Quote:
Originally Posted by froinchi
First of all, hello everyone! I hope everyone is having a safe and cozy day.
So, some days ago I started to watch a streamer playing SH3, and this way I discovered the serie itself. Now, when I asked the streamer how should I start SH3, he told me to "never play without GFX installed."
I installed SH4 today, and I don't know if I need to directly jump into it. I have never played Silent Hunter games myself. Are there any "Don't go into game before installing this" mods for this game? Are there any mods that drastically improve my gaming quality?
Thank you.
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Ahoy, froinchi...
To begin with, sorry about this being lengthy, but there is a good bit of info to make sure you know about.. so you can decide how to best proceed...
Best advice, 1st & foremost, is to ensure where you have your copy of SH4 set up at... is to make sure to NOT have it in either:
C:\Program files
or C:\Program files (x86)
(This also applies, with Steam, should your SH4 source be from there, as I understand it, as well...
)
As is, the UAC, & windows.. does NOT like having files tampered with, while it is under its direct control.. & using mods, is by that definition, well.. tampering about with files & such, even though it is what you want to do, to mod out a game to what you think it should be set up to do..
It don't like it & any mods you set up, will be scrapped & Win will set things back to stock.. with extreme prejudice.. with post haste.
That would be the 1st thing to do...
Is a simple process of right clicking & setting up a folder for games, tagged as Games, so your directory looks something like this:
C:\Games
After making sure it is set up, the next step would be to decide.. do I want to run multiple different mod versions of SH4 or just settling for 1 particular 1. here are numerous mega mods & will probably want to sample them all, at some point or other. Best suggestion, use this time with getting the initial install set up & know it is working, & then.. use it as a source for making copies of it, to then mod. Consider it your gold standard non modded go to & leave be standard.
Now, of extreme importance, is knowing exactly which SH4 you have.. as all the rest of this, hinges on having the right SH4 version, which a lot of mega mods now, still being actively supported, call for having SH4 v1.5, which translates into being :
Silent Hunter IV: Wolves of the Pacific+ Uboat Missions
Hopefully, this is the 1 you have, or else all of what I am laying out, will be useless.. until you obtain that version.
Though, another I am sure, can outline for you what you can do if you do have an earlier on version of SH4 if you should chose to want to keep that 1.. totally up to you, just letting you know ahead of time, so you don't feel that you were mislead...
To do so, simply make another folder, inside \Games & tag it SH4-megas, then inside that folder, create another folder named to the mod you wish to go with.. for example... Fall of the Rising Sun or simply FotRS. Your folder set would look like:
C:\Games\SH4-megas\FotRS
After that, then open up your go to gold standard, copy the guts then paste them into the \FotRS folder & done.
Next comes dropping into that folder, the following, which will be needed to then mod out SH4 in that folder:
MultiSH4
JSGME
MultiSH4 to set up a complete new game save folder, for just that mod set up. (With each different mod set up, you WILL need to ensure you have this in that folder for that particular set up.. so as to keep their game saves away from all the others... extremely important..
)
After that, is running JSGME, doing so, then sets up a mods folder in there, so you can then drag & drop the mods you'll be using & can.. if needs be, remove or remove & replace as the mod gets updated by the mod maker/s... as the case may be. Of importance, is paying attention if a mod does get updated, of if it is backward compatible or not.. if not, this will mean of having to delete the game save folder in that case. A must do, if you dump out a mod.. as not doing so, can & will likely cause a CTD (crash to desktop) which you don't really want...
Now, that you have the mods folder & have dropped in the mods you need & want.. comes time to do an important process... right clicking on the SH4.exe & going into its properties... on opening up that menu, look for & uncheck 'read only'.. this allows for the .exe to be modified by the mods as needed., Next going into the compatibility tab & check marking 'Run as Admin' (Some say, while in properties, to also change the DPI, but.. unless I am mistaken, you shouldn't unless you run into issues that controls.. am sure another more knowledgeable about that, can chime in with more on that subject..
), after that, at each step there... click accept.. after the last step is done, then click ok to close out properties.
Now.. you're ready for the big next exciting step.. activation of the mods. Most have a precise time tested line up of what mods to activate & in which order, some don't.. sometimes, is a process of trial & error.. best advice, just run with the main mod (which in this case if FotRS...
) which is simple of doing after you have it downloaded to where you know where it was, unzipping it then carefully copy pasting or drag & dropping it into the mod folder... after that, is simple of finding it in the JSGME app & clicking it then clicking on the right pointing arrow to activate it & wait, accepting the pop up that says this will overwrite the laundry list of files & such that is the stock unmodded SH4 at that time. wait until it finishes & your done.
After that is done, close out JSGME & you're pretty much ready for the last, final & equally important task... setting up the game to use more than 2 GB's of RAM.
There is a 4GB patch kit.. & then there is a simple to use (in My opine) usage of Large Address Aware.. for this, I shall outline the use of LAA, as most refer to it by...
After downloading it, run it, then:
1. Point it to where your modded SH4.exe is located (C:\Games\SH4-megas\FotRS\SH4.exe) then after doing so, & clicking on the SH4.exe, then move on to step 2.
2. Check the box allowing it to use more than 2 GB... (if it didn't auto check that box, after clicking on the SH4.exe) then proceeding to the final step, step 3...
3. Click accept/OK.. &... Done.
Ezy peazy, Mac & cheezy... so simple, a cave man could do it, heck, even a blind 1/2 drunk chimpanzee... well.. *clears throat* you get the picture...
After that, you should by all rights, be set to go... (if I missed any info, any other subsim guru.. feel free to enlighten Me.. thanks.. am pretty confident I did outline it correctly, but.. not ashamed to acknowledge when I've erred..
)
Again, sorry for the lengthiness of this.. & hopefully this helps.. and... hopefully didn't put you to sleep or leave you befuddled... during it's explanation...
M. M.