Things you like or don't like about SH4

[castorp345]

Originally Posted by Payoff

Exactly how do you tune different frequencies (as the devs have stated) without a radio room?

there's a popup (and repositionable) image/dialog for the radio controls...
so far as i can tell though there's only one radio station available...

[rls669]

Someone please answer the most important question: can we machine-gun lifeboats or not?

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by castorp345

there's a popup (and repositionable) image/dialog for the radio controls...
so far as i can tell though there's only one radio station available...

Click the little arrows on the radio. One is for play, there is another that looks like a FF arrow, it scans frequencies.

[JamesT73J]

I think claiming the lack of FSAA is equivalent to the game not being released at all is hilarious.

The screenies do have that 'painting' affect, but I thought SH3 also had a very artistic feel, which I really liked. I'm looking forward to the mod community getting their teeth into it.

James

[castorp345]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

Click the little arrows on the radio. One is for play, there is another that looks like a FF arrow, it scans frequencies.

that's true, but in both directions it scans without finding anything other than 'washington'...

and indeed, in the \Data\Sound\Radio folder the only radio station present seems to be the Washington folder...

i suppose the community is expected here to come up with further radio stations...

[Sheppard]

My overall summary from a few minutes playing SH4:

THE GOOD:
They've improved time compression, I was able to crank it up to something like 4000x away from a base in the Phillipines and watch the time spool away smoothly. Looks like logn pacific patrols won't be torture.


An idea taken from the modders!

Hitting ESC near a base brings up this menu:


Graphics are cool



Many more options than simply 1024x768, including some widescreen formats (I think)

THE BAD:


The Career screen is 3d. Yes. 3d. You can click and drag your view around, which causes you to miss selectable areas due to the initial default view angle. And it used up valuable time that could have been used for something else, and really adds no immersion.

The User interface is much less intuitive and clunkier than SH3's.

While there are some nice things from mods for SH3 that have been incorporated like enlargeable dials, e.g. you put the mouse over a dial and it enlarges, etc, too much of the user interface is clunky and takes up more room compared to the SH3 incarnation:




Too much was changed around from SH3 for no good reason other than "change is good!"

Why was it necessary to move the report list from the bottom of the screen, where it's grouped with all the other controls and dials to it's own window, which constantly gets in the way and is distracting, no more simply scanning the bottom of the screen? Yes, I know the report window is now draggable around but it's a pain to drag it around so you can see certain things on specific screens.

Also, you can no longer click on people in the 3D view, and tell them what to do via the menu which appears when you hit them like in SH3.

It also appears that you can no longer tell the Weapons officer equivalent to come up with a solution on the target (something which I think happened due to the shift from "crewmen" to "Stations" as a design decision).

No longer does a single button bring up the fuel status, air status, CO2 status, etc; but now you have to click buttons on the bottom of the screen to bring up that status, and it's displayed as a simple filled bar, no more immersive graphics of dials.


(Blown up 200% to make it easier to see)

More Damning, is that AFAIK, the TDC is confusingly all over the place AFAIK, there's no immersive single "go to" screen for the TDC like there was in SH1.


SH4 TDC (best you got)


SH1 TDC single screen

The Radar isn't much better


SH4 Radar. Yes, I'm sure WW2 radars displayed the range scale on the CRT screen itself. There are no labels on the switches, so you have to sort of guess how many clicks on the switch to get the range you want.



SH1 Radar. Quite a bit more useable, no?

[Sheppard]

(continued since 12 image limit, grrr)


Particle Sprays will enamanate from the limber holes in your boats; I guess this is to simulate cascading water off your hull. But it just looks bad.


Why, I didn't know that the US used Lancasters as long range bombers and search planes in WW2!

Also, I didn't know that the US used metric to measure distances and depths in WW2!


The flickering light problem is also present in this. Guess they didn't fix it.

[BOF]

I think the interior sounds are bad, and the water sprays comming from the submarines don't look good at all.

Explosions and effects I think is good.

BOF

[Fat Bhoy Tim]

So basically we can all agree it's another game which is barely more than half finished in both the literal and figurative sense. Wonderful.

[LukeFF]

Originally Posted by Sheppard

Why, I didn't know that the US used Lancasters as long range bombers and search planes in WW2!

WTH?

[Greyghost]

Not only wrong aircraft. They have the wrong paint scheme and the star on the fuselage is upside down

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by Sheppard

SH1 Radar. Quite a bit more useable, no?

I agree with you there. There are areas in a sim where 2D stations are more appropriate and effective, sonar and radar screens are one of them.

But I like the SH4 TDC much better than SH1 through SH3, everything is right at hand, I've been able to score about 74% hits in SH4 using manual TDC and I've only had it a week. Give it a few days, maybe you will see what I mean.

[Spaxspore]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

I agree with you there. There are areas in a sim where 2D stations are more appropriate and effective, sonar and radar screens are one of them.

But I like the SH4 TDC much better than SH1 through SH3, everything is right at hand, I've been able to score about 74% hits in SH4 using manual TDC and I've only had it a week. Give it a few days, maybe you will see what I mean.

Good ol' dos box

[Tigrone]

1. I don't like the Poem. Milton? Give me a break! It's not even good Milton. I mean with everything that's in Paradise Lost, they come up with this?
2. It is not appropriate to the time or place.
3. I don't like the voice reciting it either.
4. It's got to go.

I found the extended poem to be really annoying and totally out of place. I put it in the same catagory of the game, as having it implemented in metric and of a marketing department without a clue.

I'm being shocked repeatedly here, not by bugs or clitches or some incomplete portions (which are just normal introduction teething problems), but by the ignorance being shown and by the complete disregard for the American market. The game seems to be very Eurocentric, which I find distracting from its enjoyment.

All the graphics, screens and videos, I've seen look wonderful. I've read the explanations, but I do not understand the FSAA panic at all. I am just an old dinosaur though, and I'm not sure if I even understand stereo. I just want a fun game without too many irritants to enterfere with the fun of playing it. It is important to me, though, that it is at least real enough to allow me to suspend belief a bit and accept the simulation on its own terms. Metrics, Lancasters, and Milton badly read by an English actor make that a little difficult. But, I am going to try.