Thank you Gizzmoe, I had not seen that preview. The summary is very encouraging. It looks like I'm going to have to spring for that new monitor afterall.
*The content of SH 4 jotted own in a few notes::*
-Animated crew members basing on „skeletons“.
-Sonar and Radar on all boats as in the real USN.
-Moving objects in the interior: if you raise the periscope you also see it in the interior.
-Menus are slideout menus now, similar to modifications of SH 3. Additionally displays are magnified if you move your mouse over them. The whole menu bar is freely adjustable.
-Nautical chart in high resolution, displaying depths and shallows (no metric values, just visual).
-Crew management with three shifts, no more „babysitting“. Experience and special abilities similar to SH 3, but improved (management screen).
-Time compression up to 4096.
-Higher amount of polygons of the water, resulting in a much more detailed and living surface (see dev-video part 2).
-Self-generating clounds, continously changing during the day and weather conditions.
-High-detailed ship models with high resolution textures, bumpmapping and new shaders.
**-Standard resolution 1024 x 768, higher resolutions are freely selectable, additionally a widescreen option has been implemented.**
-Water and waves are now much more detailed and extravagant.
-Harbors are equipped with traffic.
-The whole (!) world is navigable, even the Atlantic is available.
-In single missions there are introducing videos of the situation you are in, similar to Fighting Steel.
-Ships now have bullet holes (see screenshots). The damage model has been extended in a way that smaller ships need holes at the water line in only two sections for flooding and sinking.