SH5 player review thread - post your opinions about the game here [Archive]

03-06-10, 07:12 AM

i am starting this thread to be a place where you can post all your opinions about sh5.

this sh5 forum is here for discussiing the sh5 game and we dont want it to be a place where we are just endlessly discuss what we think of how UBI runs its company or treats its customers so post that stuff in the general topics section where it belongs.

it is time the sh5 forum returns to being just about sh5 game discussions and not about all sorts of things other then the actual game.

thank you

Why I like the new interface

Hi everybody,

curiosity and my love for submarines turned out to be stronger than my hate for DRM, so I eventually got a copy of SH5... and I´m glad I did!

There´s no doubt about many issues the stock version of SH5 has, but this has been the case with all SH releases, so let´s say the DEV Team just sticks to tradition.

Some peolpe complain about the new interface. They say they do not know how to orientate. Well, I would like to have my dear compass back, too, don´t get me wrong here, but I´m for one happy with the new interface. It´s the first time I really seem to know where I am and where everyone else is, thanks to the small map that is always available and which shows me which direction I look.

That´s a simple tool but it helps me a lot. To those who cry: "unrealistic!" - well, I disagree. The truth is, it´s unrealsitic to stare at a computer screen, using a mouse and keys to look around. In real life you have a totally different AWARENESS of where you are in relation to your ship and to other ships (I know what I´m talking about, I do some sailing). You just turn your head and you instinctively KNOW where you want to go or what bearing you have got. If you really need to know degrees, use the UZO to do so.

So what the new interface basically gives you is more awareness of the situation, which results in better orientation. The same goes for setting course. Just look into one direction and press "," you U-Boat will head the way you look. Seems too arcadish to you? Well, basically, this is what you would do in real life, too. And don´t forget, you are the captain, so no, you wouldn´t actually press any rudder buttons! (You can still do it using shift and arrow for full rudder).

The new map layout is also way easier to use, plotting and editing courses is a walk in the park.

I know a lot of people will disagree with me, I can understand them. But maybe those who hate the new interface are only disappointed because they are used to the good old one. I think if you give SH5 a fair chance, it´ll pay off. I´m sure all those great modders out there will turn SH5 into the best subsim ever. Stock SH5 offers a very promising basis for that!

Now I have to go back, my IWO just told me he spotted a merchant!

:salute: Cheers, AS

AVGWarhawk

03-06-10, 08:01 AM

The interface is not bad. A bit quirky but once you get familiar with the what buttons do what it is ok. Overall it gets the job done.

Frederf

03-06-10, 08:29 AM

I like the ideas behind the new interface. There is a lot of potential there. A lot of work is required to really follow through on the execution. Personally I'd like to see even more buttons taken off the "command picture frame" and given to 3D hotspots, crew conversations, etc.

Watching the vernier dial in the center of the compass repeater turn is quite a treat! Of course mine stopped working about 5 minutes into the experience but that's what bug fixes are for.

The Num_. "turn to where I'm looking" command was in SH4 as well if you recall. It's the exact same code, just a new keystroke assignment. Old hat, not a new feature. Personally I want to tap the helmsman on the shoulder or whisper in a speaking tube "Make heading 0-9-1" instead of having to click a course arrow on a minimap.

I'm really not a fan of the minimap as ubiquitous mind link. Situational awareness is built and it's more fun to have a little fog of war. The FOV for the view could be larger though. Feels like I have horse blinders on.

I like how the new course plotting system doesn't always return you to "follow course" mode every time you as much as look at a point. However SH5's happiness to let you stay off the course mode is messed up by the lack of a "return to course" button. It says "double click to return to course" but it lies. Also laying down a route through the Canal and having the voice over shout NEW WAYPOINT COURSE 2-6-9 (in German) for 30 waypoints is a row gets old.

Charlie901

03-06-10, 09:59 AM

The INTERFACE would be acceptable had the Devs actually finished the game and added all of the necessary dialouge options to your crewmen...

Such as Depth Under Keel...etc.

Unfortunately without the Mandatory Hotkeys and No appriate Dialogue options you will find yourself frustrated at completeing the easiest of tasks...

How easy would it be to command your Helmsman to to right 15 degree rudder for instance (and instead we have the missing rudder guage hotkey so were stuck hitting the right arrow key a rediciously amount).

.

Jeevz

03-06-10, 11:36 AM

I really like the idea of the new interface. It's really fast and presents most of the needed info quickly. The resizeable TAI map is fantastic. I just wish they had included a compass and put orders like Depth under Keel, Return to Course, Cease Fire, Target the waterline, etc. in the dialog boxes.

I'm considering digging into the files and trying to see if these can be done. I've written scripting languages for years but I don't really know the SH file structure and how it works really so it may be over my head.

gutted

03-06-10, 11:55 AM

I like the new interface as well.. it's jut missing some things. Also a more accurate way of setting depth would have been nice. As it is right now holding control and trying to click that small scale is a crapshoot. It takes about 3 tries to get the intended depth.

Jeevz

03-06-10, 01:04 PM

You know that if you hover your mouse over the depth gauge you get a tool tip with the exact depth you're going to order? It could still stand to be a bit more prescise though.

mookiemookie

03-06-10, 02:45 PM

So what the new interface basically gives you is more awareness of the situation, which results in better orientation.

Do you know at a glance what general compass direction you're headed in? What your fuel supply is? What your battery level is?

No. Therefore you do not have more awareness of the situation. Q.E.D.

Onkel Neal

03-06-10, 03:09 PM

Ah, but even the captain of a sub does not know the battery state or fuel level at a glance. In SH5 just touch one key ENTER and you have the info.

mookiemookie

03-06-10, 05:30 PM

Ah, but even the captain of a sub does not know the battery state or fuel level at a glance. In SH5 just touch one key ENTER and you have the info.

If we were talking realism, I would agree. But we were debating awareness.

Kresge

03-06-10, 05:36 PM

Finally received my game in the mail and had a chance to sit down for a few hours last night and play around. I definitely like the interface better than I was expecting. Like others have said, there are some very important items missing, but we'll take care of that problem soon enough. I think the whole process of tracking and setting up a firing solution, even in auto mode, is a bit more cumbersome than the old ways, but there seems to be a bit more flexibility built in there.

That said, I'm really looking forward to a finished keyboard mod, something like ol' Set Keys where I can lay down the key associations I am more familiar with from years of habit. D for dive, S for surface, P for periscope depth, etc.

longam

03-06-10, 05:39 PM

Return to course is the Zero key on the Number Pad.

swampa

03-06-10, 06:19 PM

I found out how to set speed in knots:up:, what depth I want:up:, only the course and heading is missing:down: or not found it, other than that starting to get use to it. Using one of the key mapping mods depth under keel:up:

Frederf

03-06-10, 07:15 PM

The INTERFACE would be acceptable had the Devs actually finished the game and added all of the necessary dialogue options to your crewmen...

Such as Depth Under Keel...etc.

You and I expected to be able to give orders through the crew member dialogs but it's pretty clear that UBI only really intended the crew to be an interface into the "how's your mum" and the special abilities, not common order tasks. I'd still like to have that changed but it's not fair to say it was forgotten, just designed differently.

Do you know at a glance what general compass direction you're headed in? What your fuel supply is? What your battery level is?

No. Therefore you do not have more awareness of the situation. Q.E.D.

You know direction from the TAI, fuel/battery is not displayed 24/7 though but it wasn't possible to have all 4 CO2/O2/Batt/Fuel values shown simultaneously in SH4 as well. If you're arguing SH4 vs SH5 awareness then it is a teeter totter with all the features of SH4 on one side and SH5 on the other. There are indicators in SH5 that SH4 simply doesn't have like the order progress boxes, TAI (big one!), day/night porthole, etc. It's not nearly as cut and dry as you state.

Return to course is the Zero key on the Number Pad.

No, that's rudder center.

Barso

03-06-10, 07:19 PM

Such a pity!

The graphics and sea in this game are absolutely unbelievable.
There is no other way to describe sailing along the sea while walking around the tower, it's amazing.
But why did ubisoft not give the devs the time and resources to complete it and produce what could have been the definitive subsim.
I know we belong to a niche market but do we really deserve to be sold a game in this state.
Just because SH5 won't sell as much as the next halo game doesn't mean my £30 is any different.
I worked bloody hard for that £30 and I certainly don't deserve any less of a product.
I am self employed with my own business and if I had provided any less of a service to any of my customers, I would be embarassed to ask for the money.
I don't blame the devs, I blame ubisoft for obviously publishing the game before it was completed.
Last time I ever buy another ubisoft product, I PROMISE!
They have even had to update the manual on their website indicating even the manual was rushed or not synced to the game release.

ERPP8

03-06-10, 07:21 PM

The graphics and sea in this game are absolutely unbelievable.
There is no other way to describe sailing along the sea while walking around the tower, it's amazing.
But why did ubisoft not give the devs the time and resources to complete it and produce what could have been the definitive subsim.
I know we belong to a niche market but do we really deserve to be sold a game in this state.
Just because SH5 won't sell as much as the next halo game doesn't mean my £30 is any different.
I worked bloody hard for that £30 and I certainly don't deserve any less of a product.
I am self employed with my own business and if I had provided any less of a service to any of my customers, I would be embarassed to ask for the money.
I don't blame the devs, I blame ubisoft for obviously publishing the game before it was completed.
Last time I ever buy another ubisoft product, I PROMISE!
They have even had to update the manual on their website indicating even the manual was rushed or not synced to the game release.
My copy was a present:D:haha:

Barso

03-06-10, 07:24 PM

Lucky you but unfortunate for the present buyer.

Cpt. Rochenfeller

03-06-10, 07:40 PM

Yes i have to agree too!

At first i was furious about how many things were missing, but after I tried out
the Mod that brings the SH4 UI into Sh5 (nice work btw, don't get me wrong), I noticed right away that I actually missed the slick and nice Vanilla UI.
As the OP said, it does a very good job to bring you all the little tools you need to get a hang on whats going on around you.
AND It isnt all over the screen like the sh4 UI.

All I needed was the MOD that remaps the keys and brings you depth under keel back in the game(many many thanks CCIP I think he´s name is!).

So after my first stuttering hours with the game, I now have high hopes that this will turn out to be a really good game after some more patches, and some more work by this BEAUTIFUL community here at SUBsim!

You have my gratitudes!

tonschk

03-06-10, 07:47 PM

Hi everybody,

curiosity and my love for submarines turned out to be stronger than my hate for DRM, so I eventually got a copy of SH5... and I´m glad I did!

Some peolpe complain about the new interface. They say they do not know how to orientate. Well, I would like to have my dear compass back, too, don´t get me wrong here, but I´m for one happy with the new interface.

:salute: Cheers, AS

Me too , :salute: I LOVE :rock: the new interface because have less ARCADE properties

Mike@UK

03-06-10, 09:15 PM

There's loads of these floating around, so thought I might as well add mine.

I'll be honest, this isn't an accurate review of the game because I got the UK version - which wasn't released until Friday, as such I've already added a fair number of mods which solve some of the problems I see others complaining about.

In simple terms I like Silent Hunter 5.

I can only speak from my own experience so far, but I haven't had a single crash (not counting with the sea bed of course. :cool: ), the frame rate's been fine and I haven't run in to any major bugs, but maybe I'm just lucky.

As for the whole DRM thing, I understand why a lot of people are annoyed at the idea of it as it's lacking in moral virtue and is a slap in the face to a lot of people without constant interent, but again - on the most basic gameplay level, and from my experience thus far - it hasn't been a problem for me, the only snag I've had so far is that it told me it lost connection once when I loaded a save yesterday evening and I had to reload the game, but other than that it's been clear sailing.

As for the direction of the game, I like the first person aspect of it as I feel it makes it seem more like you're the Captain of a U-Boat, as opposed to a number of camera angles inside a 3D model, it helps add to the realism as far as I'm concerned.

The lack of a usable TDC is abit annoying, although I like the way it's set up so that you're telling the Weapons Officer what you see in the scope and he sets it up himself, as I imagine a Captain might, equally it's quite annoying that you can't "use" the dials in the 3D environment, as that would increase the feeling that you're the Captain even more.

I don't realy see where all the talk of it being an Arcade game comes from, as my experience thus far has been pretty much the same as with SH3 but with more emphasis on you being the Captain (i.e. a single person) as opposed to it being a recreation of all the different stations and jobs on a U-boat, again maybe this is because I never played stock SH5, as I type this I've had the game for about a day and already have 15 mods activated for it, some people would say that that is proof that the game is unfinished because the modders have to do everything for us, I partly agree with that, however I'm more one of those people that think that the fact that there are so many mods out already and more in development is a good thing.

In closing, yes it needed more development time, no it isn't rubbish, no it isn't arcade and yes it can be much better than all the rest if the modders can do their magic.

One thing I can't forgive them for, however, is the removal of the Brass Band and the Nurses. :nope:

shmall

03-06-10, 09:34 PM

Amazon pre orders are only £23 :) which is nothing in todays money, i mean, driving lessons are £25 for just one hour, RC helicopter training can be £35 per hour, One gallon of beer is £23.....which last one night lol....this sim should last longer than just one hour, so you get your moneys worth.... :)

I really like it so far.....only done two patrols and sunk a few 1,000 tons of shipping and dodged a few destroyers..which is what its all about :)
there are a few bugs, but I'm sure they will get fixed, and it looks awesome at 1920x1200, just took a bit of getting used to at first as all the controls/interface have changed from the other SH titles, so it felt quite different, but i do like it so far :)

Simon

ERPP8

03-06-10, 09:52 PM

Though the number of people who bought SHV is surprisingly high, the number of good reviews is low.

