SH4 - now we're getting somewhere

[GoldenRivet]

When SH4 was released i was not it's biggest fan.

In fact i almost out right hated the initial release version.

I recently Installed the game with very few mods and updated it to the latest patch. I have to say this is a vast improvement over what they doped us into buying back in March 2007.

I have had better luck with manual targeting, but i have a lot of work to do as i am acustomed to using the SH3 Kriegsmarine style TDC vs the USN position keeper type. i actually had fun playing the game this time around and look forward to trying more mods.

we are finally getting somewhere with this game.

I still have only a couple of complaints. perhaps you guys have suggestions?

1. The stop watch is massive - but thats moddable, no big deal

2. the environment seems misty, or as if looking through some sort of vail which makes the graphics very grainy or ghost like if that makes sense. i have not been able to figure out how to make the graphics more crisp in this department... though the graphics are great, it seems like there is this thin layer of fog everywhere regardless of the weather.

3. the camera view on ships as you cycle through contacts in external view is WAY too zoomed out still.

4. The crew voices - though i have had NO problems with repeating voices or sounds they either speak too slowly or they suddenly get excited for no obvious reason at all.

for example : (2 second pause between words)

"Sound Contact Bearing One......... Five...........Zero...........degrees."

or (sudden excitement)

"sound contact, BEARING THREE FIVE ZERO SIR!!!"

Its like "dude... why are you so freaking excited all of the sudden?"

my 5th and final complaint is that there is no middle ground in the targeting difficulty. its either uber 100% realism (which i like most of the time) or its arcade... no in between.

im stil working out some issues with SH4 and getting to know this game better and better each time i load it... but this is much better than initial release which more or less wasnt even playable IMHO.

[Powerthighs]

Regadring issue number 5, if you turn map updates on you will get a lot of help with regards to target estimation, which will make manual targeting much easier.

[rodan54]

For number 2 you might try the following:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=114496

It removes the film grain effect from the PPF filter, which I'm assuming is the 'fog' your refering to.

[AVGWarhawk]

1. The stop watch is massive - but thats moddable, no big deal

Yes it is massive but you can drag the watch off screen if you want or what I do is have it half off the screen as I do use it. The watch will stay where you put it until you shut down the game. Repeat next time you play.

2. the environment seems misty, or as if looking through some sort of vail which makes the graphics very grainy or ghost like if that makes sense. i have not been able to figure out how to make the graphics more crisp in this department... though the graphics are great, it seems like there is this thin layer of fog everywhere regardless of the weather.

Play with the gamma a bit. Turn off PPF sometimes helps. I suspect your gamma is not set correctly within the game.

3. the camera view on ships as you cycle through contacts in external view is WAY too zoomed out still.

Go get the ROW mod. Has a great camera mod within it.

4. The crew voices - though i have had NO problems with repeating voices or sounds they either speak too slowly or they suddenly get excited for no obvious reason at all.

for example : (2 second pause between words)

"Sound Contact Bearing One......... Five...........Zero...........degrees."

or (sudden excitement)

"sound contact, BEARING THREE FIVE ZERO SIR!!!"

Its like "dude... why are you so freaking excited all of the sudden?"

I noticed this also. No fix as yet. Perhaps just to much testosterone in some of the crew.

my 5th and final complaint is that there is no middle ground in the targeting difficulty. its either uber 100% realism (which i like most of the time) or its arcade... no in between.

I was always a fan of WO assist in SH3. As of now they only help with speed estimation that patch 1.3 gave us. No fix at the moment.

I've a suspicion that the crew voice "excitement" level is proportional to their experience, efficiency and general state of alertness. I think the devs were attempting to provide an audio indication of crew efficiency but either didn't get a chance to finish their work...or failed. I believe they also attempted this in SH3 too.

Its an interesting idea, perhapps it can be modded to work.

[GoldenRivet]

thanks for the input guys... next chance i get ill try some of those recommendations.

~GR