[REL] Fall of the Rising Sun Ultimate, full release

[Gray Lensman]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

Just to clarify, this is FotRSU, and not FOTRS. Big thing though, run JSGME, and click on "Tasks..." in the middle. From that, choose "Export activated mods list to -->" and then "Clipboard". Then in your next post, use <Ctrl><V> to paste the list into it. I know you've posted about this previously, but if you would, which boat this time, where are you sailing from, and what date is it in the game? Also, what version of the game are you using, where is it installed, etc.

ok. semantics FOTRS Ultimate v1.24 (not upgraded just yet)


Installed in ...Steam/Steamapps/common/Silent Hunter Wolves of the Pacific



I running a "Gar" class boat out of Midway, with a Bow mounted Gun, currently in the Inland Sea northeast of Kyushu, Japan on April 28, 1942. Extreme target rich environment.


Bug observation as stated above seemed to be occurring when I was somewhat overwhelmed with "Ship sighted" dialog boxes. When I restarted the same save, that gave me the bug a couple of minutes earlier, I immediately went to Periscope depth before anything else to preclude any "ship sighted" dialog boxes, which I get when on the surface or even in the sonar room. By staying in the control room at save startup, it seems to prevent the "ship sighted" dialog box popups/input and a byproduct was that the bug did not manifest itself. Not entirely sure that the two things are related but it's the first time I've been able to get around the bug without reloading the saves and entire user/name/documents/sh4 files.


as for mods


The first time this occurred the only mods running were the FOTRS Ultimate v1.24 and the Bigger Better Protractors Mod.

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by Mios 4Me

USS Balao out of Midway, latest assignment in Area 5, encountered a stopped merchant on 3/19/44 just north of our position when we resumed course from a lengthy pause. Despite being out of torps and shells, and fully expecting to find a stalled Split Freighter, we investigated and found a Small Personnel Carrier right on the inner boundary of our patrol zone. There were no indications of other ships at any time.

Earlier in the patrol, we observed occasional odd behavior from convoy escorts, who often buggered off while we shelled their charges or simply stopped in place for awhile. Details were sadly left unrecorded, but perhaps someone else has noticed same.

Incidentally, anyone know the troop capacity of Modern Troop Transports?

Originally Posted by Gray Lensman

ok. semantics FOTRS Ultimate v1.24 (not upgraded just yet)

Installed in ...Steam/Steamapps/common/Silent Hunter Wolves of the Pacific

I running a "Gar" class boat out of Midway, with a Bow mounted Gun, currently in the Inland Sea northeast of Kyushu, Japan on April 28, 1942. Extreme target rich environment.

Bug observation as stated above seemed to be occurring when I was somewhat overwhelmed with "Ship sighted" dialog boxes. When I restarted the same save, that gave me the bug a couple of minutes earlier, I immediately went to Periscope depth before anything else to preclude any "ship sighted" dialog boxes, which I get when on the surface or even in the sonar room. By staying in the control room at save startup, it seems to prevent the "ship sighted" dialog box popups/input and a byproduct was that the bug did not manifest itself. Not entirely sure that the two things are related but it's the first time I've been able to get around the bug without reloading the saves and entire user/name/documents/sh4 files.

as for mods

The first time this occurred the only mods running were the FOTRS Ultimate v1.24 and the Bigger Better Protractors Mod.

OK guys, the idea behind having the details of what you have, is so that we stand a better chance of re-creating what you are experiencing. Thus far, it is impossible. A complete install path and a complete mod list really help in the diagnosis. This is like a patient telling the doctor "my foot hurts", but neglecting to tell them that there is a board with a nail in it, accidentally stepped on, with the nail run up through the foot. It seems rather obvious when in-person, but over the fone, not so much. Hence the need for details of your situations.

I don't really follow your comments Gray Lensman of "... somewhat overwhelmed with 'Ship sighted' dialog boxes ..." and "... it seems to prevent the 'ship sighted' dialog box popups/input ..." I take it then that you close the dialog box between "crew warnings" etc?... Your crew will report "Ship Sighted ..." until all ships have been reported. If you are using high levels of Time Compression, it might take the que a few to "empty" if you will, as the game "catches up" from the TC. If you are getting a lot of those reports, and there are no ships, or just a few, and you continue to get that message, then something is not right in the configuration, either from the install, or the Save. Are you getting just a lot of such messages, or do you get multiple text boxes displaying the message? Is there surrounding traffic to justify the number of reports? Also, you have to go below Periscope Depth to prevent "communication" with the surface in this game.

