Hydrophone range

[Armistead]

Not sure of the stock game, but I don't think passing the thermal layer has any effect on sonar, it doesn't in any of the megamods.

Being on the surface the hydrophones work fine under most circumstances. The S boat doesn't work on the surface. A small depth issue may apply and most subs sonar works fine on the surface. In stock many of the subs almost ride on top the water, this can be a problem.

However, being at scope depth, I don't see that you would have a problem at any level. You should be able to hear ships yourself in the contact zone, 20NM's or so.

They're are a few ships when they run below 7kts, they don't show on sonar.

[jasond2350]

I'm new to this game and have no idea what to do. I dont think my sonar works. I cant ever hear any ships. Any advice?

[nev_vern]

Jason, you must point your Hydrophone towards an enemy ship, when you can hear its engines you can then use the sonar to ping the target giving its range.

Back to my problem....

I tried again, and used the Hydrophone as you would, and a target appeared as 'unknown' on the notepad in the upper left corner, but was unable to hear anything what so ever, at least not until it was closer to me.

When I asked my crew to 'follow nearest contact' he responded with "SO No sound contact"

[Pisces]

Have you managed to find it and identify the unit? Maybe the unit has a bug with it's soundeffects.

Which 'little' mods do you have exactly? Added new models? Maybe that bug could be lying there. That doesn't change the hydrophone code or sensitivity, but could lack an important setting for the sound to work.

[Dogfish40]

Ahoy Vern,
Exactly what mods are you using? I've had a couple of seemingly innocent mods knock out my hydrophones completely. Although one was a sound mod it still made no sense. Also, having your periscope up might effect the hydrophones depending on certain conditions (like what mods are up). Having visual contact with a ship in any form (periscope, crew-watch) might take down the hydro-phones. I may be mistaken about this but I remember reading a post and one of the modders was explaining that the game will use these resources in some kind of order, so if your radar tracks an aircraft, once the crew spots the plane, the contact on the map is actually the visual contact. There is a also a mod out there that fixes a problem with certain ships not being picked up by the hydrophones, I'll see if I can locate it.
Good Luck
D40
Ps; When you say a target appears 'unknown' and your crew says "no sound contacts". I have this happen all the time, I won't get a "hit" until I head in the direction of the contact for a time. Finally, the SO will call it out. However, it's still always a pretty good distance away.

[nev_vern]

The Mods I have are the 3000 Yards Bearing Plotter and Magnified Hud Dials. Thats it.

The Unit I am tracking down is a Large Modern Composite Freighter.

My Radar Officer picks up the contact at roughly 19nm heading 116 relative to my ship.

I turn off the radar, then I select heading 116 in the Hydrophone and click "Follow nearest contact" with a reply "SO No sound contact"

But if I select heading 116 with the Hydrophone and click "Report Contacts" I will then get a reply "SO nearest sound contact: Merchant moving slow! Closing! Bearing 116! Long Range!" I just checked that I do not need to move the Hydrophone to 116 to use the "Report Contacts" But I still can not hear anything when I do this manually. These officers must have super human abilities.

I thought, from my understanding that selecting "Follow nearest contact" tells the officer to keep me updated at predetermined intervals of where the merchant is? Of course, "Follow nearest contact" does work when the merchant is closer to my position.

Maybe what I am experiencing is normal, but the noobness within me somehow tells me it is wrong? (Translation: I am experiencing what should happen rather than what I think should happen)

My only previous experience of SH is in SH3 where I thought it was too difficult and never sunk anything and only played it for a short time before deleting and trashing the CD. But, as I am a simulator freak I decided to get SH4 and try and learn it properly. I already have learnt much more in using SH4 for a week than what I learnt in SH3 in a couple of months. I can actually blow a ship out of the water but that is a thanx to the awesome video tutorials, something I never had in SH3 when it first came out.

P.S I think the manual sucks big time. It states very clearly how to use the software, but explains nothing of how to play. So glad I found this site.

[Dogfish40]

Originally Posted by nev_vern

The Mods I have are the 3000 Yards Bearing Plotter and Magnified Hud Dials. Thats it.

The Unit I am tracking down is a Large Modern Composite Freighter.

My Radar Officer picks up the contact at roughly 19nm heading 116 relative to my ship.

I turn off the radar, then I select heading 116 in the Hydrophone and click "Follow nearest contact" with a reply "SO No sound contact"

But if I select heading 116 with the Hydrophone and click "Report Contacts" I will then get a reply "SO nearest sound contact: Merchant moving slow! Closing! Bearing 116! Long Range!" I just checked that I do not need to move the Hydrophone to 116 to use the "Report Contacts" But I still can not hear anything when I do this manually. These officers must have super human abilities.

I thought, from my understanding that selecting "Follow nearest contact" tells the officer to keep me updated at predetermined intervals of where the merchant is? Of course, "Follow nearest contact" does work when the merchant is closer to my position.

Maybe what I am experiencing is normal, but the noobness within me somehow tells me it is wrong? (Translation: I am experiencing what should happen rather than what I think should happen)

My only previous experience of SH is in SH3 where I thought it was too difficult and never sunk anything and only played it for a short time before deleting and trashing the CD. But, as I am a simulator freak I decided to get SH4 and try and learn it properly. I already have learnt much more in using SH4 for a week than what I learnt in SH3 in a couple of months. I can actually blow a ship out of the water but that is a thanx to the awesome video tutorials, something I never had in SH3 when it first came out.

P.S I think the manual sucks big time. It states very clearly how to use the software, but explains nothing of how to play. So glad I found this site.

It doesn't sound quite right that's for sure. You should be able to hear the sound from the hydrophone, espeicially if the SO is hearing it. In fact, you should be able to hear the hydrophone contacts before the SO hears them. At least that's my experiance. As for as the mods you have, I agree, they shouldn't have any effect on this.
The only other thing I can suggest is maybe trying a reload if nothing else works, (I'm sure I read that your running at least 1.4).
Yeah, the manual really is an unfinished work but me and a lot of other sim skippers learned from reading and sharing on this forum, it's the best I've ever had the privlige of using. I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with Auto_targeting when I started playing and now I'm having loads of fun playing this game, in fact it takes up a bit too much of my time if you ask my wife.
Good luck and Good Hunting.
D40