My opinion is:

It's a great game with some bugs.
It's fun and I've been very entertained with it. The campaigns are good. Many pet peeves I had with SHIV like all merchants being armed are gone. The graphics are great, some unexplained issues with Nvidea cards causing lagging. DRM has had no problems what so ever, no connection trouble. I am glad I bought it, though the upload of the game was a little delayed(8:00 PM), I plan to play it for a long time. Unlike in SHIV, the campaigns are varying and interesting. People say the Ubisoft dev team did badly on SHV, I thing the goofed up more on SHIV.

The bad:
The Nvidea problems I mentioned earlier, non-manual targeting is still quite difficult(please say if there's a way other than lining up those numbers) and a few options I miss from SHIV like depth below keel.

Overall: 9.5/10

Capt.Warner

03-06-10, 10:05 PM

AVGWarhawk

03-06-10, 10:06 PM

The more I play the UI seems to be that much better. I like it well enough. It does need some addition that could be keyboard. I think a mod has handled that. Return to course is one that needs to be added. Unless of course I missed something!

TheDarkWraith

03-06-10, 10:09 PM

ERPP8

03-06-10, 10:10 PM

I agree.I think its a good game!:up:
Please join my group "Proud SHV owners"

wetwarev7

03-06-10, 10:10 PM

The Nvidea problems I mentioned earlier, non-manual targeting is still quite difficult(please say if there's a way other than lining up those numbers) and a few options I miss from SHIV like depth below keel.

Overall: 9.5/10

You might find this helpful, as a lot of those options are still in-game, there is just no key mapped to them:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=163444

FIREWALL

03-06-10, 10:15 PM

With the Modders help and future patches , I see alot of future in SH5. :yeah:

Paulverisor64

03-06-10, 10:21 PM

Any time I get a new game I like to give it a test drive before I read about the game interface, as for me that allows what is read to sink in much better.

What I discovered is that I really didn't need to do any reading for the game interface. Everything seemed to react very intuitively in the game.

The immersion has stepped up another big notch by being able to walk the entire Uboat. I like how the outline of important items is slightly hilighted in the dark. This helps avoid much confusion. I like how easy it is to travel the length of the boat. I always have to do a bit of a course correction when going down the ladder; but that's OK.

I too love the mini map with the periscope heading superimposed. This greatly cuts down on getting turned around.

There seems to be less clutter on the screen that is another plus.

Perhaps this game does not appeal to many in the traditional sense but I am pleasantly surprized with my 1st look at this game.

walsh2509

03-06-10, 10:29 PM

A very good game but there are bits missing and the abilites of crew and the torps have been turned down. Now to get those abilities back up to what they should have been from the start, you have to buy them with renown points.

I know why this has been done, the devs wanted it as a part of the role play part of the game. Where the crew "gain knowledge and experience*" mission after mission. *Renown points = aility increase = knowledge and experience.

And while I can see why they did this with your crew , there was no need to do the same with the torpedos.

AVGWarhawk

03-06-10, 10:41 PM

check this out: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=1294699&postcount=1

I have seen the SH4 UI you modded in to great effect. I will probably install later as I like to run the game completely vanilla first! :up:

longam

03-06-10, 10:44 PM

check this out: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=1294699&postcount=1

I also thought about reverting back to the sh4 UI, butt use to the present.

Von Schmidt

03-07-10, 03:36 AM

I will not hide the fact that I spent 350 dollars to upgrade my PC so I could play this game on High settings(just this Game). I only played sh4 like three times, hated it. So im basically going off of my experinces with SH3. It takes alittle getting used to, but it is a great foundation for the modders. I mean how many of us played a stock unmodded, unpatched sh3, thats right not a one. Boo Whoo its different get over it, the only thing I hate is using the Vii, I am an IX skipper. And the only major issue I am having with the game is mouse lag. Other than that its good to go.

Sgtmonkeynads

03-07-10, 04:42 AM

Well, at first, I just played to look at everything new. Looks great.
Then the more I played, I noticed more and more things that HAD to be fixed or changed or added. I was worried that none of the moders would buy the game in first place, so I was extemely disapointed.

But the last one or two days have seen the modders going NUTS, releasing mods that in my opinion sved the game for me. If they keep it up at the pace they are going, I should have the game I expected within a few months to a year.

All in all, it is looking better and playing better now than it was out of the box, and with what I've been hearing about the capabilites available to the modders, we are sitting on what could be a wonderfull contribution to the Silent Hunter collection.

Sure there are still more than a few things that need changed, but isn't it our motto to" Be More Agressive"

Aaron

P.S. thanks modders !

Decoman

03-07-10, 04:54 AM

It seems obvious that as a player I am in no position to demand any date for fixes and such, however I want to express concern about the following:

a) Of what we have learned so far, what things can be said to be un-fixable? I do not like not knowing if some issue that seem trivial to me, ends up being labeled at too difficult to implement or fix.

b) A different twist to this concern, is a concern about what things can be said to be un-moddable. If for nothing else, it might perhaps help focus any modding work or developer work.

I can't really accept any unqualified answers, which rely on positive thinking or responses that dillute my concerns as such. Like when people say 'nothing is impossible', or 'it just takes time' or 'it is just a priority issue'. :03:

03-07-10, 05:45 AM

ERPP8, you don't really have to line up the numbers. Those numbers show where your torpedo and the ship will be at the same moment in time (if the ship mantains the same speed and course). Basically, you have to shoot the torpedoes on an interception course, and the three numbered markers will help you figure out where the ship/torpedo collision might take place.

Barso

03-07-10, 06:06 AM

I like the game but I don't understand why they did not build on SH4.
The groundwork with the mods had already been done.
Why not just add the 1st person viewpoint and build on that.
What have the devs been doing?
Stop trying to rewrite the rulebook.

bsub

03-07-10, 09:01 AM

I agree. From looking at reviews on Amazon.com and the Ubisoft forums, it seems that out of the box this game is a big letdown. Putting the copy protection issue aside, many people have said that this is the worst SH yet. It would be good to know what actually can be fixed and what is "hard-coded" and unfixable.

ERPP8

03-07-10, 09:32 AM

SteamWake

03-07-10, 10:19 AM

I will try to be positive here...

The game is real pretty and moddable. ;)

tonschk

03-07-10, 10:27 AM

:yeah: AWESOME :salute: AMAZING :woot: FANTASTIC :yeah:Silent Hunter 5 , :rock: I LOVE SH5 :woot:

Dowly

03-07-10, 10:45 AM

Ok, then.

+ It's pretty (very). Love the new kaboom effects. Especially the smoke that is pouring out from the port holes and the small explosions that burst out thru windows etc.

+ Enviroment is stunning. Gives it that cold, bitter feel of ETO.

+ Uboat interior. Absolutely love it. It has changed how I play the game with self imposed rules down to checking the weather to see if I can go order the cook to make supper while on surface or should I dive to stabilise the boat. :)

+ AI visual sensors are nice, checking how much of a silhouette you are showing towards the enemy etc.

+/- Enemy AI has been both good and bad for me. At times, be it just luck or scripted, there's been moments I've seen the DD's work as a team giving me no time to think my next move before the next string of DC's go off. But then there's times when the AI has been dumber than a boot.

- Overly simplified. So many small details have been taken out. I want the crew management from SHIII back, with the ability to give out medals (as in more than just the iron cross). Many other things there too, I'd like to see brought back.

- Campaign. I dont like it. I know it's possible to go out on a patrol without taking a mission, but it's nothing compared to SHIII. You are going through the same steps on every playthrough. Not much replayability for me.

- Few big bugs that shouldn't have been there on a release version.

- Sinking mechanics. When I attack a convoy, I usually hit 4-6 ships on one pass. If I'm lucky 2 of them slow down, the rest, no matter how much damage they've suffered just keep on going. (Large steamer with it's bow under water shouldn't be able to continue at 8 knots.)

Those are the biggest things I like/dislike about it. I somehow get the idea when playing it that the devs had two choices. Either a) make it more mainstream or b) dont make it at all. I think (and this is my opinion) they made a compromise; Make it mainstream, but make it easily moddable for the modders to build the "hardcore" sim out of it. :hmmm:

For a score, 7/10 on paper, but when actually playing it's actually quite enjoyable, so 8/10.

lynx

03-07-10, 10:46 AM

I trust modders, is nothing cannot fix:DL

EgoApocalypse

03-07-10, 10:51 AM

Love the game, Cant wait for a decent supermod

AND GET RID OF THE DRM(FULL STOP)

jerm138

03-07-10, 12:51 PM

I haven't played it, so I won't review it... ;)

But I just want to say thanks to all of you who are giving good informative reviews (both positive and negative) instead of just complaining about the 800-pound gorilla in the room. Especially Dowley, Sgtmonkeynads (awesome handle!), ERPP8, and Mike@UK.

I didn't know that the modders had already done so much... (it's hard to hear over all the screaming). I'm headed to the downloads section now to see what's cooking.

More info like this, and my wallet might start itching.

Herr Minger

03-07-10, 01:36 PM

I am far from impressed, there are so many things that I find annoying they, are too numerous to list. I will shelf it for a few months and wait for the Modders (hats off to them) to make it more palatable. So far nothing comes close to SH III GWX Gold.

Medzell

03-07-10, 02:07 PM

Got mine Friday. First of all I have a video problem which is simply not enough video memory on my Nvidia GeForce 9200 (and the annoying mouse problem naturally). Having said that (and with anew video card going in the machine tomorrow) I think SH5 just might turn out to be a winner.

I was never a great SH4 fan and I still spend hours on SH3 with GWX and the MaGUI. SH5 seems to be a bit of a leap for a lot of people who are comfortable with their tweaked and modded SH3 and SH4 and, I think, have missed out on the whole point of SH5 being very much a first-person perspective.

Sure there are annoying bugs but 3 and 4 were just the same on first issue. I see already a lot of people have "modded" 5 BACKWARDS to the UI of 4 and that, to me, is nonsense after only a few hours. If no-one ever took the time to LEARN the new system we'd never move on at all. Once you get to know your way around and to use what you have on hand, it gets better and better.

It's by no means perfect but I'm prepared to at least attempt the learning curve before dismissing it as so many have.

gandalf71

03-07-10, 02:34 PM

Ahoi Captains

Before I will report my thoughts from my first weekend of playing SH5, let me say some things about that Ubisoft-DRM thingy:

That piece of Software is simply a slap in the face for everyone who is buying game software legally!

In short:
- In average there is one "connectus interruptus" every 2 hours, usually no big issue you can continue from where the game stopped after a restart. Nonetheless is that issue a real show stopper and immersion killer.
- Even if you can continue from the last point, the game conditions are not necessarily the same than before the interrupt, that prooved to be potentially deadly: e.g. I've tried to sneak around some escorts surfaced in foggy dawn, in an attempt to raid Tyne harbour and suffered a connection loss. After reload I was in an perfectly clear sunset with an destroyer merely 2500m away instantly starting to shell my boat and calling in 5 more destroyers for dinner.
- Today it took around 5 Minutes ...in words "FIVE"...to connect to Big Ubi's server and to start the game. And no that was no issue with my internet connection.
- From time to time it's completely impossible to connect to Ubi's server and start the game.

So for me there are two things obvious with Silent Hunter 5: the game will end in spring '43 and my commercial relationship to Ubisoft will end instantly starting from today, after buying SH3, SH4, Anno 1602 with every single sequel and extension up to Anno 1404 and last and certainly least SH5.
It's a pity because those were all great computer games with much long term value for me as a computer gamer, but I cannot accept a company imposing it's will on me in that way.

Now to the game itself:

As SH3 and SH4 before, Silent Hunter 5 seems to be an immature early release again. It seems that many new and good ideas have not been done until they're complete and consistently implemented. There are more bugs in the game than on an average dog and it's hard to understand why some of these are the same as in SH3 and SH4.

The new user interface is hard to get used to, you need some time to figure out what to do and where. The idea to move around in free first person point of view is simply great and adds a ton of value to gameplay and immersion, but on the other hand it get's quickly annoying when you can't crash dive because you're on top of the conning tower and if you have to climb down the ladder (which is quite tricky sometimes) to order all hands to battle station.
That is neither good for long term game play nor for realism, U-Boats had internal comms like any other ship of that time, there was an soundpowered telephone and a speaking tube. And the captain's orders would have been forwarded from mouth to mouth in case of necessity, but the captain would certainly not run from end to end and from top to bottom all the time, feeling like Mel Brooks in Spaceballs.

What's real bad with the new UI is that some details of the sub's controls have been thrown overboard, it is e.g. not possible to stop recharging batteries manually in order to get full surface speed in critical situations, neither it is impossible to ping depth (even if a sonar is obviously installed in the sub) and simple things like a compass and practical rudder controls are missing completely, but I'm quite confident that these flaws will be modded out of the game quickly.

What's more? Mmmh I don't think that a computer game, especially a wartime simulation can be anything near realistic, but I think that you can expect it to be historically and technically correct, especially with an predecessor like SH3. But here SH5 prooves to be a quantum leap in the wrong direction, e.g. there were no Liberty ships in 1939 (and certainly no german ones), the deckgun of an Type VII submarine was not the prototype of Bismarck's main artillery and freight containers in harbours were not seen until 10 years after the end of WW2, etc., etc., etc....
It is hard to understand how it is possible to implement so many obvious factual errors in one single computer game...

Another joyless point is the reduced amount of ship models, even some look exactly the same like the other, coastal boats, like trawlers and fisherboats, are missing completely which is taking away a huge portion of atmosphere, especially in the early days of the war.

