Baltic flavour

U56 · 02-23-21, 06:09 AM

I recently came back to SH4, and discovered to my delight that there are several megamods now available. This got me looking up the many advice threads about running multi installs of the game. This I have now done and am presently exploring Darkwaters, Fotrsu, and Sovietwaterways. In time I look forward to checking out We Dive At dawn.

For now I am concentrating on Soviet waterways, as this introduces a completely different atmosphere and flavour in to the game. Another poster has commented that don’t come here if you want the large scale tonnages of the Pacific fleet boat campaigns. Here it is a world of shallow waters, numerous minefields, small boat actions involving fast patrol boats, dodging minesweepers and looking for lone cargo ships. The mod is an absolute credit to the team of Russian submarine enthusiasts who have put it together on the bones of the older Baltic Sea mod. The beautiful models, Russian radio and music, Stalin’s speeches etc, all create a very atmospheric experience.

One drawback is that the only file I could find to get English menus and texts, was made for V110, and the mod is now at V111 patched to V112. I found that this English language mod caused all my port infrastructure to disappear, though the towns remained. Starting at berth left me surrounded by all the other ships in the harbour, but no quayside or wharfs or cranes or anything. In the end, I decided the lesser of two evils for me was to remove the language mod, and play the game in cyrillic!! This is not as difficult as it might sound if you are already familiar with the various menus, and for me is worth the price to retain the correct atmosphere of the mod.

Like another poster, playing this has rejuvenated my interest in SH4, and prompted me to look up the histories and backgrounds to the Soviet submarine campaigns, and to learn a little about the types and specs of the various submarines. The torpedoes the Soviets used were developed with the help of Italy in the early 30’s and only run straight, but the mod provides easy to use tables to work out the lead angles required. I used to only play with auto tdc, but a little reading up on the "Fast 90 method" and I was good to go.

There is a well put together extensive manual for the mod, all in cyrillic of course, but using copy and paste in my Foxit reader, and google translate, and I was able to get through quite a number of the more relevant pages. Overall google translate does a surprising good job, though some items are rather funny. Emergency dive becomes urgent immersion (!). A mine laying mission is a mineralisation........etc.

Overall I cannot praise this mod highly enough, it is going to occupy my time for quite a number of patrols, with the Black Sea and Arctic to explore after the Baltic Sea. My hats off to the Russian development team for this, now if only we could get an up to date English language interface.

Randomizer · 02-23-21, 01:27 PM

Soviet Waterways is probably my favourite SH4 iteration for a variety of reasons.

That said, I too am running version 112 with English 110 and I still see all the port infrastructure. Perhaps your issue has something to do with your Mod list?

Here's mine:

Addon Soviet Waterway (v_111)
Path SW v_112
Ðóññêèå øðèôòû
Realmine_SW
TheDarkWraith_DC_Water_Disturbance_v2_0_SH4
Webster's Eliminate Floating Plankton
English_translation_LITE_SW110
3000 Yard-Meter Bearing Tools (1280x960)
ArcticSea

This retains the port visuals and while there is still much Cyrillic text I can generally get by until a mine or the Luftwaffe ends the latest SW career. Anyway, hope this helps and Good Luck Comrade.

-C

U56 · 02-23-21, 07:15 PM

Many thanks Randomizer that did the trick!! It must have been my mod list or the order, anyway I followed yours exactly, and hey presto all is bug free so far (fingers crossed!). Now trying to stay alive in the Gulf of Finland in 1942, not easy.......sobering seeing the amount of soviet sub seabed wrecks dotted around the maps with their dates of demise, need danger money for this job!!

02-23-21, 06:09 AM	#1
U56 Helmsman Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Rockall Posts: 109 Downloads: 129 Uploads: 0	Baltic flavour I recently came back to SH4, and discovered to my delight that there are several megamods now available. This got me looking up the many advice threads about running multi installs of the game. This I have now done and am presently exploring Darkwaters, Fotrsu, and Sovietwaterways. In time I look forward to checking out We Dive At dawn. For now I am concentrating on Soviet waterways, as this introduces a completely different atmosphere and flavour in to the game. Another poster has commented that don’t come here if you want the large scale tonnages of the Pacific fleet boat campaigns. Here it is a world of shallow waters, numerous minefields, small boat actions involving fast patrol boats, dodging minesweepers and looking for lone cargo ships. The mod is an absolute credit to the team of Russian submarine enthusiasts who have put it together on the bones of the older Baltic Sea mod. The beautiful models, Russian radio and music, Stalin’s speeches etc, all create a very atmospheric experience. One drawback is that the only file I could find to get English menus and texts, was made for V110, and the mod is now at V111 patched to V112. I found that this English language mod caused all my port infrastructure to disappear, though the towns remained. Starting at berth left me surrounded by all the other ships in the harbour, but no quayside or wharfs or cranes or anything. In the end, I decided the lesser of two evils for me was to remove the language mod, and play the game in cyrillic!! This is not as difficult as it might sound if you are already familiar with the various menus, and for me is worth the price to retain the correct atmosphere of the mod. Like another poster, playing this has rejuvenated my interest in SH4, and prompted me to look up the histories and backgrounds to the Soviet submarine campaigns, and to learn a little about the types and specs of the various submarines. The torpedoes the Soviets used were developed with the help of Italy in the early 30’s and only run straight, but the mod provides easy to use tables to work out the lead angles required. I used to only play with auto tdc, but a little reading up on the "Fast 90 method" and I was good to go. There is a well put together extensive manual for the mod, all in cyrillic of course, but using copy and paste in my Foxit reader, and google translate, and I was able to get through quite a number of the more relevant pages. Overall google translate does a surprising good job, though some items are rather funny. Emergency dive becomes urgent immersion (!). A mine laying mission is a mineralisation........etc. Overall I cannot praise this mod highly enough, it is going to occupy my time for quite a number of patrols, with the Black Sea and Arctic to explore after the Baltic Sea. My hats off to the Russian development team for this, now if only we could get an up to date English language interface.

02-23-21, 01:27 PM	#2
Randomizer Watch Officer Join Date: Mar 2019 Location: Vancouver Island Posts: 334 Downloads: 131 Uploads: 0	Soviet Waterways is probably my favourite SH4 iteration for a variety of reasons. That said, I too am running version 112 with English 110 and I still see all the port infrastructure. Perhaps your issue has something to do with your Mod list? Here's mine: Addon Soviet Waterway (v_111) Path SW v_112 Ðóññêèå øðèôòû Realmine_SW TheDarkWraith_DC_Water_Disturbance_v2_0_SH4 Webster's Eliminate Floating Plankton English_translation_LITE_SW110 3000 Yard-Meter Bearing Tools (1280x960) ArcticSea This retains the port visuals and while there is still much Cyrillic text I can generally get by until a mine or the Luftwaffe ends the latest SW career. Anyway, hope this helps and Good Luck Comrade. -C

02-23-21, 07:15 PM	#3
U56 Helmsman Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Rockall Posts: 109 Downloads: 129 Uploads: 0	Many thanks Randomizer that did the trick!! It must have been my mod list or the order, anyway I followed yours exactly, and hey presto all is bug free so far (fingers crossed!). Now trying to stay alive in the Gulf of Finland in 1942, not easy.......sobering seeing the amount of soviet sub seabed wrecks dotted around the maps with their dates of demise, need danger money for this job!!