I have been less than a couple hundred meters at decks awash at night .

Okay

A few AAR's from the early war have uboat commanders reporting being able to sneak literally into the midst of a convoy to hit the juicy targets, and some report having remained on the surface for a reload without detection.

I doubt it's to that point, but you never know until you try :-)

Just adjust the AI to how you want it here .
Silent Hunter 5\data\Cfg\Sim
Adjust with notepad and save .
[Visual]
Detection time=2.5 ;[s] min detection time.
Sensitivity=1.0 ;(0..1) min detection threshold double detection time.
Fog factor=0.875 ;[>=0]
Light factor=1.25 ;[>=0]
Waves factor=1.0 ;[>=0]Stock = 10
Enemy surface factor=125.0 ;[m2]
Enemy speed factor=8 ;[kt]
Min Signal Strength=0.125
Night Sensitivity Factor=0.3
Thermal Layer Signal Attenuation=0

I presume lower means less night sensitivity, correct?
And does the skill of the escort play in to the detection ability, or will the real change be radar?

And as far as the factors go, does a higher number or a lower number give those effects more impact?

Let me search around, there's gotta be a thread on it

Also if using IRAI mod there are these values .
Silent Hunter 5\MODS\IRAI_0_0_39_ByTheDarkWraith\data\Scripts\AI \init
# Note: difficulty is in range 0.0 - 1.0 with 0.0 being no difficulty (sensor doesn't exist)
# for non-merchants
VISUAL_DIFFICULTY_MIN = 0.85;
VISUAL_DIFFICULTY_MAX = 1.0;
HYDROPHONE_DIFFICULTY_MIN = 0.85;
HYDROPHONE_DIFFICULTY_MAX = 1.0;
RADAR_DIFFICULTY_MIN = 0.85;
RADAR_DIFFICULTY_MAX = 1.0;
SONAR_DIFFICULTY_MIN = 0.85;
SONAR_DIFFICULTY_MAX = 1.0;
# for merchants
VISUAL_DIFFICULTY_MERCHANT_MIN = 0.85;
VISUAL_DIFFICULTY_MERCHANT_MAX = 1.0;
HYDROPHONE_DIFFICULTY_MERCHANT_MIN = 0.85;
HYDROPHONE_DIFFICULTY_MERCHANT_MAX = 1.0;
RADAR_DIFFICULTY_MERCHANT_MIN = 0.85;
RADAR_DIFFICULTY_MERCHANT_MAX = 1.0;
SONAR_DIFFICULTY_MERCHANT_MIN = 0.85;
SONAR_DIFFICULTY_MERCHANT_MAX = 1.0;

If using IRAI the AI ships have a fatigue roster so anything can happen . The best thing about SH5 is the detection circles , you can adjust the peramaters and look at the detection circles to see what is happening detection wise .

Interesting, are those effected by the depth of the vessel and the resulting lowered visual area?

Dunno , I just play with the stock IRAI settings . I keep away from escorts and try to form wolfpacks whenever possible . I haven't seen an escorted convoy yet in this campaign .

Hmmm, currently getting a ctd when I come within range of the Polish destroyers in the initial Baltic operation

Using the latest list in full

Whats the campaign date ? Computer specs ?

9/1/39
i5 2500, 8gb ram, 7850 2gb video ram

The old mod list I was running, sobers 0700 27022013, was working just fine

Might do a rollback

Running it again, will grab the rror log this time

No idea , its annoying though .

So I did a rollback on just the NEW UI to 7.4.2, messed up the install and didn't turn on any of the custom exe features... and it seems to be working

Weird. Trying again with the new ui features, will report back

Yup, looks like it is 7_5_0, something in there is causing the issue