Regarding SD Radar contacts
 

Referring to "Using Radar_Sonar" under the Support Section of the Mod, I read on page 8:
"Unlike the stock game, the Ultimate SD radar will not show a detected surface contact on the Navigation Map. If one does appear, it’s due to either the crews "Visual" detection, or the SJ Radar use. The Hydrophone/Sonar will also show a detected contact on the map....but not the SD. As before, the SD will continue to show a plane on the map."

Why are surface contacts not shown on the navigation map? How is one notified of the SD surface contact? Are you expected to see it only on the PPI screen? Is one expected to manually plot SD surface contacts as they move about on the Nav map? As stated, stock game does this for you.

Also, which key-stroke brings up the PPI screen? All I seem to get is the A-scope with some kind of direction finder gizmo above it. I don't seem to be able to get a direct view of the PPI scope.

The radar antenna was rotating at first launch on TC1, but after some TC X1024 it was stuck.
Exiting/re-loading solved it, but as soon as TC more than X1, it was stuck again...on deck view and external view. Set on continuous sweep.
But that’s old story as it never did it again after upgrading latest version.

Early SD radar was only able to conduct an air search. It was not capable of "seeing" things on the surface. It also could not give a bearing to a detection, only the range, of which we have not figured out a way to emulate that, and not ruin other functions. The SJ radar was capable of surface search. The FotRSU radar set-up attempts to simulate a "sweep" and "decay" effect of the radar, as seen on the PPI screen, so if you are on the NavMap, you will "see" the dot or box of a "reflection" as the "sweep" passes over a contact, and then that "detection" will fade as the sweep continues. FotRSU also attempts to emulate the fact that the radar beam followed the "level" of the sub as it went through and over wave crests. In other words, sometimes the beam would be going high and over a "target" as the submarine platform (and attached antenna mounting) was put off-level from a wave, so you might not see a target each sweep of the radar antenna.

As to the screens available, using the bottom menu tabs, the radar button of course takes you to the A-Scope:
https://i.imgur.com/cs9Vr5Q.jpg

Once on that screen, you see the menu tabs associated with that view now highlighted:
https://i.imgur.com/W8QCXFE.jpg

If you go over to the non-highlighted left button there, that can take you to the PPI screen:
https://i.imgur.com/1zQMGQ7.jpg

If the PPI is not available, it will not be illuminated when you get to the station, and the "Power" button will not function. Another way to do it, is to use the "J" key ( <J> ) from any station on the boat, and that usually will take you to the PPI station. A 2nd press of the "J" will take you to the A Scope, and a 3rd push will take you back to the original station, unless of course, you were already at the radar station. Be sure and consult the "SH4_Q-Ref_Card_Front.jpg" and "SH4_Q-Ref_Card_Back.jpg" images in the 'root' SH4 install folder for other key presses available.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Did you happen to notice Fifi, if that was associated with changing your station view, such as I found with turning the radar to a "Sweep" setting, and then being able to see the sweeps on the NavMap and make my marks, but as soon as I changed to a different station, such as going to the Bridge, and then back to the radar station, that the Sweep had stopped? It was set to the Focused setting, and the antenna was no longer rotating. But, putting it back to Sweep, the antenna would then rotate, if I went "outside" again, before going to another station... ?? :salute:

No Mods on STEAM for Silent Hunter?
 

:Kaleun_Salute: It's kind of irksome, that this venerable, and very replayable sim series has no mods on STEAM.

Thank you very much SubSim, for keeping it alive. :Kaleun_Cheers:

Radar rotation.
 

I will have to pay some more attention to that so I will get back to you.

Missing merchants at Engebi Island
 

Downloaded and activated the new release on a pristine SH4,( also deleted all save files etc.)
first patrol from Pearl, Dec 9 1941, Tambor class.
orders to Eniwetok Atoll to patrol for 5 days, and take recon photos by Engebi Island, then go patrol Guam and Marianas.
Approaching Engebi, I get sonar reports of three merchants. Only 1 is ever visible on Periscope or external view.

I was not able to take pics on the one I could see and approach. There was nothing else there to 'lock' on to complete that part of the mission.

Any thoughts?

I'll run that one again, to make sure the "fix" applied between v0.93 and v1.0 is correct mikesn9, but look at the orders again. The "Photo" stuff is secondary. The orders tell you "... but look over the whole atoll. Recon the area for five days...", so it is basically a "Patrol" mission. Also, the photo missions are much more difficult now, hence them being disabled for the most part (there are a few with them still), or moved to a secondary roll as in this Objective set. It will be the same thing at the other two locations you encounter in the mission. Generally speaking, you will have to get within 1200-1600 yards of a PhotoTarget before it activates the objective, and allows you to "Lock" the target, ID the target, and the photo the target... There is an 'SS09 FotoReconSpecOpTraining.pdf' file in the Support folder you could also use, or even take the Sub School mission for the same, and see how close you have to be now. This is the main reason we have not released our Photo Recon missions for the beachhead pix objectives... :salute:

In my experience with SH4, this has always been what I have observed. Set it to sweep, go away, come back, it's not sweeping. Stock or modded makes no difference for me. That is how it acts.:salute:

When you can find all the mods you need here at SUBSIM.COM why bother with steam?

Thanks, Prop.
what about the sonar reports with no ships there?

One thing to keep in mind with Sonar Contact reports is the "accuracy" is not there for several reasons. If you use TC and get a report, it takes the game a bit to come out of TC, and depending upon the amount of TC and the contact, you might only drop to 8x TC. Also, even at a normal 1x TC, your sonarman will "lose" and then "regain" sonar contacts. Each of those will be a 'new' Sonar Contact if visual has not been established yet. Hence, it could have been that.

However, a very frustrating side-effect with Sonar Contacts can especially be seen in what I was working on for Photo Recon missions, where the PhotoTarget we were using does "x-mit" Sonar, which could be helpful to the sub skipper in finding the Target, except when you have 30 or more PhotoTargets in use along the beaches of an atoll, or in a situation such as you encountered - which contact is what?? Is it a ship, or a PhotoTarget... So, coming into Engebi, you may well have had the ship Sonar Contact (eventually visible), and a PhotoTarget or two Sonar Contact. You will not "see" the PhotoTarget though until you get in really close, and even then, that is just an "ID visible". You don't ever truly "see" the actual target... and at that, sometimes involves getting into water less than 70 foot deep - which is prime territory for an airplane to spot your boat at PD - "Back Emergency!"... no solution has been found yet, so treat the foto stuff as low-priority. :salute:

SH4 Wolve of the Pacific GOLD EDITION
 

Specifically, the Gold Edition, are there any conflicts with FotRS UE?

Asking for an acquaintance who's got it installed, runs then crashes to desktop. That's as much as I know. Any likely reasons it might crash?

I've been told that Gold Edition is a v1.5; is this correct?

First of all, after 1.5 installed, apply LAA (included in FOTRSU pack) to your sh4.exe file. And put sh4.exe under W7 compatibility. Without this, you securely will go to CTD in the start.

Regards.

Fitzcarraldo :salute:

Thanks
 

Fitzcarraldo, Thank you.
I'll pass this on.

These are my imressions after a first patrol in the asiatic fleet in my s-boat starting Dec of '41. I'm liking this new version so far.

Destroyers seem to be much better at locating me, though I have yet to try my flank speed at 100' experiment in this version. From what I've gathered, there will be no getting away with that anymore.

The thermocline is very powerful from what I can see. I was able to run at full speed while reloading torpedoes at 200'.

The highlight of the patrol was sinking a Kongo class battleship. I was patrolling Lingayen Gulf and had already let one convoy of warships get away due to their changes in direction and my boats pitiful speed. A lone destroyer patrolling the area didnt help matters, but a couple days of hunting and I removed him from the picture.

