Silent Hunter IV Copies won't launch

[Texas Red]

Hello, Subsim!

I decided today that I wanted to use multiple SH4 installs and have a different mod set for each one. On THEBERBSTERS SH4 tutorials page, I found a tutorial on how to do it by Webster. I followed the instructions and created two new SH4 installs, one was for FotRSU and the other was for Dark Waters. The original one I used to make the copies for I left unmodded and left it as the stock version. I used MultiSH4 to create 2 new save-game directories.
Now I click the FotRSU shortcut to launch my copy. The blue circle spins around the cursor and then.....
Nothing. The game didn't run. I looked on Steam while I clicked the .exe and apparently, the new copies of my game DID run but they just stopped running after a few seconds.

Any help would be appreciated. :Kaleun_Salute:

[propbeanie]

One thing to try that works on my Win7 desktop, and ~used~ to work on my Win10 laptop, was to log-in to the Steam app on my computer. Then use the Library utilities to add a non-steam game to the Steam Library start menu, and try it that way. Refer to Add Non-Steam Games to a Library (https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=2219-YDJV-5557), which is rather short, but... it is the only way to add the game back in, so that Steam will run the checks. I then create a desktop short-cut from within Steam there, and it will run OK. But Win10 no longer cooperates with me, and will only do the original copy...

[Texas Red]

I tried that already and it didn't work. I think I'll just stick to the Uplay version of the game because steam is such a pain in the arse to use for these games.

Thank you for your help.

If anyone else stumbles across this thread and has the same issue as me, I would tell you to switch to Uplay. :salute:

[ETR3(SS)]

Why does everyone have so much trouble with Steam? I have a stock copy and an OM copy of SH4 and both run fine. I'll see if I can make another copy to help out.


Edit: You don't have Steam installed in Program Files or Program Files (x86) do you?

[ETR3(SS)]

I just made another copy here's what I did:


Deactivate all mods on my original install.

Copy that entire folder (Silent Hunters Wolves of the Pacific) from the steamapps/common directory and pasted it in the same directory.

Windows renamed it Silent Hunters Wolves of the Pacific-Copy by default. I changed the name to Silent Hunters Wolves of the Pacific Modded.

Copied MultiSH4 and pasted it into my new directory.

Ran MultiSH4.

Set the name to Mod. Hit save. Closed the program by clicking the X in the corner.

Ran the exe.

Game started.

[Texas Red]

No I do not. I just switched to Uplay for SH4 though. I will still try your way and see if it works. :salute:


EDIT:
I did it your way for the Uplay version and the game works! It can launch. I still gotta mod it though.

EDIT #2:

I made two new copies, one for FotRSU and one for Dark Waters. The Dark Waters one doesn't work but the FotRSU one does.
Thank you for your help!

[Texas Red]

OK Now another problem has popped up. The stock game that I used to make the copies, I clicked on the .exe for it to launch. It launches but now there is a FotRSU splash screen instead of the original SH4 splash screen?

I will see if uninstalling and reinstalling my copies will make a difference.

[propbeanie]

I have a problem now, in that the Win10 laptop updated yesterday, and NOTHING works now for my SH3 and SH5 installs, Stock, copied or otherwise...

I decided to attempt to turn down the UAC to see if that helped, and UAC is worse than ever, giving me three pop-ups now for Steam, Steam, and the game... :hmmm: - I do not understand what they are trying to do with their updates, but... The game starts, I get to the menu, but soon as the 3D goes to load, I'm back at the desktop, no sign of SH3, and it is not in the Task Manager... where's my hammer?... [search search] :/\\x:

Windows 7 is still fine...

[Texas Red]

Maybe try running Windows 10 in Windows 7 compatibility mode?

[propbeanie]

Oh, I've been through all of those "Compatibility" tab settings, including Admin, High DPI, and another that I can't think of right now... Two weeks ago, I didn't have a care in the world about SH games, Steam and Windows 10, but these last two updates have now taken them completely out. Near as I can tell, the only recourse now is to attempt an uninstall of Steam, and try all over again... sigh... Maybe next week - or the week after. I am about over this Windows 10 and Steam BOTH... :salute:

[Texas Red]

Yup. Stupid Windows updates have to come along and ruin everything!
:damn::damn::damn::damn::damn:

[ETR3(SS)]

I'm completely baffled by some peoples problems. I run Steam no problem. I run Windows 10 Pro 64bit no problem. What was the last update Prop?

[XenonSurf]

I'm so happy to have my old SH4 DVD which will bypass all the U-Play stuff. Want to run your game fne with all mods? Get rid of U-Play. True for SH3,4,5.


XS

[propbeanie]

I'm completely baffled by some peoples problems. I run Steam no problem. I run Windows 10 Pro 64bit no problem. What was the last update Prop?
I am not sure... :hmmm: - I just had that info too... But, what I do have is
Windows 10 Home
version 1909
build 18363.778
... and while in the middle of logging-in to SubSim, I hit the 12% mark on the battery, so naturally, the beast shut-down on me at 10... what thuh? 10% of battery is enough for another 30 minutes, unless I fire SH4 up... do the computers come with fuel injectors now, that they are worried you'll burn up if they breath air when you run out of fuel?...

Anyway, I did manage to get going on one new SH3 install and a copy finally. I had to uninstall all four of my Steam games, and the Steam app, delete the left-over folders and files, re-boot the computer, then re-install, just to get an SH3 install going. Funny thing is, my SH3 install was missing - completely missing - the Main.cfg file... good thing I know what's in them, and happened to have one handy (you need an extra for SH3). I have not tried to mod my working copy yet... SH5 is ~still~ downloading, so I still have to deal with not only Steam with it, but also UPlay and the update and getting logged-in and then turning off the online.

In the meantime, files are disappearing elsewhere on the computer also, and I had to get "permission" to copy the main.cfg file into the My Documents folder. This is ~after~ I reduced the UAC influence. At least the firewall "sees" Steam and the games now, and they do have permissions. Scary thing is, there is a "Cumulative Update" for 1909 sitting in the wings, waiting to change all of my settings again... sigh. Windows Home sux. :arrgh!: :salute:

Thankfully, I do have a disk version of SH4 also, XenonSurf :salute:

The irritating part of this is that I was doing a new copy of SH3 to "document" what I do for another SubSim member, to show them how to make a copy for modding, and I not only eventually lost all four of my modded SH3 copies, but my "clean" game also... and in the middle of it all, two Windows update sessions that I should have delayed... lol

[Texas Red]

Man, that really sucks.

[Mad Mardigan]

I posted about another having issues with something close to this, in the FotRS subgroup here...

I have win 10 Pro edition 1909 (updated to latest in release as it stands at this time...)

I do run a 2 HD set up in my computer.. so I have the main ( C:/ ) & the 2ndary ( E:/ ... somehow the backup side of C:/, got named D:/ ... don't ask me how or why, it just happened when I added in another HD & then set the new 1 to be the main HD... C:/ is a 2TB E:/ is a .5 TB drive...)

I have Origin, Steam & Uplay launchers, set up & installed on the 2ndary... in C:/ I set up a folder called /Games, and this is where I install games at.

I have paid access to SH3, 4 & 5, through both Steam & Ubi...

Until about a couple of weeks ago, I had 1 copy of SH4 from each of them & modded out as to how I wanted to, at the time.. until I decided I wanted to add another mod into the mix & was unable to since I couldn't get a copy of SH4 from either place... since I had already d/l'ed, installed them.

So, I ended up having to dump & start from jump street.

I 1st tried after going through the painful process of uninstalling, clearing out every trace of having installed SH4, I then ran CCleaner to finalize the process & restarted my computer.

Then began the process of setting up a fresh clean.. of which I started with Ubi... which despite everything I found of how to make multi copies of SH4 to be able to mod it, whilst keeping a clean safe copy... that attempt was a bust.. a no go... a bomb.... no matter what I did, I could not get them to work.. so.. I gave up with Ubi..

I then turned to Steam & to date, have NO issues running SH4 modded (more than 1 copy of it, to be exact..) & have them modded to the following flavors:

FotRS-U-EN
Oper. Monsun: Enhanced
Oper. Monsun: Dark Waters

All while still having a fresh unmodded copy of SH4, available to copy from, should I desire to & I did so in the following manner..

With Steam, I told it to install the library in C:\Games\Silent-Hunter\SH4-Steam

In SH4-Steam, which is where I told Steam to put SH4 (v1.5, mind you, by the way...).

So the structure reads as follows there:
C:\Games\Silent-Hunter\SH4-Steam\steamapps\common\Silent Hunters wolves of the pacific (the last bit I just left as steam installed it.. it works & yanno the old sayin'... if it ain't broke.. don't mess with it... *shrugs*) after getting SH4 installed, I ran it to ensure if any further set up was needed & then shut SH4 down. After that I added in jsgme, multiSH4 and closed out & back to showing \Silent Hunters wolves of the pacific folder. Now, ready to play doctor accordingly...

Ok, from there, I created in \common
a folder named to what flavor mod I want to run with, for this ex. I'll run with the mod Operation Monsun: Enhanced (created by Fifi.. thanks for your work Fifi) :Kaleun_Salute:

After creating that folder I then reopen the fresh, UNMODDED SH4 folder & using Cntrl+A highlight everything in there, right click & copy it all.

page back to \common & click on the new folder (OperationMonsun:Enhanced) & paste the game guts into it...

Having successfully made a fresh copy of SH4 then I begin the modding process...

I run jsgme, set up the mods folder, then close it out for the moment..
Next, I add in what all files & such is needed for the mod,send a copy of jsgme to desktop, renaming it on desktop to JSGME-OM:E, then run it & activate the mods installing in the prescribed order... once all mod parts are activated, I shut jsgme down & move on to the next step.

MultiSH4: I run this & set the save folder to the 3 letter nick, (in this case OME, for obvious reasons...) then close that out...

I make adjustments to 2 files, knowing full well what I want to do and how to accomplish this... I have a .txt note made for these changes which are minor & are as follows:
data\cfg\gameplay & data\cfg\main
gameplay, I adjust the realism to 4 key setting bells 'batteries, compressed air, O2 & fuel' & set these to +25, all the rest to =0 (yes I do activate everything to 100 for realism & go by the dead is dead principle... so no judgments, thanks... I do like having the ability to look about.. if i so desire to.. and yes, I know sailors then didn't have that luxury... is still nice though as it makes for some grand screenshots...)

Main, I adjust the time compression settings to what I want them down to, which is basically max compression of 1024... max.. I don't allow it any higher than that, as the limit. Doesn't mean I run TC to that point though...

After that, I then turn my attention to the SH4.exe, this I send a shortcut to desktop, which I then rename to SH4-Oper.Monsun:Enhanced

After I get all that done, I go to Large Address Aware, (which I have installed in C:\L-A-A, activate it & tell it to allow the game to use 4 GB RAM to run.. then after finalizing that process.. I turn my attention to the last detail...

run the game & enjoy...

Have NOT ran into any issue playing any of the mod flavors i have, only complaint I have is having to log into Steam, but that aside... they work.

Hope this helps... :Kaleun_Thumbs_Up:

Cheers, :Kaleun_Cheers:

Mad Mardigan :Kaleun_Salute:

[ETR3(SS)]

I am not sure... :hmmm: - I just had that info too... But, what I do have isWindows 10 Home
version 1909
build 18363.778... and while in the middle of logging-in to SubSim, I hit the 12% mark on the battery, so naturally, the beast shut-down on me at 10... what thuh? 10% of battery is enough for another 30 minutes, unless I fire SH4 up... do the computers come with fuel injectors now, that they are worried you'll burn up if they breath air when you run out of fuel?...

Anyway, I did manage to get going on one new SH3 install and a copy finally. I had to uninstall all four of my Steam games, and the Steam app, delete the left-over folders and files, re-boot the computer, then re-install, just to get an SH3 install going. Funny thing is, my SH3 install was missing - completely missing - the Main.cfg file... good thing I know what's in them, and happened to have one handy (you need an extra for SH3). I have not tried to mod my working copy yet... SH5 is ~still~ downloading, so I still have to deal with not only Steam with it, but also UPlay and the update and getting logged-in and then turning off the online.

