New skipper/ couple o' lil questions

[Nautilitus]

What a sim! I'm an avid flight simmer who just went underwater. I just completed my third campaign patrol on the Searaven and woof- this sim is great!

I cranked the realism up except the manual torpedo- stuff. I've survived these patrols, got a couple of medals and dodged aircraft and destroyers galore (even sank one which spotted me and steamed straigth into my aft tubes...I suppose they don't hear much at full speed?!) So I figure I must be doing something right :salute:

However I've never seen a sim which literally drops you in without even having the good grace to inform what functionality you have...I can understand not going into tacticts, but honestly they should have told how to operate the friggin boat at least. Meh.

So, questions:
- Are there really no fuel consumption- or estimation tools?! (I'm from flight sims...and there are some seriously long distances here)
- No weather forecasts? (I'm still from flight sims...and weather seems to affect enemy detection as well as my torpedoes..)
- Where's a good resource for sight lines and sonar detection ranges for enemy ships? All in one place.
- Do ships spawn when you are nearby or are they going about their business in the pacific irrespective of where you are?


Great sim, but I get the feeling it was released unfinished. So I'm thinking about getting the RFB and Run Silent Run Deep mods. Approved? I'm after realism and "shortcoming" fixes, not cranked difficulty.

Any issues with installing these on Steam? No CD for this I'm afraid...

Cheers!

[Jimbuna]

Welcome aboard Nautilitus....from the content in your post I'm guessing your playing SHIV....if that is the case you should go to the SHIV section where I'm confident you'll get all the help and advice you need.

Good Luck http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/thumbsup.gif

[Sailor Steve]

WELCOME ABOARD! :sunny:

I'll echo what Jim said. It's true that the Silent Hunter series offer almost no clue of how to do...well, pretty much anything, you have found the best source for information and help anywhere! And we're friendly too. :D

A quick answer to your questions:

The OM campaign for u-boats adds weather and range information. I think that RFB does too, but I'm not absolutely sure on that.

As Jim said, the SH4 forum is the best resource you'll find, bar none.

Ships spawn when you are in detection range. Any further and the game would be nearly impossible to load.

As for mods, RFB and RSRDC combine to make a very good experience. Also in the SH4 forums you'll find some good discussions on "realism" and "difficulty", as well as the up-and-downsides of working with Steam. The short answer is yes, mods can be installed over a Steam installation. I can't tell you more than that because I refuse to have Steam; or rather Steam refused to have me. :dead:

[frau kaleun]

Welcome aboard, Nautilitus! :salute:

[CCIP]

I don't have the Steam version, but you shouldn't have any issues with Steam installing mods - just make sure everything goes into the right folder (i.e. program files/steam/steamapps/common/[SH4 folder])! I don't believe Steam protects any of the game data, and that's all that the mods need to overwrite.

[HunterICX]

Welcome Aboard!

HunterICX