Real Stupid Question
 

After playing SH III for a while decided to fire up SH IV for a while and refamiliarize myself with it,

So I set the first scenario at the Asiatic Fleet, opted to start outside the harbour but couldn't get the boat moving!! Set a coyrse, moved the speed to ahead 2/3 and got a "Cannot Comply" message.

Any clues? Its obviously something basic -- I have crew in the engine room but what am I missing to not even to get the boat moving along set course??

Funny -- But
 

When playing the German side I have no problems -- plot a course and move out...no "Cannot Comply" messages...boat moves out right away as plotted once the speed is set

Do you have any other mods installed? What version of SH4 are you using?

No -- NO other mods installed -- just a clean version of original SH 4

This isn't much help, but I've seen that too a long time ago, and I don't remember how I got around it. Upgrading to v1.5 and then one of the super mods (I am loving FOTARS Ultimate even in its beta state) will certainly cure it.

Look at your crew screen and see if you have active crew at key locations, such as control room and engine room. If a crew is "fatigued", that will happen also, such as leaving them at Battle Stations for too long. "Fresh start" should not have that though. Look in the upper right corner of your screen for any icons there... which version of SH4 do you have, such a v1.3, v1.4, or v1.5? Where did you get your game from, such as Steam, Amazon, etc.? Is it a download or DVD?

It is a DVD that I put on my laptop -- Pretty sure all the critical positions are fully staffed (first thing I checked).

What I now can't understand is if it works just fine on the German Side -- why do I get the "Cannot Comply" message on the American side -- and I also can't recall this ocurreing when I first installed it.

I'n just baffled

Does it happen again with a new commander profile and a brand new patrol?

It looked Like it did -- first time it happened was when I tried to start my Career from the Philipines...started off with "Cannot Comply" messages when I did the plot and tried setting the speed.

So I tried a new career fresh from the ground up starting at Pearl and got the same "Cannot Comply" message. But switching to the German side and things worked perfectly.

I'll try again starting my career and seeing if anything improves.

This is silly. I don't recall ever getting a "Cannot Comply" message but I do remember having a bug where the boat wouldn't go forward until I had put it in reverse, the forward. May help, may not, but there it is.

LOL -- anything is worth a try

Well that didn't work -- still no joy BOO HOO

The most common thing that causes "cannot comply" is that you accidentally leave the crew on battle stations for 20 hours or so. Nobody gets to go to bed, there is no change of the watch and eventually the crew is unable to comply with orders.

I'll go over it again but I am certain (so far as I can see) the crew are NOT at battlestations at all -- the sub hasn't even gone anywhere yet.

repeat