Submariner seeks Holy Grail

[Lionman]

[This is an edited near-duplicate of a thread I started a few days ago in the SH III section of SUBSIM's forum] I am well aware that starting this new thread here will inevitably duplicate many discussions appearing in many other threads. However I still feel that there will be many who come to our virtual sub sea realm with the same question, which I address here primarily to the most experienced, most technically knowledgeable and longest-standing members of this redoubtable community.

Question.

Given a more or less state-of-the-art PC, 8 MB broadband, good technical knowledge and starting from a clean installation of SH IV patched to current spec, what gentlemen, in your personal opinion, is the optimum combination of currently available MODs to attain maximum realism, maximum historical authenticity and maximum immersion in SH IV?

I am well aware that this is almost completely a matter of personal tastes and choices but there will be common constants in your replies and those are what interest me.

My situation is this, after a recent reformat, re-installation of VISTA Ultimate Edition and a clean installation of SH IV, I seek to create the optimal installation of SH IV. I am also quite happy to create parallel installs if there are two front runners amongst the uber-MODs for SH IV.

I seek maximum possible realism in sea state, surface and storm wave height, weather, crew faces, uniforms, insignia, sub interiors, number of subs, historically accurate skins, correctly time-synchronised historically accurate radio broadcasts and stations etc. Probably the same shopping list that of any other WW2 sub sea combat enthusiast. So I envisage this thread as a kind of "updateable ultimate tested MOD combo recommendation" list. I always use JSGME to install MODs in SH and several other simulators including IL2 1946.

[I can run FSX, which IMO is currently the most hardware demanding simulator ever, with all sliders maxed out, so I am not worried about frame rates, as even a heavily Modded SH is far less demanding than FSX.]

Here is my PC spec -

OS - Windows Vista Ultimate Edition Service Pack 1 (build 6001)
Mainboard -ASUSTeK Computer INC. P5N32-E SLI 1.XX
Bus Clock - 266 megahertz
BIOS - Phoenix Technologies, LTD ASUS P5N32-E SLI ACPI BIOS
CPU - Intel 2.40 gigahertz Intel Core2 Quad-Core
MOBO - ASUS TeK Computer INC. P5N32-E SLI 1.XX
RAM - 4 GB (DIMM_A1' 2048 MB + DIMM_A1' 2048 MB)
GPU - NVIDIA 8800 GTX
SPU - Soundblaster Xi-Fi Fatal1ty Platinum 8.1
HD - 2 x 500 GB
Left monitor -Taxan 735 TC099 17" CRT
Centre monitor - Mirai 22" Digital
Right monitor - Dell 19" CRT
Display Adaptor - MATROX TripleHead2Go Digital Edition - running surround gaming across 3 screens.
+ Track IR 4 Pro
+ SAITEK Pro Yoke & Throttle quadrant state of the art force feedback pedals & yoke for civilian flying
+ LOGITECH Force 3D Pro force feedback joystick & twist rudder for WW1 & WW2 air combat
+ LOGITECH G25 force feedback pedals and wheel for rally and race driving
+ SAITEK Pro Gamer Command Unit programmable for FPS
+ SAITEK P8000 Programmable Command Unit 35 keys assignable for anything

As you see, with my MATROX box, I can and do now run surround gaming across a mixture of three screens giving a combined display of 3072 x 780 so I am also anxious to hear from anyone who knows how to get SH IV running across my whole display without distortion.

Using Track IR 4 Pro this rig runs the excellent "Sailors of the Sky" gliding simulator, Microsoft's "FSX" civilian flight simulator, Call of Duty 4 FPS and "rFactor" racing simulators. I would dearly love to see major stormy weather in SH IV running across three screens! I would also love to get Track IR Pro 4 running in the sub interiors again too, as it was before my reformat and switch to a 3 screen display. I am especially looking to optimise the faces, uniforms, hats & medals as much as possible in terms of photo-realism rather than obvious "artwork". [IMO the best avatars I've seen so far are those in CRYSYS]

Just YOUR OWN PERSONAL ideal list, or perhaps two different installs, that you KNOW from personal experience will run perfectly in concert in SH IV.

Over to you gentlemen . . . . .