

* Nvidia 6600GT 256 ram ddr2 - gpu - 500 mhz and 1000 - mhz to mems.
* 768 ddr memeory

Too low to play the game. I have a 3.4 Ghz with 2.5 Gb of RAM, but I have to play at the lowest settings available because my video card is an ATI Radeon 1500 X (very old for today's standards). To play games, it is not much the processor, but the RAM and the video card.
Look at this link on the Nvidia site:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/graphics_cards_buy_now.html (http://www.nvidia.com/object/graphics_cards_buy_now.html)

it gives you an idea what to buy. For me, I 'd buy a 9600 GT, which is a good card by an affordable price. Don't buy anything 'GS', because they are downgraded versions of the 'GT's and are not worth it. But that's just me. I'm no specialist. I recommend asking it out on the Hardware forums, here at this nice community.

That's it.
Happy hunting!!!

[sonny_c]

- ure calculations are very correct, i missjuged it. Now i can determin the speed in my 30 sec measurments :))

- the thing with the submarine is that i full hited him, saw it with the camera. He was submerged at half of the periscope deph, and i could see his top of the proeminece from where the scope rises ( dodnt know how to name it, my english is kinda of bad), the waters were very transparent. Anyways he didnt sank , so i will try it again when i go home now.

- i use meters cos im from europe, Romania to be more specific , the home of ubisoft headquarters i think....I had a university coleg that was a programtor at ubisoft but didnt spoke of their games ... :p. I didnt knew that ubisof were capabile of lunching such games. I knew that they make phone games and such. I was pretty impressed. Untill i stopped to SH4 i was playing "Heros over the pacific" who follows the same stories of Sh4. It was very fun but in the smae time a lil boring. The game has a more tent of an arcade one. Heros over Europe i think follows the storyline of Sh3.

- the reason i meet subs , ghost sheep , and at the begining i met a convoy with carriers that had course to java island that i think was the reason why java was conquered by japs is that i play a lot, and im not playing with realistic options and i im sailing all the oceans :) so i dont hve to refuell or recharge or so....that is my guess.

- regarding of my PC config :)) , i come after 6 years of playng Starcraft, the only game i played for so long time , and didnt had the interest to update my comp. I think is the time to do it , after i heard the SH5 is around the corner or was lunched , dont know.

- what u recomand to me : to update my sh4 to v1.5 or to remain at v1.4 , maybe i will reduce the time that my saves are loaded and the numbers of the system erros i have .. ??

[RodBorza]

- ure calculations are very correct, i missjuged it. Now i can determin the speed in my 30 sec measurments :))


Good!!! :rock:


- the thing with the submarine is that i full hited him, saw it with the camera. He was submerged at half of the periscope deph, and i could see his top of the proeminece from where the scope rises ( dodnt know how to name it, my english is kinda of bad), the waters were very transparent. Anyways he didnt sank , so i will try it again when i go home now.


Beats me. really don't know.



- i use meters cos im from europe, Romania to be more specific , the home of ubisoft headquarters i think....I had a university coleg that was a programtor at ubisoft but didnt spoke of their games ... :p. I didnt knew that ubisof were capabile of lunching such games. I knew that they make phone games and such. I was pretty impressed. Untill i stopped to SH4 i was playing "Heros over the pacific" who follows the same stories of Sh4. It was very fun but in the smae time a lil boring. The game has a more tent of an arcade one. Heros over Europe i think follows the storyline of Sh3.

Romania? Home of Vlad Dracul??? :o
Would be this the reason why DRM is such a "draconian" concept???
hehehe... just kidding man...

If I were you I would take some friend and get to Ubisoft and do a picket, shouting: "No DRM! No DRM!"

(regarding that Vlad guy: I know we westerners have a missconception about it. So tell us to read the Wikipedia article and be done with it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_III_the_Impaler (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_III_the_Impaler) )


- the reason i meet subs , ghost sheep , and at the begining i met a convoy with carriers that had course to java island that i think was the reason why java was conquered by japs is that i play a lot, and im not playing with realistic options and i im sailing all the oceans :) so i dont hve to refuell or recharge or so....that is my guess.

Why don't you try real fuel, batteries and CO2 options? Do you think it would spoil all the fun?


