Recommendations for Most Realistic Mods

[glilley]

OK - been playing SH3-GWX for 8 years now and finally ready to start SH4. I was an old-time player of SH2 and got proficeint at using the TDC in SH2 and loved the game play. I will be downloading/installing SH4-Gold from Game Rocket. What patches (if any) will I need for Gold and what would long-time users recommend for realistic mods? One change I would like to make, if possible, would be to tone down the Hollywood-like explosions. I remember you could cross-load those to SH3 and when I did it was like " JHC! Is every ship carrying a cargo of thermonuclear warheads!!" Ha ha!! Thanks in advance for the help!

[captgeo]

no need for any patch's with the gold edition.

RFB is real fleet boat.....realisim MOD

TMO is a game mode made to make the game more challenging

RSRD is an add on for the other MOD's ...adds realistic convoy traffic

OP MONSON adds german career to the game.


and so on, more players will answer with more for sure, these are all the one's I have played over the years.

[Obviously5Believer]

I also came from hours upon hours of Silent Hunter 3 w/ GWX but just got tired of the resolution fixes and hauling my WO up from quarters every time I surface. So I decided to try SH4 and I've been having a lot of fun. It is different than the Atlantic theater but still very interesting all the same.

What I use as a base is TMO 2.5, RSRDC, and OTC 1.5 with realistic scopes. These mods work well together and give me realistic patrols. By that I mean I can stay near my patrol area for a week and a half and see one ship, then I move to a high traffic area and see many more, but am still required to look for them. So you end up bagging a realistic number of ships, 3-5 per patrol, before your gas runs out and you have to go home. In GWX I felt that my tonnage scores were a little too high and I never worried about fuel.

I also have other submods to add realism and improvements:
-3000 yard bearing tool: just a very helpful map tool for plotting.
- Pre Pearl career start: starts your career on Dec 1 1941.
- Webster's Better Air Patrols and Webster's Maneuvering Fix.
- Longer Sink Times for TMO 2 and TDW Fire damage for Ships: these are the ones you're looking for. Ships will not explode nearly as often from hitpoint reduction as all the ships have been beefed up. They will accurately take on water depending on where you hit them, and any fires you start will contribute to the flooding. With this mod ships sink much more realistically so that it sometimes takes more than an hour for a damaged ship to sink. They will list and go down slow or fast depending on the extant for their bulkhead damage. Ships will occasionally explode from a well placed torpedo or if you shoot 4 at a medium cargo (lots of duds early in the war) and they all hit at once, but this is an exception. Before I added this mod, I had most ships sink with massive explosions the instant they were hit by a couple of torps, now it is more realistic so that ships only explode with excessive torpedo use or extremely well placed, lucky hits (just aft of the smokestack, for example).

[fireftr18]

Welcome aboard Glilley. :salute:
Get those torpedoes polished up good and shiny. I want to see my reflection in them.

When you go to download your selected mods, be sure to read the descriptions. They'll help you decide what you want. I have many different mods downloaded, but I use mainly TMO, RSRDC, MaxOptics, and several smaller mods. OTC is a big help for manual targeting.

[glilley]

Many thanks to all who have given me their hard-earned insight! Going to download the Gold ed. in couple days but am going to download some of the mods now so I have them. Thanks again!

[Webster]

TMO is a game mode made to make the game more challenging



thats true but TMO is designed to make you "play" the game in a realistic manner so its a different take on realism where RFB has realistic settings yet can be played in a very unrealistic manner at times so the two mods are both different flavors of realism

[glilley]

Is TMO 2.5 compatible with RFB?

[Armistead]

Is TMO 2.5 compatible with RFB?

No! Both are mega mods, pick one or the other then add mods that are made for each.

[glilley]

Now that's the kind of answer I like - straight and to-the-point! I'll pick one or the other. By the way, noticed that your location is NC - I live in Duplin county outside of Mount Olive.
No! Both are mega mods, pick one or the other then add mods that are made for each.

[fastfed]

TMO is much better than RFB

Well, I wouldn't say MUCH BETTER but there is no doubt its significantly better.

