Silent Hunter III ships

[Nelson]

Or perhaps should I say 'Silent Hunter sinks ships".

Anyway, if you enjoy lurking in the North Atlantic like I do, this one should be good. Includes a dynamic campaign.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/03/15/news_6120450.html

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

This sounds really quite interesting. How steep is the learning curve of the silent hunter games?

Edit-found a review. (http://www.subsim.com/ssr/sh3_rc1/sh3_review1.htm) This sounds awesome, I will probably get it.

[Voigtkampf]

I’ll be getting it tomorrow, I suppose, or day after. It seems I’ll be doing a review of that one as well.

Can’t wait to shout “torpedoes away!” :charge:

[Catiline]

This sounds really quite interesting. How steep is the learning curve of the silent hunter games?

Edit-found a review. (http://www.subsim.com/ssr/sh3_rc1/sh3_review1.htm) This sounds awesome, I will probably get it.

Apparently the manual is 571 pages long

That said, it sounds very good.

[The_Doctor]

Is there a/going to be a demo?

I have never played a game like that before. It looks quite good.

[Blodrast]

not too steep. I played the first one for quite a while, together with "Aces of the Deep" (which is quite old).
A common characteristic of both games, which I'm sure will exist in SH3, is the "realism" settings. Basically, you can play any combination between an invincible sub with perfect torpedoes that never run out, without weather affecting you, and a very realistic sub sim. And most controls were quite intuitive, even for those old games - and I'm sure they're improved in SH3.

If you haven't played this genre before (i.e., a sub sim), a word of warning: even though there is an in-game "time warp" feature (i.e., speed up time, by up to huge factors like 4k or such), the absolute majority of your time will be spent navigating around watching for ships/stalking them, without too much "action" happening... you'll spend more than an hour just to fire one lousy torpedo...and so on.
That's not to say it can't be fun, ofc, but YMMV. Even the old games had cool music/sounds, so I expect a lot of cool stuff from SH3.

edit: dunno about a demo, but both AOD and SH1 are prolly abandonware, and you can find them as such. I'd give you links, but froggy edited them out in the past, because they're prolly sensitive material, so google it up.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

Woo, I found an abandonware version of CAotD. Any tips?

[Spino]

Wow, Subsim.com gave it a perfect score! If a hardcore sim site gives it that kind of grade it must be the real deal. Count me in! ~D

First Russia gives us Oleg Maddox and his brilliant IL2 and Pacific Fighters sims and now these clever young developers from Romania give us what appears to be the best sub sim ever made!

Thank you Eastern Europe! ~:cheers:

[Jacque Schtrapp]

I've been looking forward to ths one for a while. Hopefully whoever takes the plunge first will inform us as to the true worth of the game. Hurry though, there is simply to damned much allied shipping in the north atlantic. ~;)

[CBR]

Hm I was really looking forward to this game but it appears stuff like wolfpacks and resupply boats (milk cows) are not in. You will basically be all alone in the Atlantic heh.

I find it silly how subsim can give the game 100/100 in score with stuf like that missing. But then again...not the first time reviewers have been blinded by graphics ~;)


CBR

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

wolfpacks and resupply boats (milk cows) are not in. You will basically be all alone in the Atlantic heh.

According to the review those are both going to be in patches, the resupply boats coming very soon.

[CBR]

And that unfortunately seems like wishful thinking or bad info as the devs have given an update on some of the issues: http://forums.ubi.com/eve/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=400102&f=857101043&m=5271046292


1. Wolfpacks
For Wolfpacks we need specific AI (sub AI), this is a complex task and if there is some serious development time at our disposal it could be included if we make an add-on.

2. Ships in harbours, destroyer & warship patrols, anti submarine nets, sunk ships on the bottom, harbour traffic...
This may be possible in a future patch.

3. Milk cows and re supply
This may be possible in a future add-on (but we would need to deal with some other difficulties first before concerning ourselves with this feature).

4. Special missions (mine-laying, saving someone, reconnaissance, weather reports...)
The weather report is only useful if we have Wolfpacks, if we don't have Wolfpacks this feature is not useful.

5. Communication with Bdu (complex and lots more of it)
This may be possible in an add-on (it’s another complex task), but would require Wolfpacks for it to be useful for communications.

So most stuff might be added in a possible add-on.


CBR

[Nelson]

My brother just called and told me that he bought SH3 for me for my recent birthday. I should take it on a shakedown cruise this weekend. It’s going for $40 at CompUSA and EB.

The game apparently allows co-op vs the AI with up to 8 players. So it may be possible to do wolfpack ops with friends.

[CBR]

I think MP is max 4 player for internet and max 8 player for LAN play.


CBR

[Nelson]

If you haven't played this genre before (i.e., a sub sim), a word of warning: even though there is an in-game "time warp" feature (i.e., speed up time, by up to huge factors like 4k or such), the absolute majority of your time will be spent navigating around watching for ships/stalking them, without too much "action" happening... you'll spend more than an hour just to fire one lousy torpedo...and so on.


