Help with bugs that prevent me from playing

[THAbombaa]

Ahoy skippers,

I've only just bought SH4 after i saw some videos thanks to youtube recommendations however i am experiencing some major problems.

I have the main game and also the u-boat DLC, however when i try to play, i cannot start a campaign.

I get stuck on the "From where do you want to start" screen, nothing happens when i press Start.

Also, when i tried doing the tutorials, i found out my periscope is bugged and it keeps going up, then teleporting down. I cannot raise the thing myself for some reason too.

I'm sorry if i copied a previous thread about these things, i couldn't find anything on either of these problems.

[Aktungbby]

HAbombaa!

[KaleunMarco]

Originally Posted by THAbombaa

Ahoy skippers,

I've only just bought SH4 after i saw some videos thanks to youtube recommendations however i am experiencing some major problems.

I have the main game and also the u-boat DLC, however when i try to play, i cannot start a campaign.

I get stuck on the "From where do you want to start" screen, nothing happens when i press Start.

Also, when i tried doing the tutorials, i found out my periscope is bugged and it keeps going up, then teleporting down. I cannot raise the thing myself for some reason too.

I'm sorry if i copied a previous thread about these things, i couldn't find anything on either of these problems.

welcome.
as a newbie, you may find THEBERBSTER's help post to be exactly what you need.
https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=219029
read it carefully, starting with the Installation area.
good luck.

[propbeanie]

Besides what KaleunMarco mentions (excellent reading), did you install the DirectX v9.0c and the Windows Media Codecs when installing the game?

[THAbombaa]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

Besides what KaleunMarco mentions (excellent reading), did you install the DirectX v9.0c and the Windows Media Codecs when installing the game?

I did not get the prompts to do so, it just installed via steam and i could enter the game just fine, apart from the two problems i'm having.
I can pilot a boat in quick missions and fire deck guns and stuff like that, but i cant use the periscope and the main campaign doesnt start off.

Are these really problems with directX and WMC? I'll try to manually download them to be safe.

Thanks!

[KaleunMarco]

Originally Posted by THAbombaa

I did not get the prompts to do so, it just installed via steam and i could enter the game just fine, apart from the two problems i'm having.
I can pilot a boat in quick missions and fire deck guns and stuff like that, but i cant use the periscope and the main campaign doesnt start off.

Are these really problems with directX and WMC? I'll try to manually download them to be safe.

Thanks!

in a word, yes.
SH4 requires Directx9.n as well as the WMC's.
failure to install them will lead to weird problems, such as what you are experiencing.

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by THAbombaa

I did not get the prompts to do so, it just installed via steam and i could enter the game just fine, apart from the two problems i'm having.
I can pilot a boat in quick missions and fire deck guns and stuff like that, but i cant use the periscope and the main campaign doesnt start off.

Are these really problems with directX and WMC? I'll try to manually download them to be safe.

Thanks!

The newer Steam installs might not prompt you, but if you get a page about which components to install, such as Adobe Reader (a really old version) and the old Ubisoft game server, then that would have been the screen for making the choice. If you can shoot the deck gun, they you have DirectX v9 installed. Besides, the DirectX v9.0c download installer no longer functions correctly in a Windows 10 OS... "Legacy"... In the meantime, you didn't mention whether you had read what KaleunMarco pointed you to. Where did you install Steam and where is your game Library folder for Steam? The default is for them both to go into the C:\Program Files (x86)\ folder structure, which is not a good place for a DirectX v9 game. It does almost sound like you are running out of RAM to use in SH4 though. Do you have a lot running in the background of your Windows install? Have you ever heard of the 4 Gig Patch for SH4? There are several choices, two being NTCore's 4GB Patch and Large Address Aware. There is an older version (just as viable) in the SH3 Downloads section 4 Gig patch for SH3. All three files do the same thing, which is flip a couple of bits in the SH4.exe file so that Windows can see that the file can access more than 2 gig of RAM. The only pre-requisite is that you have a 64-bit version of Windows from Vista or later.

[THAbombaa]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

The newer Steam installs might not prompt you, but if you get a page about which components to install, such as Adobe Reader (a really old version) and the old Ubisoft game server, then that would have been the screen for making the choice. If you can shoot the deck gun, they you have DirectX v9 installed. Besides, the DirectX v9.0c download installer no longer functions correctly in a Windows 10 OS... "Legacy"... In the meantime, you didn't mention whether you had read what KaleunMarco pointed you to. Where did you install Steam and where is your game Library folder for Steam? The default is for them both to go into the C:\Program Files (x86)\ folder structure, which is not a good place for a DirectX v9 game. It does almost sound like you are running out of RAM to use in SH4 though. Do you have a lot running in the background of your Windows install? Have you ever heard of the 4 Gig Patch for SH4? There are several choices, two being NTCore's 4GB Patch and Large Address Aware. There is an older version (just as viable) in the SH3 Downloads section 4 Gig patch for SH3. All three files do the same thing, which is flip a couple of bits in the SH4.exe file so that Windows can see that the file can access more than 2 gig of RAM. The only pre-requisite is that you have a 64-bit version of Windows from Vista or later.

Hi, thanks for the reply.
Indid read the entire thing and also tried the different things they wrote about in that thread to no avail.
My steam is installed on my C drive SSD, however i installed SH4 in a seperate folder on my D drive HDD.

I shouldn't be running out of RAM, as i can't see this thing taking up more than the 16 gigs of RAM i have in my rig, being a pretty dated game. This is of course unless it doesn't use more than the two. I tried LAA mod, but i hadn't heard of the 4 gig mod so ill try that next.

