crew stays on deck

[BigWalleye]

Originally Posted by merc4ulfate

"If you are referring to the fact that the bridge watch remains on deck when you submerge, that is a "feature" of SH4. It is built into the stock game. It is independent of any mods you might activate. And no one has ever released a fix."

I'm sorry but this is not a true statement.

I have played this for years and used just about ever mod there is.

I have never played Silent Hunter 4 where the crew stayed up on deck after the submarine went under water. I leave them on watch and they simply disappear on their own and they always have for me.

Whether TMO, OM, WDAD, FOTRS, RSRD or RFB the crew has always gone below. What will happen however is that if I do not move them to a safer area a depth charge blast to the deck gun will injure or kill them easily.

I do not know why your crew would stay outside but this is one skipper who has never seen that in all they ears I have been playing.

Generic Mod Enabler - v2.6.0.157
RFB_2.0
RFB_2.0_Patch_23April2010
RSRDC_RFB_V575
RSRDC_V5xx_Patch1
EAXsoundsim_without_WebstersManeuver_STOCK_GFO_OM
Classe_Balao_CamoTri
Improved Ship Physics_2.1

Begging your pardon, but this is a well-known problem which has been thoroughly discussed in this forum. See, for example, http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=186959, http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=172473, http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=166696 and many other threads. Or check the RFB manual, page 13, which discusses the problem in detail.

I am not talking about whether you can see the bridge watch if you use the external camera when submerged. I never use the external camera, so I don't care. But if you go to the crew status screen when the boat is submerged, you will see that the bridge watch - all three rotations - remain in the station labeled "Main Deck." That is because the game engine considers that these men - all three rotations! - are still on deck, outside the protective hull of the submarine. This is why they will die so quickly when you are depth charged. This is also why RFB adds extra billets in the conning tower and control room and also adds that station labeled "Hogan's Alley." These are below-deck slots for the bridge watches when submerged, so that they will not die immediately in a depth charge attack. The game does not automatically move these men to within the hull. Whether you see them on deck or not, they are outside the hull as far as the program is concerned, and they suffer casualties accordingly. And, of course, when you move them, one at a time, into the below-deck slots, the program does not regard them as on the "Main Deck" station, so it considers that there is no one on deck watch when you surface. You must again move them, one at a time, back to the "Main Deck" slots or your sub will be sailing blind.

Both RFB and TMO add below-deck slots to prevent needless loss of the deck watch personnel due to this program error. Regardless of whether or not you have actually "seen" the deck watches while submerged, the program nonetheless regards them as being functionally on deck, shows them in the "Main Deck" station, and inflicts casualites accordingly. That is the issue that the player, as sub commander, has to deal with.

[hcs53]

You would actually have to leave six(TMO have 12 places) places empty before starting the Campain.

henny

[BigWalleye]

Originally Posted by hcs53

You would actually have to leave six(TMO have 12 places) places empty before starting the Campain.

henny

RFB leaves 15 slots open. Three in the conning tower for the OOD. Six in the control room for the planesmen.. (If you don't man these slots, there are no planesmen in the 3Dcontrol room view and the planes move by themselves. Spooky.) And six in Hogan's Alley. That's five ezch for three rotations. It's all explained in the RFB manual.