Absolutely true. Despite liking them a lot, I have to be in just the right mood to play sub sims. They are a lot like the Thief series. Stealth, self control and patience are the real tools of the trade. Runnin’ and gunnin’ makes for a short career.

[Wilbo]

I recently read The Hunt for Red October (I got it for chrsitmas) and since then I've really really wanted to try a Submarine game. Would you guys reccomend trying SHII before trying this?

Where did you get SHII Big King San.?

[CBR]

Wilbo:

If you are interested in a modern subsim then you should try out Dangerous Waters. Its a very detailed sim that has 7 different playable platforms (also surface and air units)

Its a game with a steep learning curve so it will take some time to learn all aspects of the game. The game shipped around a month ago and a demo is available as well as some video tutorials.

http://www.battlefront.com/products/dw/index.html

Graphics are not as good as Silent Hunter 3 but as you spend most of the time looking at a map or sensor stations it doesnt matter much. MP is 24 players max.


CBR

[Spino]

Some bad news about Silent Hunter III.

Per the official forums it seems UBI has utilized the controversial copy protection system known as Starforce 3 for SH III. For the life of me I do not see the logic in resorting to such a drastic and intrusive copy protection scheme like SF3 for such a complicated, niche game like SH3. The average attention deficit disorder afflicted gamer generally avoids any and all complicated sims like the plague, whether they have to pay for it or not. For games like Doom 3, Far Cry, Halo and Warcraft III I can see the logic in using a drastic copy protection scheme like SF3. Those are ridiculously popular, multi-million unit sales type titles and most gamers (and certainly most piraters) are going to want to get their grubby paws on them.

But when it comes down to it Starforce 3 is not a good thing for legitimate owners of games that use it. Read on...

For the unitiated the Starforce 3 copy protection system not only utilizes standard on-disc protection schemes but it also installs custom drivers on your system which monitor your IDE channels (especially your CD & DVD drives) for Starforce protected discs. The biggest outcry against Starforce 3 from legitimate owners of games that are protected by it is its lack of compatibility with certain CD/DVD drives, the outrageous installation of its own drivers (which also incorporate itself into your Device Manager), the system instability known to be created by said drivers and last but not least, the residual files and registry entries that remain even after you've uninstalled the game and the Starforce drivers!

The good news is Starforce 3 gives piraters fits. It really is an effective copy protection solution. It's not perfect but it's success rate is quite high. There is no doubt Starforce is an effective protection scheme but at what cost?

Basically if you're the kind of person who makes legitimate backups of your games for your own personal use so as to avoid wear and tear on the original discs you can forget about it with Starforce protected games.

There's no way I am not buying SHIII. It's too good of a sim to ignore. I sincerely hope and pray I'm not one of those users whose system gets hosed by Starforce's lovely drivers.

[Nelson]

Installation was an ordeal. You can expect the DVD version to whine and moan like a cow birthing a calf while you install this thing. And when you finally get it installed you are not out of the woods yet.

The copy protection is such a pain in the butt that sometimes the game will not start and I am forced to open and close the DVD tray to reinitiate. On other occasions it will start normally. It’s a crapshoot. This protection scheme punishes the good citizen buyer again and again.

That said, SH3 is worth the effort to get it running. I played it for a few hours this weekend and all I did was practice the tutorials where you take examination missions. These give you a chance to learn to handle the boat and employ the weapons without danger.

The graphics are absolutely first rate. The ocean looks good and all ships are very detailed. You can move the free camera anywhere above or below the waves. Sound is excellent too.

The deck gun and AAA are easy to use even in realistic mode. The torpedo launching is a cinch on easy being pretty much point and shoot. At high realism you must acquire a firing solution manually. This entails IDing the target, estimating the angle on the bow, determining target speed with a stopwatch and using the adjustable mil lines in the attack periscope to get the range, all of which need to be done quickly before any of the inputs become too old. It’s a challenge but very satisfying when you get it all right and are rewarded with a resounding BOOM!

Vessels sink in many different ways depending on where or how they were struck. The may capsize, break in two or slide under by the bow or stern. Secondary explosions can also occur. Deck cargo can even detach and float for a while.

Judging from the map, a campaign can cover the North and South Atlantic as well as the Med. That’s a lot of ocean to prowl.

I haven’t begun a campaign yet but the manual (60 pages in the US release) says that crew management is an important part of the game. Every crew member is named and has his own rating for moral, fatigue and health. Officers can have up to 3 qualifications and warrant officers one. There are 9 qualifications such as torpedoes, gunnery, flak or engines.

Once I’ve learned to get torpedo solutions quickly I’ll leave the Baltic and begin to frighten Churchill!

[Red Harvest]

Too bad about the copy protection. :furious3: That really sucks. I won't give any game that sort of cart blanche to f*** up my system. I'll have to drop SHIII from my list.

