Where to start ?

[Lancezh]

I know about 100 people must have asked this but i cannot find a good beginners guide for SH4 really... i tried and i'm obviously to stupid to find anything.

I played silent hunter about 10 years ago so i remember pretty much nothing. I can barely navigate on the map and fire automatic targeting torpedoes and everything but apart from that i would like to get deep into it again, however i just don't know where to start guys.

I installed this TMO Mod that everybody was suggesting but apart from that, i dont feel like running around with 40% realism setting and the computer doing the rest for me, i couldnt find some videos as well on Youtube, which give just a well rounded basic rundown on the whole uboat and its basics.

It must be a silly question since noone else is asking these kind of question but if anyone has the patience, please go on and help an old man out =), Where do i start as a total noob ? I would like to get the full package!

I have SH4 1.5, the missions and one Mod installed (TMO). And i know almost nothing anymore.

[Dalwhat]

Welcome back aboard. I think I beat you to it by about a week after having played SH1 and 2, Silent Service and Aces of the Deep in my time.

No matter how much prep you do you will die a lot in the beginning. Fire up a career in auto targetting mode and go out there and sink a few fishing boats. The escorts will probably kill you when you attack a convoy way before you even get into firing range. Their sonars seem to work on ESP. Don't get disheartened. Start another career and bone up on using the manual TDC using the links found in the Skipper's Bag of Tricks thread. I seem to remember there is also a link there which explains the AI's use of sonar and how to avoid falling foul of it to often.

The upshot is that there is no real alternative to experience. Go out there and get killed. Pretty soon you will come home with a broom on your conning tower. Just don't rush it too much and don't get disheartened.

Just off to bed now to read Hitman's Manual Targetting Tutorial (linked in the Skipper thread). See you in Pearl.

PS. Read the TMO "manual" it details the additional levels of realism the author has incorporated into the game.

[Lancezh]

Will do! Thank you so much.

You recon i should play the campaign without TMO first ?

[Soviet Creeper]

Start the with GFO mod, it makes stock much more playable. TMO is for people that have gotten use to the stock game and want more of a challenge (and realism)

[stanger]

I think it's a good idea to play without any mods - if its your first time with SH4. That way you will learn the game, get to know whats wrong with it and whats good, and most things you will eventually mark as "bugs" - those will be fixed by mods. You will also appreciate more whats mods have done to this game, and in terms of gameplay, there will be no repetition if you will complete a career with stock game, and then mod it and play once again; the changes are really big, on any level - from simple replaced textures, improved environment to new ships, better AI and campaign.
To learn the game, play through training missions, to learn manual targeting its best to create your own mission with your sub and a target (stationary) in it - thats how I was learning SH3 and SH4. But, I guess, youre not there yet - to create your own missions, though its very simple, so if you want help, just ask.

[Lancezh]

Thx for all the tips, i started the campaign now and had to insert an agent somewhere in Japan, however, after doing that i was sent to another assignment in the East China Sea but it is hardly playable now, i'm out in the Pacific far out but for some reason i can't get my time compression above 128, well i can but the Framerate is dropping like crazy.

I have a very strong rig and could compress all the way to 8152 without any problems or framerate drops before, so i dont know what to do, i might have to abandon this mission then.

Am i missing something ?

I have an i2500k on 4.0 Ghz, and a 560Ti

[stanger]

There may be quite a few reasons for stuttering under time compression: you are near land, theres a lot of traffic nearby, or maybe even a convoy (the game usually does that - stuttering with TC when heavy traffic or port is nearby - you can exploit this when hunting )
Other reasons may be - no matter how strong your PC is - its hard drive or partition with SH4 - may be fragmented, or there is something running in background and using your CPU (like antivirus software starting a scheduled scan). It's also a good idea to patch SH4.exe to use more than ~2GB of system memory (post your sys specs if you want help with this; [edit] and operating system (x86 or x64)).

[Lancezh]

Originally Posted by stanger

There may be quite a few reasons for stuttering under time compression: you are near land, theres a lot of traffic nearby, or maybe even a convoy (the game usually does that - stuttering with TC when heavy traffic or port is nearby - you can exploit this when hunting )
Other reasons may be - no matter how strong your PC is - its hard drive or partition with SH4 - may be fragmented, or there is something running in background and using your CPU (like antivirus software starting a scheduled scan). It's also a good idea to patch SH4.exe to use more than ~2GB of system memory (post your sys specs if you want help with this; [edit] and operating system (x86 or x64)).

I hope you're right but unfortunately, i'm FAR out in the pacific, no contacts, no Traffic, i've let the game run for 30 minutes now in x128 while driving further out, no help.

Drive is not fragmented, Nothing running in the Background, Antivirus is shut off.

How can i patch it then to use more ? I have 16gb of DDR3 Ram. People had similar problems with much older systems as i've read, and exactly the same kind. 128x is somewhat ok but 256x isnt. And i have a much faster rig than they do.
Its also weird that it worked perfect before i fulfilled my first objective...

My current status is, is that the Sub is fairly damaged but quite ok.

Here my Specs:


Windows 7 Professional - 64-bit SP1, updated.
16 Gb Ram, DD3
Quadcore I5-2500k CPU @ 3.30Ghz (without overclocking)
Nvidia 560Ti, recent drivers.
Asus P67 Sabretooth Bios, updated.
Silent Hunter: Wolves of the Pacific, Steam Version, 1.5
Silent Hunter: Mission Pack, Steam Version, 1.5
No Mods Running (TMO is installed but i removed it as suggested)



I'm happy to try anything you tell me, but this does look like a software issue rather than a cpu issue, i could run TC with 8152 without the slightest lag before in a similar spot, but i dont know i'm a noob at this game.

EDIT: I found the allocation beyond 2 Gigs, applied it, will test it now.

[Lancezh]

No changes unfortunately, the game uses 1.4gb of RAM is not even at the limit and i have exactly the same slowdown as before unfortunately immediately. However i notice that everytime i load the crew states that i'm takin damage (Hull and Guns) although that was like 30 hours ago (ingame)

[stanger]

Good you're on 64bit as patching sh4 will be easier than on 32 bit system. Just download 4GB patch, run in (as admin if needed, sh4.exe may be read only, so you need to check that and change it), point the tool to sh4.exe and click 'patch'. Done.
It helps, but i'm not sure if it will resolve your problem, there's definitely something wrong, as I have far worse PC (C2D e6750, gf8800gt,4GBRAM) and have no problems going to 2048 TC - dont use more usually ,to not screw sea waves, clouds, traffic and so on).
Have you tried restarting your game?
NB, dont know if you know this, but dont save under water or near land or close to some traffic - there were some issues with this.

Edit: was your damage repaired? If not put your damage control team to work, TC to have it repaired, save, restart.
But here, its a guessing game on my part, as I didnt encountered such problem before...

Edit2: maybe Steam, with its overlays and so on, can you run the game without Steam? //another guess

Edit3: you said you have TMO, but deactivated it - but did you run the game, and started career or mission, when it was still activated? Because you should delete sh4 folder in 'my documents' in such cases (when switching between all mega-mods, or between mega-mods and stock game).

[Lancezh]

Thank you so much for trying to fix this with me =)

For some reason they didnt repair it, even with TC128, maybe i didnt wait long enough, What i did is i took some people and assigned them to the damage team and put the active crew to damage duty. AA and the other gun can only be repaired when surfaced i guess ?

I deleted the SH folder but now my savegames are gone :P Its no biggie since i started the campaign fresh anyways.

Whats the reason to delete these folders anyway ?

And no, unfortunately i can't launch it without steam, even if closing steam i can't launch the game without starting steam as well with it.

[stanger]

Deleting sh4 folder in 'my docs' means starting new career, sorry - I thought it was obvious
The reason for this:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...postcount=3882
its not comprehensive explanation, but should do;

(look at this:



the game takes this information from main install directory, and (it seems) sticks to it through out entire campaign; so, if you install some major mod, the game may not be aware of all the changes the mod has done, resulting in some weird things happening - simple put; theoretically you can manually update those files to be compatibile with a mod, but it would be a lot of work, and there are still save files that cant be edited with notepad, maybe some hex editing - but thats crazy; its always better to start from scratch with megamods like TMO - or when changing such mods)

[Rockin Robbins]

New guys are what I'm all about here. Please visit the Sub Skipper's Bag of Tricks thread for lots of how-tos covering both automatic and manual targeting. We have videos on how to use the map tools too!

I agree that you should first get acquainted with SH4 without mods for awhile. Then you'll know what you're "improving" when you load 'em up. Be sure to use JSGME, the Jonessoft Generic Mod Enabler when you use mods so you can move 'em in and out. I have used JSGME for GTA San Andreas (that mod community had no clue!), Left for Dead, Unreal Tournament 3, Counterstrike Source and probably some others I don't recall right now. End of commercial.

Take it slow. Don't let yourself get too frustrated. This isn't a perfect simulator, but even so it's beastly complicated. It WILL get the best of you sometimes. Walk away, come back later and suddenly you'll have the solution.

[Lancezh]

Restarted my Campaign and deleted the SH4 Documents Folder as you suggested. Just finished my first patrol and sunk 10 Fisherboats (haven't seen a single warship), fair enough for my first noob run though, practiced with the deckgun... on my way back i learned why i should pack an air radar next time i guess since a bombing run missed me just by a few meters.

Other than that, no technical problems, the TC worked without problems up to 8152.

Some questions that arised:

played campaign on Normal 1941, Preselected Submarine.

- I couldnt find an option to switch from Imperial to Metric, is there one ? (The mod has one i think).

- The Detection Circles around Contacts when in navigation mode, are they reliable ?

- Whats the difference between 3 50 Deckgun and a 4 50 Deckgun ? I can't make sense of the number ?

- I remember when playing the TMO mod for a short time yesterday i burned through my diesel very fast, now in the campaign i have unlimited fuel obviously, however, whats the most cost efficient method to travel ? Surfaced 2/3 i recon or standard ?

- When spotted by an aircraft does it make sense to change the bearing afterwards or does the AI not care about that ? And i thought about staying surfaced after shooting the plane down so i can make some distance before diving, was that a correct thought ?


(if any or all of these questions are answered in your noobguide dont bother, i will read it up later)




- I engaged these fisherboats between 2000 and 4000 yards without any problems, i figure without the

[Soviet Creeper]

1. In the realism modifier there should be an option

2. I dont think they are, but I havnt played stock in a while

3. 4in deck gun is bigger, and better if you ask me

4. I think its about 10 knots is the best speed you can go with fleet boats

5. If spotted by an aircraft in stock its best to just go under for the day, as they will not stop, and they will always be on perfect intercept courses