The graphics: The graphics are great, I spent the first 3 hours and the whole tutorial patrol walking around and watching every detail. Especially the diesel engines are modelled and animated very nicely. The sub's interior has a complete new quality compared to SH3 and SH4. For me as an confessing nitpicker it is in some areas to much inspired by U995, e.g. the missing officer's mess but overall it is neatly done. One point is that there are to many dials and instruments reading "Zünder", "Fächerschuss", "Tiefe" etc. that seems to be a point where it is obvious that we all bought an early Beta release again.

Outside the sub the visual eye candy get´s really astonishing, the environment looks great, the water, the lighting, simply everything ...nothing more to say about that.

Another new aspect is the captains interaction with the crew, what seems to be an interesting idea in the first instance, will proove totally boring after the first 5 Minutes of every new patrol, because everything has been said at that time. That's also one of the points where I think that the game was not completely finalized before release.

Some final words to the "Collector's Edition", in short: don't buy it! The manual is total crap and not worth the paper printed on, the "Official Guide" is a simple copy and paste of the manual with the addition of an incomplete recognition manual, the map is basically a hardcopy of the one which came with SH3's standard version, all in all certainly not worth the 10 Bucks more.

It is hard to come to a conclusion for me, because I really want to like the game, but currently the Negatives are outweighing the Positives. That might change with further patches, which I think we all can expect and demand from Ubi, and the removal of that DRM rubbish. The game has certainly potential if the modding community is able to transfer some content e.g. from SH3 GWX, ...it is like a Banana it will ripen in the hands of it's customers.

Cheers,
Michael

Mooncatt

03-07-10, 02:43 PM

got my copy today.
i gotta say this game aint bad......but thats the trouble....it aint bad and it needs work!

i think the ocean simulation is fantastic, especially the foamy water given off by the u-boat. i like the attention to detail when im wondering around the u-boat. there are lots of things i like but there are some things i despise.
i hate the new targeting system, if you were like me and could never grasp the manual targetting system you were thankful of the SH3 simple point and shoot. this seems to be a bit of both if you get my drift (no pun intended:DL) i really hope this is changed by one of the uber modders!

i miss the 3 dials and the "1 click change view" option, i dont like the fact i have to hold down shift and then an arrow key to change direction, i liked having the tool to choose how much of a turn i wanted to make.

ive noticed a few bugs also, when i first installed the game and used the games launcher to create an account, it wouldnt work, apparently i had no net connection :o and yes, i made sure i wasnt firewalled :D

2nd bug i noticed was a crash to desktop when the game was loading up my first mission...got to the end of the loading screen and the screen went black and closed the whole game down back to desktop.

i use a corded usb mouse, sometimes during SH5 gameplay the mouse goes all erratic on me like its having some kind of mental breakdown, it doesnt spin it just goes dead sensitive for no reason, it aint the mouse at fault either :hmmm:

i havent been that far into the game as yet but it does look promising, its just getting used to the "change stations" and "hope to god my torp hits" rigmarall.

Decoman

03-07-10, 03:01 PM

I think I would do wise to avoid flaming Ubisoft and at the same time set things straight, by simply claiming that this game is in Beta.

The worst part, which I mentioned elsewhere, is not knowing where things are heading.

Webster

03-07-10, 05:13 PM

keep in mind i dont have the game so i dont have first hand experience but just from reading so many posts here and also talking to people about stuff i can say this:

1 - torpedos are not weak, if anything maybe a little strong because DD are often lifted clear out of the water sometimes when hit so i think its the ships that are just way too strong and they need to be weakened and not have the torpedos stronger. many people have also confirmed the general opinion that merchant ships need twice the number of torpedos to sink then they should really need.

2 - ships do continue to flood and sink from it but not all the time, they will continue to flood only after the flooding bar reaches about the 75 to 89% mark and that is usually with only a little of the damage bar left as well

3 - sinkings are terrible, a guy told me he sunk a ship in the harbor in around 10 ft of water and the ships bow went up in the air at a 45 degree angle so a full 70% of the ship was out of the water. he said it was like a dump trunk dumping its load. he went on to say sunken ships will dry hump the bottom like a xxx movie and never stop and come to rest as they should.

4 - in many instances time conpression is more likely to kill you then the enemy, the game will almost never drop you out of time compression except to give you the death screen

Nippelspanner

03-07-10, 05:15 PM

SH5 is an epic fail.
I expected a bad game but this is just...disgusting.

The ONLY good thing I can report about SH5 are the awesome graphics.
But thats, again, typical Ubisoft! Graphics top, rest is flop.

They ruined the Ghost Recon franchise.
They runied the Rainbow Six franchise.
They ruined the Splinter Cell franchise. (ok lets wait for Conviction)
And finally, they managed to ruin the Silent Hunter franchise!

:nope:

I am not in the condition to find proper words without losing control of myself...

The only thing that could probably rescue SH5 are the modders. And this time, they have a lot of stuff to do, a lot!

03-07-10, 07:55 PM

Hi all,

I wouldn´t have expected so many positive posts here! After all it seems we´re ("we" being the community of course) going to give SH5 a chance. The "I don´t know about battery level etc." comments cannot be taken seriously, since you just have to hit "enter" to get all the information you want as Neal pointed out.

There is certainly a lot of modding to do. As for historical accurateness, I just sneaked into ScapaFlow using the historical date and route Prien did. Well, SPOILER ahead,

unlike in reality, Scapa Flow was cramped with ships, I sank two battleships and one troop ship with 8 torps, which doesn´t seem very realistic.

The airplane AI seems totally out of place, plane pass by so close that my IWO is shaken by the draft and they still don´t take any notice. Strange!

On the other hand, I was chasing a merchant near the British border when all of a sudden a destroyer turned up and opened fire. Cool experience!

Although I`m quite aware of SH5´s flaws, I´m totally addicted to it. Walking around inside my U-Boat is something I always longed for, it´s so immersive, just like a dream come true. Talking about immersion and eye-candy, what I really miss is a fixed outside camera view. Ca that be modded?

Cheers, AS

walter36

03-07-10, 07:58 PM

I am using the retro SH IV keyboard and instrument Mod,most seems familiar now,I do like the game.There is no point jumping on the developers,i am sure others are to blame for the stupid stuff,we all know who.

Enjoy the game :up:

jwilliams

03-07-10, 08:04 PM

And don´t forget, you are the captain, so no, you wouldn´t actually press any rudder buttons! (You can still do it using shift and arrow for full rudder).

I agree with alot that you said in your post.

but would a captain not give bearings to set heading (a compass is need for this). And a captain would also give orders for rudder e.g. 12 degress to port (so a rudder UI would be needed). And the ability to ping for depth under keel.

those are my only hates about the ui, all other parts of it I quite like.

shmall

03-07-10, 08:28 PM

I have seen a few people on these forums moaning about crash dives, and the way they have to climb down ladders before they can dive, I can not get over how people want to call this a sim in one breath, then in the other they moan when they add something in line with a sim.....guys you can not just morph inside a sub, this not STARTREK lol ;)

Must say that I'm really enjoying this sim so far :)

but wont say NO to a few more patches lol ;) :)

vonEnoch

03-07-10, 08:50 PM

First, looks good.

Ahh..i want to complain so i begin now:)

Why dont UBi take impression of what modders do and how popular the mods are. That is what players want. But no! They have to do something different, that even isnt by far finished (suppose they trust on free work from the modders to fix their game, cheaper that way). Why do they HAVE to try make something "different" every time instead of making what works better?

I got incredibly irritated this time over SH because this IS really quite unfinished and bad product. Im not saying it cant be good, it can, after few patches and loads of mods (something ubi seems to expect, free fixes for their product).

Ok, i put some of the mods that already exist and tried again. It was better now. I went to scapa flow, was incredibly easy to slink in. (played on realisic). Sank 2 battleships. Began to withdraw...what happens. Yeah, a new battleship spawned where i had sunk one. WOW fantastic! Here i could lie in one position, sink a battleship, wait a moment for next to spawn sink that and so on... sigh! Tried then another harbour, sank a tanker, and yes, a new one spawned in its place! Faaantastic:D

Ok...well there is loads of other things im very dissapointed with in this game. But its promising, very much so. But promising and a finished product. Its a VERY big difference!

Must say one more thing. With products like this......no wonder people download pirated games...no wonder. Long time since i have laid my hands on so unfinished product like this....and its not cheap either.
Im afraid that a product like this can kill the interest in SH.........sigh.

15 tumbs down ubi.... :down:

Piiman

03-07-10, 08:52 PM

shmall

03-07-10, 08:54 PM

But isn't it a sad state when modders have to finish a retail product? What's wrong with that picture?
Hell all the racing/flight sims I use are made better with the help of modders, why should a sub sim be any different lol ;)

AVGWarhawk

03-07-10, 09:26 PM

UI needs:

1. Depth under keel. If it is there please someone point it out.
2. Simple compass.

Other than that playing 100% I have no issues. It is a blast!

IRONxMortlock

03-08-10, 04:44 AM

I have seen a few people on these forums moaning about crash dives, and the way they have to climb down ladders before they can dive, I can not get over how people want to call this a sim in one breath, then in the other they moan when they add something in line with a sim.....guys you can not just morph inside a sub, this not STARTREK lol ;)

Is it not conceivable that the Captain could order the crash dive and then make his way down the hatch? To me it seems kind of stupid that you are not able to do this.

shmall

03-08-10, 05:09 AM

Is it not conceivable that the Captain could order the crash dive and then make his way down the hatch? To me it seems kind of stupid that you are not able to do this.

Fair enough, but I was not moaning about that, more about the guys who want to morph into the sub startrek style, (beam me in scotty lol ;))
to get ultra fast and unrealistic crash dives, the guys that want a sim one minute, but then moan when its more sim like lol ;)

karamazovnew

03-08-10, 05:54 AM

I see far too much emphasis on modding SH5. At the moment that's what they're all waiting for... "Modders, please fix the game, we didn't listen to you but look, here's modding tools with unmoddable classes :yeah:. Surely there must be an expert programmer there that can't wait to work for free, right?".

The game's weak and I can't believe that they actually tested it. IMHO, let the game get fixed by Ubi first, or let it die. DRM? ok... one sub only? fine. campaign till 43?... so be it... even less SIM features... ok, maybe we can mod these in later. But this game is unplayable! If you guys can't see the difference between vanilla 1.0 SH5 and vanilla 1.0 SH3, I pity you. We're so desperate for a good naval (sub) sim that we'd do the job of others.

How about a game that plays well out of the box? How about we actually get a chance to really play and finish a few campaigns than say "nice game, NOW let's mod and turn this into a sim". Sure, SH can't hope for a lot of sales but if this were the last title in the series, I expected it to go down in style, guns blazing. Leaving us with a couple of years of entertainment. Something on the likes of I-War2, European Total War, Falcon 4 or Dangerous Waters. Not like this...:nope:

I've followed the rule of "innocent until proven guilty". Well... I'll come back in a few months to see if there's any change, but for the moment I'm placing this game in the box of shame (next to Age of Conan). I won't even place it next to my SH3, SH4 boxes. No way...

"We can't please everyone" they might say. Well, with a release like this, you can't please ANYONE. And yes, we all know how patching will go...:down: I'm going back to SH4. Looks great and OM plays like a gem.

http://blogs.nitobi.com/alexei/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/shipment_of_fail.jpg

On the bright side I just gained 6 GB of free space :yeah:

TheBeast

03-08-10, 05:55 AM

I loaded up SH5 started playing and found a bug within 5 minutes. I continued playing and found another nasty bug after about 15 minutes that forced me to save game and reload in order to continue.
After playing for about 2 hours, I was so aggitated about key bindings and having to reload saved games all the time, I had to shut down the game for the night.
The next day I installed the update and try again. The bugs I found are not fixed. I check the forums and there are a few posts that look simular to the issue's I am having but UBISOFT has not responded to them at all.
I download a new Orders MOD to change my key bindings but every time I go to external view I am unable to get back inside my sub and believe me, I tried everything to get back inside. Only a save game and reload puts me back inside the boat.
The lag spikes that take place every few minutes (DRM) was really getting to me.
Again, I get so aggitated I have to shut the game down. I took it back to Gamestop and got my money back.

-TheBeast

Mooncatt

03-08-10, 05:55 AM

nvm

TopCat

03-08-10, 06:39 AM

The game is horrible, the worst SH I've ever seen - and I played all of them for many, many hours.

First the only two positive things:
1. The graphics is very impressive.
2. The game seems to be very modding friendly (which is my last hope, I'll ever be having fun with SH5)

Why does Ubisoft try anything to get rid of the real Sim Fans? I do understand that there are people who don't want that hardcore sim stuff. But on the other hand there are still a lot of guys like me out there who love the manual TDC, calculating firing solutions using a watch, ruler and pencil, handling the engines, the rudders and so on. Most of all, I cannot understand, why Ubisoft did not take the opportunity to make everybody happy, as it would have been so easy. Most of the stuff would have already been available from sh3 and sh4 (TDC, UI, damage control and so on). So why not simply let the player choose in the game options screen?

Concerning the intention of creating a real life atmosphere by modelling the whole sub interior, what's the use of this, when most of the dials and gauges do not work and cannot be used by the player? And even worse, there were things that worked in older versions and don't any more in sh5. For example the TDC and the switches for the Torp tubes in the tower, that worked perfectly in sh 4.

The numerous bugs were mentioned by many others, so no use to repeat things.

So in my opinion sh5 is a huge step into the wrong direction. I'm very disappointed.

karamazovnew

03-08-10, 07:15 AM

TopCat, although I agree with you in some aspects, I'd like to get a few things cleared:

1. The new TDC is the same as the old Notepad. Actually wait, this one WORKS (the UBM one didn't). I've had absolutely no problems using it. The only thing it's missing is a gyro (and even that you can see on the map). It only takes a few hours to get the all dials TDC back from the dead.

2. By working 3d objects in the interior I think you're referring to SH3, not SH4. SH4 had horrible interior interactivity (as bad as SH5). SH3 was done with a lot more care and love.

As far as the interface goes, you're still able to do 90% of the things you used to do before, and there's new stuff. I know many complain about the interface being modern. I don't care about the images because they're sooooo easy to mod. The problem is ergonomy. Why did they go from the perfect layout (centralized Officer orders) to a not so perfect layout in sh4 and then to this "run through the sub just to get a report.. oh wait... you can't". It's as if half the buttons are completely missing. It was very badly designed. If I could've talked to them for a couple of hours a few months ago, you'd have the perfect interface right now. And it would look nothing like the old ones (or the new one). Now it's too late. :wah: And no, some things that I wanted to do are not moddable.... because they rely on stuff that's hard-coded.

Able72

03-08-10, 09:12 AM

shmall

03-08-10, 09:49 AM

You can find my review of Silent Hunter V at the link below.

It is my website and is dedicated to gaming reviews etc.

http://www.theblackfedora.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6:silent-hunter-v&catid=1:video-game-reviews&Itemid=7

A good read, however if one is going to review a game/sim, then one should maybe take a bit time to llearnmore how it works?

quote from you " I have as yet to be able to find a way to actually order my men to the deck gun and then order them to actually fire on an enemy vessel"

its easy.....just ask the deck officer and he will order men to the deck gun or flak gun or both, then as in the other SH titles, get your binocs out, line up on the target and press the space bar....they will open fire...simple :)

Able72

03-08-10, 09:54 AM

A good read, however if one is going to review a game/sim, then one should maybe take a bit time to llearnmore how it works?

quote from you " I have as yet to be able to find a way to actually order my men to the deck gun and then order them to actually fire on an enemy vessel"

its easy.....just ask the deck officer and he will order men to the deck gun or flak gun or both, then as in the other SH titles, get your binocs out, line up on the target and press the space bar....they will open fire...simple :)

Thank you. I really was purturbed as to how to order the men to fire without getting on the deck gun myself. In SH 3 and 4 it was much easier to issue that command. I had figured out how to order them to man the deck gun, it was firing that was the problem. That line was there as a way of describing how dificult/non-intuitive it was to figure out how to do things. Also, I failed to mention in the review, that some of the directions in the manual are just plain wrong. For example, it tells you that when you man the deck gun, you can press the Tab key to look through the view finder to target. This simply doesn't work. Making the entire manual suspect and useless. And in the manual it never does tell you how to get your men to fire the deck gun at a target.

Salvadoreno

03-08-10, 12:27 PM

I am a HUGE fan of SH3 and i was kinda a fan of SH4 (just because i didnt enjoy that theatre, but i still bought it). But im just hearing APPALLING things about SH5. Its the right theatre, better graphics, and i HEAR uboots are actually given orders now instead of just given a coordinate to patrol for 24hours. So how bad can it really be?? Should i wait till i purchase?? I mean i am assuming its playable now and when i get tired of vanilla im sure there will be 10+ mods out there to make the game better.

Your thoughts?

Im an old salt thats been hanging around the forums for a while, was pretty active in SH3 in its hayday and beyond, but bought a new comp and wasnt able to play SH3 anymore! But im soooo anxious to fire up SH5 and watch my uboot slip outta wilhelmshaven or lorient with bands playing and flowers being thrown at my tincan! ughghghg sends shivers down me spine!

kylania

03-08-10, 12:41 PM

Get the game and enjoy it. Ignore the nay sayers. Try desperately not to get discouraged by the DRM. Since you've played SH3 the bugs and eventual awesome supermod should be ok for you. Sure some bugs are pretty much game breakers, but they'll be fixed soon or worked around. :)

Just realize it's not a finished game, but it's pretty damn fun and amazingly immersive so far and will only get better.

sav112

03-08-10, 12:55 PM

Just realize it's not a finished game.

I think you said it all there, Shocking.....its not sold at 50% the price is it.

Can’t comment on the game as I’ve not got it or the PC right now to play it. The new Mini Cooper won that battle. But plan to buy a new high end PC later on in the year to play some of the new games.

Obviously I hope the Mods get to work so I might be tempted. Played SHIII with all the Mods and really enjoyed it, shocking out the box but fantastic with the Mod’s.

But what I’ve been reading over the last few weeks is shocking, most of the things I took for granted on SH III seem to have been removed and the AI seems not worth the effort if it’s a duck shoot.

All you can do it read the thoughts on here, but by all accounts it looks as if its Half finished and not even working. Right now the lads cant even play it as the server is down and how poor is that. :oops::oops::oops::oops:

Gammelpreusse

03-08-10, 01:03 PM

The game itself is not at all bad. Now that some basic functions have been readded I actually enjoy it more then I did SHIV out of the box (or at least I would if I could play it right now).

Silent Hunter V has incredible potential given the right modders, and I really congratulate the devs for the new ways of thinking they put into this sim, unfinished or not.

However, right now all debate about this potential is pretty much mood as long the DRM issue has not been resolved.

BaronVonDuncs

03-08-10, 01:12 PM

Mostly I like it myself but I wasn't a heavy SH4 player so I am coming fresh to it.

The depth under Keel is easy to mod into the commands.cfg file just add a key stroke to it and viola (don't forget to add the new cfg file to your campaign save games as well and backup your original). I have it on Shift +N and it works fine and the XO pings and tells me the current DUK.

I would quite like a compass as well and to be able to give a more precise heading order but the hard to port/starboard commands work well enough to bring it round quickly and then you just hit numpad 0 to set it back to 0 degrees so not a big deal so far. The advanced depth controls can be a bit fiddly at times but you can get where you want easily enough.

Conrad von Kaiser

03-08-10, 01:12 PM

Well, finally got my copy from Gamestop. Only took them 4 days to get my pre-order in. Had to get it from another store who had gotten a few copies :damn:

Anyhow, I was psyched for this game. I've been playing the series since the first one came out and it opened the world of the Sub sim to me. SH3 was my favorite though, only reason Is topped playing was because I can't get it to run on my new PC. SH4 was a good stopgap though after I patched it up and finally was able to offload those commando's on the beach for the first mission.

Anyway I'd been following the screenshots, video's and all the other eye candy as it came abou for SH5 and can honestly say it was the most excited I'd been for a game to come out in a long time.

Get it home, pop open the package and begin the install. No problems on the install ( I orginally did German language but had to change it to english, too many things were being said that I couldn't pick up and didn't translate to the little dialogue box in the lower right corner)

Anyhow loaded up the first little tutorial mission and went to work. The fact that you're not the Captain in the beginning and the transition of power was a nie touch that I wasn't expecting. I honestly spent around an hour just walking the ship, looking at everything. I was surprised at just how small the interior of a u-boat was. Lengthwise I mean. Just wasn't expecting to be walking for such a short period before running into the forward or aft torpedo's lol. I took out the ships required and headed to dock. All the while staring in general amazement at the eye candy of the flames, lens flare and all the other special effects.

After I docked I went out on my first patrol in my new Sub. 50,000 Tons around the coats of Britain if I recall correctly. Walked around after I set course from the dock, talked to my crew, upgraded some of their skills and set the time compression. Also learned about the travel button that was a lifesaver while traveling down the Kiel canal. Would have taken forever at 8x compression.

Surprisingly I ran into my first enemy just outside of Shirnau. For some reason there was a Polish Hog Island boat in the canal getting dive bombed. Took her down with the deck gun. Ran into another just as I was exiting the Canal into the Elbe.

2 ships already, well that's good for those instant gratification types lol. So I set my course for Grimsby, ready to truly begin my mission. Ran into a few contacts on the way and took them with the deck gun. I managed to evade the 4 Destroyer screen around the Grimsby port. 4 destroyers quickly turned to 2 as the 2 inermost ran aground and sank themselves around that small islip that juts out. Popped up my attack periscope (After I finally found it) and proceeded to go to town on the multitude of docked tankers and freighters.

Completed the mission, returned home and then haven't been able to play it since Friday due to the servers being down or something.

Now onto my views of the game

I love the new damage modeling. It actually looks like something hit the ship as opposed to just marking up the hull. The random spurts of flame from the superstructure when hit by HE rounds, or the billowing black smoke out of the portholes is absolutely phenominal. I also love that fact that different parts of the boat can break off as opposed to just blowing her up in the middle. Got a laugh when I caught a destroyer with a torpedo and watched the first 10 feet of her nose sail on as the rest sank.

However, unless you just outright blow up one of these ships do they sink? I don't know what's up with that health bar (I don't play with full realism... 15% realism really) and I know I turned it off, but for some reason it won't go away. Also it seems unless you're actively pelting them with the deck gun or sending more torpedo's into them, that bar won't move.

Case in point was a Tanker in Grimsby. Surfaced at night (Had spent all my torpedo's) and started firing with the deck gun. I blew off the back portion of the tanker and watched her settle in the water. Incoming machine gun fire made me submerge but I watched her that whole night, into the next day and she sat there with no problem. I noticed it another time after resupplying and heading back to Grimsby. Ran across a single Hog Island frieghter who took 3 torpedo's, listed to the side and continued on her merry way. I've only had those two occurences so far so I don't want to create too much of an opinion on that, but at least in SH4 if I sent 3 torpedo's into a lowly freighter I could count on her eventually sinking lol

Next, targeting. Let me just say that I suck at math so I've used auto in all my campaigns. I know, I know, it's not real, it's not the way it's supposed to be done in a sub sim, but I just can't for the life of me do manual targeting and be expected to hit anything except a lucky straight on stern shot from a DD that's already found me. I apologize, tried it with the intention of doing it for 2 weeks straight and never could get the hang of it. What I do however is target, figure out what type of ship and it's running depth and set my Torpedoe's usually 3 meters below so I can have them explode under rather then into. I've always loved this method of targeting and have gotten somewhat profficient at it.

I come across a Tanker on the way to Grimsby. ID it and get the image of the keel on the depth chart. Now that's something I like a lot and applaud them for doing. Unknown distance... OK, that's new. Use staidmeter, holy crud what happened to my periscope. I lign up the images, I try to super-impose them, I try to lay one on top of the other. Now i know he's close but the readings I continue to get are 12,600 meters at a speed of 342 knots. OK. Doing something wrong obviously. Let's pause and consult the manual....... OK that doesn't work, let's check the internet. OK, that's how you use it in real life, let's try this out. 1,200 meters at a speed of 6 knots. Much more realistic sounding for a tanker. re-adjust my attack scope (Guess autotracking when you lock on a target is gone now) flood tube one, set torpedo speed and fire... Watch as torpedo misses aft of the tanker, who saw the wake on a moonless night and is now jitterbugging left and right. So go back to step one. Reset distance, now 900 meters, reset speed 5 knots. Set speed, Fire.... And almost the same thing. Nearly identical distance aft as the first one. I figured heck with this, turned off the TDC and am met with a torpedo trajectory and some rather large numbers. Return to manual to see what the deal is with this method of targeting...... And after finding nothing instead of returning to the internet I figure I'll just make #1 on the torpedo path co-incide with #1 on the ship path. Fire and finally a hit. I switch to exterior view to survey the damage and watch the crew walking around the deck of the ship as it sit's on the seabed 90 feet under water.

Once again I set course to Grimsby. I run across a contact kind of far away. In the old ones I'd just set a new course on the compass to go investigate and then return to course once the merchant was sunk. Guess you can't do that in this one. Had to go to the map, and move one of the waypoints to intercept the unknown contact. Another solitary Tanker. Set up my firing lines, just about to press fire when my sub suddenly begins turning port. It reached the waypoint I had moved and was now heading to the next one back to Grimsby :-?

After a frantic few seconds of getting back on course to sink the ship I again head for Grimsby.

All in all, I don't know how I feel about SH5 yet. SH3/4 the control scheme was the same so I often find myself intuitively pressing buttons to do things before realising I can't do it that way anymore. The targeting is going to take some serious getting used to for me and hopefully I learn a little more about the damage and how to damage a ship so it sinks on it's own rather then relying on me blowing it out of the water.

So far I'm in the middle about it, with some more playtime (Hopefully I can get to play a little when I get home from work today as opposed to the error I've been getting since Friday) I'll have a better opinion. But at this point I kinda wish that it was SH3 controls and style but with all the added eye candy and features..

Sorry for the long post guys and have a good one.

IRISH4Life

03-08-10, 01:17 PM

Is it worth the money? I am happy with SH 4 1.5 TMO+ RSRD working perfectly.

I was thinking of buying it but wont if its NOT WORTH IT? My computer can handle it on Window 7 with enough mem and video card.

IRISH4life:down::up:

sav112

03-08-10, 01:27 PM

Well right now the game might look fantastic but it would be great if you could see it. I’m not a company Basher, but congratulating I think would be last the majority on here would do.

It’s a bit like congratulating the Captain of the Titanic -Its a job well done sir if we don’t take the many faults, the fact you hit a iceberg and no one can now sail on her, but hey she did look the part. :yeah:

Piggy

03-08-10, 01:39 PM

I would like a clock please...

You know a date/time, or just time of day... is it too much to ask for that to be present at all times?

I do like the new UI actually, at first I found it totally awkward, like everything was just turned upside down but after I while Im used to it. I actually like that you have manually go down into the conning tower to dive. Though, I think a "cut-scene" for this might have been better.

What I mean is a command (or key) to clear the deck/bridge, then it automatically moves you down the ladder but it still looks the same, its just the AI moving you. The movement on ship can be quite eratic/awkward, its frustrating trying to get lined up to go down the hatch sometimes. I suppose as I play it more I'll get used to the FPS keys, but its been a while since I played a FPS game.

Salvadoreno

03-08-10, 01:45 PM

What is the worst bug in your opinion that makes the game so unplayable?? Whats the back breaker?

SteamWake

03-08-10, 01:57 PM

What is the worst bug in your opinion that makes the game so unplayable?? Whats the back breaker?

Probably the biggest problem is the save game issues.

The save games are not saving vital information such as weather and worst of all "Morale". Any morale you gained prior to the save vanishes.

In case you dont know if you issure orders with no moral on the boat the orders will NOT be carried out.

The next problem is with the UBI servers themselves screwing up folks user names and passwords not allowing those pepole to play.... that is when the servers are actually working.

SabreHawk

03-08-10, 01:58 PM

I agree, there's far too many here that are ranting and complaing and are the sort that cant be satisfied.
Frankly im having a fine time with it and totally in awe at how well they have simulated the sea in this one. Now im going from SH3 straight to SH5 here having passed up SH4 so I have no other reference. So what I see is what I always wanted form SH3, the boat in it's entirety and to be able to explore it throughout both inside and out.:up:
As far as issues, the only thing so far is the lack of a compass dial to steer by and of course to know what heading im on at anygiven momment. But these and many other little things will be fixed in time, and there are mods availible to fix some.

And no there has never been one piece of software ever written that was released in a finished state. Yes even the OS your computer runs on, need constantly updated and patched for the entirety of it's lifetime.
Thats the software world, and has been this way always.

Fankly I think it's what one's own expectations are, and for far too many it's too high and no software engineer can cope with that.

DarkFish

03-08-10, 02:01 PM

I think you said it all there, Shocking.....its not sold at 50% the price is it.

Can’t comment on the game as I’ve not got it or the PC right now to play it.Then why do you do? as you said if you haven't got the game you aren't really in a position to complain about the game since you haven't played it yet.

Now I can't say SH5 is the most finished game I ever saw, but so far I haven't seen any game breaking bugs.

Eldritch

03-08-10, 02:05 PM

That was a great read. Makes me want to go out on a patrol again.

Anyway, don't apologize for running at 15% difficulty and/or using auto-targeting. As long as the game is fun to play for YOU, use whatever setting you like. When you want to try something different, just raise this and that until you get comfortable with that etc.

Regarding the health-bars that won't turn off, enter a campaign and when you're in the sub pen, hit ESC and change the realism options again. They will get saved for the rest of the campaign this way.

codmander

03-08-10, 02:30 PM

Hav'nt purchased sh5 yet? Well don't!! I've read review after review at places like amazom and its pretty much the same... unfinished..DRM...Bugs
weather modders or ubi decide to fix and/or finish sh5 it is not worth..
47$ ..:down: Maybe to some 50$ isn't a lot of cash.. To me I'ts not about how much it's about treating people FAIRLY instead of being GREEDY!!
This sim should not be purchased because of fairness and greed...We all know we would play 3 times as much for a GOOD subsim This is just a greedy play and should be avoided at all cost..Lining the pokets of these people just creates more unfinished products...I feel sorry for people who payed these people for this unfinished sim and now have to depend on others to fix it..........................sad just that ....sad

SteamWake

03-08-10, 02:34 PM

I have been as critical as the next man.

Still I find the game an amusing diversion.

Hopefully the modders can 'finish' the game for us.

theluckyone17

03-08-10, 02:38 PM

I wouldn't call for a boycott. Simply let people read these forums and the reviews, and let them make a decision on their own.

Eldritch

03-08-10, 02:41 PM

I payed around $100 for SH5 (bought 2 copies, the LE from amazon and the ordinary version from gamersgate) and I still think it was worth every penny. Sure, there are some bugs but other than the morale bug there's nothing that breaks the game completely. I haven't had this much fun since SH3 came out.

Above all else, this game SHOULD be bought because if Ubisoft doesn't get a high rate of sales, they're going to quit making SH games. I rather have half-finished submarine games that we can fix later on than no submarine games at all.

janh

03-08-10, 02:46 PM

There was a period in which the british loaded freighters with empty barrels, essentially trying to trap U Boote into wasting lots of ammo on such a trap. I forgot, it must have been in 1940, but I don't have any books here to check. I recall a Logbook entry of a U Boot ace describing how he over the course of several hours dumbed a dozen torpedoes into a 5000 BRT vessel. Some were duds, and the rests wasn't sufficient to sink the ship, but it broke apart.

If SHV includes that, I would be very impressed.

141st_Alper

03-08-10, 02:48 PM

Above all else, this game SHOULD be bought because if Ubisoft doesn't get a high rate of sales, they're going to quit making SH games. I rather have half-finished submarine games that we can fix later on than no submarine games at all.

You right!

SabreHawk

03-08-10, 02:51 PM

Right now the biggest software issue I have is this site, and the forum. I've had to make three attempts to post each time cause it's running so sloooow. Yes, this forum is the slowest I've ever used, and im on some pretty large ones too, RCG comes to mind and it loads up in less tnat two seconds.
This subsim foum is lucky to load at all without giving me a broken link screen.
Ok, nuff on that we'll see how many attempts it take to post this time.:damn:

OK so im still on that first training mission in the baltic sea, and am on my way back to Kiel. Having a great time just exploring the boat, even though apparently not everything is active on this mission.
No TC panel, no crew mgmt, and some other things I cant think of right away. But boy I just love that SEA! Man, it knocks my slickers off. (hehe, if I had slickers that is LOL!)

Now I know there are things missing, and I expected that cause like I said there's no game ever that launched completely finished.
What I wish is that folks would stop crying and whinning about it all and calmly state what they see missing, and then maybe the devs could find it all and fix it. Im sure they wish to, and really it's not thier fault that their boss's deadline's are unrealistic. Which is common accross the software industry.

FIREWALL

03-08-10, 03:03 PM

TheBeast

03-08-10, 03:04 PM

A good read, however if one is going to review a game/sim, then one should maybe take a bit time to llearnmore how it works?

quote from you " I have as yet to be able to find a way to actually order my men to the deck gun and then order them to actually fire on an enemy vessel"

its easy.....just ask the deck officer and he will order men to the deck gun or flak gun or both, then as in the other SH titles, get your binocs out, line up on the target and press the space bar....they will open fire...simple :)

I encounter these smae issue's as well. Also, I could not communicate with any of the crew other then to tell them to keep up the good work. I spent hours trying to figure out to man the deck/aa guns. Even after RTFM.
I read his review as well. I am pretty sure he had some of the same problems I did.
I thought SHV was so bad that the game wouldnt even get cracked thinking they wouldn't even want to waste thier time but was very surprised to discover it was cracked within 24hrs.

-TheBeast

Task Force

03-08-10, 03:26 PM

sav112

03-08-10, 03:38 PM

Then why do you do? as you said if you haven't got the game you aren't really in a position to complain about the game since you haven't played it yet.
.

OP "Your thoughts?"

I’m responding to the very real and well documented issues on here and as I’m a fan or have been since the very first game and it’s a forum I can air my view. Simple that really not that hard.I’m responding to the facts on here, I too was looking forward to the game as I too last played only SHIII.

I’m disappointed as most are on here in the community about the game, its nothing close to what I expected and if the best thing said is “the water looks great” then to me that tells a sorry story, nowadays that’s a given in most games. Nut and bolts I might appreciate the water but not a destroyer passing me on the surface or doing sod all if I attack.

Go on read the posts were is the “ I had a fantastic game last night” “This game challenges me with that Ai” “ Wow the atmosphere this game creates” “Have you tried this on an attack I’m blown away about how real this game is”

I’d love to come in here and read that its what we expected and is giving us the playing experience we crave.

rkk01

03-08-10, 05:28 PM

Hi, new to these forums (as a poster anyway)....

I've not yet had much chance to get familiar with SH5 - friends visitng over the w/e, but did get to install, update drivers and get it working.

The game looks fabulous, but one of the problems with more detail, is that it then has to be right. A quick flick through the "museum" first had my jaw on the desk, quickly followed by disappointment. No disrespect to the USN, but the dateline for this needs far greater emphasis on RN escorts.

Not nearly enough variety of British escorts (esp. in contrast to the variety of capital ships), and a long time favourite RN fleet destroyer ruined. The Tribals seem to be modelled with twin 4" HA mounts, rather than the twin 4.7s that were also fitted to the Js and Ks. Mid war updates added a 4" twin in the X position, and I believe the late war RCN tribals were given the 4" twins on A and B - but that would have been after the 1943 game end date...

Where are the work horses of the RN escort fleet - the inter war fleet destroyers pressed into DE service? (one of my relatives served on Echo, Fame and Hotspur and had some stories to tell about those boats), or the graceful War Emergency classes (R excepted...thats in, but the bridge structure is totally wrong for a war emergency). More frigates (DEs) also required at some stage... Town class cruiser missing (was it previously included or am I just remembering GWX??)

Spoiled by GWX attention to detail I guess. More modding potential definately (unfortunately) built in as standard

TwistedFemur

03-08-10, 07:42 PM

In my opinion its a steaming pile of horse hockey:salute:

seriously...health bars?

SH for IPhone could X-box and PS3 be far behind?

Safe-Keeper

03-08-10, 08:16 PM

codmander

03-08-10, 08:25 PM

Conspiracy theory for you all: developers are moving to consoles because of piracy, right? Well, their big plot is to use these DRM schemes to make it so terrible for PC gamers that we move to consoles as well. Mua ha ha ha! :P........yawn yea not for 50-40-30-20-10 9$ umm ok

Sub Marauder

03-08-10, 08:57 PM

I don't know what my brother would think about this game, but out of the box, I don't like it at all. I've been playing SH4 for months and when switching to SH5, I just couldn't stand the arcade transformation. Good thing is that I've been playing it on a friends PC so I have yet to buy a cop for myself. The only gaming PC in my apartment belonged to my brother and it's not connected to the internet which will be a problem. I'll probably pass on this title.

Ron.

shmall

03-08-10, 09:27 PM

Well I'm still loving this subsim after 4 days of play :)
I do hope someone makes a mod to get rid of the damn health bars above ships though? and do something about the crappy escorts not wanting to fight, and planes have only bombed me twice???
so yeah, some things need sorting out, but i expect that a new patch will be here soon with all this moaning going on?
and new mods appear all the time :)

in fact i feel the same amount of excitment paying SH5 that I did with SH3, but sadly never had for SH4?
loving the FP aspect, makes the sim so more immersive, althuogh I do miss some aspects of SH3

only had one real big bug so far (sub thought I was submerged even when surfaced, so we all died of CO2 poisoning :(), and of course the DRM **** :( :(

I am using a few mods to make it better, but overall, I just can't stop playing it and it can only get better with mods :) :)

hope ubi lose the DRM rubbish though??

tsotha

03-08-10, 09:39 PM

I thought the DRM would annoy me, but it's really not *that* bad. You can turn off the autosaves if you want.

I was getting a little discouraged with the game out of the box (or, out of Steam, in my case). I found the tutorial kind of irritating and confusing - don't tell me to go off and sink ships without putting the entire interface there. You can go through everything an instrument at a time, but between the things that aren't there anymore and the things they hadn't enabled yet it was pretty frustrating.

Never played SH!V, but coming from a pretty up-to-date mod version of SHIII, these are my impressions:

The Good:

The graphics, as everyone else notes, especially outside the sub. Water, snow, the lights at port... it all looks gorgeous.
I like the campaign. While I think SHII is great as a sim, it suffers a bit as a game because every mission is "go to this grid, hang out for 24 hours, then wander around trying to sink whatever you find". The ports were done poorly, even after modding, so there really wasn't much to do outside aimlessly wandering around trying to find ships to attack. I like the idea of having my actions influence the campaign. Success opens up new possibilities, named ships stay sunk. Kudos. This is the feature that will make the game worth modding. Otherwise SHIII is just a better game, IMO.

The Bad:

As everyone else noted, it's not finished. I completed my first mission and wasn't allowed to dock, no matter what I did. Reloaded, still no dice. Reloaded again. This time it takes me to the sub pen.. Huh? Exit your game and everyone's morale gets set to zero and they stop following orders. Dive and your deck crew will sometimes stay on deck - you can look out the periscope and see them scanning the ocean depths with their binoculars. That last one is kind of Twilight Zone-y.
British aircraft are flown by tourists. I was all set to try out the flak gun, but pretty much no matter what happens the planes ignore me. I've gotten in the habit of tapping the time compression back up when aircraft are sighted. What would be the point of diving?
Enemy destroyer captains give up easily. Even if you don't change your heading at all after a few minutes they'll go away. Get caught by a destroyer in shallow water in SHIII and you're in a lot of trouble. You can pretty much dive to periscope depth and ignore them in SHV.
The first person thing was great for about ten minutes. After a few hours play it's just annoying. Why didn't they equip my boat with speaking tubes? I can tell I'm going to really, really hate going up and down those damn ladders if I play for any length of time. This really needs hotkeys. Really, really.
Realism. I really got a thrill plotting my own solutions and using the TDC, with all its period knobs and dials and buttons. The new system pulls me back to the present every time I look at it. And there are other things like loading external reserves without surfacing. The bow doesn't go down when you dive or up when you surface.
Bad UI design. It's annoying to use the mouse all the time to move the periscope - my arm is getting tired. No compass. The tactical map seems to come and go at it's own whim. Same with the clock, which should have been 24 hour (It's five o'clock and light out. Is the sun rising or setting?). Some controls, like the deck-gun sights, are non-intuitive and not explained anywhere. The periscopes always go up when you man them, so you have to be quick if you don't want your scope too high above the water line. Not sure if it matters. It should.
The indicators in SHIII were distinctive - well rendered needle gauges and bubble gauges and dials for things like CO2 and fuel level. Here we have straight percentages, so it's like playing a spreadsheet. Doesn't really hurt playability, but the immersion suffers.
The merchant ships are made out of adamantium. I mean, seriously, it takes three or four torpedoes to sink a freighter, no matter where you hit it or what pistol you use. A clean shot a meter under mid keel should break that sucker in half. As is, If you want to sink two ships you're going to be waiting around while the tubes are reloaded, and you'll do a lot of refitting. If you don't get quite enough damage for a sinking sometimes they're aflame from bow to stern but they don't slow down unless they actually sink.

Questionable:

The game only goes to 1943 and only sub you can play is the type VII. I'm actually okay with the time frame. By 1944 any realistic simulation just isn't that much fun - anything worth shooting is in a convoy, and attacking convoys solo has by then become suicidal. Have to admit I miss the type II a bit, but really only because I miss the ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh when I get into the type VII.

Safe-Keeper

03-08-10, 09:51 PM

Thank you very much for your review, keep 'em coming!

TwistedFemur

03-08-10, 10:15 PM

Thank you for your feedback. We will now hear from someone who has actually played the game.

I have played the "GAME" and it's been un-installed and am now using the disc to clean out my cat's litterbox:yeah:

Or is this a fan-boi thread?

Bubblehead1980

03-08-10, 11:58 PM

so health bars can not be disabled? wtf were they thinking?

Parkera

03-09-10, 12:01 AM

What makes you think this?????? They can be disabled in the options menu! :DL

edjcox

03-09-10, 01:41 AM

No I don't own it yet ....

Noticed with dismay that all but a few of the old timers are not here reviewing SH5.

That speaks volumes to me. Been playing the SH series from the start but this version had me put the brakes on...

Guess I'll wait a bit...

Thanks to those of you who are opinining on the game and I am reading what's being said.

So far its :down: for the most part...

Maltro

03-09-10, 03:07 AM

SH4 was, until yesterday, my favorite game. But it takes time to be playable cause there were lots of bugs at start.

SH5 seems to be less buggy and Ubisoft seems to be unappy... So they decided to make a super-DRM-protection to make the game unplayable.
But we have already speak about this dark part of the game so here is my opinion about Dev's job.

SH5 is the most immersive, beautiful and fun game I have ever play before. I buy 2 games by month in average since 14 years on multi supports in my quest of the perfect game and this time, I am really near of what I was looking for.

+ dynamic campaign give me an aim to play more than I have not in SH4.
+ graphic unbelievable (see my screen down)
+ first person is a real good idea to increase realism and immersion

- DRM kill the game

bye!

Maltro

03-09-10, 03:10 AM

sorry for double post (stupid iPhone... Or stupid big fingers! :) )

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u204/maltro/SH5/SH52010-03-0822-32-54-10.jpg

shark11

03-09-10, 03:49 AM

if you are think on getting this DONT, its a joke.
ubisoft have lost the blot,
this is not a WW11 sub sim, its a game were you should put a $1 in a slot and have 2 mins of fun
I started playing with Ace of the deep, and all the silent hunters, but this one is crap, :damn:
thak you not.

Mooncatt

03-09-10, 06:00 AM

im gonna go back on nearly everything ive said.
after a few more hours gameplay and a little research to increase my knowledge of "how to do stuff" im really enjoying it now. yes yes there are a few bugs but hey, im sure it will get patched.
the auto aim is dead easy to use once you get used to it as is everything else.
shame about the damn DRM but other than that, all good here so far.

Safe-Keeper

03-09-10, 09:06 AM

I have played the "GAME" and it's been un-installed and am now using the disc to clean out my cat's litterbox:yeah:

Or is this a fan-boi thread?
No, it's a review thread, where you write what you like and dislike about the game so that those of us who haven't played it can better make a buying decision decision. Merely hopping in and shouting what amounts to "hai all this game sux kthxbai" isn't helpful in any way.

It's frustrating that those who enjoy the game post why, while those of you who claim to hate it just post three lines and leave. First of all it makes it hard for me to believe that you've played it, and secondly, as I said already, it's useless as it doesn't help me decide if I should get it or not.

Whenever I'm looking into a product on Amazon, I always read the 1-star reviews first, because they're the ones that go into detail about the book/game/film/whatever's shortcomings.

marcel1980

03-09-10, 10:28 AM

My first impression was very very mixed -its like your mother-in-law crashed in your new car- . Ok the visuals are great, big thanks to the devs but the game itself is totaly dumbed down :(. I dont want to see any health bars nor seeing a fireworks explosions (by the way where's the water splash from torpedoes??} The whole game has gone a big step for the casual player which is sad. I couldnt believe my eyes seeing all the info near my scope which - my sub sensors, enemy sensors etc. i guess german kaleuns would have won the war having these? ;).

However after finished the crappy first mission which showed all the arcadish elements, it got a bit better. My second impressions were actualy good and i enjoyed the game but then again discovered so many errors like my hydrophone guy picking sounds {surfaced boot} on 20 km distanced etc. Im looking forward for some patches and mainly mods!

Safe-Keeper

03-09-10, 11:42 AM

I bought the game today and have a feeling it will feel like Mirror's Edge to me - a mixed bag that I'll do my utmost to like, despite being disappointed by some facets.

Will try to post screenshots of Norwegian ports and fjords soon-ish!

Ipecac

03-09-10, 12:01 PM

I am impressed by the positivity that I see here. Everywhere else I read forums it's a bloody flame-fest. Good for you guys!

That being said, and this being the "What do you think" thread, I must say I am stunned by the lack of quality control in this product. For me, the game is was broken right off the bat, because I can't select the first mission at all. So there's a game breaking bug in the first 10 minutes. That's bad.
Second when I'm out patrolling there are surface contacts when I'm submerged, hydrophone contacts when I'm surfaced, failure of the crew to REPORT new contacts, and so on and so forth. So, horribly buggy.

I don't mind the new button scheme etc. but I really feel like there are way way too few things you can actually DO with the buttons in the game. Can't call out depth under keel? Return to course? etc.

I would have liked to see an improvement in the captains ability to interface with the boat. When I open up F1 to see what I can do.. I'm puzzled. Seems like in a hardcore subsim with realism at 100% every button on the keyboard, plus shift, alt, and ctrl should be able to do something.

The visuals are good, I love the ocean and the sub model, but the merchant models are virtually identical in many cases. Can anyone tell the difference between the large steamer and the liberty ship? i don't think there is one. There are like 8 merchants in the target id book thing.

Thankfully, modders will come to the rescue, as this is the single best modder community I have EVER had the pleasure to follow, but they are being charged with finishing the game.. and that is not how it should be done.

I'm not saying I want a refund and I hate UBI and all that, but an honest review at this stage just has to be very very negative.

I fully expect to love this game, once it's received several patches and myriad mods from the community!

Kudos ubisoft for making a subsim, but I'd like to see it polished like so many other ubisoft releases. :hmmm:

Safe-Keeper

03-09-10, 12:15 PM

Wonderful so far - the installer gives me the choice between "Complete" and "Custom" Install, and if I didn't know better (thank you, whoever on this forums it was who pointed out this flaw), I'd have picked "Complete", but it turns out that in order to get German voice lines, you have to choose "Custom" for a choice between English and German voices:shifty:. Despite the two choices being shown as checkboxes, not bullet points, you do not have the option to install both German and English voices - checking one box will uncheck the other.

Furthermore, the game's default path is "C\Ubisoft\Silent Hunter 5" or something, and I've been told that installing it to Program Files will cause bugs ingame. I don't have space on D drive, which is a small hard drive in my case, and so I really hope the game won't mind me installing it to D drive:nope:.

marcel1980

03-09-10, 12:31 PM

Woodybcn

03-09-10, 12:49 PM

Hi Maltro,
What a great picture!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:up:
Well, I'm biting my nails since March 4th because in Spain SH5 will appear on March 11th!!!! (as always, in Spain, late, late, late.):-?

I've been reading all your posts (almost), basically are negative. Well, just think about positive things:

-We have a NEW SIMULATOR!!
-Stunning graphics
-Open source software to large changes
-A qualified community of modders

If in a week we have seen so many mods, think in a near future!!
Try to be a little patient and we'll have a GREAT simulator.

If you, in spite of it, still are negative, always can take again SH3 or 4.;)

Safe-Keeper

03-09-10, 02:13 PM

Have played, or rather tried to, for some time now, will post more detailed feedback when I've had some more experience.

By the way, am I the only one who finds this smiley :salute: sort of... disturbing, seeing we're playing a game in the era of the Nazis :P ?

Medzell

03-10-10, 03:59 AM

If you run in Auto TDC it's a simple shoot-em -up kids' game I'm afraid.

Once the penny drops with what you need to do with the join the dots system it's very, very simple indeed to get hit after hit after hit.

Move over to Manual TDC and you see just how the Devs never really considered it being anything other than a kids' video game.

Trying to read the plotting tools (especially within the shaded "enemy awareness" zone") is all but impossible. Trying to read the figures in the scope or UZO at night is IMPOSSIBLE. The Stadimeter is seriously inaccurate. I have a lack of graphics card ability at the moment (there's a replecement on the way) which might be the cause of the fact that the stop watch runs slow which means it has to be set at 2x speed to do a mark, time, mark speed calculation.

Having said all that, I'm going to stick with it for a while yet (it'll be interesting to see what happens once I DO have a sufficiently powerful graphics card) before I get to the uninstall and toss box in a corner stage.

Out of the box SH5 is very poor indeed BUT it may not be totally beyond redemption once the Modders get their hands on it.

Having said that, if it's not possible to improve the Manual Plotting, targeting and firing then they might as well simply release it on PS3 or Xbox once they fix the dozens of other problems listed in all the other posts apart from mine.

If you're an Auto TDC fan, have fun. If you're a Manual TDC fan and prefer to use 100% realism, it'll be back to SH3 with GWX and MaGUI with the rest of us I guess

MadDog09

03-10-10, 05:48 AM

and we are the Testers!

Ablemaster

03-10-10, 06:03 AM

Like many ive bought all previous SH series and expected so much, but in all honesty this is so bad its hard to believe. Graphics are wonderful if youve got a powerful computer to run it that is, gameplay is terrible, its got more bugs than the average jungle. Dont upset yourself stay away from this one. Until its sorted, if it can be. Whats so obvious is that ubi could not of possibly pre tested this. Ive always been a Silent Hunter fan and like many have bought this regardless, but it is so bad i can hardly believe it. Seems like the movies, ubi spend on advertisement and hype and unfortunately we all pay the price. Still i live in hope, well you got to havent you, thanks to all the modders we still have a chance to enjoy this.

PS: if anyone wants to buy it from Amazon UK they have dropped their price again, yeh already now only 22 quid, get it while its low. says it all doesnt it.

Fledermaus

03-10-10, 07:33 AM

Well since I'm a noob and can't even finish the first campaign with success, I still love the game. There's a lot to explore, a lot to learn, the graphics are nice. Only dissapointed about the key mapping that's absent since I'm using a different keyboard layout. Gonna break a finger one day by pressing "go forward" in such unnatural way...

I have no issues with the online protection thingy, only once I got disconnected and that was because of an attack on the ubi-servers or something like that.

spf69

03-10-10, 07:41 AM

ive been hearing so much bad press about sh5..but i will still buy it and its guna cost me $100 here in australia its just hit the shelfs here im sure with mods it will all work out..stop winging pomes..:ping: your lucky it only cost you guys 20 quid..

kvbrock82

03-10-10, 09:24 AM

Typical Ubisoft! :x Highest price fathomable, all about the graphics with serious shortcomings in gameplay. They have swindled me one time too often and each time i said never again but this time I will put my foot down. I am waiting a few months till the price drops. Wont be paying my hard earned money for their usual unfinished products so ill definitely be waiting till its price is at least 50%, as its pretty evident that that is all it is worth. My thoughts are with the modders..

Gabucino

03-10-10, 11:02 AM

Review (http://bombahir.hu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1166:silent-hunter-5&catid=105:rovat-tudtech-hirek&Itemid=487) of Silent Hunter 5 in the hungarian media.

Well, actually I wrote it.

nycoroner05

03-10-10, 12:56 PM

Do you know at a glance what general compass direction you're headed in? What your fuel supply is? What your battery level is?

No. Therefore you do not have more awareness of the situation. Q.E.D.

good point

hachiman

03-10-10, 03:25 PM

I'ver played all 4 SH games and would probably say this is my least favourite.

The Pro's

Graphically it's beautiful. I love it!!
Being able to walk around and through your boat and interact with the crew.
Small neat nice touches like the Kiel canal.

The Con's (If i am wrong in any of these things then please correct me)

Escorts that are useless. They seem uber slow and i think they have dropped depth charges (Approx 2) near me. I've been rammed a few times with minimal damage as i tend to ignore escorts as they are so weak.
Salvo is 4 torpedoes or nothing. No twin or triple shots.
No Salvo spread angle.
Just straight running torps. I haven't seen a ladder pattern or an acoustic torp.
No escorts with hedgehogs((But perhaps like the torps i haven't got to the point they appear.)

It's back to SH3 for me.

quantumpawn

03-10-10, 05:43 PM

Although new to the forum, I have been playing sub sims since Silent Service for the Commodore 64. I was very excited about the release of SH5. That is, til I learned of the new DRM. I absolutely will not buy any game that has such a ridiculous DRM. That being said, from everything I have read on multiple forums, I can say that Ubisoft did me a favor, because it appears that the game itself is a complete disaster. I sympathize with those who purchased the game.

Safe-Keeper

03-10-10, 05:55 PM

LiveGoat

03-10-10, 11:30 PM

Some have complained about the the stubby torpedo graphics in the load out screens but for me they take me back to the good 'ol days of Aces of the Deep. Also the ping kinda sounds like the one it used as well.

