Polar Expedition in Silent Hunter 4

[WH4K]

Not too surprising. I guess they didn't expect the player to be mucking about in polar waters.

Simulating a no-kidding spherical Earth would be nice. Doubt Ubisoft will get around to it anytime soon.

[TorpX]

Originally Posted by WH4K

Not too surprising. I guess they didn't expect the player to be mucking about in polar waters.

Simulating a no-kidding spherical Earth would be nice. Doubt Ubisoft will get around to it anytime soon.

I would have liked it too. The question is not entirely academic; any routes we travel that are E-W and well off the equator, will be significantly distorted (lengthened). For example: Kiel to Scotland/ North Atlantic or the Aluetians to Northern Japan. I like to think, Ubisoft would do better for SH6.

At least one can roam around the pacific in SH4; in SH1 that was impossible.

[WH4K]

Using an essentially "flat" Earth is understandable, and probably vastly simplified development. So I can see why Ubi's done it.

Using a realistic round earth would require a lot of the same techniques that were developed for real-world navigation, so it's not as if Ubisoft would have to reinvent spherical coordinates etc. Today's desktop PC's have a surfeit of processing power, so the only barrier to round-Earth modeling in games is development time.

Now I'm wondering how flight sims handle this? MS Flight Simulator was around for many years, and was generally considered one of the most realistic flight sims available on a PC. I'm sure at some point they had the "flat earth" vs. "round earth" debate.

[Schwieger]

*looks at modders*

[WH4K]

It has been pointed out elsewhere in this forum that the vast majority of SH3/4 mods merely juggle & edit resource files, rather than changing the game's executable code. There is a lot you can do with that, but changing coordinate systems (e.g. Cartesian to spherical) is probably not among them.

[TorpX]

Originally Posted by WH4K

Using an essentially "flat" Earth is understandable, and probably vastly simplified development. So I can see why Ubi's done it.

Using a realistic round earth would require a lot of the same techniques that were developed for real-world navigation, so it's not as if Ubisoft would have to reinvent spherical coordinates etc. Today's desktop PC's have a surfeit of processing power, so the only barrier to round-Earth modeling in games is development time.

That's pretty much my view of it. My TI-85 converts spherical to rectagular coordinates for pete's sake.

If there were problems with implementing a spherical model, they could have compromised and used a flat model for tactical distances.

[Matthiu23]

They should just make the map the real flat earth map and be done with it. North Pole in the center, Antarctica an Ice wall around.. boom..

[Buddahaid]

Wow 2011! Personally I found Shangri-la.

[Rockin Robbins]

And this month's Necro of the Week award goes to.........envelope please.......
Matthiu23!!!
For his resurrection of the polar coordinate thread of 2011!

And for his stupendous achievement he wins............an all expenses paid trip with a Porpoise submarine to the NORTH POLE using Silent Hunter 4! And a fur coat. And a husky dog. And dog food for a year. Fuel and personal food not supplied. Did you know that fleet boats were air conditioned but NOT HEATED? Please report positions daily.