It doesn't mean that the author of RFB did a bad job, it just means who ever did TMO,did a better job.

People here won't admit it, but almost all of us have TMO installed with RSRD.

[glilley]

I have downloaded TMO 2.5. Is RSRDC_RFB_V575 the latest for RSRD?

TMO is much better than RFB

Well, I wouldn't say MUCH BETTER but there is no doubt its significantly better.

It doesn't mean that the author of RFB did a bad job, it just means who ever did TMO,did a better job.

People here won't admit it, but almost all of us have TMO installed with RSRD.

[pabbi]

I have downloaded TMO 2.5. Is RSRDC_RFB_V575 the latest for RSRD?

RSRDC_RFB_V575 is for RFB, you need RSRDC for TMO. It should be in the subsim download section.

[fireftr18]

TMO is much better than RFB

Well, I wouldn't say MUCH BETTER but there is no doubt its significantly better.

It doesn't mean that the author of RFB did a bad job, it just means who ever did TMO,did a better job.

People here won't admit it, but almost all of us have TMO installed with RSRD.

I wouldn't say one is better than the other. They both have two different purposes. I prefer TMO because of the changes it makes as opposed to the RFB changes.

[Armistead]

I have downloaded TMO 2.5. Is RSRDC_RFB_V575 the latest for RSRD?

No, you need

RSRDC_TMO_V502
RSRDC_V5xx_Patch1

[Sailor Steve]

TMO is much better than RFB

Well, I wouldn't say MUCH BETTER but there is no doubt its significantly better.
Just your opinion.

It doesn't mean that the author of RFB did a bad job, it just means who ever did TMO,did a better job.
Just your opinion.

People here won't admit it, but almost all of us have TMO installed with RSRD.
I'm so glad to have you speak for me. "Almost all"? Can you prove that? If not, it's just your opinion, and quite rude of you to word it that way.

It's fine that you prefer one over the other, and fine that you think it's better. When you claim that most people think the way you do, even if it should turn out to be true it still rings of trying to make trouble.

[fastfed]

Fine just my opinion.. No, none of us can prove anything, but lets not act like the obvious isn't the obvious


RFB has 1,038 replies in its thread and 179,446 views..

TMO has 4,071 replies and almost 700 thousand views.

Maybe people just don't see how one might be better than the other, but they sure act like it.


But fine, I will re-word, what I said.


"I" personally enjoy TMO better than RFB, and from the popularity of each mod, it looks like I'm not alone...

[Sailor Steve]

And Op Monsun has more downloads than the two of them put together. Does that mean it's automatically better? The point isn't which one is more popular. The point is claiming one is 'better'. This is bragging which is how the old SH3 mods wars got started. That was an ugly period in Subsim's history, and I'm trying to keep it from happening again.

If you want to compare the two and give all the reasons why you like it, cool. I like both, and if I ever get a good enough computer I plan to use MultiSH4 and run both.

You're certain yours is bigger. Fine. Keep it in your pants.

[Armistead]

TMO is better

[Sailor Steve]

Okay. Why is it better? Because you say so? Please explain, in detail.

Let me go further. My objection isn't to someone saying it's better. It's the "people here won't admit it..." line that bothers me. It smacks of arrogance, and that's the last thing we need when talking about mods and modding.

[Sailor Steve]

Oh, yeah, my personal preference is for RFB, but for strictly personal reasons. It's the only one that fixes Midway.

Oh, and none of them comes close to SH1. :O:

[Armistead]

Okay. Why is it better? Because you say so? .

Because I say so.....:haha:

We all know the best mod is what works best for a players style of playing.:up:

[Sailor Steve]

Absolutely true.

[Arlo]

I finally, after years of having seen it suggested, made 4 versions with four game-start icons on my toolbar. (No, 'toolbar' is not a euphimism ... this time.) I got TMO, RFB, RSRD (TMO variant), FOTRS.

What makes TMO the one for me is crew cosmetics and management. I don't like officers wearing dutch fisherman hats. I don't like my dive officer wearing dungarees. I dont like my chiefs wearing khaki pants with chambray shirts. I like having an after battery to put crew in. Yaknow ... the details focused on in the other mads probably work great and do exactly what they're designed to do.