Again, just re-iterating, but do NOT shell-out to Windows while playing the game. All sorts of different game aspects get out-of-whack when doing that, including odd behavior and graphics glitches. Window itself will interrupt the game sometimes, so if using it, and even Windows 8, you sometimes have to pre-empt the OS prior to playing the game, by checking for Windows Updates and the like prior to playing, to minimize Windows interruptions.

We are also now recommending to not add any mods to the FotRSU activation, including ones in the Extras folder, until after we look further (again) into all of them - including the seemingly "simple" ones. Once a mod package is "set" and a person starts playing the game, the mod list should not be changed. If it is changed, a new career should be started. So if you are playing a career now, do not change the mod list at this time, unless you have issues.

So we need

1. Full install path of the game (ie: "C:\Games \SH4" or "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam \SteamApps \common \SH4"
2. Mod list, preferably generated by the JSGME "Tasks..." functions
3. A confirmation of LAA being properly activated
4. Home port, boat, assignment, date and description of issue.
5. Computer specs
6. Pictures if you have them, especially of the NavMap showing lat / long grid markings

We have been testing this mod since before its first beta release, and have only run into stationary ships that were either dead in the water from storm damage, or combat damage. Ships standing near locations such as Eniwetok or other such harbor locations are to be expected. In the middle of the ocean, they are not expected. The only thing found in the files thus far that might explain the standing ships is a bad waypoint setting, or series of waypoint settings, where a given set of ships as an example, capable of 10.5 knots MaxSpeed encounter a Waypoint set to say 12 knots. This might be capable of "breaking" group, resulting in the "confusion" observed. Similar convoy behavior is seen if the "Leader" unit is sunk, though one would think that the game would then assign the "Leader" functions to the next ship in a group, but...

Anyway, more details please, as we try to track down these last few issues reported.

[Mios 4Me]

Updated:

USS Balao out of Midway, latest assignment in Area 5, encountered a stopped merchant on 3/19/44 just north of our position when we resumed course from a lengthy pause. Despite being out of torps and shells, and fully expecting to find a stalled Split Freighter, we investigated and found a Small Personnel Carrier right on the inner boundary of our patrol zone. There were no indications of other ships at any time.

Approximate location: 32' 46" N; 139' 18" E

Generic Mod Enabler - v2.6.0.157
[C:\Games\steamapps\common\FotRSUE\MODS]

100_FalloftheRisingSun_UltimateEdition_v1.21p_EN
301_MoreDifficultAI01
302_MoreDifficultAI02
399_NoScrollNavMap
452_MoonlightzSonarLines
901_Strategic_Map_Symbols
101_Patch_v1.2To_v1.26p

LAA engaged; Win 10 Pro, 16 GB RAM; no shelling...although I have seen SH4 start in a separate window while I remain on the WinExp window.

Also, the inability to move the 5" gun forward while retaining crew slots remains.

[torpedobait]

USS Gato out of Midway, arriving from 6th Patrol on 4/14/1943 from Caroline Islands with 112,000 tones; offered new boat, a Balao. From the Office on game day 4/15/1943 I found No deck gun, no crew slots. Went back to a previous save and declined the new boat on arrival at Midway so I could continue the career.

1. Installed game: G:\Ubisoft\Silent_Hunter_IV
2. LAA Active for SH4.exe
3. Activated Mods:
100_FalloftheRisingSun_UltimateEdition_v1.24_EN
101_Patch_v1.2To_v1.26p
399_NoScrollNavMap
450_Lite Fog v2 + 300' Underwater Visability
452_MoonlightzSonarLines
801_UMark Invisible
901_strategic_map_symbols

This morning I reloaded FOTRSU, having exited the game entirely last night. Loaded a Save file taken at a point 100 NM out of Midway. On arrival to Midway was offered the Balao again - no deck gun, no crew slots. I really don't want to have to alter game files to get the deck gun properly, so I'll wait to see if anyone can come up with a real fix.

