RIP silent hunter series

[Crimguy]

Jesus don't fall in for this - tell the "suspicious ones" to go take a s**t. Your previous posts I think have done enough to prove yourself.

Although I think at least one of them was speaking a bit tongue in cheek.

Originally Posted by tonyj

inside of manual, page 3...says

Table of contents

Getting started...04
Introduction...06
Games Modes...07
Multilplayer...10
Controls and Interface...11
Online log...31
tech support...34
warranty...35

[Greyghost]

Originally Posted by Hitman

SH4 was terrible when released, but patches turned it into a decent game, and mods made it excel.

From what I have seen so far, SH5 is as half backed as SH4 or even more -given that content has been reduced so much- but I think final judgement should be reserved for the end-version, with all patches applied.

It will depend on each player if the current bugs -and there are a lot- are a deal breaker or not, of course...

It is absolutely ashame that the players are basically required to finish the game for the devs. You shell out 50-60 bucks for the game and it's only half finished because they know you will buy it and the community will finish it with mods. SHIV I played for about 2 days and shelved it, it left such a bad taste in my mouth that even when I installed the mods I only played it for maybe another week and just said screw it.

I was looking forward to this game and told myself I was not going to buy it once I learned about DRM. I ultimately said the hell with it and I would try it. So far I am utterly disappointed. The auto TDC, one of the easiest things in this series, has been made completely useless. It completely sucks the life out of the sim when you line it up only to have a bout a 10% chance of actually getting a torp to hit. NO matter how close you are to the target.

Ubisoft really sucker punched all subsimmers with this release. I don't see how they released the game as is, to me it needed much much more time in development. I'm sad to say I think they are killing the Silent Hunter series.

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by tonyj

i'm sorry chaps, i'm upset.

this game is really, really, and i mean really, bad. play sh3 and its a pleasure, makes sense and just works.

sh5 is shockingly bad. I honestly think they released this halfway through the dev cycle.

i thought i was disappointed with sh4 but this reaches a new low.

i'm sorry to complain people but i had to get this off my chest.

Thanks for doing it in an orderly fashion.

[Armistead]

SH4 sure is fun....

It is hard to believe they sale a game that unfinished. That's why I just can't buy new released games, but this sounds really unfinished. It's like having cake, but not being able to eat it. Just a few of those bugs would ruin the game for me, but I'm into realistic play, not arcadish and seems this one is arcade play. They have to know they released crap.

Hopefully I can pick it up in a bargain bin for $5 after it's patched and some mods are up in about a year.

[The General]

Uh-oh, now Neal is basically saying he feels virtually the same way A damning indictment indeed! I haven't even got my copy yet!! Talk about 'lowering my expectations'!

[tonyj]

cheers Neal and to all you positive guys out there. I also know that some of you don't want to believe me, i don't want to either, trust me, but its not what we hoped. It does have real potential for sure but out of the box, and the trend of the SH series in general on release is going down hill. there's someone important in UBI who doesn't care about this series anymore, thats the truth.

the complaints about missing manuals, no maps, as well, and i even saw the super fast moving clouds of sh4 at one stage, well its a crying shame.

i'm off now to cry into my cup of tea. i've already had several ciders, possibly the cause of my original post, so appologies, but the facts are indeed in my bug list.

so long cruel world.... i'm off to try and work out how to hit the side of a battleship because the manuals no help.

atleast they got the seagulls right.

[The General]

It's alright saying 'it's all Ubisoft's fault', but is it? They're just guys in suits these days, stumping up the cash. Surely it's up to the Devs to provide their bosses with a realistic work schedule and budget before embarking on such a project? If the game goes to release unfinished, surely they share atleast some of the blame? I mean, shouldn't lessons have been learnt on the previous releases?

[Noren]

Even in the best of worlds I would think its quite difficult to plan the makings of a complete simulator and the devs have deadlines to hold on too, I dont think we will ever now what really went on put Im quite sure the schedule was a stressed one and fixed.

