Great Legs!

[Mittelwaechter]

Just to counter some wilful misrepresentation...

[BrucePartington]

I was walking the dogs while thinking about your question. Here's what I think.
Good games don't die. At least I don't think so. People like us keep old OS's and good old games, and the old machines than ran them.
As an example, I am still adicted to Railroad Tycoon II, a game that came out before Win 98 SE.
Closer to home, games like SH3 will never die, not only because they are good, but because they are "moddable". For me the next level a game can offer is the possibility of exploring and editing cfg files. Once I get into this, I find it more appealing than actually playing the game.
I still enjoy old games like Railroad Tycoon II and 3, Panzer General 2 and 3, Thunder Brigade, Caesar III, Civilization III, MSTS, and of course SH original, 2 and 3.
(Does Freecell count?)

It's a bit chilly outside tonight, btw.

[MantiBrutalis]

GWX is the only reason I stuck with SH3 this year. I did check a few games, but I just went for the realism. GWX is just too much against SH5. That, and SH5 won't probably run on my laptop.

To the OS part - I believe that Microsoft (and other companies) did learn something about older program compatibility in the past years, so I think that whatever can be easily run on the current OS, will run on the next one too (maybe with little tweaks). For now, the SH3 community is strong enough to patch the game to the next OS anyway, if it didn't support it.

A subsim capable of surpassing SH3 would have to be very VERY good. And still, it would be a hardware-punishing game, so the users of older machines/smaller laptops will still stuck to SH3.

Microsoft did a baaad thing with the XP->Vista transition, many games do not work since that time... I hope they did learn something.

[ninja turtle]

Originally Posted by Kelly621

It has been out for eight years now and still going pretty strong. The player community here and on other websites are still very active. There are several super mods and tons of individual mods that allow you to shape SH3 into pretty much what you want. There are still modders here working on new mods and keeping some old mods up to date. Finally, SH3 has weathered all the different Operating Systems from Windows 98 up to the current Windows 8 and still keeps running fine.

So what is going to kill off SH3 and put it in the "I use to love that sim" and move it down to the Subsim radio room Classic subsim forum? Just wondering what you all think will do it.

My meager thoughts on the subject:
SH5....maybe...in a few years, but not yet for me personally.

A new U-Boat sim....maybe....But I am not going to hold my breath waiting for that to happen.

A loss of interest....I personally don't think so

A new PC OS....This I think is likely. Eventually a new OS ( Microsoft sure spits them out quickly anymore) is going to make SH3 almost impossible to get up and running correctly. I think this is the likely death of SH3

TOTALLY

Originally Posted by MantiBrutalis

GWX is the only reason I stuck with SH3 this year

That and SHCmdr

Originally Posted by MantiBrutalis

A subsim capable of surpassing SH3 would have to be very VERY good. And still, it would be a hardware-punishing game, so the users of older machines/smaller laptops will still stuck to SH3.

Already SH5 is surpassing my games machine. I certainly can't afford to upgrade and if it ever (God forbid) overheats and destroys itself then it's whether SH3 will run on the latest OS at that time.

Originally Posted by MantiBrutalis

To the OS part - I believe that Microsoft (and other companies) did learn something about older program compatibility in the past years, so I think that whatever can be easily run on the current OS, will run on the next one too (maybe with little tweaks). For now, the SH3 community is strong enough to patch the game to the next OS anyway, if it didn't support it

I hope so

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Until someone either adds the things needed for SH4 or figures out how to add to SH5, SH3 will remain the most rounded and complete subsim available.

Again I agree but not to take anything away from the modders working hard to 'improve' SH5 and those that really enjoy playing this version. Unfortunately not for me as I've mentioned in a previous thread

Originally Posted by Kelly621

I am sure going to enjoy as long as I can.

PS. @Mittelwaechter Nice legs!!

[RustySubmarine]

I don't think SH3 will die as such, as long as there are PC's available for playing it. As has been said, it worked for Windows 98, XP, (forgetting Windows NT, 2000 & Vista, as these were failures as far as the general public were concerned) Windows 7 & now Windows 8. As long as the next OS doesn't get too technical, it could surpass this too. I still have games that will play on the latest systems, such as Microsoft Train Simulator, Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, R-factor (one of the best car racing games for the PC), Grand Prix Legends (another classic) all old games but still playable on Windows 8.

There are certain games that stick with people and SH3 is one of them, because like the other games I have mentioned, they are able to be improved on by Modding. All the Silent Hunter simulations will probably last for a long time to come, as long as there are still systems to play them on. Once the PC becomes obsolete, by some new fan dangled machine that has not even been thought of yet, then I don't think we have anything to worry about. Just make the most of it while you can, as when you get to my age, there isn't much time left to do anything.

[Kelly621]

Looks like most of you think the same as me....SH3 is going to be hard to kill off.

A good parallel to SH3 is Red Baron 3D. Released in 1998 and still has an active community of players and mod builders. Jasta 5, one of the old online sqaudrons, just had a RB3D online event this April. Even with Rise of Flight siphoning off a number of the old RB3D players it has not killed it. Now 15 years is staying power! SH3 has that same potential. Like RustySubmarine I am old enough that I might just die off before SH3 does

Kelly621

[RConch]

Originally Posted by Mittelwaechter

Just to counter some wilful misrepresentation...

If only my WO looked like that! It would make those long trips to DT 53 seem worth it.
My two cents is, we won't see another U-boat sim perhaps because it would not be adaptable to what the current market likes.
Admit it, we are a very niche, almost clannish type of gamer. Lone wolf and all that.