SH4 Steam mod capability

[sonicninja]

I have the uplay version of SH4 Gold installed on my pc along with the Dark Waters mod all working perfectly so i don't want to mess about it.

If i purchase the steam version of SH4 and install it in the regular steam folder would I be able to install the FotRSU addon directly into SH4 without any confliction with my Uplay version.

I only have one hard drive and i'm not very confident on installing multi versions of the Uplay version on my pc?

[Bilge_Rat]

no worries. I have the STEAM version and there is no issue at all with modding.

[sonicninja]

no worries. I have the STEAM version and there is no issue at all with modding.

Thanks shipmate ill get on with installing it now :Kaleun_Salute:

[propbeanie]

Do not install Steam in the Program Files folder, unless you have a 2nd hard drive to make a 2nd Library folder for Steam games. Otherwise, SH4 will end up below Steam in the dreaded "Program Files" folder, which will prevent mod activation. Also, you will need to use MultiSH4 (https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=1110) to create a Save folder for the Steam game, else the two mods will mix in the "C:\Users \UserName \Documents \SH4" folder, which is the games default save location. MultiSH4 can change that to any 3 valid characters you want. :salute:

[Bilge_Rat]

Also do not use the steam created shortcut, it always starts STEAM first. Create your own shortcut to the exe, that way you can bypass STEAM and start the game directly (and more quickly).

[ETR3(SS)]

Also do not use the steam created shortcut, it always starts STEAM first. Create your own shortcut to the exe, that way you can bypass STEAM and start the game directly (and more quickly).
That's not true. If you buy the Steam version, you will need Steam running in order to play it. If you launch directly from the exe it will start Steam.

[Bilge_Rat]

That's not true. If you buy the Steam version, you will need Steam running in order to play it. If you launch directly from the exe it will start Steam.

what? no it is true and easy to verify yourself by using Task Manager. When you use the STEAM created shortcut, it starts STEAM first before SH4. With a shortcut to the exe, you bypass STEAM completely.

On my system, I get to the main menu in about 25 seconds as opposed to 1 minute with the STEAM shortcut, save between 400-800 MB of RAM and have lower CPU usage as well.

STEAM does not care about these ancient dinosaur apps that only a small group of players still play...:ping:

[Texas Red]

what? no it is true and easy to verify yourself by using Task Manager. When you use the STEAM created shortcut, it starts STEAM first before SH4. With a shortcut to the exe, you bypass STEAM completely.

On my system, I get to the main menu in about 25 seconds as opposed to 1 minute with the STEAM shortcut, save between 400-800 MB of RAM and have lower CPU usage as well.

STEAM does not care about these ancient dinosaur apps that only a small group of players still play...:ping:




That's not true. If you buy the Steam version, you will need Steam running in order to play it. If you launch directly from the exe it will start Steam.



Why don't we stop arguing plz and focus at the task at hand you man-children.

[propbeanie]

Discussion... lol - but really, when it comes to Steam, it depends upon the OS and the UAC, as to what you can or cannot do with it. I have no problem on my Win7 machine starting from the game folder's exe file. Yet, on Win10, I have to go through the Steam app on the computer. To speed that up a bit, I can create a desktop short-cut to the game through Steam, but it still launches Steam when it's used. This ~does~ require an internet connection also, somewhat reminiscent of X-Box... :roll: - This is on ~my~ computer. ymmv, as they say. I also can no longer copy my Steam game in Windows 10 from folder to folder and have multiple mods running on the different copies. All I get then is a frozen game, which ain't no fun... sigh. :salute:

[Bilge_Rat]

There are always workarounds...:03:

see here:

https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=2475467&postcount=8

and this is what it links to:

https://www.wsgf.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=30590#p163494

I use it to play SH4 at 2560x1080 on my ultrawidescreen. It is not a STEAM exe, but will run the STEAM version of the game with no issues whether you run through STEAM or not. It also works in the standard resolutions as well.

I run the game on WIN 10 pro 64-bits.

[ETR3(SS)]

what? no it is true and easy to verify yourself by using Task Manager. When you use the STEAM created shortcut, it starts STEAM first before SH4. With a shortcut to the exe, you bypass STEAM completely.

On my system, I get to the main menu in about 25 seconds as opposed to 1 minute with the STEAM shortcut, save between 400-800 MB of RAM and have lower CPU usage as well.

STEAM does not care about these ancient dinosaur apps that only a small group of players still play...:ping:You cannot bypass Steam with a shortcut to the exe, even one you make yourself. I launched directly from the exe in my source folder after exiting Steam and making sure it wasn't running in Task Manager before I even posted my comment. Only a few games do not have the Steam DRM on them. SH4 has it. Copy the game folder over to a computer without Steam and try to run it.

Why don't we stop arguing plz and focus at the task at hand you man-children.1. OPs question was answered in the second post. 2. Don't name call 3. How did your post add to the topic at hand?

There are always workarounds...:03:

see here:

https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=2475467&postcount=8

and this is what it links to:

https://www.wsgf.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=30590#p163494

I use it to play SH4 at 2560x1080 on my ultrawidescreen. It is not a STEAM exe, but will run the STEAM version of the game with no issues whether you run through STEAM or not. It also works in the standard resolutions as well.

I run the game on WIN 10 pro 64-bits.And there's your reason why right there, you've substituted the Steam exe for another one. Steam's DRM is only in the exe, by switching it out from another retail version you're circumventing the DRM.

[Bilge_Rat]

And there's your reason why right there, you've substituted the Steam exe for another one. Steam's DRM is only in the exe, by switching it out from another retail version you're circumventing the DRM.

As I said, it is very easy for anyone to bypass STEAM when playing SH4 if you want the game to load faster and not have STEAM playing in the background using RAM and CPU cycles. The tools are available to anyone who is semi-computer literate.

Use or don't use it, your choice.

[ETR3(SS)]

That's not what your argument was initially, you left out a crucial detail and misrepresented the facts.:nope:

[Bilge_Rat]

That's not what your argument was initially, you left out a crucial detail and misrepresented the facts.:nope:

Not an argument, but a fact, you can easily bypass STEAM and I showed you how. Use it or don't use it, I could not care less. :nope:

The method of switching in a non-STEAM exe for a STEAM exe for modding is common knowledge, that is exactly what the TWOS mega-mod does in SH5. It switches your STEAM exe with a non-STEAM exe to which you can then make hardcoded changes using the tool developed by TDW.

Honestly, these threads are the reason why a lot of veteran players don't bother to answer questions from new players to help them out. There is always someone who will nitpick something. Now let's drop it and move on, this is going nowhere.

[ETR3(SS)]

I took a step back and looked at our exchange, neither one of us is wrong. I'm not arguing that you CAN'T swap the exe out from a different source. I know that can be done for many reasons. You knew what you were talking about, but it wasn't worded in a way so that I (and other readers) was on the same page as you. Leaving out the bit about swapping exe's is how this snowballed. All I was trying to do was clear things up to prevent another thread from someone trying what you initially suggested and not getting your reported results. If little Jimmy installs SH4 off of Steam tomorrow and tries to just make a short cut WITHOUT swapping the exe, Steam will still launch. That's all I'm trying to get across. If I have to make a video and post it to YouTube to demonstrate this fact I will if that will help. As for veteran players, I am a veteran player. I didn't join Subsim yesterday, and I'm not nitpicking. I'm trying to provide help for players the same as you.

[SilentPrey]

I use a .bat file to start Steam games without starting Steam itself. I don't see any Steam processes running when I open the task manager. It also has the advantage of allowing me to use different Steam accounts to run the games without having to log in and out of Steam's main app all the time. (I have three Steam accounts; mine, my wife's, and a server account for Insurgency.)


To set up the .bat file, go to the game directory and create a new text document. Rename it to SH4.bat or something and edit it. Inside, put:

start sh4.exe -login accountname password



Then right click on it and send to desktop. That makes a desktop shortcut that will start the game and "log in" to Steam without starting up Steam's app. (It means that Steam's overlay is unavailable and all of that, but I think you're trying to avoid that anyway.) If you change your password, just right click on the desktop shortcut and click edit to update the .bat file with the new password.


This allows you to play Steam games without losing memory to Steam, even if you don't have access to a non-Steam version of the .exe.


Good hunting!
SilentPrey