- regarding of my PC config :)) , i come after 6 years of playng Starcraft, the only game i played for so long time , and didnt had the interest to update my comp. I think is the time to do it , after i heard the SH5 is around the corner or was lunched , dont know.


SH5 is a week to go. have you been reading the forums? Look out for some very nice videos by Neal.
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/forumdisplay.php?f=244 (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/forumdisplay.php?f=244)


- what u recomand to me : to update my sh4 to v1.5 or to remain at v1.4 , maybe i will reduce the time that my saves are loaded and the numbers of the system erros i have .. ??

Well, it depends on you. if you stay with SH4, upgrade it. It costs about $10.00 to buy the expansion at Steam. I bought it because of the patch, which does a lot of fixing. Never played the U-Boats. (However I found it wrong on the part of Ubi forcing you to buy an expansion to get a patch... :down:)

If you are interested on SH5, then save your money and buy the new game. Also, remember, that you have to upgrade a lot to run SH5. So, saving money (i.e. not buying v1.5) will help you right now.

I for one not buying SH5. Why? I love Fleet Boats and don't find U-Boats that apealing to me (ok, now comes the angry mob with torches and pickets sreaming: herectic! herectic!) .

Also, I usually buy a SH game two years after its release, because all of the patches and mods, and mods patches that will be released after the game is discussed, tweaked, changed, etc, etc. Also, there is that DRM question to be solved and I want to see how it turns out to be.

And, if all goes well, I'll wait for the expansion pack and/or the "SHVI: The Lord of Torps: To the East China Sea and back again..." :D
I just imagine being able to walk in a fleet boat just like you do in the U-Boat. Very nice!

[magic452]

Sonny you English is quit good, Better than my Romainian. :haha:

- the thing with the submarine is that i full hited him, saw it with the camera. He was submerged at half of the periscope deph, and i could see his top of the proeminece from where the scope rises ( dodnt know how to name it, my english is kinda of bad), The place for the periscopes is called the conning tower.
The IJN subs you see in a port are not sinkable.

the reason i meet subs , ghost sheep , and at the begining i met a convoy with carriers that had course to java island that i think was the reason why java was conquered by japs is that i play a lot, :haha::haha: We have all had that experience.

your calculations are very correct, i missjuged it. Now i can determin the speed in my 30 sec measurments :))you can get a good course and speed using the sonar lines on the Navigation Map. The black or blue bearing lines also give you the range at the end of the line. you can mark an X on the end and wait 3m 15s for metric and mark another X just measure the distance between Xs and that distance will equal the speed. 900 meters = 9 knots. Draw and line between the Xs and that will give you it's course.

I do this twice and just extend the line to where you want to set up for your attack and you than can get into a good position. Getting yourself into a good firing position is everything in this game.

Input the speed into the TDC (Target Bearing Computer) and send to PK (Position Keeper) You can do this before the target comes into visual range and will give you more time to set up your shot.


Once you get a visual sighting you can guess the AoB pretty close and adjust it with the white X on the attack map. Use the Steadymeter to get range and bearing. Send these to the PK and turn it on. Adjust as needed by watching the white X. Open the torpedo doors early.
Keep with it, it gets much easier the more you play with it.


what u recomand to me : to update my sh4 to v1.5 or to remain at v1.4 , maybe i will reduce the time that my saves are loaded and the numbers of the system erros i have .. ??Sh4 1.5 saves the game much better than 1.4 so up grading to 1.5 will help your save load time some. It also improves the game so if you plan to play for a long time it is well worth the extra cost.

Your computer is a little weak for SH4 and for sure SH5.
Might be time for a new machine.

I'm with RodBorza as I have no real desire to play SH5. I"m a fleetboats man. SH5 looks like a Sub Captain sim not a Submarine sim.

Good luck and good hunting.

Magic

[sergei]

Plus most large mods are made for 1.5, so if you plan on playing this game for any length of time it is worth getting the expansion.

[sonny_c]

sergei , tell me pls. ure TBT Night Attack Filters (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=1473) , works on SH4 v1.4 stock to ...???

[sergei]

Yeah, the stock version should work with 1.4 :up: