Silent Hunter 5 announced!

[Snake Man 401]

Okay I didn't mean my post taking part of the "DRM" discussion, it was meant that many of the average game sites when they review a sub sim they don't know ... well basically nothing about this genre. This subsim.com guy however has been into sub sims since ... dunno maybe 1990's or something or even earlier.

That is what I meant by "check out this good preview" :)

Personally saying what I think about the "DRM" thing in SH5... would probably make you force to ban me from BIS forums so I wont say a thing :D

[MrBump 10]

Everyone says that SH3 is better than SH4, I've only played SH4 and thought the German expansion pack and the mods made it a great game... why is SH3 better?

[dmarkwick 261]

Everyone says that SH3 is better than SH4, I've only played SH4 and thought the German expansion pack and the mods made it a great game... why is SH3 better?

German submarines, European & Mediterranean seas, spoken German on the sub, great addons.

For a better idea, watch Das Boot :)

[fincuan 0]

German submarines, European & Mediterranean seas, spoken German on the sub, great addons.

Nothing in that list that's not available for SH4.

[MrBump 10]

Yep, the Das Boot miniseries is one of my favourite TV series ever...

SH4 had mods to put german voices into the German subs and you could get Atlantic campaigns, like the Happy time campaigns...?

[Blake 0]

Bought both SH3 (had to use crack to get rid of Starforce) and SH4 (did not work on my DVD drive) but unfortunately this is the end. The DRM policy they have chosen is totally unacceptable and is taking things too far.

[myshaak 0]

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[Snake Man 401]

I played SH3 when it came out, I cant say I played it to the death as I didn't even finish one "war" but I played it a lot.

I tested SH4 when it came out but my computer was too old, it was too sluggish even on lowest details.

When ArmA 2 was released I bought a new computer.

Now just few weeks ago I reinstalled SH4 and started playing, wow, nice graphics and runs fast.

I installed the U-Boat Missions addon/datadisk/etc as I like that area much more and I can then more easily compare it to SH3.

Well I was disappointed as the stock SH4 german uboat missions is located in the pacific and you have to download user mod (I got Operation Monsun) to make it again on atlantic.

As for SH3 -> SH4 differences, on top of my head SH4 is missing the german voices, weather reports... and heh sorry I cant remember anything else but I do know there was some other features which were removed that was really dumb or at least odd why such features would be gone. SH4 looks somehow too clean, difficult to explain. If there are any sub/movie fans, I'd say SH3 is "Das Boot" and SH4 is "U-571" movie wise (cant think of anything else that now summarizes it).

Anyways.

I then installed SH3 because I was missing the good old subsim feeling. And yes, Jahwol Herr Kaleun! right off the bat SH3 felt more dirtier, more grittier and more authentic. You could just smell the diesel fumes, dirt and bearded crew etc. I can't explain it, its just so oldschool good sub sim. Yes SH4 has advanced graphics and technical details, but some features are missing and the campaign in stock uboat missions aren't the same etc, there are many things that are changed for apparently no reason.

So now that SH5 will be released whats going to happen?

Uh I don't know, the role playing aspects and walking around in the sub... I've got mixed feelings on that, on paper I think that what the hell does that have to do with sub sim, I'm not interested of boosting some crew members morale to get my torpedoes loaded unrealistically fast, I'm not interested in Xbox looking user interface and definitely I'm not interested of health bars on enemy ships for crying out loud!

However if all those can be turned off, if you can disregard all the fantasy gaming with the crew... I'm open minded to evaluate it against SH3 for sure (yes, SH three, not four).

So to summarize it up:

- SH3 oldschool dirty german uboat feeling

- SH4 new fancy graphics, limited features, no german uboat feeling

Try both SH3 and SH4 to judge for yourself :)

EDIT: since nobody posted after my post, in fear of moderators getting angry I'm editing this message (therefore it wont show up on new posts, sorry).

Silent Hunter 5 is out at least in Canada now. Check out this subsim.com forum post for picture. Nice to see its released.

Edited February 27, 2010 by Snake Man

[4 IN 1 0]

I played SH3 when it came out, I cant say I played it to the death as I didn't even finish one "war" but I played it a lot.

I tested SH4 when it came out but my computer was too old, it was too sluggish even on lowest details.

When ArmA 2 was released I bought a new computer.

Now just few weeks ago I reinstalled SH4 and started playing, wow, nice graphics and runs fast.

I installed the U-Boat Missions addon/datadisk/etc as I like that area much more and I can then more easily compare it to SH3.

Well I was disappointed as the stock SH4 german uboat missions is located in the pacific and you have to download user mod (I got Operation Monsun) to make it again on atlantic.