Also, I might as well give a review. I think she's a diamond in the rough. The only real worm in the apple is the drm. Everything else seems moddable. Will it make it a pioneering sub game? Maybe not but with a little work she can be a worthy upgrade.

I owe an apology to the devs. I really didn't like the interiors when I saw the first few screens but now I love em. I love ducking my head through the hatch when I request contact reports and seeing the soundman peer around the corner at me. In fact the forward bulkhead hatch is my favorite place to rest my fat captain's ass while overseeing the lads. With the 3 gauge and shortcut keys mods I can still have a bit of the functinality of the old games. The graphics of course are very nice and run surprisingly well on my 8800gt with 2gigs of ram. The water looks fantastic. Underwater it's a bit like the U.S. Gulf Coast but that can be fixed... or not, there are other more pressing issues.

Things I hate:

-I don't know if this is chronic or just my own isolated issue but if you get flooding and the ship leans heavily to port or starboard then you better make damn sure you are in the command room or it's all over, reload. You will find it impossible to enter through the command hatches forward or aft. I think it has to do with the extreme angle of the 1st person camera.

-Dumb crew. This has already been talked to death

-Morale. I don't use it so I don't know exactly how it works but I modded it out from the get go. It'd be nice for the option to be in the settings.

-The pop ups, tool tips, "helpful" info icons and messages are annoying. I feel like I'm playing the game as broadcasted on MSNBC. I can't believe a NASDAQ report hasn't scrolled along the bottom of the screen yet. Yes I know what a merchant and a warship is. Tell me once and then only show me their ranges andspeeds from then on.

-Scope Views: I don't hate the scope UI nearly as much as I did before I actually bought and played the game. The simplicity is nice, actually,although a more authentic looking torpedo button interface would look good in the upperleft corner instead of the default. The tube selection buttons look like keys ripped off of the Enigma machine. Wait a minute, now I know why our messages are unreadable! Bernard! That said, if any modders wanna put some TDC dials in here I won't kick them out of bed. :03:

-Some of the outlandish explosions are nice and have their place. Others feel like I'm in a Jerry Bruckheimer movie. Also the sinking mechanics and... aahhh you know. As to the Street Fighter health bars? I just deleted then from the config. I hope that didn't screw anything up. It seemed to do the trick. Oh well I'll blame any mistakes I made on Ubi and the DRM. Just kidding.

-Oh, the DRM. Utter crap. This game requires more from me than AC2 in terms of shepherding my game along. Progress in this game is pretty slow so when you get to a spot and save and backup save you want to be damn confident that those saves will be there when you log back on to youbeflacid's server. In any other game it may be annoying to have to start from an earlier save. In SH5 it can make you want to walk away from the game for a few days or forever. Even saving every five minutes won't guaratee you will have all those saves. I'm not sure about everybody else but this has happened quite a few times already for me. In short, DRM's more trouble than it's worth.

-No option to just right click the frig down the hatch. I still like running up and down the ladder at this point but sometimes you just wanna get on with it, especially when your replaying your mission for the third time due to Ubifart's server losing your current saves. I just want options is all ahm sayin' aight?

-Wish the boys had more to say. I realize it's a new gameplay thing for SH but it'd be cool to have more to talk about. I kinda like it though.

-One place that could definitely have used those damn "helpful" hints would have been the crew management screen. It wasn't until the second mission of the campaign that I realized I had to distribute skill candy to the lads.

Anyway, I think she has potential. Keep in mind that I have played it with pretty much every new mod installed that didn't conflict, which is to say nearly all the mods, and (by the way, thank you to the modders for such a quick bud nipping to some of the immediate issues) so maybe I would've had a less enjoyable experience had I played vanilla, but the game is not a failure out of the gate so much as an underdog in the making. Of course time will tell. BTW I ain't getting rid of SH3 just yet. I just got a VIIC and still have work to do in that game.

fisherstoys1

03-11-10, 12:02 AM

I have only seen and read about this game. Right now I will stick to SH3.
It was surprising in one sense that UBI puts out a game for Vista and here we have Win7 coming.
And what is with the lack of different types of player subs?
Grant

tonschk

03-11-10, 04:25 AM

:woot: I LOVE the :yeah: Silent Hunter 5 :rock: , I already deleted removed the SH3 and the very very buggy SH4

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/847/beautyd.png (http://img502.imageshack.us/i/beautyd.png/)

Misfit138

03-11-10, 10:17 AM

Got the game today. So far its seems relatively decent. Sure there's a lot of talk what it's lacking and all but in all seriousness, how is this surprising? My experiences with ubi's games are that they are prematurely released, buggy as hell and in the end, badly supported

But at this point I am wondering things like "All new code" and the talk about accessibility for new players. What was the point in lying that it was going to be all new code? Or maybe it really is all new code but they've gone to extreme lenghts to bring back all the same bugs we had in SH3 and SH4

And accessibility. The manual is useless and like it wasnt enough when they removed certain commands in SH4 compared to SH3, this time they did go even further. How do I tell my watch officer to stop firing the deck gun? How do I tell my sonar man to follow the nearest target? etc. The way all this was done in SH3 was IMO perfect. I dont understand why they dropped that

The UI all in all is bad and im not talking about the "modern" look. Actually, I like it. Its just that its lacking compass, rudder control and those officer icons from SH3 would be more than useful. This new approach of being a captain and going to a person to give a command is a nice try but its impractical. When I'm on the bridge and I want to order battle stations, I have to go down the ladders to give that order and then go back to the bridge? No, just no. And sure, there's hotkeys but doesnt it defeat the purpose of UI?

VonGlaus

03-11-10, 10:53 AM

I feel like I'm playing the game as broadcasted on MSNBC. I can't believe a NASDAQ report hasn't scrolled along the bottom of the screen yet.

...its got more bugs than the average jungle.

My first impression was very very mixed -its like your mother-in-law crashed in your new car- .

This thread is worth it just for the one-liners. :rotfl2:

jason210

03-11-10, 02:09 PM

Hi

I haven't bought it yet, partly because I'm waiting to put together a new system, but also partly because I'm put off by this DRM. I think that really sucks. I have bought every SH game when it came out - even if I didn't have the power to run it. This is the first time I've hesitated.

I've read a lot about SH5 and seen plenty of videos on you tube. The graphics quality and the ability to walk up and down the sub are nice features, but not if they at the expense of the functionality we have seen in the previous versions. I was hoping for more flexibility, not less.

I understand from this thread that many gauges are missing from the HUD, including the compass? And no depth under keel? Is it true that there is no depth under keel function at all? And where's the TDC? There was a good one in SHIII, a slightly less functional one in SHIV, and now it appears they have done away with altogether?

I'll wait for my new system before I buy it. Hoperfully by then they'll get rid of that annoying DRM system, and also patches and mods will come out bringing more user controls and instruments to the simulation.

Gilbou

03-11-10, 02:17 PM

So do you guys have an idea of when you will have finished beta testing the game so it can be published ?

:rotfl2:

U56

03-11-10, 02:44 PM

I understand from this thread that many gauges are missing from the HUD, including the compass? And no depth under keel? Is it true that there is no depth under keel function at all? And where's the TDC? There was a good one in SHIII, a slightly less functional one in SHIV, and now it appears they have done away with altogether?

There is a mod out that remaps the keyboard, "depth under keel" is Shift+D.

Regards

pocatellodave

03-11-10, 04:03 PM

I picked the game up at Fred Meyer's,the internet part confused me---I have a constant internet DSL connection.It sounded like a Steam type thing and I hate that,as I play Order of War using the Steam thingy.I was about to purchase it,but I thought everytime I buy a Ubisoft product,it always ends up being a patch-a- thon.I put the game down,and I'm glad I did.Let the devs and modders straighten this mess up,then I'll glady fork over my 50 bones.Just another Ubisoft get it out the door,and let the players figure out how to fix it.Soon there will be no computer software for games,as the consoles are slowly but surely wrapping up the market.It's sad to see,but we knew it was coming.
pocatellodave

Frank Smith

03-11-10, 04:47 PM

RobP

03-11-10, 05:08 PM

After buying this game last Friday I almost ended up returning it because of DRM problems. Basically I had problems running it Sat and Sun and couldn't run it at all until very late on Mon. The DRM really needs to be looked at by Ubi :nope:

As for the game itself it is growing on me.

I hear many people decrying it as arcadey, but then complain that they don't know the depth under their hull in the same thread. I think the developers designed the game to make you act like a Captain onboard and face some of the restrictions he has to face.

Examples of this are:
i. Can't lower Obsv Peri but I can lower attack Peri - I think this is a deliberate design decision in that the attack peri view finder stays at constant height regardless of peri height. This means that you can stow the attack peri whilst looking through it as the viewfinder doesn't move. On the other hand the view finder for the Obs Peri goes below floor level when its mast is lowered, hence why I think they removed the ability for the player to lower it when looking through it.

ii. No compass to click bearing. I think this is done for realism too. The compasses on the U-Boat only allow rough readings to be taken. They are not like some modern ships compasses which incorporate sight lines on them to allow a very accurate call out to a particular bearing. SH5 removes this super accuracy which I think is good.

As for targetting etc, I play on max realism and find the controls much easier to use than SH 3's. Once one knows how to use the kit there is no need to guess leads for the torps. Just aim the peri and fire! Having the chart to hand by the peri to plot out the targets is I think a very good move and very handy. My only issue with it is that many of the drawing tools can be quite finiky to use. I'm probably sticking my neck out here, but I actually prefer the new UI to the old one!

Bugs? There are plenty, but most I can work around. Some issues I'd like to see addressed are:

1. Time Compression (TC): Right now it stops for trivial stuff and sometimes continues for much more serious stuff like enemy ships for instance. In fact all of my deaths in SHV so far (there have been 4) are due to time compression getting me into situations that had it not been on I would not have got the sub into (such as ramming an enemy destroyer for instance). I personally don't want TC slowing down at every way point or shallow water if I'm surfaced. I just want it to jump to 1:1 when an enemy ship or plane gets spotted.

2. Spotting needs sorting. It all seems quite random. Sometimes I could be in spitting distance of a British destroyer and it drives on by without firing a shot - other times they spot me miles off and shell my sub to pieces.

3. Return to Course! Yes we need this!!!! Judging by the way the sub plot arrows change to hollow arrows when you go manual I'm guessing there is a way to return to course it is just that the manual (for want of a better word) is not telling us!

4. Shipping AI in harbour - Why is it that most of the shipping I see tends to be driving perpendicular to the river direction? Very unrealistic. Normally ends up with said ships colliding and sometimes exploding when they hit the harbour wall! Whilst this is entertaining having ships continously cross your path makes for unwanted and unrealistic navigation hazards.

5. My Sonar Guy - he needs to start sending me reports. The sonar also needs to start plotting contacts!

6. The radio guy should feed me with radio transmissions of spotted convoys. I don't always look at my map or log book so I end up missing them. In real life the radio operator would be telling the captain. And whilst I'm talking about the radio wouldn't it be better if I used it or the operator to send and receive reports instead of doing it rather unintiuitively through the log book...

7. The well known morale bug desperately needs fixing...

8. Random game performance and mouse sensivity. There is a bug in the code causing this. I don't understand how for similiar scenes the mouse sensitivity can change from hyper sensitive to incrediably insensitive. Heading into the sub or heading aft then returning fwd also seems to increase your walking speed such that it sounds like one is tap dancing!

9. I know this is not really required, but I demand to see the subs heads are modelled!!!!!

10. Not a bug, but believe it or not I purchased and watched Das Boot for the first time 2 days ago. It was a brilliant film and I was suprised at how right they got the sub's insides in the game. The downside, is that the film has spoilt me. It was a bit of an eye opener to see so many crew! The crew numbers really lent to the claustrophobic atmosphere of the film. (Some parts of the film reminded me of the old days when I used to be in the RN serving on Leander class frigates where there isn't really enough room in the messes and everyone is squashed in sitting on the floor and on other peoples bunks) But alas the sim now seems quite devoid of crew. I know it might be a big performance hit but I'd love to see a full complement of crew :)

I really like the game and particularly like the atmosphere created by being able to walk around the sub. I actually prefer it to SH 3 now :) For the moment I'm happy to forgive the DRM and the sim's short comings due to the fun it generates. I just wish I didn't die so often in time compression accidents....

Sailor Steve

03-11-10, 05:17 PM

...I purchased and watched Das Boot for the first time 2 days ago...
Which version?

RobP

03-11-10, 05:22 PM

Which version?

The Directors cut - though I have to confess I don't know which one is the best version. Watched it in German with English subtitles. Superb film - it seems to convey real Naval life quite well :)

Sailor Steve

03-11-10, 05:34 PM

Director's Cut is technically the best, but the 'Original, Uncut Version' adds another hour-and-a-half of awesome storyline - almost five hours total.

Elder-Pirate

03-11-10, 08:19 PM

jason210

03-12-10, 06:20 AM

....It's sad to see,but we knew it was coming.
pocatellodave

I don't think that will happen. What seems to be happening is a shift in focus. About 10 years ago, the best games were designed for PC, and then various console developers brought out console versions. Now it's changing. Games are designed with the console platform in mind, and then PC versions are brought as a secondary platform. This means a certain amount of dumbing down and shift in focus away from games that require a keyboard to operate in favour of controller pad peripherals. A classic example of this is Operation Flashpoint 2, which has a controller pad menu system on the screen.

There will always be PC games, and the PCs will always be the plaform of choice for small, dedicated developers like Austin Meyer, and for freeware stuff like Oribiter.

jason210

03-12-10, 06:32 AM

The DRM really needs to be looked at by Ubi :nope:

Yes. Like remove it!

I hear many people decrying it as arcadey, but then complain that they don't know the depth under their hull in the same thread. I think the developers designed the game to make you act like a Captain onboard and face some of the restrictions he has to face.

