I heard that several times from different members by now, so while I give that possibility some merit, it doesn't make a lot of sense at all. Either the AI skill is *so random* in game that it seems like you play a different game every other day, or it's really the installation process that is bugged as opposed to the game itself. Thing is, I've never yet heard of a bugged installation process of a game that would install different AI characteristics / logics etc. It's hard to believe.

P.S.: I also installed the game twice by now and did not see a difference in AI behaviour at all. I still get dumb DDs where I can run surfaced pretty closely in daylight (albeit in rough seas in a recent case, but visibility good, I think they should have seen me) and other times they spot my scope just like that. Have not heard pinging yet. But I'm still in 1942, so maybe there were less active-sonar equipped Jap DDs underway.

Yay!
 

I loved SH1!!!!! I liked the narwhal? class since it had 2 deck guns, but took FOREVER to dive!!

I don't remember older games being as buggy. I think I went for months and months without any patches since i didn't have the interent at the time. I thought SH1 was hard at times but very fun. I would like to get the commanders edition.. I have the orig game, and the 2 patrol disks somewhere in storage back in the states. There are quite a few old dos games that I would like to play again. Maybe I should get dos box too :)

Here you go: http://www.subsowespac.org/silent-hunter-dosbox.shtml

Yep, I am beginning to like SH4 the more I play it but SH1 - SHCE is still my favorite Sub sim!

Art

First game i ever dit buy was SH1 and played it for years on my old 486 DX together with Silent Thunder as well...it's all she could take :rotfl: . Still have them in working order .:yep:

eww, little more to it then i thought! no wonder i couldn't get it to work! will try again later! thank you!

Ill try to get DOS BOX but sadly some of my old DOS games dont have a internal clock, they felt technology would not advance too much. Such as Aces over the Pacific and BHawks 1942 and BOB. You would lose your ammo in 2 seconds when I tried it on a Pentium 200mmx, when it was really made for the 386. :P

I wish I could find my TF1942 disks. Id put that back on as well as Silent Service 2.

I never played that. It was good?

SLOMO
 

There used to be a program called slomo used to slow your computer down to 386-486 levels for use with old games. Not sure if it still exists but if it does, it probably works in dos box for games that run too fast on new computers.

Early War escorts
 

I'm wondering if some of the variation some of you are seeing in DD aggressiveness has anything to do with when you are in the war. At the beginning they should suck, but should start to majorly increase in effectiveness by 1943. I still haven't gotten killed by em unless I do something really stupid like get too close with time advanced, but its hard to tell if its they that suck or me that is just doing a good job avoiding them. I have been a bit puzzled why cargo ships don't speed away at top speed when i blow up a ship next to them. They do evade.. but mostly by zig zagging.. possibly they just can't go faster than 8 knots? And how realistic is it for convoys to be travelling at 2 knots? That seems to be common when I find them.

You said you have reinstalled the game twice already? Did you also delete all
files in the Registry before you reinstalled. I found that the uninstall did NOT
delete all of them in the registry. I did that manually. It might be the cause
of the lackluster AI in the game you are experiencing...

JIM

I just installed SH3/SH4 on new PC. I also have SHCE and AOD running on the same system with DOSBOX.

Side note: You don't need a slowdown utility with DOSBOX, since you can arbitrarily control how many CPU cycles you allocate to your game.

I have yet to form an opinion on SH3, but certainly AOD has been my favorite subsim despite the crisper graphics in SHCE.

Now, here is the interesting thing. If you want to play SH3 totally realistic, then you need to give up the external and event camera. Doing that, you give up much of the eye candy which the game provides. The 3D crew gets old after a while as time passes by submerged. Thus, the two games are much less disimilar when played like that. You look at AOD (or SHCE for that matter) and you'll find all the major features there for a sub simulation. {A flight sim can have a wonderful 3D world and enhanced realism due to the graphics. However, a sub sim with a wonderful 3D world and realistic play are at odds with each other.}

So, for me the jury is still out on the more modern SH3/SH4. All with all come down to game play. How good is the hunt and how good is disengaging and evading the enemy? There is no reason to immediately assume that SH3/4 will be superior in this department. I have quite a few older games that blow away anything in the same category over the last few years in terms of quality game play.

The basic realities of the industry and hardware are:

(1) 10-15 years ago you could easily code very sophisticated game play with the number of CPU cycles available, but little could be done with graphics.

(2) As a result of #1, a much larger portion of projects focused on game play as opposed to art work.

(3) Increased CPU and GPU hardware often meant less time devoted on future projects to basics of game play.

(4) 2D is much simpler to code than 3D. Thus, as games went 3D, development became much more expensive and labor intensive. So, even less time was invested game play basics.

Thus, I will not be suprised to find after perhaps spending three months with SH3 that I may end up back in DOSBOX with AOD.

I have never encountered dumb AI, I wonder if the realism % has anything to do with it? I play at 100%, so I'm not picking on anyone but what % are those who encounter dumb AI playing at, just for curiosity?

Frank
:cool:

2D vs 3D systems interface for simulation type games
 

I totally agree with the sentiment expressed here regarding the 3D systems interface found on most "modern" vehicle type simulations.

I hate it.

No... maybe that's too strong a word.

I *despise* it (there, that's better).

The 3D cockpit interface ruined Janes' F18 for me, and I hoped that game would represent the end of a failed experiment. Not to be. The 3D systems interfaces you find in many sims these days sacrifice accuracy, detail and ease of use for eye candy. Their only practical function, as far as I can tell, is to provide 5 or 10 minutes of marketing WOW! factor.

While it is commonly argued that the 3D interface contributes to the immersion factor - and on the surface (no pun intended) it sounds like a no brainer - I find that the opposite is true. A computer mouse is no substitute for coordinated head, body and hand movement, and a computer monitor cannot provide the necessary stereoscopic depth perception. The technology to do the latter may be there someday soon (and where's my flying car? I was promised a flying car by the year 2000, dammit!), but we are prolly decades away from the former... at least in the home/entertainment market.

So to summarize my rant... 3D simulation system interfaces suck! If game developers must waste time building them for my games (in lieu of investing resources in other more important areas, such as game play and software quality assurance) at least provide an optional 2D interface we can use to actually PLAY the game once we get beyond the initial "Golly Gee" stage.

JD

Aces of the Deep was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better than the first 2 Silent Hunters. Sure they were worth a bit of a play but gimme AotD any day.

I miss SilentService :-?