Ironically, I hope the pirates can figure out away around this one. I don't want anything screwing with my IDE drivers. The sooner this new copy protection is dead the better. I don't like piracy, but the cure is often worse than the disease. What is really ironic is that it now becomes more likely that I would resort to a pirated version of the game than the original. Even though I don't run any pirated software at the moment... And I'll be voting with my wallet to avoid that type of intrusion. :furious3: :furious3: :furious3:

[Spino]

Installation of SHIII was problem free for me. Other than a unusually long delay (as in slightly longer than usual) due to my DVD drive 'spooling up' when I first began the installation process the install went perfectly. Furthermore whenever I start the game up my DVD drive reads the disc with no trouble at all. I imagine the Starforce 3 on-disc copy protection is what's giving people's DVD drives fits. It's probably more finicky with hardware than Safedisc which I believe is the most commonly used copy protection scheme on the market today. For what it's worth I installed SHIII from my Lite-On 48x DVD-ROM (model escapes me now) which was top rated and state of the art about two years ago. Sure, I despise Starforce 3 but it's given me no problems... yet. ~:eek:

Even though I am using the latest patch I did run into one problem, a genuine bug. I discovered that when I run the game from the disc based menu or via the Start button menu I will get a cloudless black sky during the daytime and black moonless nights or a normal sky and black moonless nights. The black sky also visibly obscures ships at a certain distance. The thing common to both types of situations is the constant presence of a massive graphical anomaly, a giant white disc against a black square, which sits in the portion of the sky where the sun or moon should be. Thankfully the fix is quick and painless. Simply run the game from the desktop icon or make a shortcut from the executable in the install directory and use that instead. Everything should look picture perfect. It's a well documented bug on the SHIII forums.

More on the game later. Time to leave work.

[Voigtkampf]

Yes, the scene has been sweating over this one. Starforce 3 (I believe the latest version is 3.15) is the best encryption to date, and is virtually indestructible at this moment. Yet, however, even unlike the larger part of the scene itself(which I regularly follow, as a part of what I do on the PC scene, but I do not belong to pirate scene), I am fairly certain that it will be cracked eventually. Tools like Starf*** and Starforce Nightmare Utilities are the first step, as soon this copy protection spreads, the major groups will begin competing over its demise. Once that is come to pass, SF is history.

I believe that Silent Hunter 3, though a very good and promising game, is one that aims at only a marginal niche of the market; if Starforce 3 has been implemented in Half Life 2, it would have been broken by now for sure. I am still considering whether to review it at all, since it will undoubtedly mess my computer up (which I predetermined if you have Nero or Alcohol installed) and I am not very fond of that idea.

[Voigtkampf]

Well, what do you know, just got the news Silent Hunter has been cracked, and is in the circulation. I actually cannot yet believe it, and I’m still inclined to believe that it is not fully functional game - after all, it would be somewhat too fast, even with the prior work on this area - but it is out there in the muddy waters. If it would prove to be working, what kind of the blow would it be in the face of all the people that bought the original and suffered or the secondary, unintended side effects of the Starforce protection? I dislike the game already merely over its protection, I would have so much wanted to test my skill against real submarine commanders online, but not at the cost of turning my system upside down.


Stay tuned for more information.

[Red Harvest]

Yep, apparently it is cracked, LOL.

Saw this statement while I was browsing:

Loved the comment on the dev board by the lead saying he won't install his own game at home because of Star Force. If that's not a strong statement as ever I don't know what is...

I guess if I ever want to play it, I'll have to pirate it. That sucks.

[Hosakawa Tito]

voigtkampf, do you mean that this Starforce protection will conflict with Nero even if one doesn't attempt to burn a copy of SH3 ? Sigh, there goes another game I'd like to have.

[Spino]

Well, what do you know, just got the news Silent Hunter has been cracked, and is in the circulation. I actually cannot yet believe it, and I’m still inclined to believe that it is not fully functional game - after all, it would be somewhat too fast, even with the prior work on this area - but it is out there in the muddy waters. If it would prove to be working, what kind of the blow would it be in the face of all the people that bought the original and suffered or the secondary, unintended side effects of the Starforce protection? I dislike the game already merely over its protection, I would have so much wanted to test my skill against real submarine commanders online, but not at the cost of turning my system upside down.


Stay tuned for more information.
Yes, I caught that as well. Last night I was checking to see whether a no-cd exe crack had been released for RTW 1.2 and spotted the news that SHIII had been cracked and released by a group. Now that they've found a way to beat Starforce 3 I wonder if 'the scene' will release a no-cd crack for the 1.1 patch which was released shortly after SHIII hit the shelves. I'd love to be able to keep the damn DVD in its case.


voigtkampf, do you mean that this Starforce protection will conflict with Nero even if one doesn't attempt to burn a copy of SH3 ? Sigh, there goes another game I'd like to have.
It shouldn't do that. I believe Starforce 3 only prevents the use of such apps when it detects a Starforce 3 disc in an optical drive. I could be wrong! In addition to my DVD-ROM drive I also have a DVD-R/W drive in my gaming rig so I'll try and burn something tonight.

[Blodrast]

slightly OTish (sorry), but, voigtkampf, perhaps Starforce only interferes with Nero 's ImageDrive ? (i.e., if you don't have ImageDrive installed, it might be ok). just a thought.

[Voigtkampf]

voigtkampf, do you mean that this Starforce protection will conflict with Nero even if one doesn't attempt to burn a copy of SH3 ? Sigh, there goes another game I'd like to have.

To put it down simply, AFIK, Starforce behaves like a paranoid berserk. If it only senses the presence of Nero or Alcohol or any similar burning/emulating tools, you are in the world to hurt.

The best thing is that no one can tell you for sure whether this always works like this. Generally, people simply experience random malfunctions of all sorts, the protection acting as a unique as the configuration is it gets to be installed upon.

So, you may or may not have problems; the game may run smoothly (this I doubt sincerely), have few occasional glitches (general experience I have collected so far) and completely FUBAR your system (heard this to happen every now and then). There are no guarantees until you try it out.


slightly OTish (sorry), but, voigtkampf, perhaps Starforce only interferes with Nero 's ImageDrive ? (i.e., if you don't have ImageDrive installed, it might be ok). just a thought.

I believe that it will almost certainly cause serious conflicts with Alcohol. Then again, it is as random as it can get.


I still play with the idea to review the game. I might get it soon, maybe I’ll give it a try in spite of all the notorious problems SF3 might cause; that way, I will at least have something to poke in my PC around.

[Red Harvest]

The ultimate test of anti-piracy software is whether or not it increases your profits. I suspect StarForce 3 is going to have the opposite effect.

[Hosakawa Tito]

It will with me. I'm not shelling out $40+ for a game that has a good chance of being unplayable on my machine. It's not likely you can return it to get your money back. Thanks for the info, I will just have to look elsewhere or hold out till Battlefield2.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

I've installed the game-no glitches as yet and I'm having a blast. I must be one of the lucky ones.

[Hosakawa Tito]

Oh, he's tempting me. The question is, do I feel lucky? :juggle:

[Spino]

Well I burnt an iso image to DVD with Alcohol 120% tonight and Starforce's drivers didn't make so much as a peep. I've had zero problems with Starforce 3 so far.

[Nelson]

Well Tito I can say that while SH3 does annoy me at times it always starts sooner or later and once it does it is rock solid and GREAT! Hours of play and the only things to crash have been the planes I've shot down.


Well I burnt an iso image to DVD with Alcohol 120% tonight and Starforce's drivers didn't make so much as a peep. I've had zero problems with Starforce 3 so far.

That's good to know.

[frogbeastegg]

If we can steer this away from piracy and back towards the game ...

But do keep on discussing starforce if you wish; given it's reputation I think it's important for anyone considering buying this game to know how starforce is doing at present.

I read a bit about Starforce a while ago (it ended up on a game I had some interest in ... end result was that I didn't even try the demo), and it seems as if the complaints and general dislike of the original starforce system has lead to some changes. Starforce now uninstalls correctly when you remove the game which installs it, instead of lingering on, hidden. The makers claimed that was actually a bug. I think they also tweaked how it reacts to burning programs and so on, but don't quote me on that. I don't remember where I saw the article ... it was about 5 months ago ... maybe on gamespot/spy.

The initial 'issues' with a slightly 'buggy' starforce have led to it getting a very bad reputation, much to the pain of the developers. They were the ones writing half that article ...

[el_slapper]

Copy protection is a huge problem. I recently did buy the silent storm gold pack. Good games, but here is not the topic.

I've had the greatest difficulties to play Silent storm itself. Basically, I had to shut off everything internet related(firewell included) to get it work.

Silent Storm Sentinels was even worse : I've been able to play it only once I patched it. The patch came out 1 week after my purchase.....and I discovered it really randomly, I could have easily missed that one. This is the kind of things that pirates use to justify pirate copies.....

[Sasaki Kojiro]

I don't see how a company putting stringent copy protection on their game is an excuse to pirate it :confused:

[Voigtkampf]

Into the breech, my friends, once again!

I can’t get myself away from that game, apparently, and I have accepted to review it.

As I’ve said, some may get lucky, others not; well, this punk is feeling lucky, I guess.


@Kojiro; of course that there is no real excuse for piracy. On the other hand, if regular users are considering pirate copies out of fear that the original will mess up their computers, one might reconsider the benefits of such protection. Dead cold advice from the PC veterans around me was to get the copy, why would I bother with the original? The answer is that I want to play online! I want to - once I have mastered the art of controlling the boats - fight against real opponents, real time.

You should not support piracy and always buy original games. Even if you have acquired a pirated copy of the game, buy the original if you liked the product and support the games creators!

[Red Harvest]

I don't see how a company putting stringent copy protection on their game is an excuse to pirate it :confused:

Wrong terminology, this is not simply copy protection. They are putting malware on your PC behind your back, malware that can trash it. Frankly, that provides a very good reason to pirate it (minus the malware) instead of buying it. It is not a money issue, it is an application "fitness for use" issue. I have no problem paying for games, and I don't pirate, but if I find out I can get the game without malware being installed, I'm more likely to go that route than install the malware containing version of the game.

The ethical option that might work for some is downloading the cracked game minus the malware, and buying a legal copy. However, that has a serious problem for me as well...it still rewards the company for instituting a very invasive copy protection scheme. And that is the wrong message to be sending to the industry.

So I'm stuck in an ethical dilemna when even considering SH3--no matter which way I look at. I don't like being placed in that sort of ethical bind, so I'll probably just avoid the game altogether. That path is at least clearly marked.

[Voigtkampf]

Ok, lads with the game, I want a debriefing on the MP quality. How is it? What mods are there? Wolfpack enabled? Is the sea unlimited or do you have sorts of maps? Are there sessions or is it live and kicking, like WoW?


Details, many of them RIGHT NOW! Please! :charge:

[Voigtkampf]

Come on, nobody playing MP!?! Throw in few bits, for crying out loud! :charge:

[Krypta]

Ok, lads with the game, I want a debriefing on the MP quality. How is it? What mods are there? Wolfpack enabled? Is the sea unlimited or do you have sorts of maps? Are there sessions or is it live and kicking, like WoW?


Details, many of them RIGHT NOW! Please! :charge:

IMHO, SH3 is prolly one of the best games ive played in a very long time, not a word of a lie. Except for me not having the latest directx(which caused an initial problem with my vid card and having the game recognise my system as meeting the requirements to play the game-but once I installed directx properly, game booted and everything was fine), I haven't had a problem with Starforce, or anything for that matter. Graphics are top notch, best ive seen on a game, single player has dynamic campaign and single missions("Battle of the Bismark mission" is wicked...nothing like seeing 15 inch guns go off...heh). The Sea is continous with changing weather conditions, which basically means you may cross a patrol area and the day is calm, clear skies and then return to find 15 km/h winds , rain and thunder, so no the game isnt divided up into maps, the campaign map is flowing I guess you could say. As far as MP goes, there is minor connection bug, where the Ready Button isnt at first shown, but appears after a few alt+tabs. With that said, since I tried MP, i've been playing it for a week straight, it is literally awesome. MP can have up to 8 players playing against AI comp with varying degrees of difficulty, with default scenarios, or you can create your own scenarios for online play with the battle editor that comes with the game. And trust me the AI can be really really hard especially when you have upwards of 6 Destroyers protecting the convoy...I had a Mp game last night with like 6 guys and none of us could even surface to fire a single torp cuz the DD's were dropping so many depth charges all around , so we all had to quit, heh. Great game IMO, worth every dollar of the 60$ I spent on it.

[Voigtkampf]

Thank you very much, Krypta, it sounds as much as I have expected it to be.

Can you play vs human opponents, or only versus the AI? I suppose against AI only; the AI controls the ships while the player controls the submarines. It would be nice though if one could play mano a mano too…

[Krypta]

Well I've seen a few games being hosted, where there were Human vs. Human deck gun battles, but I havent played that type of game personally(the joy of putting 4 fish into the side of a 30,000 tonne ship and watching it come apart, is far better then a measily sub), so I guess yeah. The main challenge with MP is to sink the most ships, total warship and merchant tonnage is tallied at the end of the game-and each player is awarded reknown based upon that. But again its not as simple as that, there can be varying degrees difficulty for all players including, AI skill, # and type of escorts, depth, skill of your crew, weather and sea conditions. Its a great game, pick it up you won't be dissappointed. ~:)

[Voigtkampf]

I intend on doing so, by all means. Thank you once more, Krypta. ~:)

[Hosakawa Tito]

I took the plunge and ordered it. Thanks for the debriefing all.

[Hosakawa Tito]

I got the game in the mail today. I tried to install it and couldn't even get the install screen to come up. I called their tech support number and got the answer to my problem. I need a DVD CD-ROM drive to replace my CD/RW drive in order to play it. :wall: I tink I'm gonna cry. ~D

[Krypta]

Yeah, I had to go out and buy one too. DVD roms are pretty cheap though, I paid 30$ cdn for mine. I know its a pain in the a## to have to go out and buy one in order to play a game, but I justified it as an investment, as I think more and more games companies will prolly start migrating towards using DVD's instead of 3 or 4 cd's to pack their games on. Please note: I think it says on the box that certain dvd writers are not supported, so keep that in mind when or if you decide to buy one. Like I said, I spent 30$ cdn on a basic "run of the mill" 16x dvd rom, and the game works fine. If you have any more problems just post them here or pm me, and I'll try and help you.

[Hosakawa Tito]

Does the Ubisoft site list compatible DVD ROM Drives? I don't want to go through this hassle more than once. My current CD/RW ROM 52X Drive I use to write backup files etc... I imagine a DVD/RW is a bit more expensive than the vanilla DVD Drive. Like you said, most decent games in the future will be DVD format so it is an investment. Thanks for your helpKrypta ! ~:cheers:

[Rob The Bastard]

. I need a DVD CD-ROM drive to replace my CD/RW drive in order to play it.

Ha! you too?

I just stole my wife's DVD unit from her PC... and asked one as a birthday present ( you could try that, Tim )

~:)

[Jango Fett]

my nero stopped burning things ever since i installed half life 2...it just says "waiting for drive to get ready" then stays like that and i cannot burn absolutely anything, this anti piracy stuff is a real pain in the ass..beware.

[Spino]

Does the Ubisoft site list compatible DVD ROM Drives? I don't want to go through this hassle more than once. My current CD/RW ROM 52X Drive I use to write backup files etc... I imagine a DVD/RW is a bit more expensive than the vanilla DVD Drive. Like you said, most decent games in the future will be DVD format so it is an investment. Thanks for your helpKrypta ! ~:cheers:

Don't knock yourself silly Hosa and DO NOT get just any old DVD-R/RW drive! Go and get the NEC ND-3520A DVD-R/RW from Newegg, it's one of the best DVD burners out there, can burn CDs and can burn dual layer DVDs to boot. I installed SHIII with my older Lite-On DVD-ROM drive but I tried the SHIII disc out in in my NEC ND-2500A and it not only works but it took even less time to recognize and read the disc! Newegg is an outstanding reseller and their prices for the barebones OEM package is hard to beat!

With burning software... $62 & $1 s&h!

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=27-152-038&DEPA=1

Without.... $52 & free shipping!

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-152-035&depa=1

[Hosakawa Tito]

Thanks Spino ! :thumbsup:

[Navaros]

in my view Starforce is not copy protection. rather it is a trojan/malware that should be boycotted at all costs

no game is worth letting malware screw with your hardware IMO, not even Silent Hunter III

oh btw i saw this image on some other forums a while back, i always find it to be totally hilarious

http://webhome.look.ca/~sgfrcsls/starforce%20pwned.jpg

[screwtype]

Time flies like the wind. Fruit flies like bananas.

I really needed to know that ~:)

[Krypta]

Hey Fellas,

I just wanted to let you know that Ubi has just released patch 1.2 for Silent Hunter 3. From reading the patch description, seems they have fixed a quite a few things, but namely they fixed what is known as the Multiplayer "Ready" bug(which is great ! ~D ). Here's a link to the homepage where you can find links to download the patch.

Silent Hunter 3 Homepage(Has Links to the Patches) (http://silenthunteriii.com/uk/home.php)


BTW: Hosakawa are you running it yet?(ie Bought a dvd?, no other problems?)

[Spino]

Hey Fellas,

I just wanted to let you know that Ubi has just released patch 1.2 for Silent Hunter 3. From reading the patch description, seems they have fixed a quite a few things, but namely they fixed what is known as the Multiplayer "Ready" bug(which is great ! ~D ). Here's a link to the homepage where you can find links to download the patch.

Silent Hunter 3 Homepage(Has Links to the Patches) (http://silenthunteriii.com/uk/home.php)


BTW: Hosakawa are you running it yet?(ie Bought a dvd?, no other problems?)

Already?!? EXCELLENT NEWS!!!

Hey kids, check out the 1.2 changelog...


1.2 Changes and Additions


SHIPS & AIRPLANES DAMAGE SYSTEM
Improvements in collision and damage model have been made for several ships:
Liberty Cargo
C2 Cargo
T2 Tanker
T3 Tanker
Tug Boat
LST

CAMPAIGN DATA
Netherlands properly enters and exits the war now
Gdansk is now renamed Danzig when under German control
Added mine fields and anti sub nets ~D

INTERFACE
Local time displayed (under the current date) when the mouse is over the current hour (bottom-right corner) in game; this local time will depend on the U-Boot position on Earth (which is divided in 24 slices having 15 longitudinal degrees each)
Game version displayed in the bottom-right corner of the main menu page
Data from notepad (top-right section in periscopes or UZO pages) will not be reset on expert mode when the target in view is changing
A new tool: Angle tool (protractor) on navigation map ~D
No weapon officer assist option (a new option in difficulty settings); when this option is checked then the Identify target and Solution to target orders from Weapons officer will be disabled
Wound badge fixed (when drag & drop)

WEATHER SYSTEM
Solved issues related to rain on time compression (rain will not became invisible after long time compression sessions)
A more balanced weather system

GAME EDITOR
Solved Game Editor crashes related to terrain data, mission objectives and triggers
IN-GAME
Solved the black sun problem and environment texture errors
The escorts will now make evasive maneuvers while pursuing contact (depending on the crew skill) ~:eek: ~D ~:cheers:

MULTIPLAYER
Ready button issue was fixed ~:cheers:
Message box issues
The interface to servers list has been slightly updated to reflect the version of the game server and also to show if the server is password protected
The crash that is happening when chatting in session menu has been fixed.
Other minor updates

I simply cannot believe how responsive UBI and SHIII's Romanian based developer (anyone know the name of the developer?) have been with this game. This is the second patch since SHIII's release release roughly 2-3 weeks ago, simply fantastic! This game is one of the best sims I've ever played and it keeps getting better!

[Quid]

Great game if you have a lot of time on your hands. I have been playing like a maniac during the hols now and I can't seem to stop. Nothing beats sneaking up on a convoy and sink the ships undetected. On the other hand, no anger is greater when you run out of ammunition and there are still some juicy corgo ships and tankers left.

Just one little thing I have noticed. When a number of ships engage you, they tend to shoot and sink each other. I have had an instance where an escort had just detected me and was about to bomb me to high heaven, then all of a sudden the cargo ships engage the escort and blow it out of the water. It proved to be convenient but does that really have to be ?

Never the less, highly recommendable and playable. However, as I said, you do need a hell of a lot of spare time.

Ok, I really have to get my car fixed now. Should have done it two weeks ago...

Quid

[Hosakawa Tito]

Got myself a DVD Drive and started playing the tutorials. I can't get past the first step in navigation. I enter the channel okay because you get the initial course and speed before you start. My problem is the stupid radio man doesn't give me the subsequent radio messages. He reports, message received, then when I click on the message report icon the idiot tells me no messages received. He is now swimming with the fishes till I get this figured out. What the hell am I doing wrong?

[Quid]

Press 'M' (to get to the message board) and then press on 'Message Received' and you will get your subsequent orders. These will pretty much be the ones you were told about at the beginning on the 'to pass' sheet (F8, I believe, in game).

Quid

[Spino]

Great game if you have a lot of time on your hands. I have been playing like a maniac during the hols now and I can't seem to stop. Nothing beats sneaking up on a convoy and sink the ships undetected. On the other hand, no anger is greater when you run out of ammunition and there are still some juicy corgo ships and tankers left.

Just one little thing I have noticed. When a number of ships engage you, they tend to shoot and sink each other. I have had an instance where an escort had just detected me and was about to bomb me to high heaven, then all of a sudden the cargo ships engage the escort and blow it out of the water. It proved to be convenient but does that really have to be ?

Never the less, highly recommendable and playable. However, as I said, you do need a hell of a lot of spare time.

That must be a very infrequent occurence because I've never seen it happen once and I've finished roughly 12 patrols (experienced lots of convoys) and and have completed several historical missions. Sounds like a weird bug. Not that I haven't seen friendly fire before, I once had a RN destroyer accidentally fire upon a motionless cargo ship that was situated between my sub and the destroyer. My sub was completely obscured by from the destroyer by the cargo ship's hull (I was really close and using my deck gun). The destroyer's shells kept slamming into the other side of the cargo ship and ultimately helped me deep six her alot faster.

A simple tweak to one of the cfg files can increase time compression beyond 1024x and lessen the doldrums. I have 2048x as my maximum TC setting now. It helps ALOT when traveling through zones with little to no sea traffic.


Got myself a DVD Drive and started playing the tutorials. I can't get past the first step in navigation. I enter the channel okay because you get the initial course and speed before you start. My problem is the stupid radio man doesn't give me the subsequent radio messages. He reports, message received, then when I click on the message report icon the idiot tells me no messages received. He is now swimming with the fishes till I get this figured out. What the hell am I doing wrong?

I didn't play through all the tutorials but I don't believe you're doing anything wrong. Most of the time the only kind of radio messages you'll get are simple, single ship contact updates on your Navigation Map. These messages are not 'proper' radio messages in that there's no descriptive text or spoken statement from your Radio Operator telling you about them. I don't recall ever getting text messages/spoken warnings from my Radio operator for individual ship contacts, only task groups and convoys.

[Quid]

That must be a very infrequent occurence because I've never seen it happen once and I've finished roughly 12 patrols (experienced lots of convoys) and and have completed several historical missions. Sounds like a weird bug. Not that I haven't seen friendly fire before, I once had a RN destroyer accidentally fire upon a motionless cargo ship that was situated between my sub and the destroyer. My sub was completely obscured by from the destroyer by the cargo ship's hull (I was really close and using my deck gun). The destroyer's shells kept slamming into the other side of the cargo ship and ultimately helped me deep six her alot faster.

I have had this happen a few times. I think it may well be friendly fire or at least, initiated by FF. Once a unit is hit by another friendly unit they keep on shooting at each other. I first noticed it in the last practice mission where you have to sink a convoy.



I don't recall ever getting text messages/spoken warnings from my Radio operator for individual ship contacts, only task groups and convoys.

You get them only from an officer on deck and not from the radio operator when the target is close (something like 3km to 7km, depending on weather condition).

The radio operator is really only there to relay and recieve information gathered from other ships (such as positions from convoys) and to send and receive SitReps.

