Why SH-5

[F1motion@yahoo.com]

Hello fellow captains, I have been wanting to try SH-5 but was told it was too buggy and to stick to SH-4 ...But it seems it may be playable now?

Can someone outline the differences in these two versions and maybe give me a reason to buy this game?

Thank you in advance....

[Aktungbby]

F1motion@yahoo.com!

[Darojax]

Hi F1motion.

I've played all Silent Hunter versions, and yes, when Silent Hunter 5 appeared it was marvelous to look at, and being able to move around inside the entire sub an awesome experience. However, the game bugs and even new gameplay mechanics and designs made the game a lot less fun to play than its predecessors.

The good news is that thanks to the modding community, with the Wolves of Steel mod for Silent Hunter 5, a lot of the gameplay glory that was apparent in Silent Hunter 3 & 4 has been returned to the game. I would definitely recommend you to go with Silent Hunter 5 + The Wolves of Steel megamod. I am almost certain you will not be disappointed.


And welcome abord!

[THEBERBSTER]

A Warm Welcome To The Subsim Community > F1motion@yahoo.com
Subsim <> How To Donate <> See The Benefits <> Support The Community
If you are new to SH5 look > > HERE <<
Highly Recommended SH5 > The Wolves Of Steel Mega Mod

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by F1motion@yahoo.com

Hello fellow captains, I have been wanting to try SH-5 but was told it was too buggy and to stick to SH-4 ...But it seems it may be playable now?

Yes, SH5 was so bad as to be almost unplayable. That was six years ago. A host of dedicated modders have worked on it until today which version you play is really a matter of choice, as each of them has something the others lack. Though you didn't mention it, I still play SH3, and for that very reason.

Can someone outline the differences in these two versions and maybe give me a reason to buy this game?

SH3
The Good: Despite being 11 years old, many players still prefer SH3. The reason is that there are so many mods for it that you can have almost any type of game you want. Serious supermods like NYGM, which boasts the most realistic AI when being stalked by the enemy. Dedicated immersion mods like LSH3, which offers an amazing amount of things to look at when travelling through the SH3 world, including real working locks at the canals and harbors that had them. GWX, which strives to strike a balance between the two, and a host of players think it does an excellent job.
And then there's SH3 Commander, not a mod but an external tool which not only lets you adjust in-game parameters with the click of a button, and greatly expands the options for how your career runs but also fleshes out the ships you attack with cargo loads and crew numbers and actual ships' names in your patrol report.

The Bad: SH3 was the first subsim to have a full crew, with names, ranks and stations. Unfortunately the way the fatigue worked you had to switch them out yourself on a regular basis, which is not only unrealistic but tedious. That problem has never been resolved, and the only complete solution is still to just turn the fatigue off and don't worry about it.

SH4
The Good: Since you obviously want to drive a U-boat stock SH4 had nothing to offer. The 1.5 upgrade added U-boats in the Pacific in 1943 and fixed some of the problems in the stock game, but it took some real supermods like IX-D2 and Operation Monsun to give it some quality. The stock improvements over SH3 included a crew which automatically rotates the shift watches in and out, and the "Battle Stations" function that puts everyone on duty and the best man in command of each station is cool. Op Monsun gives a full Atlantic campaign and that's just about all you need.

The Bad: Mostly lies in what hasn't been modded and at this point likely never will be. No locks (or even lock stations) at the canals. The Kiel Canal looks like a giant river. Nothing like SH3 Commander to give ship names and advanced crew functions. This is why I still play SH3. That said, those are fairly little things and many players of SH4 believe they are easily outweighed by the good.

SH5
The Good: Of course the first thing anyone notices is the way it looks. Even in screenshots it really is beautiful, and when people post videos here or in SubSim's FaceBook page I always watch them. A huge amount of modding work has been done to SH5, expanding the campaign to 1945, getting rid of the "auras" around the crew members and making everything function the way it should. People who use the Wolves Of Steel supermod say it makes everything just about perfect.

The Bad: You can still only run a Type VII U-boat, though you can choose between the four major variants of that boat. There are still a very limited number of merchant types to shoot at. On the other hand, there is something afoot that may change all that fairly soon.
SH5, like SH4, doesn't have animated harbor and canal lock gates, though the locks themselves are there.
SH5 has done away with crew management, and the crew, altogether. Yes, there are animated crewmen, and yes, you can "talk" to a few of them. What is gone is the crew list, names, ranks and functions. You no longer know who your crew are, except for the officers and cook.

For some that's a minor thing, or not a thing at all. For me it's a major setback. As I said, I don't go with either of your options, but still play SH3. I wish SH5 had been SH3 with its problems fixed and the new graphics. That is a personal preference, however, and everybody has their reasons for liking what they do. I hope this gives you some insight into the differences so you can make an educated choice.

Of course they're so cheap these days that you could try all three and make that choice yourself.

[HW3]

Very well said Steve!

[Benzin1973]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

.....
I wish SH5 had been SH3 with its problems fixed and the new graphics.

You and I share the same wishes Sailor Steve.

Personally, i gave sh5 a serious try. downloaded and tried just about every mod i could get my hands on, went thru the hassle of applying the patch fixes to my steam version, i even made a few small modifications of my own. But it just never happened.

Even with all the mods, ui improvements, fixes and patches, and after over 30 hours if really trying, i never managed to get nearly the level of enjoyment out of sh5 that i get from sh3. Not even close. So i uninstalled it and got back to my favorite silent hunter game: SH3.

[Jeff-Groves]

I'll agree with Steve in the fact SH4 did not get the attention deserved.
Those were wild days and I'm pretty sure that's the major cause of that.

SH5 was a whole new Game in the GR2 format.
That stopped progress right there.

I can see changes MAYBE in both SH4 and SH5 ahead.
The rest of this year should prove pretty interesting.

[F1motion@yahoo.com]

Thank you all for spending the time to update me on the series and explaining the differences in these 3 games...It sounds like they are all
really very different simulations and after all your hard work i am still
unsure of what i should buy...Ill help you out a bit..I am interested in
u.s sub classes and i want to be able to move about like a real captain
and command a crew...I want a real looking ocean and want to feel free and adventurous...I am a beginner so i want to start with auto targeting then move to manual as i get used to the game...The immersion factor is huge for me and visual detail and functionality is very important also...Hope this helps...

[Sailor Steve]

If your main interest is US subs then SH4 is the only option. SH5 doesn't touch that part of the war, and neither does SH3. That's it.

Unless you want to go back to SH1, which is comparatively primitive but still fun.

[F1motion@yahoo.com]

Thank you Steve, so SH-4 is for me, do you have an idea of what MOD i should run? or should i ask someone from the SH-4 forum room?

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by F1motion@yahoo.com

Thank you Steve, so SH-4 is for me, do you have an idea of what MOD i should run? or should i ask someone from the SH-4 forum room?

I would go ahead and ask there, mainly because you'll find a lot more SH4 players there. You'll find that there are several good supermods, all different and all with their fans, and they'll know more about their favorites.

[THEBERBSTER]

Hi Guys
The Wolves of Steel mega mod is what SH5 is all about and it this platform on how SH5 should be judged.
It is 99.9% stable.
I have never had a ctd with over 150 game saves.
Criticizing how SH5 is, should not be judged on how poor it was, but what it has to offer now.
The past is gone it is history.
Look at SH5 now and if you have not played TWOS then you should not be judging SH5 against SH4 and SH3.
SH4 and SH3 are well developed with mega mods and applications tried and tested over the years.
Personally I like the LSH3-2015 mega mod and I can highly recommended it and never had a ctd in the game.
I have also played SH4 with TMO2.50wtw as the American boats offer an interesting alternative to the German boats in SH3 and SH5.
I would suggest anyone looking at SH5 to look at Shaefer's TWOS video's as it gives a good feel to the game even though TWOS has been improved since these video's where made.
Post #24 Shaefer’s Season 2 Let's Play Silent Hunter 5 YouTube Videos
TWOS has a very active modder in Vecko and in his hands SH5 has a bright future.
Peter

[Oubaas]

This thread is a great overview of the various titles. It should be stickied to one of the beginner guides. Sailor Steve's explanation and the amplifying remarks by THEBERBSTER in particular were helpful, but the whole thread contains points that are helpful to anyone who is just getting started.

I've been playing vanilla SH4 v1.4 for quite awhile, having drifted into the SH-series from the Sonalyst games. I just recently acquired SH3, the u-boat add-on for SH4(v1.5) and I bought SH5 Gold, which I'm still tampering with.

In brief, I'd say:

SH3: Great gameplay, dated graphics. But the gameplay is excellent., so I don't worry about the graphics.

SH4: If I could only have one, v1.5 would probably be it.

SH5: The best looking of the lot, but I'll know more when I get all my mods straightened out.

Thanks for the great tips from all you old veterans of the series!

[maillemaker]

I have not played SH5 in about a year now. The last time I tried, I did a fresh install followed the TWOS, following the directions from the forum.

At that time it was evidently still expected that the game would crash approximately 200km on returning to port. Evidently you were supposed to save and exit and restart the game prior to that. Every mission.

I had numerous CTDs. When I re-built my computer, I didn't bother re-installing SH5.

If we are saying TWOS is stable now, I might give it another go.

I liked SH3 a lot. I would love to have an SH3+GWX experience with SH5 and better graphics. What I most want graphics-wise is an actual physical modeling of the interaction of water and the uboat. I don't want simulated spray/bubbling/draining effects, I want physically simulated such effects.

I would also like many many simulations of internal damage and flooding. Not just seeing a puddle on the floor, but different pipes springing leaks of different levels of ferocity, varying levels of water in the compartment, water condensation drips, smoking equipment, broken gauges, etc.

Steve