Common ingame problems and solutions

[Fincuan]

In this post I've gathered some of the most common ingame problems that new and sometimes also more seasoned Silent Hunter 4 players may come across. These are all pretty well represented in this forum, I bet we get a thread on at least one of them every day. My purpose is to stick to "problems" related to gameplay, not technical or mod related problems. As you'll later notice most of these aren't actually problems at all, but more like undocumented features and things that are good to know. If you have anything to add post it to this thread, and I'll add it to the list
I know none reads stickies and it's soooo fun to post new threads, but I guarantee reading this only takes a minute and just might contain the answer to your question!

• 
  I'm running out of fuel
  Make sure you are using the most economic speed. For all fleet boats this is around 9.5 knots. Make also sure your batteries aren't being recharged, because this shortens your range considerably. Sometimes, usually after taking damage, your batteries won't fully recharge no matter what, even though the repair screen shows everything as repaired. If this happens you'll have to turn recharging off manually when it's at 98-99%.
  
• 
  Where's the "Max range at current speed"- command?
  It's disabled by default, but don't worry. Doing the following will bring you back the key command(Shift+G), even if you don't get the icon in the orders bar:
  Backup SilentHunter4\Data\Cfg\Commands.cfg and open it in a text editor(Windows Notepad is ok). Find this part:

  [Cmd257]
  Name=Report_time_to_turn
  Ctxt=1
  MnID=0x3F250002

  Add this after it(with no empty lines inbetween):
  

  Key0=0x47,s,"Shift+G"

  Save the file. Pressing Shift+G will now have your navigator report max range at current speed.
  
• 
  My boat's CO2 levels keep increasing even though I'm on the surface
  You alt+tabbed out of the game and back, which somehow screwed up the on surface/submerged cycle. Save the game, go back to main menu and reload the save, problem solved.
  
• 
  My watch crew is on the bridge even though I'm submerged!
  See above, same cause and solution.
  
• 
  My boat's diveplanes are rigged in or only halfway out even though I'm submerged
  See above, same cause and solution. Also try to avoid saving while you're underwater.
  
• 
  It's 1941 or 1942 and my radar doesn't work
  Check the equipment screen to make sure you have a radar installed in the first place. The radar scopes inside the boat are always visible, even if you haven't installed a radar.
  
• 
  My radarman reported a contact, but nothing is shown on the radar scope
  Two types of radars are available to you in the game: surface radar(SJ-radar) and air radar(SD-radar). Both scopes you have show information from the SJ-radar only, SD-radar has no scope. A contact which is reported but doesn't show up on the scope is almost always an aircraft. If you have "Map updates" enabled the contact is also shown on the navigation map, and if its speed is reported as "Very high" it's certainly an aircraft and it's time to crashdive.
  
• 
  I am unable to dock at homebase and end the patrol
  Make sure you're at the right base. Sometimes your home base might change without the game notifying you of it, but it is always identified by a tilted anchor(introduced in patch 1.4) on the navigation map. The other bases' anchors are always straight.
  
• 
  The realism settings of my career keep resetting themselves
  The realism settings for an ongoing career can be adjusted in your office while at port.
  Fleetboat career: Click the radio on the shelf on your left, and a menu will open.
  U-boat career: Click the drawer to the right of the big map
  
  Adjusting the difficulty settings via the menu accessible from the main SH4 menu only affects war patrols and single missions, not ongoing careers.
  
• 
  I lost my deck gun-crew slots
  I bet you tried to move the gun from aft to forward or vice-versa, and came across one of the "permabugs" in SH4. Read this thread, especially posts 6 and 8 for instructions on how to fix it.
  
• 
  My deck gun and watch crew get injured by depth charges!
  Move them inside the boat when you expect to be depth-charged. Deck watch, deck gun and AA gun crew slots are considered "outside the boat" by the game, while all other compartments are "inside".
  
• 
  The infamous manual
  The manual is not very comprehensive and includes a few straightforward mistakes. Some of the most obvious:
  • Page 28: The manual states you can name map markers and edit the names, however this isn't currently implemented in the game and hence doesn't work.
  • Page 38: The speed measurement changed in patch 1.3. It now works like this. Also if you're playing a US career ignore anything about "Notepad". This is a left-over from SH3 and has no function in SH4 fleet boats.
  • 
    

There! Something to get you started. I'll keep expanding the list once I remember more of these.

Contributors in addition to original poster:
Gambit
Everyone else from whom I've learned these myself

[SteamWake]

Its a radio... oh ... wait... :p

Nice job.

[banjo]

Excellent. If we could just make it required reading....

[banjo]

This needs to be a Sticky.

[Soundman]

Yes, good job here. Now if we could also teach, or perhaps show them how to use to the search function. Just in the last couple of days I've answered the "I can't find" kind of post a bunch of times, then I went and posted a link for them. Took me all of a minute and a half to find it !

[aanker]

Originally Posted by Soundman

Yes, good job here. Now if we could also teach, or perhaps show them how to use to the search function.

I use the Google search box on my browser for example type: "site:subsim.com TMO" will give you pages of search results... The Google search box is a great (and sometimes better) alternative.

Art