In my opinion, this is relatively new bug that popped up in FOTRSU somewhere around v1.2, but that is only anecdotal and based on a very sketchy memory.

Note: I do not shell out of the game except when I am in the office or at the Main Menu.

[Gray Lensman]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

<snip>


I don't really follow your comments Gray Lensman of "... somewhat overwhelmed with 'Ship sighted' dialog boxes ..." and "... it seems to prevent the 'ship sighted' dialog box popups/input ..." I take it then that you close the dialog box between "crew warnings" etc?... Your crew will report "Ship Sighted ..." until all ships have been reported. If you are using high levels of Time Compression, it might take the que a few to "empty" if you will, as the game "catches up" from the TC. If you are getting a lot of those reports, and there are no ships, or just a few, and you continue to get that message, then something is not right in the configuration, either from the install, or the Save. Are you getting just a lot of such messages, or do you get multiple text boxes displaying the message? Is there surrounding traffic to justify the number of reports? Also, you have to go below Periscope Depth to prevent "communication" with the surface in this game.

I'm saying I was overwhelmed with a multitude of "ship sighted" dialog boxes when there were 4 ships to sight. Time compression was at 1 (one) since this occurred right as I loaded the save. If I managed to do something that stalled the amount of "ship sighted" dialog boxes for a bit as the save finished its initial loading, the sonar mouse issue did not manifest itself.

Again, just re-iterating, but do NOT shell-out to Windows while playing the game. All sorts of different game aspects get out-of-whack when doing that, including odd behavior and graphics glitches. Window itself will interrupt the game sometimes, so if using it, and even Windows 8, you sometimes have to pre-empt the OS prior to playing the game, by checking for Windows Updates and the like prior to playing, to minimize Windows interruptions.

Now, that is a possibility, but I've been playing this game off and on for over 7 years now and I've been shelling out occasionally for all the time I've been playing and NEVER had this type of corruption before.

We are also now recommending to not add any mods to the FotRSU activation, including ones in the Extras folder, until after we look further (again) into all of them - including the seemingly "simple" ones. Once a mod package is "set" and a person starts playing the game, the mod list should not be changed. If it is changed, a new career should be started. So if you are playing a career now, do not change the mod list at this time, unless you have issues.

I'm gonna try a fresh install using only your recommendation with one caveat, more duds. Playing FOTRS Ultimate without more duds at the start of the war is like playing an arcade shooter version of Silent Service with just some colorful graphics to make it look prettier.

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by Mios 4Me

Updated:

USS Balao out of Midway, latest assignment in Area 5, encountered a stopped merchant on 3/19/44 just north of our position when we resumed course from a lengthy pause. Despite being out of torps and shells, and fully expecting to find a stalled Split Freighter, we investigated and found a Small Personnel Carrier right on the inner boundary of our patrol zone. There were no indications of other ships at any time.

Any ship can be affected by the assumed "bad" Waypoint configuration issue, it's just the Split Merchant is most likely found most often due to its small stature, and it most likely attempts to avoid the bigger ships, resulting in it "losing" its "Leader" ship more easily. The same can happen to a larger ship further back in a group, if other ships get in its way and it turns to an "incorrect" heading which then results in its losing contact with the "Leader" ship. The potential 'fix' is a time eater, and is being edited for the next release. It will not eliminate all these occurrences. That is the nature of the game. But it hopefully will reduce them.

Approximate location: 32' 46" N; 139' 18" E

Generic Mod Enabler - v2.6.0.157
[C:\Games\steamapps\common\FotRSUE\MODS]

100_FalloftheRisingSun_UltimateEdition_v1.21p_EN
301_MoreDifficultAI01
302_MoreDifficultAI02
399_NoScrollNavMap
452_MoonlightzSonarLines
901_Strategic_Map_Symbols
101_Patch_v1.2To_v1.26p
This looks to be an "old" mod set-up, and for the next career, the 101_Patch_v1.2To_v1.26p should be after the 100 mod. I love the 399_NoScrollNavMap, but the mods that alter the menu ini file might be an issue if not activated when the "base" mod is (in this case, the v1.21 plus the v1.226p).

