Hey guys, another first-timer... just want to ask a couple of questions... | Forums

[Todd82TA]

Hey guys,

I just bought this game last night and I'm pretty psyched. I haven't played a submarine game in a really long time.

Very first sub game that I played was "Sub Battle Simulator" by EPYX on some monochrome laptop back in the mid 80s as a kid. Then I played 688 Attack Sub and Wolfpack in the late 80s.

The graphics on this game are obviously VASTLY superior to those! hahah..


So, the game I bought was for a dollar at a store called "Five & Below", and there was no manual in it except for just a keyboard layout.

I played around with it for a little bit, but I was kind of hoping to get a better understanding of what exactly it is that I should be doing.

• Will I get orders over the communications that tell me where I should be going?
• How long does it normally take to travel somewhere, is this almost real-time we're talking about? Because I was full-speed and it didn't look like anything had moved on the map.
• What should I be doing when I first start the game? I've got most of the controls fairly down pat, but just don't really get the full perspective of what I should be doing.

I know I'm supposed to attack Japanese destroyers and whatnot... I think it even showed the Yamamoto in the intro, but I'm assuming I don't sink that (didn't it run aground?)


Anyway, thanks!!!

Todd

[andypandy1996]

Welcome aboard Todd! We are pleased to answer your questions, ask as many as you would like.

But with your current ones, at the beginning of every mission you will get a small briefing with orders to patrol, recon or drop something off and they tell you in the form of a star on your navigation map. For patrols you must stay within a 50km circle around the star. Also if you finish your mission and you want another just go to your manager thing with your radio messages and send a status report.

Travel speed is your choice. You could go in real time which takes a loooooooong time or use time compression to speed your trip along.

When you first start you might want to go to Manila so you can join the action easily. I usually start from Pearl but thats only because I like the starting boats. Basically you sink the enemy and try not to die, save frequently. Also with the Yamato it pops up from time to time with a task force. The game is accurate but not that accurate

Hope that helps!

Andy.

[Magic452]

Welcome to the boat mate.

There are a few things to get straight first.
What game did you get, there are two Silent Hunters.
First one is Silent Hunter Wolfs of the Pacific V1.0, this one needs to be patched to V1.4
You can do this here at UBI on the downloads page.

The second edition is the Gold Edition with U boat missions, this is the latest patch V1.5 and
most all new mods are for this version. There is an extra cost download available at UBI as well.

Things that cause problems. Do not install the game in Program Files folder.
Make a new folder someplace and install there.
Create an icon for SH4.exe and don't use the SH4.gu to launch the game.

You're nit missing much with no manual, it was a piece of junk to start with.
Your best manual is right here.

There are four different ways to play.
First are the School missions, the last two aren't very good as you start too close to the targets but you can learn something there. Wouldn't spend much time here.

Second are the quick missions, same problem as above, you're too close but can be fun, ok for auto targeting.

Third are the war Patrols. These are very good for learning how to play. Very much like short careers.
You get a mission and if you don't succeeded no big deal, just cruise around and learn what to do and how to play.
You can change the difficulty settings and start over with no problem and try out different boats.

Career mode is the end result of all the above, by the time you get here you should know pretty much what you are doing.

Start easy and go at your own pace, there is a lot to learn. One of the first is to NOT attack destroyers!!!!
The Yamato is out there for the taking, so go for it if you see it. She is a tough nut to crack so have plenty of torpedoes.

There is time compression available, lower right corner of the screen, can bump it up to super sonic if you like. (+ - keys)
Back space or control back space will pause the game in stock. Watch out for the enter key when using TC as that is the stock fire key.
Use high TC to get to your patrol area, but slow it down in enemy waters.
Do not use flank speed unless necessary. Cruise at ten knots, uses less fuel.

There are three dials on the lower right also, there are tabs under them that will change the type of dial you get.
Just point the mouse at anything that looks like a dial, ****on or tab etc. and see what happens. You can't hurt anything.
Sounds like you have already started this.

These are just off the top of my head so any other questions, just ask. Be sure to say what game or what mods you are using.

Magic



Edit andypandy types faster than I do

[Todd82TA]

Welcome aboard Todd! We are pleased to answer your questions, ask as many as you would like.

But with your current ones, at the beginning of every mission you will get a small briefing with orders to patrol, recon or drop something off and they tell you in the form of a star on your navigation map. For patrols you must stay within a 50km circle around the star. Also if you finish your mission and you want another just go to your manager thing with your radio messages and send a status report.

Travel speed is your choice. You could go in real time which takes a loooooooong time or use time compression to speed your trip along.

When you first start you might want to go to Manila so you can join the action easily. I usually start from Pearl but thats only because I like the starting boats. Basically you sink the enemy and try not to die, save frequently. Also with the Yamato it pops up from time to time with a task force. The game is accurate but not that accurate

Hope that helps!

Andy.

