Ok... i'll eat my words...
 

...but only some of them.

I have been giving SH4 a second... no wait make that third... no actually fourth - okay seriously... a fifth chance the past few days.

currently im running trigger maru, with environment 4.4 (actually i think 4.7)

many of you know i have been a long time trash talker when it comes to SH4... i have listed in the past dozens if not hundreds of reasons to dislike the game. (and yes ubi... im still mad at you)

but.

i will say this.

I have actually been enjoying SH4 the past few days. :huh: (im sure some of you might need me to say that again!)

so without going on and on, here is what i like and what i dont like.

PROS:

1. the game has a lot of potential for modding, and i think, though i dont know for sure, i think ubisoft intentionally made SH4 a lot easier to mod than SH3.

2. The graphics are great... though that is NOT what im about when it comes to subsims

3. The variable missions are a nice touch, insert an agent one minute... insert commandos the next... simple patrol an area for 48 hours etc. its a nice touch.

4. tirgger maru effects versus stock are great

CONS:

1. my character models look like really bad... they remind me of cartoon caracters with greatly exaggerated physical features. (big noses, big foreheads, large mouths, beer guts etc)

2. i can still see through my watch crew... its like they are ghosts!

3. the speech model is terrible. in SH3 the Chief engineer spouted out headings like "two, three, zero degrees" in a believable tone of voice and without lenghty pauses between words... but in SH4 the officer says "two . . . . three . . . . zero. . . . DEGREES!" shouting out the degrees part - rather annoying.

4. the interface - it feels like a nintendo game rather than a real solod naval combat sim.

to summarize... there are things i like about the game and it is fun; but there are also still a fair number of things i dont like about it. i guess the main point is that SH3 feels like a subsim, but sh4 just feels like a video game.

good work modders,

we will see where it goes from here

:up:

Real Fleet Boat does aaway with the ghost watch crew & tower; you can't see through them like TM & stock. Try out RFB & RSRD w/ROW PE in the 1.5 add on version, you may like it a little bit more. Don't get me wrong, TM is a great mod from what I've seen but to really judge the total experience try the RFB with all the other compatible mods bells & whistles!

I use TMO, and for sure the crew whether on watch or in the control room of conning tower sure aren't transparent!

They are if you look through the binocs & spin a 360; you can see every bit of ocean as if you were sitting on top of a flag pole in the middle of a pond with no one else around.

Simple fix.
Edit the clipping distance in the camera.dat file for the binoculars camera.

When I hear ghost crew, I think of the crew disappearing or being transparent with volumetric fog enabled.

Well, personally I'd find it rather irritating if my view thru' the binoculars were blocked by a crewman! So I guess I prefer it this way.

So do I and that is what it really means. That has been the case since version 1.0. To me, having things like the crew and conning tower disappear when viewing through the binoculars is more of a convenience than "ghost crew." With the stock game the camera was not meant to move. If you had things like the crew and sub blocking your view you would hardly be able to see anything. Additionally, I prefer the stock camera over these modified ones. The modified ones just feel clunky and you can go anywhere with no limits. This can be good for screenshot purposes, but for me I prefer the stock camera.

The Sim is a lot of things to a lot of people.

What you call con another might call pro and vice versa. There is no recognized absolute ruling authority on this. It is a never ending discussion...and that is probably a good thing.

basically... IMHO, anything that affects historical accuracy or detracts from realism is a con.

thats how i look at it

he he, I really appreciate it when my crew sets up a human pyramid on the bridge so I can get up really high and get that 360 degree view without those annoying pieces of metal getting in my way.

BTW, the only "issue" I've had so far with TMO was when setting a course, you get that voice sequence from "Das Boot" about "So you've finally decided on a course", and the captain screaming at one of his crewmen about "More or less? That's not GOOD ENOUGH!" The issue was that if you set up a search pattern, you'll hear that sequence repeated 6 times. Set up several search patterns and you'll hear it 6 times for each. I just turn the volume down and let it play out.

BTW, can someone post an image of what this looks like with volumetric fog enabled? I've always left it off (not sure what it was for, either), but was curious to see just what it is.

well then you should not be using tm, its a great mod but its not as strict on realism as rfb is so try rfb out.