Difference between sh-4 / sh-5 grafics?
 

As i watched the trailer and available screenshots againe i started to worry that the grafics really wont bring anything new! I mean it even looks more like sh-3 than sh-4 and allthough it still very early it really looks more like sort of addon or full compartment uprgae for sh-3 as it is now.

i think its because its still very early in the process (almost a year from now until release date)

in my opinion (because its the fastest and the least expensive thing to do) they just dumped sh3 data into sh4 game engine to replace all of the fleetboat stuff and then started the process of working out the kinks and making changes to the game itself.

lets give them the benefit of the doubt that they will be going back over it and "premod" the game to make all the needed improvements they can

well, I noticed that even though the graphics look about the same, I saw that in a couple of screenies, the wake of the sub has been improved. just after the bow splash, the water dips under it's normal level, even though it only shows at high speed, it shows a pretty big engine enhancement

If I re-check the trailer I notice that it isn't the same engine as SH-4 athough it does seem that it is a compareble style. The SH-4 engine wasn't that bad. I hope that effort isn't concentrated on graphics but above all on the gameplay, balance, AI, campaign, Wolfpacks etc. After all it is a simulation and not an 3d shooter.

Improvements are under way however if I read between the lines:

http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/t...7/m/8591082387

Dont agree with the first post, from those few screenshots alone...
The improved draw distance, landscapes, STUNNING water partical effects and dynamic shaddows??? already make it much better looking than SH4.
And Sh4 graphics are still pretty good anyway (only the landscapes looked a bit poor), hell even Sh3's graphics still aint half bad, if somewhat dated..

Graphics are not going to determine wether i play SHV for 3 weeks or 3 years. Im not worried about it at all.

I would go with that! :salute:

You would make a mistake to think that. Basically, there's nothing that was taken from SH3 (which was launched 4 and a half years ago). Everything has been redesigned and things that may look like SH3 (because of the historic background) have been recreated to meet the standards of 2009.

thats great news :up:

my opinion was based on sh3 was pretty good already so i didnt see a reason you would "have to" reinvent all new content for it.

Webster, even between SH4 and SH3 there's alot of differences on the visual front. The increased polycounts (SH4 units are using way more triangles), draw distance, inclusion of bumpmap/AO map on units, etc. To be honest by looking at the few screenshots and the short video clip I saw LOADS of improvements on the visual part of the game.

Now with SH5 I can see even higher polycounts are possible, seems like dynamic shadows is included, the water rendering is improved, landscapes are looking AWESOME (in comparison to SH3/4 anyway), full interiors (including going from outside to inside fluidly, no seperation) and quite a few animations/interactivity is added. I don't know much about the game, but this comes from the info available, and is a HUGE improvement on the visual end anyway. If they made similar enhancements to gameplay features this game is going to be quite a leap forward...

i am only speaking in generic terms of generalties and i guess im not expressing it well because its not coming accross that way.

while you guys are talking about the specific details where im thinking of this in terms of the basic (very basic) content of it and not the way the game actually works.

i know nothing of the way the game engines and lighting and effects all work so i could never form an opinion on that stuff because i dont even understand it.

by content i mean the types of ships and subs and the way campaigns are written the missions you have and that type of very basic "stuff"

i am also thinking of this the only way i can, with my limited knowledge as how a modder would maybe try to do it.

Well, if I remember correctly, many of us had been bitching that the SH3 graphics, altough inferior to the SH4 heavenly graphics, seem more apropriate both in terms of the Atlantic Theater and the WW2 doom feeling. I for one wouldn't have cried if SH5 did use SH4 engine with a SH3 feel to it.

However, the first thing I've noticed in the SH5 screenshots is that the improvements are amazing and that Sh5 beets the sh4 engine and the Sh3 atmosphere by a long shot. Can't wait to see those icicles in the winter.

my first post after years of lurking. i've played sh3 ever since it came out, played sh4 for 30 mins and turned it off, i was so disappointed.

living on the south devon coast, in england, i've often sat been out in the boat where the water is like glass and very close to how a calm sea in sh3 looked. infact the water in sh4 was very poor at times and just didn't captured the feel of sh3 and the sea.

i don't think i was ever so disappointed in a game as i was sh4.

it does concerned me that its based off the sh4 engine.

Could not agree more. There were times in SH4 like at sunset when the game looked great but the rest of the time the engine was just a complete mess. The water looked terrible at times and that is not including the jelly bug :hmmm:

While the SH3 engine is dated i still think the water looked alot better and the graphics engine was just so solid compared to SH4

The trailer doesn't feature any external shots. I predict that we'll all be very impressed when we see the new engine in motion. :up:

What do you mean no external shots? Did you fall asleep in the middle of it?!

Dan, I'll be honest i have no idea which parts of the trailer are rendered and which parts are sh5 engine. I think we all wondered that as we watched it.

...though this thread, and my comment, will be redundant in a couple of days when the subsim meet reveals some footage, i hope!

:rotfl:
Its right after the crash dive & periscope' bit.

All of it is SHV engine me thinks :) - apart from maybe the underwater depthcharge explosions? if not they they look very good!

don't you not think the planes attacking looks rendered? Compare them with the destroyers and you'll see what i mean. there are other signs of the sh4 engine there too. as the periscope goes down, the green algae, the destroyers, even the slight stuttering as the periscope goes down.

As far as externals, Dan's correct, there are some shots of the external of the sub as its diving.

The externals look very similar to sh3/4 though i don't see how much more you can do with the underwater graphics. change the lighting perhaps, but the models look fairly accurate to me.

The thing i did like was the depth of field effect on the algae, in sh4. odd i know, but its the little things that matter.