Then another batch of warships showed up. This group was moving quite slowly compared to the last maybe 6 or 7 knots on average. This was great for me since, once again, I'd get into position only for the group to make a turn, putting me out of range for my mk 10 torpedoes. This time I had the speed to intercept them again.

A few times of this and I was able to get myself in position for an attack. The enemy group, presumably from getting out of the gulf and back to open sea, had picked up speed. If i didn't get something this time, they'd be gone for good.

I could only fire 4 mk 10's at once so I wasn't aiming for the battleship, since I knew that would probably not be enough to take it out. Instead, I picked out a nice European oiler in the back of the formation, made the calculations, waited till it was as.close as it would get (2000 yards), rechecked, and let all four fishes loose.

In a stroke of pure luck, the battleship steamed right into the path of the torpedoes, getting hit by all four. Knowing it wouldnt be enough, I dived to 200' and began to reload while getting closer to the now wounded target. I continued to track the target on hydrophones and quickly noticed that it had slowed to a crawl, allowing me to slow down as well.

I got 3 of my last four fish reloaded and noticed the escorts were far enough away for me to take another shot. After ordering a full stop, and a pause on loading the final torpedo, it was back to periscope depth. After quick calculations on a much closer and slower moving target, i fired. All three hit, but alas, the monster still lived. Well, time to get back down and load that last fish.

On the way back down, I'm hearing these little explosions. I figured it must be those destroyers depth charging some phantom contact, although it doesn't quite sound like that.

Before I can puzzle it out, there is a massive KABOOM! That was quickly followed by the message confirming the ship is going down. The little explosions must've been a chain of sympathetic detonations going off until something really big went up. From there it was a pretty easy escape.

That might have been the most satisfying sinking I've ever pulled off in this game. I have to thank all those who made this mod for breathing new life into this game and making the aforementioned experience possible.

First of all, congrats to mod team for what looks like an outstanding mod.

I say “looks like” because I haven’t been able to get it to run, despite following the directions “religiously”, LAA step included, on both my desktop (Win 10) and my laptop (Win 7). Went through the whole process twice on each, but when I try to run FotRSU, I get as far as the loading splash screen, the progress bar completes, then the program hangs up.

Now I’m going to ask/admit a dumb question. Is FotRSU absolutely limited to SH4 v1.5, or can it work with v1.4? Because the latter is what I’ve been using, he said with his forehead still smarting from the headslap.. so much for “religiously”.

So advice please, does attempting to use SH4 v1.4 lead to the kind of problem I’m describing? Because if so, I’m going to have to find a copy of v1.5.

Thanks

Mike

v1.0.1 Update
 

1. There is a typo on the map used for the Solomon Campaign narrative I got when completing a patrol out of Midway on 11/13/1942. The map shows "The Spot" WNW of Savo Island; I'm betting that should read "The Slot".

2. This may not be a bug, but it is frustrating; I was under the impression that the surface SJ radar would be available mid-1942. After six successful patrols (including the first one) my GAR class still has not been offered this radar as of November 1942. I'd sure like to get it!

3. Also not a bug, per se, but something that was "fixed" in a TMO Mod, or perhaps one of Webster's, is the link in the Office to the Sub model still takes you to the crew display. It should take one direct to the Equipment display, should it not? It's only one more click by going through the crew display to get to the Equipment, but still...

Otherwise, I agree the Japanese warships are more aggressive this early in the war, but not too hard to evade if your tactics are sound and you have enough water under the keel. I did take a torpedo in the bow from a light cruiser that gave me 45% damage. I forgot about those little devils. I'm liking this version a lot.

The readme and ever discussion about the mod has been very specific. This mod is for SH4 v 1.5 only and make sure to add the LAA, Make sure the SH4.exe NOT read only and run it from a complete clean installation with no previous saves.

To your number 2 question. To my knowledge upgrades are not only date specific but also dependent on renown and home port.

Thanks Mercfulfate,

Self-education has certainly taken place in this case. Now to get that v1.5..

Cheers

Mike