Another newcomer to SH4!
 

Hey everyone,

I have just bought Silent Hunter 4 (it has been 3-4 days since the installation) and I have managed to play it only for a few hours -- and so far, so good. It looks immersive enough (even though ubisoft's screenshots on numerous gaming websites are obviously photoshoped...), but as is always the case in a serious simulation (be it an airplane or a train, etc), the sheer amount of information that you have to absorb is -- for a newcomer, in any event -- suffocating. In other words, the learning curve seems to be a bit too steep here.

Now the manual that comes with the game itself is woefully inadequate, and although I can easily find plenty of info about how a WW2 American submarine and its rather sophisticated systems function through simple googling, I'd rather let you veterans point me in the right direction and at least give me a link or two about how SH4 should be played. Calculating firing solutions, using the active/passive sonar, and so on. Perhaps, a comprehensive silent hunter 4 wiki, or an online strategy guide/walkthrough/FAQ/whatever (apart from searching for what I want in the subsim forums, of course), if you'd be so kind. I tried the Internet myself, but to no avail for some reason.

And I have a question, too: SH4's widescreen support is... well, bull****, isn' it? As far as I'm concerned, once I select the native resolution for my widescreen LCD, the only thing that changes is the resolution of the game-interface, not the 3d models, the environment, etc. On top of that, antialiasing can't even be enabled in the game, and the disabled AA can't be overridden from, say, Nvidia control panel, can it? Normally, eye-candy in PC games isn't all that important to me, compared to gameplay or plot, but all these jagged edges are a bit disturbing.

On a side note, I've also decided to finish the vanilla version of the game as best as I can first, before trying any user-created mods or buying the U-Boat Missions expansion, regardless of its still-lingering-despite-the-patches bugs and quirks.

Hail victory and happy hunting!

T.

P.S. Another tiny question: are flickering stars at night (not all the stars, but some of them) and blinking red-and-green instrument panel lights normal? Or known issues? They aren't, are they? Again, these little glitches aren't so important, but... Yes, yes, the game is patched to 1.4. I've read that 1.5 is in U-Boat Missions only (for now).

Everything you need to know....
 

....can be found somewhere in subsim. Either this forum or the SH4 Mods forum are a fountain of useful information. You are right the manual sucks, this forum is the place to start. Use the 'search' function with keywords and you'll usually find the appropriate thread with the answer you need.

I'm not sure what you're referring to ref the widescreen stuff. I've got a 22" flatscreen with 1680 x 1050 resolution. I haven't made any tweaks to my video card outside of the game (apart from the resolution) and haven't touched AA at all (it's application controlled). No issues with widescreen at all (I'm using an nVidia 7800 AGP card). Having said that there's lots of 'experts' here who will no doubt point you in the right direction.

:up:

Thanks.

Well, I meant (or tried to) exactly this: "The graphics are to be praised and these effects are available on even systems sporting hardware below the minimum recommended requirements - as long as the graphics card supports DirectX 9 and Pixel Shader 2.0. The reason SH4 runs well on even low-end hardware, however, is inexcusable: out of the box, the game engine will only render at a maximum resolution of 1024 x 768. Selecting a higher resolution in the Graphics Settings will change the resolution of the UI, but not the game engine. While an argument can be made that this doesn't hamper the gameplay, it's simply not acceptable for a game released in 2007 to be locked at a year 2000 resolution."

Taken from: http://www.yougamers.com/reviews/268...pacific-page3/
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EDIT:Never mind! I'll use the search function from now on, I suppose, for all my needs/questions. This resolution issue has been brought up too many times.

T.

About the AA not working, and how to fix it:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=128517

Elnaiba reports in another thread that one of the changes for 1.5 was that the game no longer renders in upscaled 1024 x 768. You have to take game reviews with a grain of salt and check out when they were published.

Twinkling stars. Some blink and other do not. No bug. Flickering red and green lights. Probably the vent board open/closed light. They flicker, yes. I think some mods make the glow steady. No big issue really.

Welcome aboard.

Welcome aboard!

As for the "SH4 guide" of sorts you request, I am sure you will find this handy-dandy thread here more than enough reading for the first few days. It's a compilation of tutorials that cover most necessary skills required to sink Japs in a mostly steady fashion.

are you running patch 1.4 ?

He said it was patched to 1.4 at bottom of his first post.

Greetings fellow noob,

Above all I caution you to watch out for destroyers and subchasers that can suddenly throw depth charges sideways starting in late 42 early 43. Really puts a kink in the gameplan.

Well, I'm an old hand here, and with SH3, but just started SH4 myself; so the only thing I can add here is WELCOME ABOARD!:sunny:

I'd just like to say "Wecome Aboard"! and Good Hunting!