LAA engaged; Win 10 Pro, 16 GB RAM; no shelling...although I have seen SH4 start in a separate window while I remain on the WinExp window.
Exactly what I mean by Windows might do it to you itself. The way to avoid that one is to use the "Run" dialog, or a desktop short-cut to start the game.

Also, the inability to move the 5" gun forward while retaining crew slots remains.

Thanks for the location on the ship. That helps locate a possible group it was part of. I have not attempted to do much testing of moving the 5" gun and the ramifications of such, but I have done some. With the Gato, Balao and Tench tries that I have done thus far, make certain that the gun and crew slots are there to begin with. Empty them if they are not already. Then try to apply the bow gun in place of the stern gun, or vice versa as desired. Once you have placed the gun, go back to the crew page, and if the slots are there for the new gun, now populate them. If they are not there, you have a configuration issue, and should go back to the gun page and put the original gun back. Save the game, exit, come back in, load and play as-is. After coming back in to port, try again. It should be OK. Other times, you move the gun successfully, populate the gun successfully, go on patrol, call Battle Stations, and the crew doesn't show at their stations on the gun deck, in spite of being on the crew page... Save the game, exit, restart, Load, and play, and the crew should show on the gun at Battle Stations. This is a Stock game issue, something in the dll, act or exe file(s). If you do NOT have a gun when offered an upgrade boat, and you do not have crew slots, do NOT take the boat, unless you want to do the edits as previously noted, else you will never have a gun on that boat. We have not had the time to further test whether it was the Narwhal, or the having moved a gun on another boat that caused the issue, or if it was the boat coming "early", or a portion or all of the above that causes the "no gun" phenomenon. As near as I can tell from researching on this site, this is NOT a stock game issue, but might be related (my opinion).

Edit: Does this look about right for your location above?

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by torpedobait

USS Gato out of Midway, arriving from 6th Patrol on 4/14/1943 from Caroline Islands with 112,000 tones; offered new boat, a Balao. From the Office on game day 4/15/1943 I found No deck gun, no crew slots. Went back to a previous save and declined the new boat on arrival at Midway so I could continue the career.
That is an early Balao, and part of the problem with getting it early, though I did get one in March a couple of times that was fully functional.

1. Installed game: G:\Ubisoft\Silent_Hunter_IV
2. LAA Active for SH4.exe
3. Activated Mods:
100_FalloftheRisingSun_UltimateEdition_v1.24_EN
101_Patch_v1.2To_v1.26p
399_NoScrollNavMap
450_Lite Fog v2 + 300' Underwater Visability (a suspect, alters scene.dat)
452_MoonlightzSonarLines
801_UMark Invisible
901_strategic_map_symbols

This morning I reloaded FOTRSU, having exited the game entirely last night. Loaded a Save file taken at a point 100 NM out of Midway. On arrival to Midway was offered the Balao again - no deck gun, no crew slots. I really don't want to have to alter game files to get the deck gun properly, so I'll wait to see if anyone can come up with a real fix.
In this case, that is the "real" fix. I was able to replicate the issue, but I had used a Narwhal and I had moved the deck gun on another boat, so I'm not certain of the origin of the problem. But once enounctered, it is there to stay for that particular career. I have not tested far enough yet to see what happens when the Tench comes along, but since the Balao file has neither gun, I would assume the Tench would be similar...

In my opinion, this is relatively new bug that popped up in FOTRSU somewhere around v1.2, but that is only anecdotal and based on a very sketchy memory.

Note: I do not shell out of the game except when I am in the office or at the Main Menu.

This isn't a relatively new bug, just a re-activation of an older one. CapnScurvy had "cemented" the guns to the boats' gun decks back prior to beta v0.90, in an attempt to prevent similar from happening. It did prevent a few issues, but altered other issues and caused new, irreparable ones, so we have since put things back the way they were (or close). TMO introduced the kit-bash Narwhal, which has both a bow and an aft deck gun. There might be something going on when that boat is "upgraded", but in my case, I went to a Tambor and then a Gato before getting the Balao, and on neither of the two other fleet boats was there an issue... but I did move the gun on one of them (both bow mounts) to the stern. The Balao should come with a stern mount. That might be where the trouble is introduced. I might try my little experiment again, and when getting the Balao without a deck gun, go back to the previous Save in-port, and put the deck gun back on the bow, then go on patrol again, come back in, get the Balao and see what it does... That would be another few days out of my life though... - it might have to wait a few weeks.

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by Gray Lensman

I'm saying I was overwhelmed with a multitude of "ship sighted" dialog boxes when there were 4 ships to sight. Time compression was at 1 (one) since this occurred right as I loaded the save. If I managed to do something that stalled the amount of "ship sighted" dialog boxes for a bit as the save finished its initial loading, the sonar mouse issue did not manifest itself.
lol - text communication - dontcha just ~love~ it?... The text prompts you are getting though, are they all inside the same 'normal' text box, or is the game generating another separate text box, for each notification? I understand the attempts to avoid something that might corrupt your load.

Now, that is a possibility, but I've been playing this game off and on for over 7 years now and I've been shelling out occasionally for all the time I've been playing and NEVER had this type of corruption before.
The problem with FotRSU is its "footprint" in memory, hence the need for LAA. It is a larger mod than most others, and something that barely caused a "blip" previously will now take out or corrupt several aspects of the game.

I'm gonna try a fresh install using only your recommendation with one caveat, more duds. Playing FOTRS Ultimate without more duds at the start of the war is like playing an arcade shooter version of Silent Service with just some colorful graphics to make it look prettier.

When activated at the start of a mod set-up, and left alone, neither the AI mods nor the dud mods should affect things. I am not as certain about the 399 menu ini mods, nor anything that alters some of the other 'main' files of the mod. Just be certain that your Steam game is NOT in the Program Files folder of Windows, even if it is inside the Steam folder. You can install Steam, and hence its Library folder, in any folder you want. I have mine on the F: drive on the desktop, and the C: drive on the laptop as "\Games \Steam \SteamApps \common"... I just replaced the "Program Files (x86)" portion of the install path with "Games" on the laptop. If you have multiple, usable hard drives or partitions in your computer, you can have a Library folder in each drive. Even after installing into say "C:\Games \Steam \SteamApss \common", you will still find parts of Steam itself in a "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam" folder, but the Library folder and SH4 game should not be there... Also, delete the Save folder. Do NOT restore old Saves to it.

Going back to your first statements above, how much RAM do you have in your computer, and / or how many background applets are running in your systray in the lower-right by the clock / calendar on the taskbar? Going low on usable RAM is a problem with the game. Also, one of the idiosyncrasies of loading Saves of this game is the replaying of past events as it loads into memory. This is why if you have a radio station playing, the game has to play the last event played, even if it is from 15 weeks ago, or of the radio messages received sometimes repeating, any encounters with an anti-sub net results in a banshee scream when loading, a torpedo being fired sounds, repaired damage reports repeating, etc. but yours does "sound" to be overly rambunctious...

[Mios 4Me]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

Edit: Does this look about right for your location above?

Longitudinally, yes, but the latitude is too far south. Look for twin seamounts, then go 12-15 km north to find the SPC's location.

For future reference, how are you capturing and posting these pics? Through the Win Snip accessory?

[Gray Lensman]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

When activated at the start of a mod set-up, and left alone, neither the AI mods nor the dud mods should affect things. I am not as certain about the 399 menu ini mods, nor anything that alters some of the other 'main' files of the mod. Just be certain that your Steam game is NOT in the Program Files folder of Windows, even if it is inside the Steam folder. You can install Steam, and hence its Library folder, in any folder you want. I have mine on the F: drive on the desktop, and the C: drive on the laptop as "\Games \Steam \SteamApps \common"... I just replaced the "Program Files (x86)" portion of the install path with "Games" on the laptop. If you have multiple, usable hard drives or partitions in your computer, you can have a Library folder in each drive. Even after installing into say "C:\Games \Steam \SteamApss \common", you will still find parts of Steam itself in a "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam" folder, but the Library folder and SH4 game should not be there... Also, delete the Save folder. Do NOT restore old Saves to it.

Going back to your first statements above, how much RAM do you have in your computer, and / or how many background applets are running in your systray in the lower-right by the clock / calendar on the taskbar? Going low on usable RAM is a problem with the game. Also, one of the idiosyncrasies of loading Saves of this game is the replaying of past events as it loads into memory. This is why if you have a radio station playing, the game has to play the last event played, even if it is from 15 weeks ago, or of the radio messages received sometimes repeating, any encounters with an anti-sub net results in a banshee scream when loading, a torpedo being fired sounds, repaired damage reports repeating, etc. but yours does "sound" to be overly rambunctious...

LOL, I was cautioning people about Program Files usage back before it was even popular. (2007 maybe?) No, I have nothing in Program Files except crud that wouldn't let me have the choice not to install it there, I actively seek to minimize background apps/applets which I have absolutely no need for while gaming. Occasionally, I temporarily run the Core Temp heat monitor in the background to check for peak internal temperatures when I have a game that makes the fans go into overdrive. I don't run it constantly and SH4 doesn't make the fans go into overdrive like other games.

Okay, since you asked...

My set-up

M-Tech Laptop (actually a mainframe equiv. motherboard) with an Intel i9 9900k CPU 3.60 GHz, 32.0 GBytes DDR4 Ram @ 3.00 GHz

nVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 w 8 GBytes GDDR6 Ram

3 SSD drives...

Main C: drive is 1 TByte SATA III Samsung 860 EVO
Secondary D: drive is 250 GByte SATA III Samsung 860 EVO
Third E: drive is 250 GByte Samsug 970 EVO Plus NVMe

Main C: drive is for Windows 10, programs, and game installations... minimal on Program Files (that includes the Steam main folder) I actively keep less than half this drive occupied for efficiency reasons)

Secondary D: drive is for remapped /users/name/... content so Windows can write to it simultaneously while doing its normal program and gaming thing.

Third E: drive is dedicated to the Windows 10 Cache file so it can expand/contract dynamically without affecting storage or efficiency of the Main C: drive. Also contains a Win10 Backup image so I can restore Win10 in a snap.

FYI, It takes a whopping 13 seconds from the moment I click the SH4 Wolves of the Pacific Icon and clicking thru the Ubisoft/Yamamoto splashscreens, to load to the main SH4 menu.

Yes, this is an expensive laptop, but the initial price doesn't reflect the overall quality and years of usage at relatively high performance levels. I figure approx 9 years of usage at a cost of less than $500 a year is a bargain compared to money spent on trashy TV and lousy modern movies.

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by Mios 4Me

Longitudinally, yes, but the latitude is too far south. Look for twin seamounts, then go 12-15 km north to find the SPC's location.

For future reference, how are you capturing and posting these pics? Through the Win Snip accessory?

This is the next segment "up" toward North, which is where the east / west traffic mingles with the north / south for Mariannas / Truk:




The next segment up from this is the coastline of Honshu, with Suruga Wan, Sagami Wan, and Tokyo Bay. What do you mean by "twin seamounts"?

What I do for a lot of screen grabs is to use the <Shift><PrntScrn> key combination to "capture" the screen to the clipboard (as above), then open PhotoShop Elements (similar can be done with Paint.net) and paste the clipboard in, then crop and re-size. Save as a jpeg and post to imgur dot com, then copy the bbCode link, and paste that here. Easy peasy.

[Drakken]

Got an issue playing the 1.24 FOTRSU (with 1.26 patch installed). Dec 7 1941 scenario. Maybe one of you might help and guide me, please?

Got a secondary mission to go take photos in the Guam Apra Harbor area, West of the island. However, I cannot find the target anywhere in the vicinity. I've been near the Piti Harbor and took a look around... then tried again at the mouth of the harbor's entrance, but nothing. No ship to target, no lock, nada.

Manual targeting.

I tried also to look into the SH4 files but couldn't find it.

Thanks!

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by Gray Lensman

LOL, I was cautioning people about Program Files usage back before it was even popular. (2007 maybe? Windows Vista-64 release was Jan 2007) No, I have nothing in Program Files except crud that wouldn't let me have the choice not to install it there, I actively seek to minimize background apps/applets which I have absolutely no need for while gaming. Occasionally, I temporarily run the Core Temp heat monitor in the background to check for peak internal temperatures when I have a game that makes the fans go into overdrive. I don't run it constantly and SH4 doesn't make the fans go into overdrive like other games.