In the meantime, files are disappearing elsewhere on the computer also, and I had to get "permission" to copy the main.cfg file into the My Documents folder. This is ~after~ I reduced the UAC influence. At least the firewall "sees" Steam and the games now, and they do have permissions. Scary thing is, there is a "Cumulative Update" for 1909 sitting in the wings, waiting to change all of my settings again... sigh. Windows Home sux. :arrgh!: :salute:

Thankfully, I do have a disk version of SH4 also, XenonSurf :salute:

The irritating part of this is that I was doing a new copy of SH3 to "document" what I do for another SubSim member, to show them how to make a copy for modding, and I not only eventually lost all four of my modded SH3 copies, but my "clean" game also... and in the middle of it all, two Windows update sessions that I should have delayed... lolWindows Home is the culprit I'd wager. Home edition restricts what the user can do so much it's ridiculous. It's like it was made for grandma Ethel getting her first computer.

[propbeanie]

I agree ETR2(SS). However, even Granny gets confused when her "Quilting With Barbra" Windows XP era proggy short-cut is removed from her desktop, and all file associations with the app, such as "Barbraz.QWB" files lose their "link" to the main app. Why Win10Home wants to mess with user settings like that is beyond me. But it is what it is...

@ Mad Mardigan: the only things I do differently is that I have a JSGME.exe copy and a MultiSH4.exe copy in each of my copied SH4's folders. With LAA, you have to drill to the proper folder anyway, so it is "independent" and can be anywhere, but I do have it in the "root" Game folder. I also "test" my copy prior to modding, since I was going through all of those steps previously, only to find that I ended up going to a black screen as soon as the 3D world tried to come in. My guess with that is that Win10Home got rid of the Steam DirectX v9.0c install, or the game's dll, and no amount of finagling with Steam would bring it back in for the games. I should have looked for the d3d files in my installs, I suppose. That would have helped. So that's just an assumption.
:salute:

[Mad Mardigan]

@ Mad Mardigan: the only things I do differently is that I have a JSGME.exe copy and a MultiSH4.exe copy in each of my copied SH4's folders. With LAA, you have to drill to the proper folder anyway, so it is "independent" and can be anywhere, but I do have it in the "root" Game folder. I also "test" my copy prior to modding, since I was going through all of those steps previously, only to find that I ended up going to a black screen as soon as the 3D world tried to come in. My guess with that is that Win10Home got rid of the Steam DirectX v9.0c install, or the game's dll, and no amount of finagling with Steam would bring it back in for the games. I should have looked for the d3d files in my installs, I suppose. That would have helped. So that's just an assumption.
:salute:

propbeanie,

I do stop & run a check of the SH4 copy that I am going to play, as it were... Dr. Frankenstein on... but seeing as how my post was already starting to approach novella length.. I left it out of there, figuring that other would be smart enough to figure that out on their own...

At least I... never mind, any way...

I do keep jsgme & multiSH4 in a zip & already unzipped form, as back up in the 2ndary drive... for just such emergencies... if any thing happens to the unzipped copy, I can always replace it with running an unzip from where I keep that back up at there and replace the problem copy.. after deleting the problem one, that is... trust me... there is a methodology to my madness... :D and should all else fails, can always go out with a :fff:

As for L-A-A, that's just where I set it up to call home... to each their own, as long as they know it works, yanno... :yeah:

As for Win & their flying butt monkeys... I do have to agree with you, they are most definitely getting more brain dead & power hungry the more time goes by... :hmmm: :timeout: :06: :damn: :/\\chop

I too, have a update, just hanging there like.. a buzzard, waiting for a carcass to show up... :arrgh!: Edited in update: That Win update that was hanging around like a vulture.. has finally descended & swooped in for the kill, as it were. As near as I can tell... no issues with dinking about with the games I have on hand to do so with... thankfully.

:gulp:

Any way... going back to lurker mode... for now, any way...



:lurk: :Kaleun_Periskop: :Kaleun_Los: :Kaleun_Los: :Kaleun_Salivating:

[Mad Mardigan]

Windows Home is the culprit I'd wager. Home edition restricts what the user can do so much it's ridiculous. It's like it was made for grandma Ethel getting her first computer.

:haha: :har: :haha: :har::har: :D :) :yep:

More like, for ol' gran ma ethel, getting her 1st ever old fashioned hand crank ran washer machine...

:Kaleun_Thumbs_Up: :Kaleun_Cheers:


:Kaleun_Salute: