Some noob questions...

[Havan_IronOak]

I tried to find a search facility for these boards but no joy.
I also tried to use Google, still no joy
So, I'm posting the questions here. If anyone could help or point me to the right way to find the straight dope, Thanks in advance.

1. How does one MODIFY a chart Mark?
(the little x' made by the marker (pencil) The Manual (PDF) says that the pencil can be used to make or MODIFY marks on the chart. It mentions that the default names are mark 1, mark 2, etc. Also there is a 17 character limit. But it doesn't say HOW to modify the text of the mark.

I'm guessing that this IS possible because when I accidentally leaned against my keyboard while marking new sightings one came up with a string of garbage rather than the usual mark ## label.

2. Is there any way to erase all chart markings at once? I make a lot but like to have a clean map at the start of a new mission.

I'm sure I'll have more question but I'll post these two now and see if I can get any guidance before typing up the rest... Or I'll post them as replies to this topic.

3. How do I decide if a given reported spotting is close enough to be worth chasing? / What do the various speed term MEAN (in terms of numbers)?
I've looked everywhere I can think of and not been able to find a tutorial for efficiently determining if an intercept course is possible given semi-distant position, course and speed reports. Obviously some are obvious but how do I make the closer calls? Part of the problem is that I can find nowhere that actual values are given for the speed terms, slow, medium, fast, and very fast. Can somebody tell me?

4. I found what I believe is a bug in that my CO2 levels sometimes fail to reset when I surface. I find if I save and then reload the save all is well but is this something that is well known? Has it been reported? Where should I report it?

5. Not sure what all is even possible in MODS but I'm assuming that making the difficulty settings related to torpedo targeting more granular is NOT possible. Is there someplace to suggest such a thing? i.e. I think that auto-targeting of torpedoes is a bit easy, I'd love to be required to identify the ship type but am NOT ready for the full on calculations. Getting reliable readings as to ship speed and range from the sonar-man would also be great if they were separately electable.

[derekb525]

As far as I know there is no way to modify a mark. I don't know if it's moddable to fix that but I'm sure if it is, there would be a mod for it already.

I think you can hold shift or maybe it's the control key when you have the eraser tool and that should delete all marks of that type. I don't use this very often so I'm not completely sure.

[Havan_IronOak]

I think I've tried all the obvious ones but I'll try CTRL and or SHFT with the eraser again.

Sorry I added a part 3 to the question. Any idea on that?

[TorpX]

Originally Posted by Havan_IronOak

3. How do I decide if a given reported spotting is close enough to be worth chasing? / What do the various speed term MEAN (in terms of numbers)?
I've looked everywhere I can think of and not been able to find a tutorial for efficiently determining if an intercept course is possible given semi-distant position, course and speed reports. Obviously some are obvious but how do I make the closer calls? Part of the problem is that I can find nowhere that actual values are given for the speed terms, slow, medium, fast, and very fast. Can somebody tell me?

It is a subjective matter whether a contact is worth pursuing. You should always be aware of your fuel situation, and act accordingly. Contact report info is generally approximate, and therefore an interception cannot be guaranteed.

4. I found what I believe is a bug in that my CO2 levels sometimes fail to reset when I surface. I find if I save and then reload the save all is well but is this something that is well known? Has it been reported? Where should I report it?

This is caused by Alt-tabbing out of the game. Some computers/systems seem to be prone to this, while others not.

5. Not sure what all is even possible in MODS but I'm assuming that making the difficulty settings related to torpedo targeting more granular is NOT possible. Is there someplace to suggest such a thing? i.e. I think that auto-targeting of torpedoes is a bit easy, I'd love to be required to identify the ship type but am NOT ready for the full on calculations. Getting reliable readings as to ship speed and range from the sonar-man would also be great if they were separately electable.

Unfortunately, Ubisoft didn't put that much effort into these aspects of the game. Basically, you have a very limited choice between:

1. auto-targeting (very easy, crew makes no errors and does all the work)
   
2. manual targeting, with map-contacts (like above, but a little more challenging)
   
3. manual targeting, no map-contacts (much more challenging, requires a lot of effort, many find this too much work)

The inflexible map-contacts scheme was one of the biggest disappointments for me. Others have also stated as much, but there doesn't seem to be any solution for us.

[fireftr18]

Originally Posted by Havan_IronOak

3. How do I decide if a given reported spotting is close enough to be worth chasing? / What do the various speed term MEAN (in terms of numbers)?
I've looked everywhere I can think of and not been able to find a tutorial for efficiently determining if an intercept course is possible given semi-distant position, course and speed reports. Obviously some are obvious but how do I make the closer calls? Part of the problem is that I can find nowhere that actual values are given for the speed terms, slow, medium, fast, and very fast. Can somebody tell me?

4. I found what I believe is a bug in that my CO2 levels sometimes fail to reset when I surface. I find if I save and then reload the save all is well but is this something that is well known? Has it been reported? Where should I report it?

5. Not sure what all is even possible in MODS but I'm assuming that making the difficulty settings related to torpedo targeting more granular is NOT possible. Is there someplace to suggest such a thing? i.e. I think that auto-targeting of torpedoes is a bit easy, I'd love to be required to identify the ship type but am NOT ready for the full on calculations. Getting reliable readings as to ship speed and range from the sonar-man would also be great if they were separately electable.

