Unofficial SH4 Patch 1.4 Needed

ok lets start listing all known issues that patch 1.3 failed to fix.

please lets not make this about complaining but about things needing to be fixed.

hopefully our talented members here can take this list and find ways to fix them.

please detail your problem to help everyone understand what needs to be fixed.

EDIT: i don't believe anyone really expects another official patch from ubisoft but that doesn't mean we shouldn't begin working on a way to finish fixing the game ourselves.
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[Spike]

Battery seems to run down fast on easy and airplane patrolls are a pain in a$$(too many).When you lose the base in the philippines it doesnt tell what base is the new one.I wish it had over all hull(percentage), integrity like SH3.

[The General]

Volumetric fog: a nice idea in theory, that doesn't work that great in practice. See-through crew members is an unacceptable by-product.

Ship-sinking times: way too quick in stock 1.3.

Finishing touches: The periscopes going up and down has been removed in 1.3. I always wanted them to go up and down when clicked in the virtual world. I also wanted the T.D.T. accessible by clicking. It's much less 'slick' a design to have to find an ugly icon on the bottom of the screen and click that. In summation; making the 3D world more interactive by having various switches and levers accessible. Time-consuming for the DEVS maybe, but I definitely wanna see this in SH5. You could almost illiminate the need for any H.U.D. and thus make the sim more immmersive.

Overall, 1.3 SH4 is lookng great! The modding community will add more and more interesting elements to the game making playing enjoyable for months to come.

[WernerSobe]

the issue with the torpedoe detonators.

[MaxT.dk]

Patch 1.4 won't be released, you can stop your whining right after this line
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Originally Posted by MaxT.dk

Patch 1.4 won't be released, you can stop your whining right after this line
__________________________

this is not about whining, it is about fixing unresolved issues with the game.


i don't believe anyone really expects another patch from ubisoft but that doesn't mean we shouldn't begin working on a way to finish fixing the game ourselves.

[Monica Lewinsky]

Originally Posted by WEBSTER

this is not about whining, it is about fixing unresolved issues with the game.

HERE, HERE

[Von Manteuffel]

I'm afraid I have to agree with MaxT. The fact that the 1.3 patch is also a "No-CD/DVD" patch speaks volumes. I believe that Ubi regard Silent Hunter IV as "Job done!" Any future changes, developments will be up to the modding community.

[schmutt]

They didn't want to do 1.3 in first place. So why should they come up with 1.4? I woudn't in their place. SH4 is dead for UBI. Wait two weeks and nobody will even have heard of it. SH4??? Aye? What are ye talking about...

[Morts]

Originally Posted by Von Manteuffel

I'm afraid I have to agree with MaxT. The fact that the 1.3 patch is also a "No-CD/DVD" patch speaks volumes. I believe that Ubi regard Silent Hunter IV as "Job done!" Any future changes, developments will be up to the modding community.

then they could atleast release a SDK for SHIV (and SHIII)

i thought it was obvious to everyone that we would never get another official patch from ubisoft but to clean up any confusion i added this notation to my original post.

[PepsiCan]

Originally Posted by WernerSobe

the issue with the torpedoe detonators.

You are refering to the Switch to set Contact or Contact Influence not working, right?

And I would like to add the transparent ship mates on the bridge when Volumetric Fog is on.

Also, the ghost convoy bug, where a sunk ship respawns too quickly and when you sink it, you do not get the credit.

Last but not least, the view from the AA gun when you have a 'bath tub' conning tower. As soon as you swing the gun port or starport and upwards, you place yourself outside the tub, putting a big fat metal plate in between yourself and the gun sight.

[CaptainHaplo]

I am going to try like Pepsi did and get this back ON topic - what remains to be fixed in 1.3 - regardless of if ubi or mods do it....

My list in order of preference is as follows:

1> Zombie ships. This .... bug effect it not only is frustrating - simply removing a ship from the "playfield" once its sunk makes sense as its one less thing for the PC to track - thus helping keep performance good. From what digging I have done - this looks like its an effect caused by a waypoint change or a "date" change - either one is seems to be the respawn culprit.

2> Damage Control - while historically no sub skipper ever had his CE or COB tell him "We're at 68% hull integrity" - we do need a bit more info on how our hull is doing. Something like either an estimated damage percentage - or better yet a text on damage that gives an "estimate" of depth that the hull could withstand. This would be realistic as a CE would tell his captain "I've got the forward bulkhead shored up as best we can - but I wouldn't advise taking her past about 150' because I ain't sure she will hold up past that....".

3> Torpedo Exploder Switch issue - already well documented.

4> Limited Bridge Perspective - as Captain if I wanted to get higher so I could, like a lookout - get a 360 degree view (without the conning tower blocking my view) - it should be possible. Would probably require a new station created.

5> Deck gun commands do not stick. By this I mean I tell my gun crew to hold fire - then designate a single merchant target that they shoot at. Once its considered sunk - the crew reverts back to a "fire at will" order that I haven't given. With the limited deck gun ammo and the amount of damage a single hit does - I dont want them wasting it on a ship I dont want them shooting at. Yes I know I can man the gun myself - but if I am on a NSA (Night Surface Attack) I better be conning my boat!

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The above issues are those that I suspect cannot be fixed by modding. While I do concur that some folks have concerns with graphical issues or glitches - and those also will not likely be fixable by modding, they do not affect my enjoyment of gameplay and so I won't put them on my list. Not to say that they are not important for other gamers - just not for me. Each to their own in otherwords...
The issues below I suspect will be able to be modded out at some time in the future. Some of them (noted with a following $) are already addressed in whole or in part by existing mods that are either released or are WIP's. Released mods may not yet be 1.3 compatible as yet.
************************************************** ************

6> Destroyer Hulls still Self Destruct when ramming.

