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

[Depth Charge Dodger]

I am waiting faithfully for the customers who already have the game to be happy with the state of the game before purchasing SHIV. I still play SHIII, and enjoy it immensely.

If you finish it, they will come.



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[jkling17]

I am a HUGE fan of SH III, and still play it for HOURS regularly. I would absolutely buy SH IV in a second - but only after it gets the one additional round of tweaks that it needs.

[TheSatyr]

I also agree that SH4 is in need of at least one more patch.

I also feel that 2 patches in two months is a pretty damn good job. When I beta tested it once took us nearly a year just to get ONE patch out. (Course there was animosity between the Devs and the Publishers which didn't help matters).

What I DON'T want to see is this vote thing causing them to rush a poor and incomplete patch out the door just to placate this community. We need to have more patience than we are showing. If any of you have ever beta tested patches than you know how long the process can take and the more time spent on a patch the better the patch will be.

I would like to ask people who post in this thread to be polite both to Ubi and to the Dev team and treat them both with respect. One thing I learned was that while Devs (and publisher reps) do read forums they tend to ignore any thread that contains rants. Those are always counterproductive.

Finally,I would like to reiterate: Ubisoft,please give us at least one more patch for SH4. A small patch that fixes radar and stadimeter problems would make this game great. A large patch that fixes that,the AI and a few other things would make this game a masterpiece.

[firouz]

Hooked on SH3. Will buy SH4 when it works to the satisfaction of this community.

[Ruggo]

Haven't been around for a looooong time, but would like to cast my vote for those that play this game.

Come on UBI, you'd think that you could get it right for your loyal userbase. Still have a nasty taste in my mouth from SH2, don't let history repeat itself again......

[kiwi_2005]

Heres my vote for a 1.3 patch!

[milkshakeman]

I agree with above. I still play SH3 and if on the 28th of May Ubisoft decides not to continue doing bugfixes on SH4, I see no reason to spend money on something of which I already know it will not work properly.

[andyleroo]

I played the first Silent Hunter and tried to play Silent Hunter 2. I bought SH3 when it came out, and I'm still playing it. But I wouldn't be if it had remained as the game I first took out the package.
I was planning to buy SH4 until I read the reviews from pretty much every gaming site saying it was bug-riddled and in dire need of patching before it became half the game needed to suceed SH3. So currently I haven't bought it. If Ubi releases a patch or two so that the community have got something to work on, then I'll buy it. But if it remains in the state I've heard it's in, I'll consider it unplayable and stick to SH3.
It's a real pity that SH4 has been released too early, as I'm sure the devs would have done so much more if given time. At present, SH4 stands to be a real missed opportunity for Ubisoft.
The idea was to appeal to casual gamers? I've got three non-subsimming friends who've considered buying it but decided not to unless it's brought up to standard. Believe me, I want to have a game I can recommend to them so I can start to drag them into the world of naval simulation from which they will never escape! With a little more time and work, this could still become a great success story. Don't pull the plug, Ubi!

[Webchessie]

I believe SHIV has the potential to be a GREAT game when Ubisoft provides at least one more patch (or maybe two). Let's don't get them to do a rush job just to keep us happy . . .

. . . However Ubisoft does owe us reasonable time lines of when to expect improvement on products they sell if they want our repeat business.

Like Silent Hunter V.

[Bilbo226]

Right now the game is so close to being the great game it could be. Come on UBISoft, do the right thing! Make it so.

[fastfed]

Since SH4 was on the horizon I was nothing but stoked!!

Sadly when the game came out I tried to be positive, but just cannot.Until a new patch comes out I am stuck not playing it and playing SH3

[lm178]

I still enjoy playing SH3 with deep gratitude to the SubSim modding community but will not get enjoyment from SH4 until this broken game is fixed.
You can't build a house on a concret slab that's covered with cracks!

[Marmic]

I hope the developers feel that there is sufficient economic worth to get SH4 really "ship shape" by continuing to refine the current software and clean up the glitches. As former submariners, quality was a necessity, not a nice-a-ty....in equipment, people, and service. I do not believe this product should be any different.

Keep a quality product.....keep quality customers.

Marmic sends.

[TechnoJedi]

Here we are again as customers. There is a need for a patch--when one wouldn't be so desperately needed if real beta testing would've been done before going gold and shipped--yet there is silence from the developers.


Obviously "Silent Hunter 4" is considered 'nitch' by Ubisoft bean-counters and feel any more time 'wasted on a nitch game' is pointless because the game didn't sell into the millions and millions of units. But there is a flaw in Ubisoft's accounting office: usually units sell because the game is FUN, System Resource friendly, and STABLE (free from bugs). A game that fails in even one of these categories is doomed NOT to sell in the millions. BattleCruiser 3000 anyone?


Ubisoft has shipped a product that is not STABLE. As a result, they have placed the responsibility of fixing it onto the developers. If the product is so buggy that it needs several patches to fix because, as a developer once said, "There are so many issues to address that we cannot address them in just one patch" then obviously the game wasn't ready to sell! Even the June 2007 edition of PC Gamer in Andy Mahood's review of "Silent Hunter 4" on page 64 states in the Verdict section of the game's Low points: "A long list of bugs." Also in the review itself: "Regrettably, bugs, stability problems, and questionable design choices float around like sea mines laying in wait to sink your expericence." But Ubisoft sent out the game anyway and now they must fix it in order to keep customers happy enough to purchase future Ubisoft products as I have done in purchasing games from Ubisoft like "IL-2:1946".



Unlike customers that don't stick to a game genre for long or change genres on a whim and quick fix of thoughtless fun, 'nitch' customers are LOYAL and stick to their word of actually PURCHASING games because of the loyalty in sticking to a game that provides hours of fun (and escape) which is the point of even playing a game: to be entertained. Customers around the world pay in order to be entertained--just ask any webcam girl. When the entertainment becomes stale, expensive, or just not fun (or a hassle to play), customers take their money elsewhere.



In conclusion, Ubisoft has a responsibility to fix a game they sold to customers. Ubisoft, in order to keep customers, must see that products they sell are 99% (no one is perfect so there's wiggle room for them) fixed before moving on to other products or just dropping products because the product "doesn't sell in the millions." Ubisoft is in the business of making money, true business logic, but to be a business that STAYS in business, Ubisoft must keep their customers--even core, loyal customers--coming back to buy more Ubisoft games that are FUN, System friendly, and STABLE. Once Ubisoft turns a blind eye and a cold-shouldered back to a game, it means they will do that to any game that carries the Ubisoft name. That is why Ubisoft needs to not only send out a Patch v1.3 for "Silent Hunter 4" but see the product to completion (i.e. completely fixed) for the good of future Ubisoft products and the company itself.



Thank you for reading,
TechnoJedi aka Liberty A.U.

[BM357_Fuse]

S~ All reguarding future patch 1.3+

I believe that the Developers should react more with the community and listen to our needs. It only makes sense that if you want to sell products or services, then you should know what kind of products or services your public desires.

My best example would be Oleg Maddox's IL2 (Series). The developers cared enough to listen to the community, and respond from time to time with new Free patches, and free and paid addons.

It is for that reason that the simulation is now #1 in the field of all the WW2 Combat flight sim's as far as realism and flight modeling etc.

Folks, in a nutshell, people cared. And if people care and maintain a tight community here, and dont split or act like spoilt little children, in time they will be rewarded. Either from UBI or another developer will rise up to seize the spotlight and challenge them for that perticular sim.

I dont think most of us here are little children. I for one am 48 years old, and have been doing my simming for over 15 years now as a hobby.

UBI, I expect you will look at the responses here, and start taking some notice. All we want is no less than your best abilities to finish this sim correctly, and at some point after rendering what we have allready paid for, then continue to listen and come up with additional refinements from time to time.

I for one would be willing to pay extra later after the sim is finished, if you could create the entire submarines in 3D and make the control's to where the player could take over that position of the submarine. Inside flooding and animated characters in action would really add to the realism of the moment in 1x as often as I play that way.

Later addons could be released to enhance the game engine to make ships with 3D compartments and add them as well for players either on OR offline.

Just my 2 cents worth~