Ahoy Treetop!
difficulty was Hard
RFB2.0+patch, Jap convoy fix, RSRDC, Medals fix for RFB.

On sizes of ships, the one that went down was definitely Haruna Maru 1549 Tons. Two hits, one just in front of the superstructure, one right under the smokestack in the aft. She was a real B*@$# about going down. A LOT of deck gun rounds finally did her in. I've got real pretty pictures attached.

For the others, it was an overcast night and I didn't record what I was identifying them as. So there could be some error in both my identification at the time and my memory now. From what I recall they were all small frieghters of some sort. 1-2k tons. But again, I could have this wrong. One picture attached.

On the deck gun... you've got fair point here. I'm not really sure the caliber... it was SS-175 Tarpon (Porpoise?). It looked huge... but I'm a new player so I don't really have any reference. So could have been a 3 inch.

maybe I'll give RFB a second try after my trial patrol with TMOwtw.
:Kaleun_Salute:
ShortPeople

my apologies to all for my absence. had some RL stuff that distracted me from Subsim. (yes, that's sarcasm). :doh:

Glad to see that someone from the community was able to help Shortpeople with the proper fix.

i'll try and pay more attention.:oops::yeah:

3-inch gun on the Porpoises when you first get them. You'll likely move up to a Gato before the 4-inch gun becomes available on Porpoises.

The Japanese convoy patch is fine but the same convoy data is overwritten and updated by RSRD anyway. I would install the convoy patch after RFB but before RSRD. I may be mistaken but I think that patch is only required if you run RFB by itself or without another mod that enhances convoy data like RSRD.

I like how ships start zig zagging when they are hit. Other mods don't seem to do that. It seemed like they try to ram you if you are close, but it could just be my imagination.

Batteries don't recharge
 

i was giving my newly rebuilt Win10 Dell a spin by running SH4. the only version i had that was stable is RFB,
Selected the first Single Mission....Shakedown cruise in the Gulf of Mexico.
Just cruised around on the surface for a few hours then submerged. i got distracted and came back to find that my batteries had discharged to 58% so i surfaced and made sure that the charging light was on.
i cruised on the surface for an entire day and the battery capacity never moved from 58%.
any ideas as to why that happened?
Generic Mod Enabler - v2.6.0.157
[C:\Ubisoft\SH4_RFB\MODS]

1_RFB_2.0
2_RFB_2.0_Patch_23April2010
4_RFB_2.0_Patch_06June2019
3_SMMO for RFB 2.0
5_Stop The Shouting
6_OTC RFB 2.0
7_Increased binoculars for RFB OTC
8_RFB_LocNames

My guess would be the install versus Save location, since you've done a Windows OS upgrade. While there are no overtly "cosmetic" differences in the basic functioning of the OS, there are some internal differences, and I would first experiment with a "clean" Save folder, but you wouldn't have to necessarily empty it, just temporarily move it elsewhere to where the game can't find it. Then do that same Single Mission. If it still does the same, you will most likely have to re-install the game and start a-fresh... You might also find other apps from your Win7 install that will treat you the same, acting like they are functioning as intended, but not really doing so... Hopefully it won't be any of your important apps that do that... But anything "legacy" (as far as Win10 is concerned) is suspect. :salute:

first, thanks for the opinion/suggestion.
second, i don't see how the OS layer can affect the Application layer other than allowing it to use resources and function (run) or not function.
as far as SH is concerned, it shouldn't care if i am running Win7, Win10, or Linux. it is either going to get the resources it requests or it will CTD.
i am going to try what you suggest but it shouldn't matter.
but then this is SH4..................................:har:
:Kaleun_Salute:

I'm not sure what Windows 10 thinks of something "Windows XP" inside of it, but I do know what Microsoft thinks of it, and they dropped support for it a while back... Microsoft considers (and has considered) Silent Hunter as a "legacy" app, and does not have "hooks" for the DirectX v9c (also considererd "legacy") for renderings in the old games. It might be that you could install the DirectX v9c from the game, along with its media codecs, and have it work properly... It's tough to say what will work and what won't. The OS layer is "boss" of the machine (well, after the BIOS / UEFI hand-off), and Win10 is not WinXP, and in more ways than just 32 versus 64 bit. :salute:

cleaned the Save folder. reran the Shakedown Cruise. same thing happened.
ran a Single Mission with a German Uboat in the Pacific. the drainage was not permanent. typical Ubi.
not sure what i want to do at this point. tired of CTD's, i know that.

On some machines, you do have to twiddle with the graphics settings (matching resolution etc) and/or admin rights and/or emulation (I use "Vista" on my Win10), as per some of THEBERBSTER's posts, but I don't know if it'd be worth your time to experiment with that and maybe a DirectX 9c re-install. :hmmm:

Hydrophones working on the surface
 

In stock, TMO, FOTRS and FOTRS Ulimate, hydrophones work just fine on the surface.

In RFB hydrophones do not work on the surface.

Can any one who still plays RFB, if such are still extant, tell me why?

are you sure that this is not related to the particular boat you are driving and the placement of the sonar head? i remember reading other Kaleuns having a similar issue and it was with the boats that had sonar heads located on the deck rather than the hull...and of course, there would be no acoustical sound in those situations. just asking....:Kaleun_Salute:

It is a design choice by the mod creators. There is a debate whether hydrophones worked on the surface.

Might take time but if you started this install completely clean according to Capt Scurvy' directions I have seen floating around then I would drop the last mod and re run to see what happens. Then the next, and next, until you do not have this occur again and you will have your offending mod if it is indeed a mod causing it. If you dropped all of them and it still does it I would say it is the install and give it a do over.

With the boat submerged while running silent, the QB and QC heads (one is acitve, the other is passive listening, don't remember which is which) already had very limited tactical ranges. With the boat running on the surface at patrol speeds the listening head would be rendered useless by ship's own noise emitting from the hull (main engines, generators, pumps running in the pump room, etc.), as well as noise of the hull driving through the water (bow wave splashing, the noise of the hydrophone itself moving through the water, etc.).

The only way to listen effectively with the WCA set while surfaced would be to have the boat sitting dead in the water with all machinery turned off, in a calm sea. With the boat surfaced at patrol speeds and in a typical sea state the lookouts would spot a target long before the sonarman listening with the WCA would hear it.

Then you have the old S-boats whose hydrophone was installed on the deck, so you would have to submerge to use it anyway. Same is true with the JP installation on fleet boats, though the JP had much better passive sensitivity than the passive head of the WCA set.

As far as the game itself is concerned and considering it's own technical limitations, and regardless of conditions, operations, or the equipment installed on a boat, if one type of boat can listen while running on the surface, then all boats can. So given the real-world impracticability of using such equipment of the period on the surface in operational conditions, it was likely a deliberate decision made by the RFB modding team to make it so that no boat can listen while surfaced.