[Bilge_Rat]

some of these are not as black and white, for example:

Originally Posted by tonyj

ok list of bugs then:

1) hydrophone operator only has 2 options - nothing about following targets or sweeping. CCIP you added that via keyboard.
agreed, but can be easily remapped

2) surface next to a destroyer 3 times, didn't notice me.
appears to depend on skill level. In Narvik single mission enemy DD very aggressive


3) rammed by destroyer - no damage
4) men, keep rotating when talking to them
I have not had this problem

5) sub doesn't sit on the bottom, floats abt 5m above it - atleast shadow does
Lets be fair, this can't be classified as a bug

6) no auto target - manual leading??!? even on auto
manual TDC works perfectly well however

7) can't tell chaps to leave deck gun
works for me, from what I can see the order to the deck officier works as a toggle

8) can't find amount of ammo i have left in deck gun
9) have 2 types of map - tactical and main map - bit confusing
I like the way this is implemented. Lets be fair, this can't be classified as a bug

10) going up and down ladders not easy
exercise? Lets be fair, this can't be classified as a bug

11) conversations don't work properly - same conversation
Lets be fair, this can't be classified as a bug

12) moral set to zero when reloading
agreed

13) can't find out about weather
agreed, but can be easily remapped

14) sub on rails to some extent
agreed

15) shadows clipping badly
16) slow explosions
17) bad explosions animations - sometimes very very slow (have 285 gtx)
agreed, although this appears to be NVIDIA driver issue. My ATI 4890 does not these issues

18) depth charge leaves no effect on surface
19) gunfire very slow, doesn't animate properly
have not seen this, works for me

20) not enough guys in sub
Lets be fair, this can't be classified as a bug

21) clipping issues with men
have not seen this

22) no way to find out heading
agreed, but can be easily remapped

23) no morale after save means at high TC you die as it never drops out and destroyers kill you
yes

24) some guys have no options when talking to them other than leaving dialog (map guy)
is'nt that a repeat of 11?, same answer

worst of all, the morale bug is crippling - equivalent of the 'A' CTD in sh4 as TC doesn't drop out and men refuse to do anything.

I see 4 actual confirmed bugs: #2, #3, #12 and #23.

15, 16, 17, 19, and 21 appear to be graphic card issues which are not game related.

1, 6 and 14 are game design issues.

[tonyj]

all those are bugs & bad design/graphic issues, that ultimately subtract from the enjoyment, for me.

my point was that out of the box, without having to remap the keys these are issues.

having the same conversation and no options for a conversation are not the same either.

my setup is xp, E8400, 4GB, 285 GTX (lastest driver), SSD.

[tonyj]

the destroyer was aprox 500m away running from parallel with me, i actually went to periscope depth 3 times and surfaced again, before finally attacking him with a deck gun to get him to engage me. i then, at periscope depth, cruised about a bit trying to get sunk in 40m of water, and he still wandered off and depth charge miles away from me.

[Bilge_Rat]

Originally Posted by tonyj

all those are bugs & bad design/graphic issues, that ultimately subtract from the enjoyment, for me.

my point was that out of the box, without having to remap the keys these are issues.

having the same conversation and no options for a conversation are not the same either.

my setup is xp, E8400, 4GB, 285 GTX (lastest driver), SSD.

win xp, vista or 7 ?

strange, I have a E8500, but your 285 GTX is more powerful than my 4890. Just trying to troubleshoot the graphic issues.

Do you have the same issues, i.e. 16, 17, 19 when you turn off shadows and turn off AA?

what is your FPS? (hit ctrl+f8 in game)

re: the clipping, i.e. issue 21, does it occur at 1x tc? I am wondering if it is linked to using TC and/or low FPS.

[Méo]

Originally Posted by tonyj

there's someone important in UBI who doesn't care about this series anymore, thats the truth.

I'm always amazed to see how easily people claim to hold the truth... (or know what is the truth).

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by The General

Uh-oh, now Neal is basically saying he feels virtually the same way A damning indictment indeed! I haven't even got my copy yet!! Talk about 'lowering my expectations'!

No, I'm not saying anything other than thanking the OP for making his points with hysteria and hyperbole.

I do agree about the manual, it's very bad when you get it on PDF and some of the illustrations cannot be read, and it dedicated 5 pages to cheesy crewmen stories, but only 1/3 page to a very inept bit about actually sinking ships with torpedoes.

[tonyj]

Ok, fair point, I was over the top there. I am actually very disappointed that this game wasn't what I hoped. I'll be more careful with my wording in future.