7> Aircraft raid spawning and vectoring. $

8> Enemy Traffic Patterns fail to follow historical data. Convoys early in the war when they were not there, battles between task forces that are not modeled in the layer, etc. $

9> Ship Sinking time/physics - as noted earlier - its too fast/not accurate. $

10> Fuel/battery consumption rates - not historically accurate. $

As noted - 4 of these 5 already were taken care of in whole or in part with mods that were available. #8 is the only one that will take a good bit of time I suspect to complete - as the layer files are handled differently than in SH3 - they are set for periods instead of one big layer. Easier to change one thing at a time perhaps - but very tedious so kudo's to those working on that. #'s 7,9 & 10 were already fixed in mods for 1.2 so I suspect that the 1.3 compatible versions won't take long to appear.

I have not been able to replicate the forced retirement bug - although some have indicated it still exists. If it does - then it still needs to be fixed. I am unsure if folks meant the bug where your original sub was retired forcing you to go with it even if you had a new sub, or if they meant you couldn't spend renown to continue patrols. If its the first - a 1.3 compatible fix will be out soon I suspect. If its the latter - it should be #6 and would go in the list that would require Dev support to fix.

One last thing I will say - I appreciate the work the Devs have done - both developing the game and working toward patching it as best they could. Thanks, Dan and Company!

[Excalibur Bane]

- Saving your game in base, then quitting and later reloading your game makes some torpedoe types disappear from the loadout screen.

- Low or no realism can lead to situations where you have a crew ready to be promoted but haven't been given enough "promotion" upgrades to properly upgrade crew.

[PepsiCan]

Originally Posted by CaptainHaplo

I am going to try like Pepsi did and get this back ON topic - what remains to be fixed in 1.3 - regardless of if ubi or mods do it....

My list in order of preference is as follows:

1> Zombie ships. This .... bug effect it not only is frustrating - simply removing a ship from the "playfield" once its sunk makes sense as its one less thing for the PC to track - thus helping keep performance good. From what digging I have done - this looks like its an effect caused by a waypoint change or a "date" change - either one is seems to be the respawn culprit.

2> Damage Control - while historically no sub skipper ever had his CE or COB tell him "We're at 68% hull integrity" - we do need a bit more info on how our hull is doing. Something like either an estimated damage percentage - or better yet a text on damage that gives an "estimate" of depth that the hull could withstand. This would be realistic as a CE would tell his captain "I've got the forward bulkhead shored up as best we can - but I wouldn't advise taking her past about 150' because I ain't sure she will hold up past that....".

3> Torpedo Exploder Switch issue - already well documented.

4> Limited Bridge Perspective - as Captain if I wanted to get higher so I could, like a lookout - get a 360 degree view (without the conning tower blocking my view) - it should be possible. Would probably require a new station created.

5> Deck gun commands do not stick. By this I mean I tell my gun crew to hold fire - then designate a single merchant target that they shoot at. Once its considered sunk - the crew reverts back to a "fire at will" order that I haven't given. With the limited deck gun ammo and the amount of damage a single hit does - I dont want them wasting it on a ship I dont want them shooting at. Yes I know I can man the gun myself - but if I am on a NSA (Night Surface Attack) I better be conning my boat!

************************************************** ************
The above issues are those that I suspect cannot be fixed by modding. While I do concur that some folks have concerns with graphical issues or glitches - and those also will not likely be fixable by modding, they do not affect my enjoyment of gameplay and so I won't put them on my list. Not to say that they are not important for other gamers - just not for me. Each to their own in otherwords...
The issues below I suspect will be able to be modded out at some time in the future. Some of them (noted with a following $) are already addressed in whole or in part by existing mods that are either released or are WIP's. Released mods may not yet be 1.3 compatible as yet.
************************************************** ************

6> Destroyer Hulls still Self Destruct when ramming.

7> Aircraft raid spawning and vectoring. $

8> Enemy Traffic Patterns fail to follow historical data. Convoys early in the war when they were not there, battles between task forces that are not modeled in the layer, etc. $

9> Ship Sinking time/physics - as noted earlier - its too fast/not accurate. $

10> Fuel/battery consumption rates - not historically accurate. $

As noted - 4 of these 5 already were taken care of in whole or in part with mods that were available. #8 is the only one that will take a good bit of time I suspect to complete - as the layer files are handled differently than in SH3 - they are set for periods instead of one big layer. Easier to change one thing at a time perhaps - but very tedious so kudo's to those working on that. #'s 7,9 & 10 were already fixed in mods for 1.2 so I suspect that the 1.3 compatible versions won't take long to appear.

I have not been able to replicate the forced retirement bug - although some have indicated it still exists. If it does - then it still needs to be fixed. I am unsure if folks meant the bug where your original sub was retired forcing you to go with it even if you had a new sub, or if they meant you couldn't spend renown to continue patrols. If its the first - a 1.3 compatible fix will be out soon I suspect. If its the latter - it should be #6 and would go in the list that would require Dev support to fix.

One last thing I will say - I appreciate the work the Devs have done - both developing the game and working toward patching it as best they could. Thanks, Dan and Company!

You forgot a few:

- Sun shining through metal and crew becoming transparent when using Volumetric Fog and Environmental Effects graphic settings

- When you have the original conning tower (the bathtub model) swinging the gun to port or starboard and aiming upward, results in the 'bathtub' plating blocking the gunner's view. (Yes, I know there is a mod, but it in essence removes the bathtub, so you have reduced conning tower when it actually wasn't available.)

- No means to call for help when close to a base but out of fuel. Currently, all you can do is...well, start a new carreer because this boat is never coming home again.

Hope that helps