Silent Hunter 4 patch v1.3: Where? When? What?

[Onkel Neal]

It's coming up on two months since Silent Hunter 4 was released. Two patches have brought the game up to where it is stable and most of the basic features are functional, but there are still several key aspects that need attention and it's too quiet in the Ubisoft camp. I have not heard anything about the status of a third patch, which the game needs to be considered complete. Before the dev team gets too far from the construction site, Subsim is going to mount a campaign for patch v1.3. Silent Hunter 4 is an enjoyable game but has yet to reach the point where we consider it complete. The future of the Silent Hunter franchise depends on maintaining a reputation for quality.

We call on Ubisoft to complete Silent Hunter 4. We don't expect every wish to be fulfilled, but there are several key gameplay issues that loyal players and Ubisoft customers, who bought an incomplete game, deserve to have addressed. These include:

• All AI needs tweaking, too often merchant ships all come to a stop and muddle around when under attack. Destroyers guarding merchants and especially in task forces occasionally seem somewhat uninterested in firing back. The Subchaser is unable to fire its main gun at all. If you mod the Subchaser to have a second gun in a raised position where the AA gun is it will fire this gun. The Akizuki DD has a similar issue, of the four guns it has only the two guns on the raised platforms actually fire. When the boat is rammed by a destroyer (for example) the destroyer generally comes of worse and often explodes.
  
• Units of measurement: Imperial units for ship dimensions, torpedo depth gauge, range figure in the TDC and Position Keeper, all UOM issues need to be resolved.
  
• Campaign retirement – feature or bug? Bug. Suggestion that it should be optional.
  
• Repetitive patrols still get assigned.
  
• Chronometer still doesn’t work as described in the manual. “The Chronometer bug”, this needs a quick and dirty fix, just a simple speed response in the text box when the Speed button is selected in the TDC, as occurs when the player clicks the Depth Beneath Keel button. But, importantly, the player should still have the choice of manually entering his own speed estimate in the TDC.
  
• Radar needs finishing touches. It doesn't work when heading South 90deg to 270deg. Is SD radar fixed? Does is not detect ships but will detect aircraft? Also, when SD radar fitted there is no A scope display.

We need your help to demonstrate the need for patch 1.3. Join the campaign here and make yourself heard. Post here. Don't hesitate or put it off. This thread will need hundreds of names to merit any attention.

To vote, simply make a reply in this thread and add your thoughts.


Neal Stevens
Subsim

Other issues and discussion can be found in this topic.



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UPDATE: May 19: We've nearly reached 1000 submissions since this thread started May 16 (Weds). Already, Google has this thread listed as the #5 result when you query silent hunter 4 patch

Post this in any other forums you belong too. Are we serious? Yes, so let's make it happen.




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UPDATE: May 23: Join the Subsim Flank Speed 1.3 patch contest




thanks
Neal

[Ducimus]

After reading that unit of measrement bit, .. no wonder my fish ran really deep Im now, more tempted then ever to go back to metric.

edit: BTW

/signed. As ive posted elsewhere, the idea of no patch 1.3 is inconceivable given the current state of the game.

[mookiemookie]

I'd echo Neal's concerns as being the most glaringly obvious candidates for patching. These issues are more than minor annoyances...they have a serious impact upon game mechanics. It would be a shame for these issues to be unresolved when Ubisoft and the SH4 team have brought us a game that promises so much potential. To let these issues hold the game back from fulfilling this potential by leaving them unpatched would be a serious oversight and would say volumes about Ubisoft's commitment to the the Silent Hunter franchise. If that were to happen, I'd have to reevaluate my commitment to the franchise as a fan and customer of any future Silent Hunter titles.

Please don't let that happen. Do the right thing by the loyal Silent Hunter fans and allow this game to be all it can be.

Thank you.

[CCIP]

Totally agreed, even Neal's list would be sufficient to really help alleive some of the issues. Anything beyond that would be nice too of course.

The potential of this game is written on the wall, so to speak. There's so many features that aren't being used to full potential, or features that are just an inch away from being finished, that I'm confident that even a fairly minor patching effort could bring up some major improvements here.

[Pablo]

Hi!

I can't offer any testimony on whether SH IV is good or bad: I have held off purchasing the game after reading many independent reviews and player comments regarding the number and severity of bugs in the game.

I would like the game to be at least as mature (with regard to bugs that require developer intervention) as SH III was after its final patch before I purchase it, but it appears from player comments and feedback on V1.2 that SH IV is not quite there yet.

I think the game could be quite a worthy successor and improvement upon SH III and a game I would consider really worth buying, so I would like to encourage Ubisoft and the development team to make the necessary repairs and make available any information that would allow the modding community to take it from there, even if it takes another patch... or two.

Pablo

[MONOLITH]

*Nods to Neal*

[shipmodelmaker]

Originally Posted by MONOLITH

*Nods to Neal*

OK,
How do I vote?
Jerry G (Glickstein)

[fatty]

I have never even played this game but I'm fatty and I approve this message.

[Beery]

The game needs at least two more patches with all Neal's suggestions covered and more. At the very least, everything listed as a feature in the manual should work in the game - this means chronometer and the ability to write notes on the map, among other things.

[MONOLITH]

Originally Posted by Beery

and the ability to write notes on the map, among other things.

Notes on the map...... Oh god..Yes Please!

[peewee]

totally agree with everything Neal says............come on UBI, we paid our hard earned cash, give us a finished product not a half finished one..

[wstaub]

As it is the game is what I term only a "mediocre" game. I know if UBI fixes these issues listed above by Neal it will transform into a truly worthy addition to the Silent Hunter Franchise.

[Tim D]

I 100% totally agree with you Neal, UBI needs to work on customer relations and pride in their company/products. Unemployment can be a bad thing if their products dont sell UBI please fix this!

[wetgoat]

Yea, please come on with a patch. At the very least, the game ought to work as stated in the manual. Looking forward to 1.3

[rdtwendt]

I wholeheartedly endorse Neal's call for a legitimate 1.3 patch for SH4. Our appreciation for the game's existence - even for the whole SH franchise - should not be abused to the point where its potential and the quality of it's predecessor are used to justify the game's release well short of an acceptable level of stability and quality. Patches help to fortify this potentially shattered bridge of trust, and indeed a 1.3 is entirely justified in order to validate the purchase price of this software, but they don't fix the underlying breach of confidence that this whole affair has created.

Ubisoft, we love you for producing a game like SH4 but we hate your lack of support for it. Show us you respect your customers and the dedicated subsim fan base by allowing 1.3 to be developed and released asap.

V/R,

Echo

ENS USN