The usual received ones are: 'Keep up the good work' or 'Back to base' (when you ran out of ammunition) or 'Be more agressive'...Only once have I received a base change info.

Again, I think Hosa is missing the 'M' button to actually read the messages as opposed to clicking the radio operator and hope for info. Inevitably, he will tell you that there hasn't been a message. Feed him to the fishes!

Quid

Quid

[Hosakawa Tito]

I got that M button thing okay, though a radioman must be the most useless position in the game so far. Several things: How do you get the sonar man to do anything useful? I ask for sonar contact reports and never get anything, even from 100 meters away. Also, how do you end the patrol during the career missions? I parked my sub in the same sub pen I left in Kiel after completing a successful patrol and no end of mission briefing or acknowledgement. Do you just hit escape and "Dock at Kiel" and get credit for your mission?

[Quid]

I got that M button thing okay, though a radioman must be the most useless position in the game so far. Several things: How do you get the sonar man to do anything useful? I ask for sonar contact reports and never get anything, even from 100 meters away.

To be honest, I'd vote for the sonarman to be the most useless person on the boat. I have had no use for him as of yet. I usually go with the hydrophone. It gives you a pretty accurate description of what lies ahead.


Also, how do you end the patrol during the career missions? I parked my sub in the same sub pen I left in Kiel after completing a successful patrol and no end of mission briefing or acknowledgement. Do you just hit escape and "Dock at Kiel" and get credit for your mission?

Yes. Alternatively, you can hit escape much earlier in the game and just dock at base. This works only if you have no contacts bearing on you but is a useful tool to get back to base quickly when you are done with all your ammunition and don't want to bother manoeuvering your way back. I don't know if that has any influence upon your score. I believe it does not.

Hope that helps.

Quid

[Voigtkampf]

Is there a voice command feature in this game? I would really love to be able to speak the orders instead of typing them. ~D The developers said that a voice command part was envisioned, I read it on the dev’ chat pages, but has it made it to the game?

Also, I found this interesting thread about this issue.

Voice commands with VAC (http://www.simhq.com/simhq3/sims/boards/bbs/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=129;t=000069)

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

Yes. Alternatively, you can hit escape much earlier in the game and just dock at base. This works only if you have no contacts bearing on you but is a useful tool to get back to base quickly when you are done with all your ammunition and don't want to bother manoeuvering your way back. I don't know if that has any influence upon your score. I believe it does not.


I think you get an extra 100 renown for actually returning to your base, rather than just quitting in the middle of the ocean.

[Krypta]

Is there a voice command feature in this game? I would really love to be able to speak the orders instead of typing them. ~D The developers said that a voice command part was envisioned, I read it on the dev’ chat pages, but has it made it to the game?

Also, I found this interesting thread about this issue.

Voice commands with VAC (http://www.simhq.com/simhq3/sims/boards/bbs/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=129;t=000069)

I was over at SubSim.com and I came across this "Silent Hunter III Voice Command v2.3", dunno if this is what you were looking for. Lotsa other mods and tweaks can be found on the page aswell. Have fun ~:)

Downloads, Mods and Tweaks at SubSim.com (http://www.subsim.com/subsim_files/patches.html#sh3)

[Voigtkampf]

Thanks, Krypta, I have already downloaded that thing, the great package with NET included (I didn’t have that one as well) few days ago, but haven’t come around it to install it. Now you present me with a set of voice commands that go along with it! ~:)

Only too bad they are in English, I’ll have to make my own for the German. Shouting English in the German U-boat isn’t exactly fitting, isn’t it? I want Das Boot feeling! ~D~D~D No, I’m not German, I just speak that language well and like the game and the movie much better with it.

Btw, which forums would you recommend me for the Silent Hunter 3? Official, fan forums? I scanned few of them, I would like to hear your opinion. :bow:

[Rob The Bastard]

Hi voigtkampf,

I'm using a sidewinder gamevoice for most of my controls... its great until it gets confused between "crash dive" and "surface" ~;) still, it's a nice gimmick that is well suited to this type of sim. I have the voices responding in German and the message subtitles in English. I did take some screenshots of the game, but they are a couple of Mb each... it would take a few minutes to download each one with a Dial up modem... anyone interested?

[Voigtkampf]

Hi, Rob, guess you are on this submarine trip as well? ~:cheers:

You use what program exactly? Sidewinder gamevoice? Is it freeware? If it is and you have some experience with it, I would love to try it and test it.

…

Hmm, I just went myself and checked it, it is not freeware and on top of that nowhere available at the moment. Seems to be a piece of hardware involved there. Oh well…

I just don’t have the time to stop and fool a bit with the SH3 and the voice commands at the time, but I will do so ASAP.

This game is awesome, I reviewed it and gave it high scores. Best U-boat simulation ever.

:bow:

[Rob The Bastard]

How do you get the sonar man to do anything useful?

Do it yourself...

Try the "h" button... the hydrophone station is quite handy for locating ships while submerged or on dark and stormy nights.

~:)