Help on a (different) missing binocular bug

[feld]

I've got SH3 bridge watchstanders who do not have binoculars in their hands. They still act like they're carrying binoculars. It's funny in a way but it hurts immersion so I'd like to fix it. I know that this is a common bug in "stock" SH3 but my case appears different than the other problems I've read about so I'm looking for help here and at the Ubisoft forum:

-The binoculars were there when I first ran the game yesterday.
-I don't have stock SH3 - I've got a later edition that has version 1.4b out of the box. I checked the version history.
-Past people with this problem indicate that this bug is usually due to an old video card without the 1.1 pixel shaders. I've checked my card's specs and used the SHDetection utility: my card has those shaders.
-My card's drivers are current
-I'm running NO mods.
-I've got Silent Hunter 4 ver 1.5 installed on the same machine. It runs fine. There are binoculars in the hands of all my lookouts in SH4.


My system specs:
Toshiba Portege
Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T9300 @ 2.5 GHz
2.99 GB Ram
Windows XP tablet Pc edition 2005 version 2002 SP 3
Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Graphics Card
drivers are current (at least according to my manufacturer)


The only thing that I can think of is that I didn't realize initially that I had version 1.4b so I tried to patch it. Thinking that I broke something when I tried to patch it I un-installed and re-installed the game. Twice. Each time from a different source.

Any help/ideas would be great!

-feld

edit 8/27/08 - grammar
edit 8/28/08- forgot to list my system specs!!