3. I don't have any kind of system to work that out. Basically, with experience, you'll learn to judge.

4. Known bug, You found the solution. Apparently it happens when you "alt-tab" out of the game. Some people have reported other problems, especially save problems when "alt-tab"ing out of the game.

5. Go to the mods page and just go through it and see what people have done. There are super mods that make a large amount of game changes and there are mini-mods that just change one or two things. Going through the forum, you'll hear a lot of talk about TMO, RFB, RSRDC, OTC, Operation Monsoon, and Traveler's Mod. They are all super mods, each with it's own changes. Well worth testing each one.

And welcome aboard!
Now stop playing computer games and get to work scrubbing the deck.

[Aktungbby]

Havan_IronOak!

[THEBERBSTER]

A warm welcome ‘Havan_IronOak’ to the Subsim family.

You will always find someone here to help you.

Link to my SH3 – SH4 – SH5 posts:

Step By Step Tutorials & How To Do It.

Also Included Are Some Useful Download Links

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=211804

You can use TDW’Generic File Patcher with STEAM see my Tutorial Post #125

[Jimbuna]

Welcome to SubSim Havan

[Pisces]

1: The marks on the map can be edited outside of the game, by editing the .map file of your savegame with a text-editing program like Notepad.exe :

(My)Documentsfolder\SH4\data\cfg\SaveGames\0000000 somenumber\SaveData.map

For the changes to come into effect you need to reload the edited savegame.

Afaik the manual lies about editing a mark. You can't do it. But it is interesting that you found out that the text of the mark can infact be different when placing the mark and do something with the keyboard. Maybe that bug, if it is, can be exploited somehow.

2: I think there was a menu option that does it. Or something with the eraser. But it's been a long time since I played SH4, I guess I forgot how exactly. Also I never wanted to remove all marks and drawing tools from the map so never used it much.

3: Did you already find a method to determine an intercept course? This tutorial is for SH3 but you have the same tools in SH4 to do this: (don't bother with multiplying by 10, it only confusses you)

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=88961

You do not have to rely on the speed telegraph setting: slow, standard, full and flankspeed. You can manually set the speed in knots that you want to travel with. Press the button underneath the speed telegraph dial, and it should change to a knots scale, showing your current speed. Just click in it at the speed that you wish to command to move at. But the boat is limited to what it can do ofcourse. Weather, partially submerged and recharging the batteries permitting. To be sure at what speed you are going to move is a matter of looking at the needle after the command and the boat has settled on a speed. It varies per condition. But I see no reason to go slower than full speed during an intercept. You want to meet the target ASAP. Flank speed might be guzzling alot of fuel for minor speed gain, but it might make the difference of being able to intercept at all in lousy weather or disadvantageous positions.

If your speed or position is insufficient to reach the contact at all (fast contact moves away, and you are behind and slow) then the above linked technique will not provide a course to steer to. The circle will then not ever touch or cross the line between the target and your boat (or the extension of that line behind you). There will not be a point on the line to place the corner of the angle measurement tool (protractor). Then give up or find a way to speed up.

If you can develop an intercept course because of sufficient speed, then the question is how long does it take. And do you have the patience for it. You can measure the distance to the intersection of your intercept course and the target's course. The waypoint tool can calculate the time to that point based on the current speed (so is not of much use when you are not at the intercept speed)

Wether or not it is worthwhile to chase is something you learn by experience. The contact can make a course change in the mean time, and spoof your intercept attempt. This depends on it's waypoints which may have an element of randomness in it. There is no hard rule for determining worthwhileness. Just be there as quickly as possible and hope you are lucky. Make use of your hydrophone when you reach the intercept point. As in general it can listen much further than the crew eyes can see. But radar may be equal if you have it.

5: You don't have to do calculations. If you supply 2 range measurements (from the stadimeter which include bearings) to the TDC with some time in between, and then use the speed calculation button on the TDC display( on the right) the crew can calculate the speed and course for you. But the range measurements should be somewhat accurate, and there should be ample time in between (think minutes). The crew calculates the relative movement of the target around your boat in that time, and does some vector magic on it by adding it to the movement of your own boat to come up with a course and speed. Don't worry. They'll do the nasty calculations for you. You'll only get the result. Leave the position keeper of (red button on the right panel) and keep a steady course during the process.

[Pisces]

Part of the problem is that I can find nowhere that actual values are given for the speed terms, slow, medium, fast, and very fast. Can somebody tell me?...

3B: Those numbers are for some odd reason not made known to Skippers. They can be found in the file: (at the end)

Silent Hunter 4\Data\Cfg\Contacts.cfg

The actual speeds of the contact might be rounded off first before it is applied to these catagories. So it may be off by 0.5 knots.

[Sailor Steve]

Welcome Aboard!

Originally Posted by Havan_IronOak

I tried to find a search facility for these boards but no joy.

This particular search engine can be a pain.

I also tried to use Google, still no joy

Your best bet is Google Advanced Search. Enter your parameters in the first box. Scroll down to the box that says "Site or Domain", and enter Subsim.com. That's the only effective way to search the site that I know of.

So, I'm posting the questions here.

Usually the best option. Starting a new thread hurts no one, and gets specific answers for your specific questions (not always, but most of the time).