Again thanks. I've been scraping by thanks to the steam refunds ive been asking for multiple times now after trying to fix the game. Getting pretty tired of it and losing hope, guess some things arent meant to be huh

[propbeanie]

It can work fine in Windows 10, or any other MS OS thus far. Some of the Linux folks have run into recent Wine issues, and maybe the Apple guys might have issues, but other than the frustrations in Windows with us users trying to maintain backwards compatibility, it does function as intended... Usually. As for running out of RAM, when it comes to the old games, or new ones for that matter, Windows restricts them to a certain amount of address space. This is the reason for the statement "running out of RAM to use in SH4" I made. Not the amount of system RAM. A lot of programs written during the Windows XP days had the capability to address more than the old 32-bit restriction of 2 gig of RAM, but it was never implemented due to Windows restrictions. Nowadays, you can alter the header of the program with those 4 Gig apps, and Windows will now recognize them as being able to address more than 2 gig of RAM, which allows them more "breathing room" in the system memory. Again, it is not about how much ram you have in your system. It's a function of the OS and the program involved. Also, the game uses the Save folder to run off of, and if you had an earlier install attempt, and then did not get rid of the old Save data, that still pollutes your install. Delete the "C:\Users \UserName \Documents \SH4 folder (default location) contents, and try again...

[KaleunMarco]

Originally Posted by THAbombaa

Hi, thanks for the reply.
Indid read the entire thing and also tried the different things they wrote about in that thread to no avail.
My steam is installed on my C drive SSD, however i installed SH4 in a seperate folder on my D drive HDD.

I shouldn't be running out of RAM, as i can't see this thing taking up more than the 16 gigs of RAM i have in my rig, being a pretty dated game. This is of course unless it doesn't use more than the two. I tried LAA mod, but i hadn't heard of the 4 gig mod so ill try that next.

Again thanks. I've been scraping by thanks to the steam refunds ive been asking for multiple times now after trying to fix the game. Getting pretty tired of it and losing hope, guess some things arent meant to be huh

Steam charges you for every re-install? i ask because i have never purchased anything via Steam.
in any case, you need to install into a folder that is not under the standard Windows Program folders.
SH4 users typically create a folder off the root such as C:\Ubisoft\SH4 or D:\Ubisoft\Silent Hunter 4.
i do not think that SSD or any other HD design makes a difference UNLESS you are using a drive system that is buffered. THAT has caused problems with SH4. let's assume that you are not using that.

your PC is not running out of RAM, the program (SH4) has limits to what it can use.
even though your system has 16 Gig ram, SH4 is designed to use 2 Gig.
if you employ one of the 4G tools, then the limit is raised from 2G to 4G. but that is its limit.
SH4 also has to compete with your operating system for all kinds of resources and you do NOT get to choose when, where, and how the OS will share. for example, when you see your system double-clutch during play. that could be SH4 but it could be Win10 performing some esoteric process that has nothing to do with SH4.
lastly, if you want to deploy any of the mega-mods such as RSRD, TMO, Dark Water, or FOTRSU, you must deploy one of the 4Gig tools.

i'll stop here. good luck!

[THAbombaa]

Originally Posted by KaleunMarco

Steam charges you for every re-install? i ask because i have never purchased anything via Steam.
in any case, you need to install into a folder that is not under the standard Windows Program folders.
SH4 users typically create a folder off the root such as C:\Ubisoft\SH4 or D:\Ubisoft\Silent Hunter 4.
i do not think that SSD or any other HD design makes a difference UNLESS you are using a drive system that is buffered. THAT has caused problems with SH4. let's assume that you are not using that.

your PC is not running out of RAM, the program (SH4) has limits to what it can use.
even though your system has 16 Gig ram, SH4 is designed to use 2 Gig.
if you employ one of the 4G tools, then the limit is raised from 2G to 4G. but that is its limit.
SH4 also has to compete with your operating system for all kinds of resources and you do NOT get to choose when, where, and how the OS will share. for example, when you see your system double-clutch during play. that could be SH4 but it could be Win10 performing some esoteric process that has nothing to do with SH4.
lastly, if you want to deploy any of the mega-mods such as RSRD, TMO, Dark Water, or FOTRSU, you must deploy one of the 4Gig tools.

i'll stop here. good luck!

Haha no steam doesn't charge for every insall, I'm just refunding the game every time i reach the 2 hour in game time (after which you cant refund) since i dont want the 15 euros charged if i cant play the game.

Reason why I said that i installed the game on my hdd is because steam makes a new folder which isn't part of the standard windows folders when you do this (if your steam isn't on that same drive)

I've tried to use LAA to get the 4 gigs of RAM to work, but my game is still bugging out.
It's really weird because i follow everything that isnsaid to me but the same bugs are still happening and like i said in the first post i can't find any other person having the same problems as me

[Mad Mardigan]

THAbombaa & welcome aboard...

Hey, Seems you use steam as well as I do... Did up a guide outlining the process that I used to set up multi SH4 folders to mod according to the set up I wanted.. I believe you will find it useful. I sent you the link via the email system here... & including it in case others may find it of use, as well.. that run into the same issues you have thus far...

https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/sho...0&postcount=16

Hope this helps get you up & out there, skippering your own boat...

Fair winds, smooth seas.. & Gute Jagd, Herr Kaleun.

M. M.

[Mad Mardigan]

Seeing as how there has been NO radio chatter (posts/replies from the Op..) for the past 48+ hours, am going to assume that this is a sub loss (problem resolved). In which case... great.

So...

Unless another S.O.S. goes out (see radio chatter), am going to go back to patrolling the sea lanes...

M. M.