Okay, since you asked...

My set-up

M-Tech Laptop (actually a mainframe equiv. motherboard) with an Intel i9 9900k CPU 3.60 GHz, 32.0 GBytes DDR4 Ram @ 3.00 GHz

nVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 w 8 GBytes GDDR6 Ram

3 SSD drives...

Main C: drive is 1 TByte SATA III Samsung 860 EVO
Secondary D: drive is 250 GByte SATA III Samsung 860 EVO
Third E: drive is 250 GByte Samsug 970 EVO Plus NVMe

Main C: drive is for Windows 10, programs, and game installations... minimal on Program Files (that includes the Steam main folder) I actively keep less than half this drive occupied for efficiency reasons)

Secondary D: drive is for remapped /users/name/... content so Windows can write to it simultaneously while doing its normal program and gaming thing.

Third E: drive is dedicated to the Windows 10 Cache file so it can expand/contract dynamically without affecting storage or efficiency of the Main C: drive. Also contains a Win10 Backup image so I can restore Win10 in a snap.

FYI, It takes a whopping 13 seconds from the moment I click the SH4 Wolves of the Pacific Icon and clicking thru the Ubisoft/Yamamoto splashscreens, to load to the main SH4 menu.

Yes, this is an expensive laptop, but the initial price doesn't reflect the overall quality and years of usage at relatively high performance levels. I figure approx 9 years of usage at a cost of less than $500 a year is a bargain compared to money spent on trashy TV and lousy modern movies.

A similar configuration to my desktop, though several magnitudes stronger... mine is old-tech Core2 Duo and 2G WD Black drives... but still does fine with most anything I have at this time to throw at it. I haven't bought a new game in years, and would be hard-pressed to remember which one it was... I find a lot of the new games like lousy modern movies, and confine most of my "new" gaming to the xBox and PS4 the kids have.

Back on topic, your computer is way more than strong, and should not have an issue at all with the game ("Thank you, Captain Obvious!"). One question though: Do you have write caching enabled on the SSDs? Write-Through would be the one to use if you are using it, but I'm not certain what would happen with Write-Back when playing SH4, if it gets out of whack or fails. But what are the chances of that anyway?...

[Gray Lensman]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

A similar configuration to my desktop, though several magnitudes stronger... mine is old-tech Core2 Duo and 2G WD Black drives... but still does fine with most anything I have at this time to throw at it. I haven't bought a new game in years, and would be hard-pressed to remember which one it was... I find a lot of the new games like lousy modern movies, and confine most of my "new" gaming to the xBox and PS4 the kids have.

Back on topic, your computer is way more than strong, and should not have an issue at all with the game ("Thank you, Captain Obvious!"). One question though: Do you have write caching enabled on the SSDs? Write-Through would be the one to use if you are using it, but I'm not certain what would happen with Write-Back when playing SH4, if it gets out of whack or fails. But what are the chances of that anyway?...

Write caching is enabled on all 3 SSDs. I have a backup UPS and the normal laptop battery so it's virtually impossible that I would lose any RAM writes in a power outage. It's not recommended to have RAM caching enabled if you don't have a power backup of some sort. You could end up with garbled crap on the hard disk if the RAM writes did not get transferred to the disk because of a sudden power loss.

[mazzi]

Originally Posted by torpedobait

USS Gato out of Midway, arriving from 6th Patrol on 4/14/1943 from Caroline Islands with 112,000 tones; offered new boat, a Balao. From the Office on game day 4/15/1943 I found No deck gun, no crew slots.

Try this: http://yadi.sk/d/Pd1piVvpTMyMAQ

In the single-player mission "Supplies For Betio" this August 1943 Balao also has no guns. After applying this mod, the guns appear.
In this mod, the 4-50 cannon is placed only in the nose, there are no 3-50 cannons at all, and 5inch .25cal Twin Cannons (Bow and Stern) will not appear until June 1945-06-01 - so it was in real life.