Silent Hunter III or IV

[Bobbarry1951]

Long weekend coming up and some rain in the forecast, so I was going to reload Silent Hunter and do a little hunting. I own the retail versions of Gold Edition Wolves of the Pacific (IV, I think) and Silent Hunter III. Operating system is Windows 7 – 64 bit. I really enjoy playing the German campaign. I am not much for playing missions. I see the Wolves of the Pacific includes what they call U-Boat missions which I assume is missions and not a full campaign. I also assume Wolves of the Pacific would have better graphics and Windows 7 stability being the more recent release. So my question is this:

Is there a mod to turn the Wolves of the Pacific U-Boat missions into a full fledged campaign? And if so what would that be?
I do see a mod called Atlantic Campaign for SH4 by Beltza but the file links are no longer valid. Any graphics enhancement mods would be welcome too.

Tangential question – I do recall spending a great deal of playing time dodging aircraft. Now, I know it’s a simulation and has accuracy but I was wondering if there was a way to cut down on the aircraft encounters.

Thanks for any thoughts you have.

[in_vino_vomitus]

Op Monsun is the mod you want if u-boats are your thing, but it's rather bug-ridden and the guy who wrote it seems to have bowed out of modding. having said that. I'm pretty much hooked on it - There's an environment upgrade that goes with it called OMEGU, or a stripped down version [OMPLOT] - Sailor Steve ported the Das Boot sound mod over - if you install it, bear in mind it takes about 20 mins in JSGME - your machine hasn't crashed :) also there a few bits and bobs like german chart labels which help with the look of the thing

Never played SHIII so I couldn't say how it compares

Happy hunting anyway

[irish1958]

Play both. With the mega mods thay are both excellent.

[BigWalleye]

SH4 with OM and OMEGU has better graphics, better sound, better crew management. But somehow, for me, SH3 (with GWX3 or NYGM) is just a much more absorbing game. It feels like a WW2 U-boat -whatever that means. Caution, YMMV!

[andycts]

As irish said play both,geat sims but dont forget to get the mods.spent many hours on SH3 but could never quite get to grips with SH4.that is until i recently installed it again after a long time of collecting dust.now i just cant seem to stop playing it.

enjoy your weekend and good hunting

[Sailor Steve]

I see the Wolves of the Pacific includes what they call U-Boat missions which I assume is missions and not a full campaign.
U-Boat Missions is, despite the name, a campaign, albeit one involving the Monsun Boats in the Pacific in 1943. Operation Monsun is, despite its name, a full-blown Atlantic campaign covering the entire war.
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=1097
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=1403
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=1477
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=1336
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=1449

[Bobbarry1951]

[QUOTE=Sailor Steve;2107937]U-Boat Missions is, despite the name, a campaign, albeit one involving the Monsun Boats in the Pacific in 1943. Operation Monsun is, despite its name, a full-blown Atlantic campaign covering the entire war.

Think I am going to give OM and OMEGU a shot. Thanks for the links. Now, I just need to find the install instructions or mod manager. Thanks All.

[in_vino_vomitus]

Everything you need, including JSGME is in the downloads section

[Bobbarry1951]

There I go exceeding my download limit, guess I will have to wait a day. Thank you all again.

[irish1958]

A small donation does wonders for your download limit. :know:

[Sailor Steve]

While I linked to Op Monsun downloads, I didn't give my take on the question of SH3 or SH4.

SH4 hast the benefit of better graphics of course, but it also has interesting operational procedures. One of these is having the crew automatically organized into watch shifts, so they rotate themselves automatically, as they should. In SH3 you have to either move them around yourself or remove the fatigue function altogether. The other advantage SH4 has in that area is the "Battle Stations" function, AKA "General Quarters". This not only puts the entire crew on duty, but also puts the best available man at each station.

On the other hand SH3 has mods that have still never been done for SH4. SH3 has mods available that put working lock gates at canal and secure harbor entrances. That's not much, but I have a hard time going through the Kiel Canal without it. GWX4 was intended to add all that and more, but was never really started, let alone finished. Also there is nothing to compare with SH3 Commander, which lets you control game parameters directly instead of digging into the game files, and adds names, crew and cargo loadouts to the reports of ships you sink. Again, for some people that's nothing, but for me it's everything. And then there's the Merchant Fleet Mod, which adds more than one hundred different merchant types to the game.

Simply put, if SH4 had the mods SH3 has I would have shelved SH3 years ago.

Actually, if SH5 had something like that I wouldn't play anything else. As it is now I'll play anything but. :sunny:

[andycts]

Well said steve

on the subject of SH3 commander,i remember some time ago reading on the forums that someone was working on a version for SH4.what happened to this is it still being worked on or has it been shelved?

[Rockin Robbins]

I find that SH3 is more clunky and the crew management system is too fussy but the atmospherics of SH3 just blow away anything SH4 has to offer. You just get the idea that SH4 is oversanitized or something. SH3 is dark and just feels appropriate to the subject matter.

[Sailor Steve]

Well said steve

on the subject of SH3 commander,i remember some time ago reading on the forums that someone was working on a version for SH4.what happened to this is it still being worked on or has it been shelved?
That was many years ago. The guy who was making it happen just left one day and never came back.

[andycts]

"That was many years ago. The guy who was making it happen just left one day and never came back."

Sorry to hear that.i'm no modder but how much work would be involved in making this.This could add an all new dimension to SH4.with permission cant much of the stuff in SH3 commander be ported over to SH4.I realize,not knowing the subject that i am making it sound over simplistic but it would be such a great addon to have.Wish i could mod lol.

good hunting

[sckallst]

I think Steve has it on the money. SH4 is a far superior platform. As things stand, SH3 is a far superior game.

Without getting into bigger historical/moral issues (and setting aside the Op Monson SH4 mod), SH3 just sort of makes for a better game setting anyway in that in the U-boat you really are fighting for personal survival after a certain point. The US fleet boats in the Pacific are certainly in danger, but you are pretty much cast in the role of Anaconda versus the Japanese rabbit. In SH3 you really do get to a point where (if you're playing "realistically") you sort of don't expect to get back to port when you set out on patrols.

[Sailor Steve]

Sorry to hear that.i'm no modder but how much work would be involved in making this.
More than you could possibly imagine. SH3 Commander is not a mod, but a complete program, created by a talented programmer. It could be duplicated only by another programmer.

with permission cant much of the stuff in SH3 commander be ported over to SH4.
No. First of all it's not a part of SH3, but an independent tool, so it can't be used with SH4 without modification of the code. Second, the program itself is the property of the man who created it, and he said long ago that he was not interested in doing an SH4 version and anyone who was would have to create his own code, as he wasn't interested in sharing it.

Even if you could mod it wouldn't help with this.

[andycts]

Cheers steve

thought this would be the case.Guess we will have to live without it then,unless there happens to be a programmer lurking out there who wants to give it a go lol

take care & good hunting