Is this game really superior?

[CaptainSvenski]

I've read some articles claiming that SH3 is actually a more in-depth,extensive and covering much more of ww2 subbing than SH5.

They do say the result is only achieved by mods,but since SH3 is a lot more moddable and has a lot more you can get, the claim is it actually turns into a better subsim than SH5 once you really stack it up with mods.

The submarine diversity is the most attractive of those probably,since SH5 decided to cut the war short,you don't get access to Type IX and even Type XXI while in SH3 you can play those.

Im personally the type of gamer spoiled by modern graphics,and the ancient look of SH3 just puts me off,not that SH5 has aged perfectly for a 10 year old game but the graphics are just good enough to not trigger eyesores in 2020.

What are the opinions on this from people who have been playing both games,since I have not played SH3 I can't make a valid comparison myself.

[captainadccdacaptain]

First of all, SH3 has far more U-boats and upgrades than SH5.

[foo_jam2002]

SH III has aged pretty well, the details on ships and submarines are nice and after all it's a game that you don't expect to see many things like in a shooter or an RTS, you are just out to sea, watching the sea and the sky. So i don't understand what exactly puts you off.

[Levyathan89]

Also, with the necessary modifications, SH 3 doesn't look too ancient imho.

Edit: damn, foo_jam2002 (https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/member.php?u=360584) beat me to it :D

[ChrisPhoenix]

I have played every Silent Hunter from 2 to 5 and i have to say, that 3 is still the best. Recently tried to play SH5 again but was dissapointed very quickly and switched back to SH3. SH4 is fine too, but has a diferent setting. If you want to be an american captain, you can have a great time in this one too.

I guess you can have fun with SH5 and twos mod, but for me, it was a bit too much. Currently playing SH3 with gwx for the first time and i'm loving it.
Yes SH5 looks better, but thats about it. Everything else was just more buggy, more clunky and more dumbed down for my taste.

Now i'm not a guy who needs fancy graphics to get immersed in a game, but if it is that important to you, maybe take a look at "Uboat".
2019 was a great year for subsim games with Uboat and Wolfpack coming out.
Wolfpack will soon be the King of multiplayer subsims. I have no doubt about that. While Uboat shines in singleplayer. In my opinion it is not yet better than Silent Hunter, (state of 06.02.2020) but the devs recently added mod and workshop support and after a few more patches i'm sure it will be.

Until then, Silent Hunter 3 will be the game for me.

[Levyathan89]

Now i'm not a guy who needs fancy graphics to get immersed in a game, but if it is that important to you, maybe take a look at "Uboat".


Nah, SH5/TwoS is still better than the current version of UBoat (it's still in open access after all). Like, a lot better.

[ChrisPhoenix]

Nah, SH5/TwoS is still better than the current version of UBoat (it's still in open access after all). Like, a lot better.

In terms of graphics, i don't think so. In terms of gameplay, i did mention that silent hunter is still better but it is only a matter of time before the modding community will change that.

I dare to say that vanilla unmodded uboat is better than vanilla SH5 tho. It is really the mods that make the difference.

[foo_jam2002]

Also, with the necessary modifications, SH 3 doesn't look too ancient imho.

Edit: damn, foo_jam2002 (https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/member.php?u=360584) beat me to it :D

I am sure i wasn't the only one :)

[bstanko6]

I have played them all.

SH3 has been extremely modded by dedicated fans. You can’t come close to the level of fun things you can add to it compared to the others.

SH5 is beauty and updated with graphics.

SH5 to me tells a more serious story. While SH3 gives you an experience. If I had to compare the two, and if you’re looking for a real story, I would have to go with five.

I am an immersion player, so I love SH5 for its graphics, it’s story, and its ability to suck me into the story and be part of it. That is why I feel this game is the greatest of all time.

[Chief_WH]

Hmm, I've given SH3 another go but I think too much time has passsed.


The soul is still there and the world graphics are tolerable, but the field of view when looking about inside and from the bridge is just too narrow and feels very awkward and dated.



Also the GUI really needs to be HD, I found a well made mod for that but it had way too many swastikas.


(Without the HD mod I also had an annoying bug where clicking the mouse button to change view movement fired a torpedo on the UZO because it seemed to focus on that button).


I wonder how SH4 and 5 are doing these days, it was the 'whole crew' and open world choices of SH3 that I loved so much, I don't recall SH4 and 5 having that sort of freedom? Maybe I'll look into SH4; when I tried SH5 some time ago it just made my head hurt the amount of mods that seemed to be required and I don't think I want to go down that hole again...

[bstanko6]

I’m not even going to grace that question with an answer!

Shame on you!

[Levyathan89]

I found a well made mod for that but it had way too many swastikas.




Hahaha, yeah, that's Ahnenerbe (a German word that one can only utter in a over the top Hitler kind of way - AHHNENÄRRRRBE)'s 1920*1080 GUI.

