Hydrophone range
 

Trying to do a hydrophone only attack using a self made mission, but the hydrophone range is very small compared to the tutorials I have seen where they are roughly 20nm. By the time anything gets picked up on the hydrophone the enemy is almost on top of me.

Why is this? Is it a bug? :hmmm:

Have you tried using the sonar stations yourself?

Yes m8. When my Sonar officer never picked anything up I fired him and decided to do all the dirty work myself. I estimated the range to be about 5nm when I finally picked him up, which is strange.

BTW, I am only using SH4 + U-Boat Missions and a couple of small mods that have nothing to do with the game code, or at least would not modify the hydrophone range.

Weather conditions? Are you using the station yourself, or using the crew?

Both, and the weather conditions are Calm and Sunny.

What is your depth at that time. The hydrophone only kicks in below a certain depth, and your sub might be bobbing up above it depending on wave action and your speed. Without the popular mods stock SH4 should have unimpeded hydrophone coverage. Or the background noise might be to loud for you.

What is your depth at that time. The hydrophone works below a certain depth, and your sub might be bobbing up above it depending on wave action and your speed. Without the popular mods stock SH4 should have unimpeded hydrophone coverage. Or the background noise might be to loud for you.

I was at a dead stop, and at PD, maybe that depth is too shallow then?

:runs off to see what happens at a deeper depth:

Dont dive too deep though because diving below a thermal layer would (or at least should) also make it hard to pick up contacts.

Not sure of the stock game, but I don't think passing the thermal layer has any effect on sonar, it doesn't in any of the megamods.

Being on the surface the hydrophones work fine under most circumstances. The S boat doesn't work on the surface. A small depth issue may apply and most subs sonar works fine on the surface. In stock many of the subs almost ride on top the water, this can be a problem.

However, being at scope depth, I don't see that you would have a problem at any level. You should be able to hear ships yourself in the contact zone, 20NM's or so.

They're are a few ships when they run below 7kts, they don't show on sonar.

Dont think my sonar works
 

I'm new to this game and have no idea what to do. I dont think my sonar works. I cant ever hear any ships. Any advice?

Jason, you must point your Hydrophone towards an enemy ship, when you can hear its engines you can then use the sonar to ping the target giving its range.

Back to my problem....

I tried again, and used the Hydrophone as you would, and a target appeared as 'unknown' on the notepad in the upper left corner, but was unable to hear anything what so ever, at least not until it was closer to me.

When I asked my crew to 'follow nearest contact' he responded with "SO No sound contact"

Have you managed to find it and identify the unit? Maybe the unit has a bug with it's soundeffects.

Which 'little' mods do you have exactly? Added new models? Maybe that bug could be lying there. That doesn't change the hydrophone code or sensitivity, but could lack an important setting for the sound to work.

Ahoy Vern,
Exactly what mods are you using? I've had a couple of seemingly innocent mods knock out my hydrophones completely. Although one was a sound mod it still made no sense. Also, having your periscope up might effect the hydrophones depending on certain conditions (like what mods are up). Having visual contact with a ship in any form (periscope, crew-watch) might take down the hydro-phones. I may be mistaken about this but I remember reading a post and one of the modders was explaining that the game will use these resources in some kind of order, so if your radar tracks an aircraft, once the crew spots the plane, the contact on the map is actually the visual contact. There is a also a mod out there that fixes a problem with certain ships not being picked up by the hydrophones, I'll see if I can locate it.
Good Luck:salute:
D40
Ps; When you say a target appears 'unknown' and your crew says "no sound contacts". I have this happen all the time, I won't get a "hit" until I head in the direction of the contact for a time. Finally, the SO will call it out. However, it's still always a pretty good distance away.

The Mods I have are the 3000 Yards Bearing Plotter and Magnified Hud Dials. Thats it.

The Unit I am tracking down is a Large Modern Composite Freighter.

My Radar Officer picks up the contact at roughly 19nm heading 116 relative to my ship.

I turn off the radar, then I select heading 116 in the Hydrophone and click "Follow nearest contact" with a reply "SO No sound contact"

But if I select heading 116 with the Hydrophone and click "Report Contacts" I will then get a reply "SO nearest sound contact: Merchant moving slow! Closing! Bearing 116! Long Range!" I just checked that I do not need to move the Hydrophone to 116 to use the "Report Contacts" But I still can not hear anything when I do this manually. These officers must have super human abilities.

I thought, from my understanding that selecting "Follow nearest contact" tells the officer to keep me updated at predetermined intervals of where the merchant is? Of course, "Follow nearest contact" does work when the merchant is closer to my position.

Maybe what I am experiencing is normal, but the noobness within me somehow tells me it is wrong? (Translation: I am experiencing what should happen rather than what I think should happen)

My only previous experience of SH is in SH3 where I thought it was too difficult and never sunk anything and only played it for a short time before deleting and trashing the CD. But, as I am a simulator freak I decided to get SH4 and try and learn it properly. I already have learnt much more in using SH4 for a week than what I learnt in SH3 in a couple of months. I can actually blow a ship out of the water but that is a thanx to the awesome video tutorials, something I never had in SH3 when it first came out.

P.S I think the manual sucks big time. It states very clearly how to use the software, but explains nothing of how to play. So glad I found this site.