Thanks Andy, I appreciate it! I've been playing it for about the past hour... this game is awesome. I started off in Career Mode, and started off in port. I almost ran into another ship before I realized exactly how the steering worked (correctly).

I'm really happy with the game so far, and getting a hang of it.

I've actually been on a real submarine (as a tourist). I went on a nuclear one somewhere in Connecticut. I don't remember the name, but they were allowing tours on it, but we couldn't go below a certain level because that's where the nuclear "equipment" was, and I guess it was classified. It was pretty awesome though.

I've also been on the USS North Carolina (or maybe it was the South Carolina) and then of course... the USS Missouri... which was AWESOME. I was so excited to see that ship, it was really the only thing I was interested in when I went to Hawaii for my honeymoon (I mean, other than my wife obviously). Some old guy on the deck saw how excited I was, and asked me if I was in the right place, he said people my age aren't normally excited about these kinds of things and then said he served on it and even he's not that excited about it... hahaha..

Anyway, this game is pretty awesome... I'm heading to Tokyo right now to take pictures of the port or something... hopefully that mission goes well, but I plan to save a lot... hah.

Welcome to the boat mate.

There are a few things to get straight first.
What game did you get, there are two Silent Hunters.
First one is Silent Hunter Wolfs of the Pacific V1.0, this one needs to be patched to V1.4
You can do this here at UBI on the downloads page.

Career mode is the end result of all the above, by the time you get here you should know pretty much what you are doing.

These are just off the top of my head so any other questions, just ask. Be sure to say what game or what mods you are using.

Magic

Thanks! Is there a way I can tell? I actually installed the game on my second hard drive, so I never ended up running into that issue (thankfully). I ran some updater and it SAID it was installing version 1.4. Any idea how I can check to make sure that the patch took?

I've started off in Career Mode after futzing around with the other one. If I screw up, that's ok... I'll just restart again. But I can totally dig this game.

I almost joined the NAVY back in the day, but ended up getting a job offer with this company, AND I was dating this girl at the time so I ended up not doing it. Always kind of been a regret of mine. At least I can live it out through this game... hahah.

[Yooperbacker]

Hello Todd,

Welcome to SH4.
To see what version you have, start the game and when you are at the main menu look to the bottom right and the version number will be there.
When you do a Career you have to re-enter any game options you might have had when playing the other parts of the game. The Option menu is in the Office to the left, along the bookshelf where the radio sits. Mouse over this area and the Option word will popup.
You should look over the SHIV Guide. There is a link to this guide below my signature (sub picture). You can also download the manual, the link is there to but I think as stated above you will see there isn't much to it. The SHIV Guide is so much better.
Magic452 said something about the SH4 icon on your desk. What he is meaning to say is go to this icon on your desktop, right click it and then go to Properties. Click Properties and look and see if the game is starting with gu.exe or sh4.exe. If it is starting with gu.exe just deleted it and change it to sh4.exe. If it says sh4.exe your good.

Feel free to ask any question you may have. We all started where you are now and had questions to.

Happy Sailing Captain

[fireftr18]

Welcome aboard. Like everyone else said, don't be afraid to ask questions. We are a great group here and willing to help. I like to tell people to make generous use of the training missions, especially the first one. The first one is where you can learn and practice what the subs can do, how to use the interface, switch between the different stations. Read the guides that are at the beginning of the forum, they are a great help. Contrary to what other people here said, the manual was useful to me. I suspect you have one on disk. It explains the basic functions and controls. For any ideas on how to set up attacks, what kind of tactics to use, just browse the forum and/or ask. When you start out, start at the lowest realism levels and then add as you feel comfortable. You'll eventually get to the point where you want to add mods, then the game gets really interesting.

[captgeo]

Welcome Aboard mate, most of your questions have been answered allready,so no need for me to repeat.

Like another member of this forum said, ask ALL the questions U want, we are ALL here to help U out.

Most important info we need is what version U are running.

Here is a map of shipping routes below.

[Todd82TA]

Oh man... I'm so tired.

I finally finished the mission, and I heard birds chirping. I got out of SH4 and realized it was like 3:30. (Edit: 3:30 AM)
I'm totally addicted.

It was awesome. I'm playing on the "Average" level (forgot what you call it) difficultly level. I snuck into the port near Tokyo, and surfaced for a "recon mission" where I took a few pictures. I got attacked by a couple of gun-boats. I was damaged, but managed to wipe them out. When I finished destroying the gun boats, the entire port was mine... there were at least 10-12 cargo ships, 8 of which I sank.

I then dove, went into silent mode, and quietly slipped out of port. As I was leaving port, there were something like a dozen destroyers that were making their way into port (probably to protect the port that I had just violated). I snuck out underneath them, and then made a B-line back to Pearl Harbor...

Awesome! hahah...

[Yooperbacker]

captgeo thanks for posting the Japanese shipping route map. I have now included that map with the US one in my downloads of maps below my signature.

[WernherVonTrapp]