I'm not playing this game.

[Gabucino]

I know how to recognize a great and immersive game at first sight. Examples: Thief, Fallout 3, Mass Effect.

Silent Hunter 5 is not a great game. It's a very bad one. I've just finished the training mission, and I'm not continuing.

Speed: I can play Crysis and Fallout 3 on maximum detail with a very decent framerate. These games operate with a very large world. You'd think I would cope with a barren submarine interior. NO. Silent Hunter 5 stutters inexplicably.

Movement: Jerky beyond all expectations. Actual movement is delayed to the mouse movement by a significant amount.

GUI: OH MY GOD. What the fsck is this?!

Hotkeys: there are none that I'd need, but there are keys for "1 degree left/right". What the hell?! Some function keys call men to their stations: they just teleport there! This is 2010, how about modeling some ladder climbing movement?!

Patch 1.1: it doesn't find the installed SH5, probably because I've installed into my user directory (where it actually has to be, not in the root directory...).

Despite seeing the possibilities of the game, I'm totally unimmersed.

Until there is an SH3 GUI+hotkey mod, I can't play with this... whatever this is.

UPDATE: now that there's a 3 dials mod and adding SH3 hotkeys turned out to be relatively easy, SH5 becomes almost playable. AI and damage models are still nasty.

[SteamWake]

Hotkey mod is already out although it has some minor issues.

[wetwarev7]

Not a very informative review. I can tell you don't like it, but why? Please explain things like what's wrong with the GUI, please.

[SteamWake]

Not a very informative review. I can tell you don't like it, but why? Please explain things like what's wrong with the GUI, please.

Have you played the game ? :haha:

Lots of little issues like cant change speed setting with the map open, no compass, etc etc

[Gabucino]

Not a very informative review. I can tell you don't like it, but why? Please explain things like what's wrong with the GUI, please.

I'm sorry, my bad for not saying: this is not a review. This is a "first impressions post". And a quick expression of how bad SH5 is :(

I can't really elaborate on the GUI, because it's hardly a GUI at all, just a stack of iPhone icons thrown at the screen. Nothing WW2-like.

[Sailor Steve]

I can't really elaborate on the GUI, because it's hardly a GUI at all, just a stack of iPhone icons thrown at the screen. Nothing WW2-like.
At first reading that sounds like whining, but I reread it and read it a third time, and it's starting to make more and more sense. Bottom line: The interface should automatically put you in mind of what you're supposed to be playing. Microsoft's flight sim as an option of bringing up a modern interface for any aircraft to help you understand what you're doing in today's terms. The problem is it just never quite feels right.

In their case it's an option. In this case I hope it's easily modable.

[Gabucino]

At first reading that sounds like whining, but I reread it and read it a third time, and it's starting to make more and more sense.

Actually I think I was whining :) I'm too demoralized to write a proper review, but I'll probably do tomorrow.

[Sailor Steve]

But I still agree with your last line. The first thing the interface of a WW2 sim should do is put us in mind of the period.

[wetgoat]

Been playing the SH series ever since SH1. Have to say, when I first saw the interface, I had no clue what I was looking at. ( Fast foward 3 or 4 hours,) I'm more confused now than I was to start with, and that should be impossible! On a brighter note, my wife says my profanity laced ravings have slowed down. That's because I wore myself out and am now reduced to talking to myself, instead of screaming at the monitor. :88)

[Undefined]

I knew this game would suck day 1

[Decoman]

@Gabucino
Mass effect a great game? I would argue that it is the Fisher Price variant of RPGs ;)

I thought F.E.A.R 2 was great!

[AVGWarhawk]

Can I have your copy then? :hmmm: I will mail it off to Sailor Steve. :03:

[Gabucino]

I thought F.E.A.R 2 was great!

F.E.A.R. 2 was also very immersive indeed (frighteningly so)!

[Iron Budokan]

"I'm not playing this game."

Trust me, you're not alone.

[Gunnodayak]

"I'm not playing this game."

Trust me, you're not alone.
I can't play this game as well, I really want, but it gives me no feeling doing that. I've finished the first mission (training one) and that was enough.

[Vikinger]

I loved to play the SH series but whit SH5 there is so many new things that i have a hard time to adopt my normaly playstyle i had through the serie to this one.

1. The targeting system is a very odd one ( Guess its time to learn how to do it manually if someone have time to put up a small breifing how to do it for sh5) Give us the old tdc back and targeting system.

2. The interface/gui is not ww2 alike. I miss the gauges, the compass etc.

3. giving orders to crew members. well try to give orders to the gunners,, Where are the orders to the gunners??? I have to climb down my self as captain and fire up that big bertha. Same as whit the AA gun.
And why do i have to climb down the ladders to the bottom and run through the sub just to give some simple orders to someone to do thier speciality skill?

4. Navigation, why cant i set the turn rate i want. I used to do that when i was evading a warship. Now its either, 1 degree to port or full to port.

5 Sonar man never reports any contact. When i sit down at the station i cant interact whit it. spin the wheel, ping etc even if the station is highlighted that iam supposed to do it.

6. WO have his "talk_to_me_captain" mark allways over his head. and its either, man the deckgun. man the flakgun, How is your wife!!!! C´mon. After 30 days at sea he does not even know if he still have a wife waiting for him.
And the watch officers never use an binocular anymore, Il guess they have eaten a lot of carrots so they have hawkeyes.

7. The chef. Doing same soup now for 30 days.

8 Battle stations, The crew just stay in the beds. No sound or nothing that indicate that we are in battle station. No tense raising.

9. Gunner at the aft torpedo room stays there even if my WO shout Man the deckgun, (after he have explained how his wife are doing)

10. Best place to be is in the captain bed :)

11. where is the radio and the gramophone? how to activate it?


well the game have potential but i think its up to us, the community/modders to make the game we want. The developers have left out so many things.
And since i love to play SH i will continue to do so whit this unpolished gem also. Iam sure it will get better later on.

The graphics are greate in the game. I have a 5970 card (darn expensive one) and i can run the game at full settings and have no problems whit lagg etc.
But the sound is a bit odd. specially the explosions from a ship. Its to low volume for explosions of that magnitude.

[Gabucino]

All valid points.

After installing SH4 UI, at least I have the compass, depth, and speed meteres (btw I hate SH4 GUI too). Other major gamebreaking points:

0. Game installer has to be explicitly run as administrator, because the patch can't run as user at all. This is why I couldn't install the patch before.

1. No neutral buoyancy anymore (as Doenitz ordered in airplane infested waters) . Any depth deeper than 5m is considered as submerged, electronic engines, and locked hatch. I can lock myself out too.

2. Had to install "no surface hydrophone mod", to stop hydrophones working. What the hell? Developers suck big time.

3. "Tiefe unter keel" doesn't work. Inconceivable.

4. Crew animation is a disaster. In SH3/GWX I could see the tenseness on their faces, they had believable movements. Here, they do squat. But hey I can talk to them about wives and sons, and whatnot. Where are the daily routines? Can't I have a dinner with my officers? Crew = huge immersion killer. I want to kill them all.

5. Ship AI is still SH3-style, crashing into the walls of Kiel Channel until they die. Do they still see through landmasses? I bet they do.

6. Crash dive in shallow waters doesn't damage the sub.

7. Sometimes on the nav map there's an enemy merchant in Kiel Channel (how did the watch see it through the landmass???), but it disappears when I get there.

Oh, and I found these while I'm not even out of Kiel. What horrendous abominations will I discover later?..

[Decoman]

I would say for myself, that the awkward problem I have with games in general, is that it is awful 'not knowing' how things will work out.

On that note, I want to add that I will probably never try out Star Trek Online, because I cannot see it becoming something I want to play. Having spent over three years with Eve Online, that made it difficult to appreciate other MMO games. And then I got fed up with the devs at ccp so I trashed my chars and left it all not looking back

[JamesT73J]

Sometimes, the sheer negativity on this forum just baffles me. It didn't used to be like this. Were any of you people around for SH2 at the beginning? SH3? They all had rough starts, and they all matured.

"Developers suck big time." This is just appalling.

SHV will be alright. Just like the others.

[karamazovnew]

Sometimes, the sheer negativity on this forum just baffles me. It didn't used to be like this. Were any of you people around for SH2 at the beginning? SH3? They all had rough starts, and they all matured.

"Developers suck big time." This is just appalling.

SHV will be alright. Just like the others.

Completely agree. People just take mods for granted. The golden rule about mods is that you'll never be playing a 100% COMPLETE game. In a way I hate mods because I can't just install the game and play as the devs wanted me to play it. Adding mods feels like "work" rather than "fun".

Then there's people who put in mods just because they're out there. "Hey guys, I've just bought SH3, what mods should I use?". Then there are others that say "I love OLC's interface but can I have the Notepad back?". And then of course there are those that never read the readme files and ask things like "I love OM! Greatest thing ever. I've just sunk the Yamato with my Gato class... yeeeey. But I have a small problem. All the voices are in german. How can I change them back?". :damn:

Modders don't FIX the game, that's the dev's problem. Modders just customize the game to fit their game style. And as it happens, they also post them here for others that want to play in the same way.

We've had it easy with Supermods. Well now you have to watch them grow. Now you have to play vanilla for a while and see how it is. If you'll say "The game sucks, I'll delete it for now and wait for mods to come out" let me ask you one question: "What if everybody else says the same thing?". Modders are not here to help Ubi's sales. They just want to play the game they bought.

[Arclight]

I can't play this game as well, I really want, but it gives me no feeling doing that. I've finished the first mission (training one) and that was enough.
:rotfl2:

So you dropped the game before even playing it?

Tut is not a representation of the game. :nope:

[Nordmann]

If you can get past the DRM issue, and some of the inherent game bugs, I'm sure SH5 is a nice addition to the series. I think the main problem, is the big departure from what has gone before. Once people adjust to the differences, I'm sure they will enjoy the game for what it has to offer, rather than what it does not.

I'm still undecided, I want to buy the game, but at the same time this OSP really does seem like a proverbial thorn in the side. That said, it might not be as much of an issue as it first seems, and may well even be removed a few months down the line (we can but hope). I just don't want to risk being landed with a lemon; losing my net, being unable to play because of said loss or because Ubi's servers have died in some way (damn hamsters, on strike as usual).

[Gabucino]

After completing the first real patrol:

Advantages over SH3/GWX:


very nice danger level display around warships (realtime contact update enabled...)
automatic ship/convoy route forecast (while plotting waypoints)
graphics
U-boot interior (minus the crew zombies, who are terrible)
reveal hidden ships ability (sound guy). Before SH5, the hydrophone was underpowered (couldn't detect convoys at 100nm).
>256x time compression apparently doesn't disable aircrafts anymore (in exchange, aircrafts don't ever attack you...)


Disadvantages over SH3/GWX:


everything else. AI, ship fires, ship damage model, sub damage model, simplified controls, interface, commands. Either non-existing, only SH3-era or even worse.

[Frederf]

But I still agree with your last line. The first thing the interface of a WW2 sim should do is put us in mind of the period.

Because you know, conversations in the 1940s actually had machined steel borders with rivets in them. Does the video game concept of telling words to another person really have to have a parchment paper border simply because those words were uttered some years ago?

I mean the stuff should look like stuff, like if you click on the captain's log in the bunk and it goes to "2D mode" to show you the book. The book should look like the book from 1940.

[gimpy117]

I know how to recognize a great and immersive game at first sight. Examples: Thief, Fallout 3, Mass Effect.

Silent Hunter 5 is not a great game. It's a very bad one. I've just finished the training mission, and I'm not continuing.

Speed: I can play Crysis and Fallout 3 on maximum detail with a very decent framerate. These games operate with a very large world. You'd think I would cope with a barren submarine interior. NO. Silent Hunter 5 stutters inexplicably.

Movement: Jerky beyond all expectations. Actual movement is delayed to the mouse movement by a significant amount.

GUI: OH MY GOD. What the fsck is this?!

Hotkeys: there are none that I'd need, but there are keys for "1 degree left/right". What the hell?! Some function keys call men to their stations: they just teleport there! This is 2010, how about modeling some ladder climbing movement?!

Patch 1.1: it doesn't find the installed SH5, probably because I've installed into my user directory (where it actually has to be, not in the root directory...).

Despite seeing the possibilities of the game, I'm totally unimmersed.

Until there is an SH3 GUI+hotkey mod, I can't play with this... whatever this is.
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm198/dylanjohnstone78/forumtroll.jpg

[U-95]

Greetings everyone -my message of arrival is in the spanish forum-. I've to say that I was anxiously waiting SH5 since i knew of it in last august; I even bought a better computer thinking on playing it (and in other things, of course). However, after knowing about Ubi's DRM and especially bad reviews of people who played it before -I've a laptop and in my holidays I go to a house that has no Internet (and not even telephone), and my Internet connection (via WiFi) sometimes shuts down, so unless there's an "auto-save" option, imagine- I think I'll not get it, at least for now.

As a side note and as a curiosity,in Spain, its release date was programmed to march 4, but I've found that until march 11, it will not be released -perhaps because it will be patched?-. Do you know if a Nvidia GForce GT230M could move it?.

(PS: If you let me comment it -and this is the right place to do that- wonder why Silent Hunter does not change from the american or the germans and/or its action takes place in WWI. It would be interesting to be in command of -let's say- the japanese I-200 class or one of those aircraft-carrier submarines (the B1-type, for example) they had, or to control a WWI uboat, that lacked for example of a TDC and certainly were less advanced than a WWII submarine.

[Arclight]

GT230M is alittle on the light side, falls somewhere between 9500GT and 9600GT, though closer to that 9500. It might run if you turn everything down, but it can hardly be gauranteed.

Officially the game doesn't even support mobile graphics. :-?

[U-95]

GT230M is alittle on the light side, falls somewhere between 9500GT and 9600GT, though closer to that 9500. It might run if you turn everything down, but it can hardly be gauranteed.

Officially the game doesn't even support mobile graphics. :-?

Thanks for letting me know; I get lost on the world of graphic cards :P and it will be very useful for me when reading system requeriments for a game.

If this serves of something, I remember SHIV with all options down ran smoohtly in my earlier computer, that had an ATI X2300 card.

[FIREWALL]

i know how to recognize a great and immersive game at first sight. Examples: Thief, fallout 3, mass effect.

Silent hunter 5 is not a great game. It's a very bad one. I've just finished the training mission, and i'm not continuing.

speed: I can play crysis and fallout 3 on maximum detail with a very decent framerate. These games operate with a very large world. You'd think i would cope with a barren submarine interior. No. Silent hunter 5 stutters inexplicably.

movement: Jerky beyond all expectations. Actual movement is delayed to the mouse movement by a significant amount.

gui: Oh my god. What the fsck is this?!

hotkeys: There are none that i'd need, but there are keys for "1 degree left/right". What the hell?! Some function keys call men to their stations: They just teleport there! This is 2010, how about modeling some ladder climbing movement?!

patch 1.1: It doesn't find the installed sh5, probably because i've installed into my user directory (where it actually has to be, not in the root directory...).

Despite seeing the possibilities of the game, i'm totally unimmersed.

