New guy here, looking at mods, need opinions
 

After some research here and through google I have found that I cannot find a recent description of the differences between some of the supermods. I was wondering if someone would be so kind as to briefly explain the differences between TMO and RFB to a complete noob who literally has absolutely no idea what he is doing.(All my experience is in flight sims, this is 100% new stuff to me.) The basics that I have gathered so far is that TMO is more focused on overall AI and tweaking, while RFB is more focused specifically on the realism of your boat alone. Am I correct so far?

I use FOTRS because I like seeing enemy ships every so often. FOTRS is basically like eye candy. It's focuses on the environment and sounds. So the textures and sounds in-game are completely redone and it looks and sounds beautiful. Especially when you hit a target your whole crew gets excited!

I have used TMO in the past and liked it. I just hate waiting to see a ship. It's as realistic as it gets.

RFB is, imo, the most realistic of the mega-mods. It aims to recreate the conditions of WWII pacific sub ops, as far as possible. Most RFB users also run RSRDC to make the campaign traffic realistic. Stock has a poorly done campaign. TMO takes liberties with realism to make it more difficult. The AI sensor/crew abilities are ramped up to achieve this.

Many newcomers will jump right in to TMO, as it is the more popular. Many of those, will be posting in the forum, asking why enemy DD's can hear them when they are using silent running, why their periscope is spotted 4,000 yds. away on a dark night, why it is soooo hard, etc., etc. If I were you, I'd skip TMO and try RFB. Of course, it's your decision. :)

BTW, this is not a slam against TMO. I have a lot of respect for Ducimus and his work, but TMO is more difficult, and I thought I'd cut to the chase.

Good luck. :salute:

Thanks for the info torpx, yeah they both seem like excellent mods but I think for my style RFB alongside RSRDC is going to be the way to go. I am also looking at ship acceleration physics aka SAP.

Other mods I am looking at are things like maxoptics, and nav map makeover as well as a few other little things. I do want to stay on the realism side of things though.

I have also been reading about graphical mods, apparently things like TMO and RFB both incorporate visual enhancments but I think I may pursue more graphical enhancements. Anyone have recommendations for realistic graphical mods that are compatable with RFB? I will also pursue more research on this, but probably not til tomorrow.

So many new things to learn... this is going to be a lot different then flying. But I am already getting hooked on learning about it..so i know im probably screwed...in a good way.

Or you can have multiple installs of SH4 and enjoy them all which is what I do!

Happy Hunting!

I use Multi-SH4 and have the best of three worlds like Wilcke said.

Happy Hunting!

Thanks guys for the advice, im not gonna lie though I probably wont mess with multiple installs for other mods, I already feel over my head in trying to figure out what mods I want to run with.

Right now my list is

RFB 2.0
RFB april patch
RSRDC RFB v575
RSRDC v5xx patch 1
maxoptics 4 for RFB 2.0
and SAP 0.5 stock-RFB-RSRDC

So far I am still unsure about maxoptics and SAP. First I feel that maxoptics might be slightly unrealistic based on my readings in the RFB thread. Also I have found more then one mod that deals with boat/ship physics. A physics mod is deffinitly a high priority for me as I have read that in stock the accelerations are pretty silly. Anyone have other physics mod recomendations, or is SAP a definite one to go for?

So much info to process for a total noob like me. The community here is awesome though! I have already learned much about the sim, and about the reality as well.


edit: added a few more mods...I think im finally good...the OCD...it kills

Nav map makeover 2.1
sub class info
EAX sound

The mods I have feel good so far... I have been doing some of the trainings and learning more about the TDC and whatnot. But I do want an environment mod as I have seen youtube videos that look much prettier then what I am seeing. It looks like Environment 5.0 might be a good one to go for. But, here is my question. Will a graphics mod effect enemy detection? I have been reading that some mods that work with the environment can mess with that.

Most super mods include one of the graphic mods, although they may tweak it some, for instance TMO uses Env 5, with a lil tweaking. Modders will tweak sensors to the env based on how they think the AI should respond. If you use a different env you probably won't notice much difference in the AI, because technically they're all fairly close, but you may notice some small changes in AI behavior.

then start with just the GFO mod only, its just a fixed version of the stock game so you get rid of a lot of the game flaws without changing the playing style, difficulty, or the learning curve of the game.

after you get used to playing the game and learning how it works and you get a few careers under your belt then you can be ready to try something harder like TMO or RFB