SH4 dvd Glitches
 

A few months ago I bought SH4 Gold edition from here : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silent-Hunte...9789169&sr=8-2

It had a bug where all ports were coloured in blue listing them all as friendly even Tokyo, it was very stuttery in terms of graphics http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=171705(not my system specs!) and Multiplayer did not work. Ubisoft support could not help they said the problems were unknown to them. So I was sent a replacement copy by SC wholesale(the seller on Amazon).The port problem had gone but I still had jelly water and multiplayer would not work(tried on several computers).

I bought a backup copy of SH3 from the same seller, the cover is exacly the same as my old copy bought directly from Amazon.co.uk, but the box size is slighly smaller.

I think SC wholesale is selling Fake/Pirated games because all of the games I have bought from them have dvd specific problems.

What do you guys think ?

OK first the port problem sounded like you had SH4 V1.4 not 1.5 which is the Gold/U boat addon. That got fixed you said though so scratch that problem. As for the graphics have you tried any of the super mods like a few suggested in your other thread? Multiplayer not working is nothing new to the community, I don't play MP but I've heard of the problems. Your SH3 box being a smaller size wouldn't be cause for alarm as packaging can change over time. However looking at some of the reviews of the seller on amazon, I personally wouldn't have bought from them. Also didn't see any info about the game as to it's condition; new, used, etc.

I should not have to install a mod to fix my game, I don't want any mods at the moment.

Well, consider the Game Fixes Only mod nonetheless.
It doesn't change the gameplay but fixes lots of annoying or moodbreaking bugs. It also cranks up the graphic quality a bit IIRC.
You already said "shouldn't", but we're in a small niche of the gaming community where Cons don't care for that.

I tried the GFO mod but it made no difference I still have stuttery water.

That happens when you use time compression while in the map and forget to turn it down to 1x before going anywhere else in the boat. Try avoiding that, should help.
Other helpful hints:
Don't save game under water
Don't save game in a fight
Don't save game with time compression on
Don't use time compression over 1024

This should help you evade most of the bugs.

The problems you describe seem to be more hardware than software related. Specifically, I suspect your video card. If you provide your computer specs perhaps somebody can steer you in the right direction.

My system specs :

HD5850 1GB GDDR 5
3.4GHZ 965 X4 processor
4GB DDR 3 Ram

Well, it certainly looks like your system should be more than enough to handle SHIV. The next obvious question would be: Have you updated your graphics drivers? Hopefully, you did that as soon as you got the system, or installed the card. Don't forget to uninstall the old drivers before you install the new ones or you might have some issues later. It might help to know what Operating System you use. The point is not to get upset or frustrated since it will only impede your ability to troubleshoot the problem. How well do you know your computer?

Thanks for your advice,
I'm running Win 7 64 bit Home preminum, When I first set up my computer I could not find any ATI programs , so I installed the catalyst control centre 10.6 from the AMD/ATI website. I have checked in device manger that my graphics card drivers are up to date.

Apart from the stuttery water when I move the camera around, the watch crew are slightly transparent.

I know what the major components of my pc are and what they look like, but I could not assemble a pc.

Do you think the problems is to do with my graphics card being DX11 ?, but I don't get any problems with SH3.

Well, I'm not an expert on Direct-X but, I did hear somewhere that, with Windows Vista 64 bit (don't know if this applies to the 32 bit systems), because it is suppose to run 32 bit apps too, had issues with Direct-X, as far as developers were concerned and allegedly for hardware compatibility issues, had two different versions of Direct-X installed. I read it awhile ago so I'm not real clear on the particulars. I guess, what I'm trying to say here is that, although you shouldn't need to, it may help to install Drect-X 9. It shouldn't hurt your system to do it. The slight transparency to your crew should only happen during foggy conditions. It doesn't really bother me but, if you don't like it, uncheck the "Volumetric Fog" option in your game's "Graphics Options" section.

At this point I'll have to strongly advise you to use the forum search more often before replying yet again:

SH4 needs DX9. Other games need DX10, only the newest use DX11.
Get all three of them, they're not as downward compatible as they should be.
Not having them installed will always lead to graphic and sound problems.