Silent Hunter 4 Saves Keep Corrupting

[MichaelFrazzy]

Hey everyone, hate for my first post here to be asking for help with bugs. I got hooked on Cold Waters for a while, then Uboat more recently, before realizing there was a better version of both (imo), SH4. I spent about 8 hours just getting the feel of things before starting my first patrol and feeling comfortable with the changes between this and the games I have played before this. I want to start by thanking everyone on here for the help getting the game up in running perfectly (at first) and in 1440p.

I spent days on my first run, sinking 75,000 tons before starting to head back to Pearl. I started getting "game failed to save" messages in addition to major stutters, so I restarted my game. When I started back up, every save I tried to load crashed the game with no error or anything. I have made sure I am running from the proper sh4.exe file in administrator mode, deleted a bunch of saves, and every other fix I can find. I verified all of the files and reinstalled the mods. Uplay detected corrupt files apparently but that might have just been my saves. Nothing has worked regardless.

So after shaking that off I started a new save today on my day off and was feeling like I was getting even better luck with my patrols as I had just downed 2 large euro liners and 2 large old transports, all of their escorts, and 3 planes. On the way back to refuel I ran out and was stranded about 100nm from Midway, and against my better judgement I changed limitedfuel: true to false in my save file and now the same thing is happening with every single save file from this new run and I'm pretty upset. I haven't been able to turn in a single patrol (besides my very first lack luster one) or earn a single medal even despite already playing dozens of hours. What can I do to prevent this from happening, and can I save this last run I haven't deleted yet? This is bumming me out because this is quickly becoming my favorite game but I keep losing careers and am worried about trying to start out a 3rd.

I'm running the Gold Edition 1.5 I got on UPlay (I saved it in the new file location like is mentioned on here though, and unlocked the game to be able to use all of my RAM.) I am running the big "new player friendly" batch of 17 mods through JSGME. I got some alerts that some of the mods both effected the same files, but the game worked fine at first and of course the bundle wouldn't be so popular if it caused conflicts that messed with the game, right?

PC Specs:

Windows 10

12GB DDR4 RAM

Nvidia Quadro 5000/GTX 1080 graphics card

latest gen Intel Xeon 4 Core

Thanks in advanced

[MichaelFrazzy]

I wanted to add that I can successfully load the beginning autosave of this patrol, but then when I try to go from there to another save it still crashes the game right after the "please wait" screen. I was hoping that would be the magic fix. There is also a fix suggesting saying to go to a save folder that ends in the highest number, look int there and you will see extra files that need to be deleted vs an autosave. They say you will delete everything but the 5 files needed. All of my folders have 17 files in them, and when I delete down to the base 5 it still crashes.

[propbeanie]

Run JSGME and use the "Tasks..." link, then "Export activated mod list to --->" and "Clipboard", then paste those results in your next post so that folks can see your mod list.

The thing with activating mods is that you cannot use a past save, if that's what you're doing. In fact, you should delete the Save folder and its contents prior to playing a major, newly activated mod, to be certain the game pulls in the new data. The game runs off of the data in the Save folder, whether you've saved a game or not, but does not replace files in the folder if they have the same name, so a Save made in stock oftentimes is not compatible with loading into a (as an example) Webster's GFO enabled game, because of the changes in some settings. The folder is "C:\Users \UserName \Documents \SH4", with UserName as your log-in, and Documents could be any one of several Windows derivatives...

[MichaelFrazzy]

I have not changed any mods at all since starting to play. Every game I have played has been with the same bundle of mods. Here they are for reference though. Thanks!

Generic Mod Enabler - v2.6.0.157
[C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\Silent Hunter 4\Silent Hunter 4 Gold Edition\MODS]

1 Game Fixes Only Mod v1.1
10 Eye Patch for Stock
11 Pacific Sound Mod
12 Stop The Shouting
13 sobers compass mod_version color
14 3000 Yard Bearing Tool (1920x)
15 Magnified Hud Dials for v1.5_Large
16 Webster's Eliminate Floating Plankton
17 Remove grain effect
2 MaxOptics IV for GFO 1.1
3 Real Environment mod install
4 GFO Patch for Real Env
5 Webster's No Crew Fatigue
6 Bigger Better Protractors
7 Extra Allied naval bases for Stock SH4 + UBM v3.0
8 Webster's Upgraded Deck Gun v1
8 Webster's Upgraded Deck Gun v2
9 Webster's New sonar view for v1.5

[Aktungbby]

MichaelFrazzy!

[MichaelFrazzy]

Thanks! I'm excited to dig deeper into the game once I get this sorted out. Is deleting all of my saves and starting again enough? Last time I didn't delete the first batch of corrupted saves before starting again. Or is there a mod incompatibility or something else I should look into? I appreciate the help guys.

Also... is it recommended to not only run the SH4 exe every time, but to also run it as an administrator every time as well? Not just for troubleshooting?

[jimmbbo]

Originally Posted by MichaelFrazzy

Thanks! I'm excited to dig deeper into the game once I get this sorted out. Is deleting all of my saves and starting again enough? Last time I didn't delete the first batch of corrupted saves before starting again. Or is there a mod incompatibility or something else I should look into? I appreciate the help guys.

FWIW a while back, when I had similar crashing problems, clearing all old saved games solved the situation and it's been stable ever since...

[MichaelFrazzy]

Thank you! I just wanted to make sure there are no extra steps I need to take. A shame all the careers are gone but as long as I can restart without another crash that's good enough for me right now. Have a nice Labor Day everyone.

[propbeanie]

You might also read through Webster's documentation for his GFO mod, because some of what you have in the mod list is already in the GFO mod, and you can drop them. If you are using THEBERBSTER's package, then he has them numbered in order of application. You do have to be careful of the order of additional mods you might put in, and try to find if they are compatible with the rest. Put the Bigger Better Protractors in last.

[MichaelFrazzy]

Actually one last quick question if you don't mind. Do you run the .exe as an administrator every time? Or is making sure you click the actual sh4.exe instead of going through Uplay enough?

[propbeanie]

Generally speaking, with SH4, you don't have to use Administrator, but you can set the short-cut or the exe to do that anyway, and it does no harm, and if you ever tighten the screws down on system security, it won't interfere with starting it. Do not use Uplay at all though, since with SH4, it is "dead" to Ubisoft...

[MichaelFrazzy]

Oh ok got it! I'll check the documentation. I have only been using the entire THEBERBSTER's package bundle (no additional mods), so it didn't even hit me at first that there would be redundant mods in it.

[propbeanie]

Since you have THEBERBSTER package (good stuff, btw), then just put them in numerical order. Notice how you've got two deckgun mods numbered "8"? That signifies that you use one or the other. The 2nd mod is overwriting the first in your case. I did not realize that THEBERBSTER had added more to his mod package... [note to self: check it out again]

[MichaelFrazzy]

Looks like each GFO patch is a separate part and not an all inclusive mod. I do have the mods loaded out of order so I will fix that now that I have deleted all of my saves. I should have noticed that part earlier haha. Besides me having both deck gun damage upgrade mods on... I wonder if that extra ammo and 25% + 50% damage increase was stacking, messing the game up, or both haha

[MichaelFrazzy]

Haha looks like we both caught it at the same time