There is another HD GUI, though: It's called The Magui:

https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=166320

There's a special version available for GWX afaik.

[Chief_WH]

Hahaha, yeah, that's Ahnenerbe (a German word that one can only utter in a over the top Hitler kind of way - AHHNENÄRRRRBE)'s 1920*1080 GUI.

There is another HD GUI, though: It's called The Magui:

https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=166320

There's a special version available for GWX afaik.


Thanks, I'll check that out befor giving up on SH3.


Edit. I can't find it in the SH3 mods, am I just missing it?


Edit. Think I found it; I found the 'search mods' bit not the 'search forum' bit I was using by mistake

[Wolfcat]

The main killer of SH3 is his inability to use more RAM. If you are using mod like WAC then it's really painful to play. Otherwise, SH3 is superior to SH5 in many aspects. Just remember SH5 is an incomplete product when they launched.

[italianmarine]

The main killer of SH3 is his inability to use more RAM. If you are using mod like WAC then it's really painful to play. Otherwise, SH3 is superior to SH5 in many aspects. Just remember SH5 is an incomplete product when they launched.

hmm.
Well Wolfes of Steel Mega Mod is awesome. The only thing missing, is that you don`t have to manage your crew and that earlier Uboats like IIA/D and a few upgrades are not available.

The Radio channels are also an awesome plus in that mod.

[scott_c2911]

Ive just returned from a 4 year spell of silent running. I own Silent Hunter, Silent Hunter II, Silent Hunter III, Silent Hunter IV, Silent Hunter V and the Android Game "Crash Dive" so I can only comment regarding those titles.

My first foray into Subsims was Silent Hunter on a Windows 95 PC over 20 years ago. It was superb and had me hooked ever since. I believe it was released even earlier than Windows 95 running on MS-DOS. I still play it on a Windows 8.1 Laptop and it took alot of computer wizardry 5 years ago to do it which I have unfortunately forgotten. I think it involves an MS-DOS emulator..... Anyway the game is realistic and immersive but the graphics (cutting edge at the time) make me cringe now.

I had a serious spell on Silent Hunter II during my University days on an Acer Laptop. The graphics were also cutting edge for the time and it took till the early noughties for me to get a PC powerful enough to run it. A massive improvement on the first Silent Hunter where the water looked realistic and ships AOB actually reflected what you saw on screen. The mission based campaign let it down though. Then SH3 came out in 2005. I also had it alongside SH2 at Uni but there was not a chance in hell I could run it. It actually took until 2014 for me to build a custom built machine that would run it reliably. Imagine having a game you wanted to get stuck into for 9 years but only managing a few sporadic careers due to graphics crashes and then the resulting corrupt game files, hence the custom built computer. But my God it was worth it!

The vanilla graphics on SH3 in my opinion now look dated but the mods you can apply bring it bang up to date. I have it on a high resolution in 16:9 perspective. Its still pleasing on the eye. I use GWX amongst a few other minor mods and other tweaks Ive done myself. Theres an environmental mod called MEP which seriously makes it visually stunning Im yet to try. This was the first Subsim I owned where you could go anywhere in the world in the career mode, it had single missions aswell as other features. Its now 2020 and Ive started another career. My previous career I managed to get through the whole war in 2016 on 73% difficulty. A career lasting 2 years starting in 2014. No mean feat! Where do I start with this simulator.....it just has everything, apart from getting wet, smelling diesel, sweat and burning freighters. You genuinely feel like the Commander of the real thing. I have it to the point where it runs extremely reliably aswell, but no longer on the custom PC but on the aforementioned Windows 8.1 Laptop hooked up to a wallmounted widescreen TV.

Expecting massive things of Silent Hunter IV, I got a copy of that in 2015 aswell as a copy of Silent Hunter V (not sure when I got that). The custom PC ran SH4 well but there was something about the vanilla game I just couldnt pin down, that I didnt like. I like the open, uncluttered map of SH3 and in SH4 the tools are plastered over about a third of it. I managed to change it so they were smaller but then I get onto the game crashing bugs. The reliabilty made it unplayable for me. It wasnt the hardware and was most certainly the software. After spending 10 years getting SH3 right, I just didnt have the inclination to start the same battle with SH4.

So I installed SH5. It stayed on for about 5 minutes and crashed. It never managed to load again. The hardware wasn't up to it. This game also required an internet connection and some sort of licence verification to run, I believe it was via Steam. What I saw in that 5 minutes didnt impress me and again, it was a battle I was unwilling to fight regarding hardware and bugs.

SH3 released in 2005 is most certainly the best one from the titles I own. When it was released, it was designed ahead of its time regarding hardware. At the time the required graphics capability was just out of reach for me. But thanks to this forum making the GWX mods, other mods, hardcode and patch fixes available and also finally getting computers powerful enough to play it, it is the one I will always play with regularity.

[DDBait]

< great stuff snipped >

Scott, thanks for taking the time to detail your experiences with the SH series.