When you take away functions that were present in earlier games, like the rudder indicator, the TDC, depth under keel, return to course, opening closing tube doors and so on, it does make you feel like it's been dumbed down. I agree that not having everything to hand on the HUD makes it more realistic, but in that case you should be able to operate equipment by going to it, or at least able to request the information you want at anytime from your crew.

SabreHawk

03-12-10, 08:55 AM

Director's Cut is technically the best, but the 'Original, Uncut Version' adds another hour-and-a-half of awesome storyline - almost five hours total.

Yes yes, those who haven't seen the full uncut version really haven't seen it as there is soooo much missing. Especially in the director's cut cause Wolfgang cut a bit too much me thinks.

marcel1980

03-12-10, 09:08 AM

"Complete disaster" is a massive overstatement, and frankly I think much of the naysaying of the game comes from people who predisposed to hate it because of the DRM. We had a poll recently where people who had bought the game were asked to rank it, and the only four people who gave it the lowest score possible were those who said they'd never, ever buy it, and also failed to give any kind of details as to what they disliked:shifty:.

Sure, it's got its faults. I'll post both pros and cons when I've played a week. But "total disaster"? That's something I'd reserve for a game that's actually broken. SH5 is far from broken, it's just still very obviously in beta. Looking away from all the bugs and imbalances, it has the potential to be a really, really fun game. The dynamic campaign structure and modifiability alone makes it worthy of the attention of players and modders.

This is not completely true, as i bought the game, really looked forward to play it and i don't hate the DRM ! It's not a dealbreaker for me, just something i can live with. Its the game itself and its current state which pissed me off big time. After some while i couldnt believe all the dumbed down potential, arcadish elements and non workable sensors - just a small extract of the errors and dissapointings but enough for me, to uninstall it. Unfortunately i won't go back to SH3 after seing the great graphics of SH5 - instead im just disgusted and propably will get t34 vs tiger.

pythos

03-12-10, 09:59 AM

Been playing for a total of 24 or so hours within the past three days. The game is very solid (no CTDs for unknown reason, so far).

I just acquired a dual core processor (AMD Atholon X2 6000+, the highest my MB can take) and now I have proper vapor and explosion effects.

As I have stated in other threads, this sim is very promising. I think in a year of being in the jaws of the modders, and with the removal of DRM, this sim will be fantastic within this year.

As far as the smartalleck asking how the beta testing is going.

Please stop with such stuff. This has been the case of EVERY Silent Hunter sim since SH2. The devs no that when the game has been out for a while, it will be only of slight resemblance to the one they put out on market.

Having said that, I don't know why the devs messed with functions like depth under keel, various ranges, the way the engine reacts to power changes as far as sound is concerned.

Hopefully these and others that I have not yet noticed will be remedied and or re instated.

Sailor Steve

03-12-10, 10:19 AM

@Sailor Steve,

I really like the first part of your sig Steve: "I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own. I am not a number, I am a person."

Only problem is if ole UBI ever has anything to do with it you can be sure it will be OSP and DRM'ed to death. :arrgh!: :rotfl2:
That's exactly why I used that one this month, and why I won't buy it as long as they won't let me play it.

But this thread is for people who are playing it, and overall I'm excited by what I'm hearing. It sounds like there isn't anything so far that can't be overcome, and I'm looking forward to the day I can play it, if that day ever comes.

Elder-Pirate

03-13-10, 01:24 AM

That's exactly why I used that one this month, and why I won't buy it as long as they won't let me play it.

But this thread is for people who are playing it, and overall I'm excited by what I'm hearing. It sounds like there isn't anything so far that can't be overcome, and I'm looking forward to the day I can play it, if that day ever comes.

But what really ticks me off is that UBI put out a pretty good $15.00 game and ran off with the $35.00 that was left because they knew SH fans would mod it free of charge. Now that's being pretty slick and no-one seems to care, just hand out the $50.00 bucks, let the modders fix it, who cares.

Well they didn't get my $50.00 but I did put that $50.00 to a much better use and gave it to someone we know.
Really I do feel much better. Back now to the warm waters of the Pacific.

CAPTAINQUINN

03-13-10, 02:03 AM

i have had sh5 for 6 days. i have been able to keep the game going without crashing for about fifteen minutes. i find the game a challenge....to keep running.
i have not yet launched a fish.
i piad 49.95 from amizon.com.
i feel i need to update my video card.
i think its the 3d clouds that are causing my issues.
i like the game.
question-
is there a command that would remove the characters from the first person display?
any help would be greatly appreciated.
regards.
cheers.
ian.

DaveU186

03-13-10, 06:41 AM

I must say I'm quite disappointed. No doubt the game looks superb, the there are elements of it that are great additions, but as someone who never went for SH4, there's just been too much stripped away from the SH3 experience, and it's going to take a hell of a lot of work from some very dedicated and skilled people to right the wrongs in this one.

I'll be hoping one day I can return to this, but for now it's back to SH3 and GWX.

Don_D_Dwain

03-13-10, 07:11 AM

Hello Guys (and Gals). In general, I like it. Yes the clocks do not work, the Gauges are just for "show," but hopefully patches and not mods, can fix this, so the DRM thing is not all that bad, if they do that. After playing for several hours, I have found ways to do things that I would like to share. In the Sonar room, if you look up a bit you will see a compass. If you use arrow right key you get 1 degree of turn, and if you use SHIFT Right (or Left) you get 35 degree of turn. You will see the compass turn, and the wheel closer to center shows 0-9 (degree increments). If you put the litte plus sign on the black lubber line and hit the decimal key (number pad), you will steer to the relative position of the front of the boat 0, but the Cheif Engineer will report your actual compass azimuth. Neat trick I think. For you guys looking for intresting topics / facts, check out this link: http://www.uboat.net/gallery/ Love this game, and IV, and III. Have a good day.

Don_D_Dwain

03-13-10, 07:20 AM

Installing the GAME is great, sound is terrific, specs check AOK. Impossible to play, mouse does not work, keyboard does not work. screen is almost total black out, sound continues perfect, simply impossible to play. :damn::wah:
http://i44.tinypic.com/2d80zl3.png
I don't know if this will work for you, but I too had problems with the game working, and I am not smart with computers. This worked for me. Disconnect your internet connection, reset your modem, and restart your computer, and try to connect to UBI soft server, or log out of the UBI soft server and then reconnect. A lot of things did not work at all, and now seems to be working fine, good luck, I hope that helps.

Mr_Johnson

03-13-10, 08:24 AM

Lol... I guess sh5s ok... only ok tho...

I got it the other day because I was in walmart... and they had one...

My main complaint is the *******ing drm, but thats already known... The interface sucks (gotta get those mods, ya know how many times Ive pressed the arrow keys and messed myself up) and that I cant even play because the retarted server is down...

So I wouldnt say dont buy it, Id say, make sure you have something else to do while the servers are down...

Thats how I came to own this one to, After getting it on my PC I was a little disappointed....then came here and as always the modders were hard at work fixing what I thought was a wrong with it......So no complaints now :up:

TwistedFemur

03-13-10, 02:51 PM

Only thing SH5 has got going for it is the graphics SH5 graphics+SH3 gameplay=:yeah:

subsimlee

03-13-10, 03:31 PM

Hi Anybody else having trouble starting up the sim just now? I'm getting all manner of CTD's and excuses such as " you need an internet connection to play " and " wrong password " all of which is BULL! It is 1630 hrs ( 4:30pm ) Eastern Standard Time at the moment..... ( rebooted a couple, no mods in place, no problems with internet connection or computer ) or is it just me????:damn:

EDIT: Can't get on the Ubi SH5 site either, Explorer reports link broken! Looks like the kind of thing we all expected and I suspect maybe someone hacked their servers, oh joy!

loreed

03-13-10, 11:11 PM

WIthout doubt, to me, this is the best stock SH yet when it comes to graphics and the action of objects:DL. However, the learning curve is extremely steep and the instrucions leave a lot of information and capabilities to be discovered by the player as he/she goes along. Luckily, there is SubSim or I would be totally lost.:damn:

robbo180265

03-14-10, 06:28 AM

Had the game since last Thursday and I have to say that since installing a few mods I really love the game. Sure there are a few bugs (a few that in my opinion they should have caught long before the game was released) but nothing yet that has really broken the game. I would imagine that in a year or so this will be a benchmark game in subsims.

The DRM is pants and needs to go. This is a gamebreaker, not being able to play at weekends sucks big time. Hopefully Boobysoft will realise the damage they are doing to their reputation and remove it.

My advice is - if you can buy the game at a reduced price (in the UK its selling at £22 on Amazon at the moment) then get it. If not then wait a while.

Piiman

03-14-10, 08:19 AM

Had the game since last Thursday and I have to say that since installing a few mods I really love the game. Sure there are a few bugs (a few that in my opinion they should have caught long before the game was released) but nothing yet that has really broken the game. I would imagine that in a year or so this will be a benchmark game in subsims.

The DRM is pants and needs to go. This is a gamebreaker, not being able to play at weekends sucks big time. Hopefully Boobysoft will realise the damage they are doing to their reputation and remove it.

OK I've taken my pants off but I still need to connect to UBISOFT what gives:D

Enchavado

03-14-10, 02:56 PM

Apart from common issues i'm really disapointed with some oddities, like liberty ships on 1939 and my last experience....
Just west of Scapa i managed to get a tail of 2 brit subs, wich follow me all my mission to western aproachs and back to Bremen where the german scorts sank the 2 stupid subs.
BTW they never attack me only make a shadow.

sid silent hunter

03-15-10, 04:41 AM

i found that using deck gun manually I increased power of shells , when you see a ship hold cursor over ship bottum r\h cnr shows speed & distamce & when you are manning deck gun top L\h click on the small icon give optical zoom on deck gun , now the numbers 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 ect are kilometers distance example match ship 4km with 4 on zoom then you can watch the splash close to the ship or hit on the mini map -good luck it wrks well

mcarlsonus

03-15-10, 10:10 AM

I just installed yesterday (of course! When Ubi's servers were down!) Despite reviewing the manual and printing off the keyboard layout, I'm unable to do much of anything other than plot a course and accelerate/decelerate.
There are several references to a, "Tutorial" mission of some sort. I don't see ANYTHING along the lines of a tutorial! Could someone fill me in? I'd appreciate it!

Nufsed

03-16-10, 05:22 AM

What amazes me more than anything else (and there is a lot to be amazed about) is the stability of this game! I have installed most of the mods now available (apart from those which directly conflict with oneanother) and not once has this game crashed. I have installed graphics mods, campaign mods, launched the game from a save which saw me in the middle of a convoy being depth charged, and every time the gamed loaded perfectly! As I said before.....AMAZING!

Gilbou

03-16-10, 10:36 AM

OK I've taken my pants off but I still need to connect to UBISOFT what gives:D

Well that was the first step.

The next one involves some kind of bending.

The hotline of Ubisoft will explain it to you.

Colonelgoldie

03-16-10, 12:19 PM

I am new to the forum and this (SH5) is my first experience of subsims. Firstly I would like to thank all the moders out there for their contributions, I have already installed a few of them and all work fine. I am not able to comment on how SH5 compares to other version as this is my first, just a shame that I am unble to play when I want to (like now 1717hrs GMT) as Ubi servers appear to be down again. I have had the game since its release and gone to play it 3 times and have not been able to due to server issues at Ubi. When I am able to play I love the game and think the graphics are amazing.

mcarlsonus

03-17-10, 11:37 AM

My overall opinion (by the way, Ubi's servers were dead the day I did the Install. Wonder if that was a less-than-subtle hint from the, "diety-du-jour?")

Used to be some helpful and intuitive things in previous versions - like hitting, "P" for, "periscope depth." Not any more!

Ladders are annoying and add NOTHING to game play. By the way, can one, "crash dive" in this thing without hopping down a hatch first? I haven't tried it, but I honestly hope NOT! "Sir, we're under fire from a Tribal DD! BUT, we have to stay surfaced 'cuz that Dieter guy's still outside!"

New torpedo attack set-up. Why "fix" (quotes intended) what wasn't broken? This new setup now officially sucks (Kiel) canal water and uses FAR too much screen real estate (you know the 1,2,3 schema and then there's the new-and-unimproved manual targetting option)

FIXED salvo torpedo spread - of ~10 degrees??? WTF?

Where's, "range?" Why can't you tell me what KIND of ship that is without my going through the, "recognition manual" (again, quotes intended!)? YEAH - I get it! THAT's an, "Airplane," and that's a, "Ship!"

Those two planes from SH4-the-addon are back. In 4, they were Brewster Buffalos and did nothing but annoy as they stopped the action, but never attacked. Well, don't know if they're still Buffalos, but, THEY'RE BACK and, as ever, they serve the same useless function as they did in 4! AND, they, "spawn" just as often - if not MORE often! MODDERS !!!!

I sigh and fondly remember the good old days. You know, like the user's manual that was provided for Microprose's, "Silent Service." It was actually helpful! With every iteration of Silent Hunter, the manual becomes more and more useless. I can't understand that! Why should one have to learn how to function inside the game WITHOUT having to depend on folks who AREN'T on Ubi's payroll? Without Subsim posters, this game would've been relegated to the landfill!

Nothing I enjoyed more than transiting the Kiel Canal and watching ships run directly into the walls and burst into flame. That happened just before one of 'em reversed direction and backed into me!

Think I'm now officially, "disenfranchised with the franchise," and I'm finished with Silent Hunter. Been picking up sub sims since one could make a living by knowing DOS! But, I wasn't crazy about the buggy SH4 and it's extra cost option (even AFTER installing the five updates/patches!), but that pales in comparison to this...