If doing Single Missions (Quick Missions in Stock) or Quick Patrols, when first getting to the main menu, choose "Options" and then "Gameplay Settings", and in the middle set of options is "No Event Camera". Put a tick mark in the box by clicking it. When in Career mode, once in the Captain's Office, after inputting your name and getting assigned your boat, or after coming back in from patrol or loading a Save game, then click on the broadcast radio console, and you get to a similar Options menu with Gameplay Settings on it
The FotRSU Captain's Office
However, you did say "permanently", and in "Stock" trim, each time you start a new career, those settings will restore to their default values... When you install the game, before you even play it, there is a file "D:\GameInstallPath\Silent Hunter 4 Wolves of the Pacific \Data \Cfg \GameplaySettings.cfg", with "D:" being the Hard Drive, and "GameInstallPath" being where ever you put it ("Program Files (x86) \Ubisoft" by default - not a good place to put it, btw). You can edit the setting "NoExternalCamera=Whatever" in each of the four "[Easy], [Normal], [Hard], and [Realistic]" settings sections to say "=True", and then whenever you do run the game, you won't have the camera active, unless you want it to be by choosing it from the Options menu.
You have already played the game though, so any changes now might not reflect immediately in the career mode of game (but should for the Single or Quick Missions, and others of that ilk). You'll have to alter the Save folder copy (ies). The Save folder defaults to "D:\Users \UserName \Document \SH4", with the "D" being the drive (usually "C:") and "UserName" being whatever you log-in as. Under that "SH4" folder is a "data" folder, with "cfg" inside of it you'll find a "GameplaySettings.cfg" file section to edit. However, you'll also find one under the "UPCInitial" folder... ~AND~... under all the "SaveGames" folders - where you'll find numbered folders, each one corresponding to a Saved Game... (The numbering is in hex, by the way). The numbering may or may not be in chronological order though, depending upon deletions and other alterations possible. Anyway, each of those folders holds a copy of the used "GameplaySettings.cfg" file section also, which influences that particular Save Game associated with the folder.
If you're only playing the one Save Game, then just alter that one, generally the newest folder. The Date / Time stamp are your only clues as to which Save is which, so you might have to go into the game and create a new Save, so that you know which one is which. Edit that copy. Also edit the "UPCInitial" folder copy, and the "cfg" folder copy, but they all should match exactly for that "NoEventCamera=True" setting, Notice though, that each of the files is slightly different in other areas...
Sorry if this is disjointed, I'm trying to edit other stuff while replying to other stuff on here...