And as I learn more (and I slowly but constantly do) my likes and needs may shift a bit. But TMO has been a blast so far. I reckon I'll always play it. It's just up to my finding the right tweeks for the others for me to play them more.

(Why oh why did I DL SH5?!) :arrgh!:

[Sailor Steve]

And that's what I wanted to hear.

Thank you. :sunny:

[glilley]

Well gents - sorry I started that rabbit!

[Sailor Steve]

There's nothing to be sorry for. You asked a fair question.

[captgeo]

as soon as I saw that reply about TMO being the best I knew not to get into this.......:nope:

same BS happened at ubi forum ...:/\\!!

[Arlo]

And that's what I wanted to hear.

Thank you. :sunny:

I'm an old fart who doesn't mod. The amount of work each of the modders put into our hobby amazes me. I appreciate them all. Wish I had their skills. As time goes by, I may well learn to mix my mod soups efficiently and who knows what recipe(s) I'll fall in love with. I'm just glad to play a WWII USN Pacific sub game with pretty pictures, cool sounds and an immersive enviroment.

[TorpX]

I still use RFB. I don't mean this as a slam on TMO, it has worthwhile features, but some things I read about it on the forum are not to my liking.

[Armistead]

Well gents - sorry I started that rabbit!

Haha, we've had numerous threads like this over the year, nothing wrong with people stating what mod they're fan of. I prefer TMO, but mine is so tweaked to my personal taste it's hardly TMO anymore.

[Fish40]

[QUOTE=TorpX;2015442]
I still use RFB. I don't mean this as a slam on TMO, it has worthwhile features, but some things I read about it on the forum are not to my liking.
I'm with Torpx on this one. Nothing against TMO, but I've been a RFB fan since the RUB days. I want as much realism that is cyberly (is that a word?:o) possible in a sim. I feel RFB delivers the bill. And while it's been suggested that TMO forces the player to think and act more realisticly, and that somehow you don't really need to with RFB, is inaccurate IMO. Believe me, you need to be on your toes, especially late war, as I found out when I was forced to break off an attack on a convoy because the escorts picked me up. I followed the book, and still got burned! And whoever mentioned the crew haveing Dutch fishermen caps, must be talking about the stock game. In RFB, my officers and crew are dressed in proper attire.

[Arlo]

Twas the same person that said they were running 4 different versions of SH4 simultaneously, not just TMO and RFB but also FOTRS and RSRD. And each of these receive additional mods to fix various cosmetic whoops (some of which apparently aren't fixable yet). Sure, it may be just a modder that either doesn't know how uniforms were worn on WWII fleet boats or they may not care. It's my personal pet peeve that I may or may not get over.

RFB isn't as squared away in the uniform and station manning department as I would like:

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa433/arloguh03/Chameleon_zpsabaa413e.png

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa433/arloguh03/ChiefInKhakis_zps1f87d585.png

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa433/arloguh03/Sailor_get_off_my_foot_zps0bd1c9e5.png

That being said, I still respect the modder. Perhaps these little things were unavoidable when it came to other objectives. And if I can find the right mod or mods that'll adjust these little things, I may learn to enjoy the other things the modder was shooting for.

[Sailor Steve]

as soon as I saw that reply about TMO being the best I knew not to get into this.......:nope:

same BS happened at ubi forum ...:/\\!!
I'll apologize here and now for seeming rancorous. I have defended TMO on other occasions, when people made disparaging remarks about Ducimus' intent with the "realism" factor. It is my contention that there is no "best", only what you like the most, and why you like it.

[TorpX]

as soon as I saw that reply about TMO being the best I knew not to get into this.......:nope:

Just wait until someone asks which is better, Fleetboats or U-boats?

:har:

[Sailor Steve]

Fleetboats or U-boats?
Flintstones or Jetsons?

[Arlo]

Trapper John or BJ?

Jeannie, Mary Ann or Ginger?

[captgeo]

Just wait until someone asks which is better, Fleetboats or U-boats?

:har:

actually now that you ask that.........:timeout: