Nvidia tweaks to SH3/SH4

[M. Sarsfield]

Is anyone running SLI with this game? If so, how have you changed Rubini's settings to take advatage of it? I'm using two EVGA 7600 GT cards.

[brommer66]

Hi boatsmen

I installed SH4 yesterday and at first I am VERY disappointed with it. Comparing with the wonderful SH3 (GWX) that I have been playing for a while this game seems to be one, if not several steps back instead of forward. However I also understand that there maybe ways to improve the slow and mediocre graphics and response that I am experiencing on my PC. I have installed nhancer and am looking for possible profiles that work with my nvidea NX7100GS card. Could it be that my PC may not be powerful enough to run SH4 properly? I have 'just' 1GB or RAM too, which has always been more than sufficient for SH3 though.

OK thanks guys, tips, hints, experience by other NX7100GS users, profiles perhaps, etc. will be much appreciated.

[Doolittle81]

Originally Posted by brommer66

Hi boatsmen

I installed SH4 yesterday and at first I am VERY disappointed with it. Comparing with the wonderful SH3 (GWX) that I have been playing for a while this game seems to be one, if not several steps back instead of forward. .....

Install the 1.4 patch, then enable the Pacific Environment MOD (for starters).

[brommer66]

Originally Posted by Doolittle81

Install the 1.4 patch, then enable the Pacific Environment MOD (for starters).

Thanks Doolittle for your response. I did what you suggested and the game already runs better. Need to look further into this though.

Thanks again

[PropSpin]

NHancer works great on Silent Hunter IV but am having an issue in that the mouse works erratically and the response time when clicking on the event item reacts too slowly. Loaded Silent Hunter III with nHancer working and it is just superb! Any fixes to the slow down on my system? Could there be a nHancer setting that I am missing? It would be great if SHIV would work just like SHIII. Many thanks!

[brommer66]

Originally Posted by PropSpin

NHancer works great on Silent Hunter IV but am having an issue in that the mouse works erratically and the response time when clicking on the event item reacts too slowly. ..... It would be great if SHIV would work just like SHIII.....

I have the same problem. This lagging makes game hard to handle. Does somebody have a clue what causes this and possibly a solution?

Thanks mates!

[Kloef]

Thanks for the tweak!

I've been trying different things out,and made a profile especially for SH4,the jagged edges are ok(4xAA).

Only thing i cant resolve is that i think the wake behind my boat is too dark,and the sky keeps moving quickly after i did a time acceleration,still sorting that out..you can make it stop by accelerating time and go back to time x1 a couple of times,and they go back in sync,looks really weird.

But all in all i am very happy,especially the AA makes the simulation so much better looking!!

[PappyCain]

I am running these settings - if there is better I am all ears but this is giving me good results:

Anisotropic Filtering = Application controlled
Antialiasing - Gamma Correction = On
Antialiasing = 16XQ
Antialiasing - Transparency = off
Conformant Texture Clamp = use hardware
Extension Limit = Off
Force Mipmaps = bilinear
Multi-Display/mixed-GPU acceleration = single display performance mode
Texture filtering - Anisotropic sample optimization = On
Texture filtering - Negative LOD bias = Allow
Texture filtering = Quality
Texture Filtering - Trilinear Optimization = On
Triple Buffering = Off
Vertical Sync = Force On

[Arclight]

For anyone using Nhancer;

Click Tools > Activate Profile > Best Quality (no speeed optimizations). This will set the global profile to... well what it should be IMHO. Now select your game profile and make the tweaks you want.

For SH4;

Set anti-aliasing as desired. DO NOT use enhance in-game settings, as SH4 does not have AA, so there is nothing to enhance! Anything above 4x MSAA will remove the sun's halo and has some more negative effects. You can use transparency AA (multi -or super-) without losing anything... well, beside a little performance. DO NOT enable "Gamma correction".

Again, AFAIK SH4 does not have anisotropic filtering, so set it as desired, not application.

Set anti aliasing compatibility mode to "20000000: EA Strategy Games". This is to get AA working properly, but how and why this works exactly is beyond me.

If you're having frame rate issues, you can reduce your AA / AF settings, and / or enable some or all optimizations to gain some performance. Disabling / reducing in-game graphic options will also gain you performance. How you balance things out is up to you...



So Pappychain, since you asked ;

Anisotropic Filtering = Application controlled > set as desired, not "application controlled".
Antialiasing - Gamma Correction = On > off. You can adjust gamma in-game if needed.
Antialiasing = 16XQ > no halo, thin smoke, but it's your choice.
Antialiasing - Transparency = off > multi- or super-
Conformant Texture Clamp = use hardware > normally "on", set to "off" if your having anomalies.
Extension Limit = Off > normally "off", set to "on" if your having anomalies.
Force Mipmaps = bilinear > only use for old games that don't use mipmaps. Probably better to disable.
Multi-Display/mixed-GPU acceleration = single display performance mode
Texture filtering - Anisotropic sample optimization = On > off for better graphics, it's a speed optimization.
Texture filtering - Negative LOD bias = Allow > clamp for better graphics (if a game uses negative bias).
Texture filtering = Quality > high quality to automatically disable all speed optimizations.
Texture Filtering - Trilinear Optimization = On > off for better graphics, it's a speed optimization.
Triple Buffering = Off > on if you're using / forcing V-sync.
Vertical Sync = Force On > SH4 has a V-sync option, I suggest you use that (set to "application").

I'm not saying you have to set it like that, but you can improve graphics a lot. Things like setting "force mipmaps" either does nothing at all or cause conflicts with a game like SH4. If you aren't already, I suggest you use Nhancer; it gives more info on options and provides additional links with info.

Hope it helps.

[PappyCain]

Thank you sir - I will give it a try! S'

('PappyChain' .. I resemble that remark!)

[Arclight]

could have sworn I used copy-paste?! Sorry mate, just a typo, I swear it.

I don't know if the difference is all that noticeable, but you certainly got the horsepower to settle for nothing but the best, graphically. I hope it works out for you.

[skookum]

I would like to know if anyone has solved this white line around submerged objects bug yet. I am running an Nvidia Geforce 8800GS. I get the white garbage around the submerged edges of my vessel no matter what settings I pick in Nhancer. Really irritating.

MODS:
TMO
TMO S-boat engine fix
RSRD
RSRD patch

[Arclight]

No fix that I know of. IIRC Nisgeis or Kriller2 where working on a fix, but this either didn't work out or is still being worked on. Don't think it's something you can tweak out in nHancer or something.

[skookum]

If it helps any, the artifacting only showed up after I installed TMO. Previously I was running RFB and Environmental 4.X with no issues.

[skookum]

Okay, so I am back to RFB with PE4. The white outline underwater went away. now I have a different problem. The volumetric fog shows up on top of my crew, so as to make my bridge crew appear transparent. I have heard of this problem before. Is there a solution and what is it?

Also, the clouds are moving way faster that they would in reality.