Until there is an sh3 gui+hotkey mod, i can't play with this... Whatever this is.

then go home !!!

[AngusJS]

Any depth deeper than 5m is considered as submerged, electronic engines, and locked hatch. I can lock myself out too.
So you can't run with decks awash now?

[weeksatsea]

... it's hardly a GUI at all, just a stack of iPhone icons thrown at the screen. Nothing WW2-like.

This could be a big part of the problem. The game is going to be available on IPhone soon, so the devs might have been forced into design decisions that mean it can be ported over easily.

[FIREWALL]

Greetings everyone -my message of arrival is in the spanish forum-. I've to say that I was anxiously waiting SH5 since i knew of it in last august; I even bought a better computer thinking on playing it (and in other things, of course). However, after knowing about Ubi's DRM and especially bad reviews of people who played it before -I've a laptop and in my holidays I go to a house that has no Internet (and not even telephone), and my Internet connection (via WiFi) sometimes shuts down, so unless there's an "auto-save" option, imagine- I think I'll not get it, at least for now.

As a side note and as a curiosity,in Spain, its release date was programmed to march 4, but I've found that until march 11, it will not be released -perhaps because it will be patched?-. Do you know if a Nvidia GForce GT230M could move it?.

(PS: If you let me comment it -and this is the right place to do that- wonder why Silent Hunter does not change from the american or the germans and/or its action takes place in WWI. It would be interesting to be in command of -let's say- the japanese I-200 class or one of those aircraft-carrier submarines (the B1-type, for example) they had, or to control a WWI uboat, that lacked for example of a TDC and certainly were less advanced than a WWII submarine.

Even if somebody already said it... Welcome Aboard... :salute:

[ryanglavin]

Sometimes, the sheer negativity on this forum just baffles me. It didn't used to be like this. Were any of you people around for SH2 at the beginning? SH3? They all had rough starts, and they all matured.

"Developers suck big time." This is just appalling.

SHV will be alright. Just like the others.

I actually remember the SH3 forums at the release, now THAT was Hell,.

[FIREWALL]

I actually remember the SH3 forums at the release, now THAT was Hell,.

If you remember that then, be part of the Solution NOW...

Or be part of the PAST. I think your better than that. :yep:

[Hanomag]

If you remember that then, be part of the Solution NOW...

Or be part of the PAST. I think your better than that. :yep:


"The line it is drawn, the curse it is cast,
The slow one now will later be fast.
As the present now will later be past,
The order is rapidly fading.
And the first one now will later be last,
For the times they are a-changing!" :|\\

[mobucks]

Releasing unfinished and broken games so that modders can fix them should be unnacceptable by anyones standards.

[Gabucino]

Good news: after disabling shadows, the framerate increased drastically (30-60 fps).

Reimplementing SH3 controls and downloading a lot of mods also helped a lot.

Looks like SH5 will be playable after all :)

[Arclight]

It was from the beginning :lol:, but yeah, stuff like missing commands for 'toggle battery recharge' and no compass can be frustrating.

[Blue-Casket]

The training sure did suck ass !
That first view of the game has to be good.
Not that silly and crappy like this!
And indeed it's 2010
They could have put something in it like with a crash dive the sailors run to the bow and stuff.

Really tons of bugs!
When i dive the others stay up until i'm 10 meters under water like wtf? :dead:
Loading torpedo's with 2 men and the last one just pushes something of about 800 kilograms alone? :damn:

And even no radio or grammophone to play old catchy songs.

All these bugs only tells us the game wasn't ready yet.

[col_Kurtz]

Completely agree.

I send you PM.

[kiwi_2005]

I'm going to sit and wait it out for when the mods start coming. Ive played SH5 for about 5 hrs and that was the day i got it last week. Haven't gone back. Its not a bad game its more personal for me I hate consoles and this game reminds me of a console game.

[Iron Budokan]

Modders don't FIX the game, that's the dev's problem.

^^This.