As for SH3 -> SH4 differences, on top of my head SH4 is missing the german voices, weather reports... and heh sorry I cant remember anything else but I do know there was some other features which were removed that was really dumb or at least odd why such features would be gone. SH4 looks somehow too clean, difficult to explain. If there are any sub/movie fans, I'd say SH3 is "Das Boot" and SH4 is "U-571" movie wise (cant think of anything else that now summarizes it).

Anyways.

I then installed SH3 because I was missing the good old subsim feeling. And yes, Jahwol Herr Kaleun! right off the bat SH3 felt more dirtier, more grittier and more authentic. You could just smell the diesel fumes, dirt and bearded crew etc. I can't explain it, its just so oldschool good sub sim. Yes SH4 has advanced graphics and technical details, but some features are missing and the campaign in stock uboat missions aren't the same etc, there are many things that are changed for apparently no reason.

So now that SH5 will be released whats going to happen?

Uh I don't know, the role playing aspects and walking around in the sub... I've got mixed feelings on that, on paper I think that what the hell does that have to do with sub sim, I'm not interested of boosting some crew members morale to get my torpedoes loaded unrealistically fast, I'm not interested in Xbox looking user interface and definitely I'm not interested of health bars on enemy ships for crying out loud!

However if all those can be turned off, if you can disregard all the fantasy gaming with the crew... I'm open minded to evaluate it against SH3 for sure (yes, SH three, not four).

So to summarize it up:

- SH3 oldschool dirty german uboat feeling

- SH4 new fancy graphics, limited features, no german uboat feeling

Try both SH3 and SH4 to judge for yourself :)

EDIT: since nobody posted after my post, in fear of moderators getting angry I'm editing this message (therefore it wont show up on new posts, sorry).

Silent Hunter 5 is out at least in Canada now. Check out this subsim.com forum post for picture. Nice to see its released.

The US submarine warfare in pacific is very different from its german counterpart, there isnt much to be compare between them(eventhrough the US had acturally used a tweaked version of wolf pack tactic in that time), also people felt discinnected because the fact that they are not playing as "u-boat"(which sounds cool and badass) but the USS(what? Who? Where? Blah! for most people)dispite the fact that pacific naval war are just as bloody -if not bloodier- then the other side of the world, I do agree that a lots of features is missing and I do miss the old damage control panel and the vets interview from the old SH1 days :p

Edited March 4, 2010 by 4 IN 1

[myshaak 0]

EDIT: Post removed (DRM Discussion)

Edited March 4, 2010 by Myshaak

[Iroquois Pliskin 0]

Am I correct to assume that the game is out for like what, 2 days, and the protection is already broken? Good job UBI, the paying customers are so proud and happy :p

Actually, less than 24 hours.

You can never trust those peasant warehouse loaders... :D

[Placebo 28]

Discussing piracy/cracking is not acceptable on these forums. Both of you have been around long enough to know that.

[myshaak 0]

Discussing piracy/cracking is not acceptable on these forums. Both of you have been around long enough to know that.

Sorry about that, I didn't mean to sound like piracy is something I approve, it's just this particular case that is... unique.

[Blake 0]

The buzz is that SH5 is very buggy even after the first patch and there is the DRM so I've started to sail on SH4 again after some time. With the U-boat missions addon upgrading the game to v1.5 even the "vanilla" version is actually very captivating. Leaving now smooth-running great graphics aside, the missions are more varied than in stock SH3, crew management is far more better and realistic as they work in shifts and there are more commands for the captain. In the campaign you really feel the war is really progressing as the ports change hands and focus of naval operations change all the time. Putting all the prejudices and old preferences aside, I think the Pacific theater is fascinating to operate and the feeling of larger US fleet boats is very different from smaller VIIs of Germany.

I'm still using old Silent Service II manual to read some history and tactics to get into the mood and also watched Run Silent, Run Deep. So I suggest Snake Man & others to give it another shot.

[Snake Man 401]

Oh I have all of them installed now:

d:\games\sh3

d:\games\sh4uboat

d:\games\sh5

:)

Silent Hunter 5. I bought it (I cant believe that happened), played it... well it is looking great, the graphics are like watching a movie really (not including crew animations). There are few new features like the time compression travel mode and SHIFT-+ key combination to immediately jump into 8192 time compression etc... but there is also tons and tons of old features removed from the UI.

As expected the console UI is horrible, just disgusting really.

So far of about 10hrs or so gameplay, I have not used the RPG elements in crew management much at all, I think I once clicked the discussion dialog and it was really stupid in my opinion. It has no place in sub sim. I have nothing against it being there if it can be avoided which looks like it can, but thinking about how much more developing time the dev team would had if such rubbish would have been left out, oh well.

Default 1.00 shop version is buggy, really buggy. v1.1 patch was out before the game was shops in EU area, which is ok to me.

Editing support seems to be very good also, there is the default mission editor which has been changed (upgraded?), goblin editor for 3D and other stuff and also terrain editor which curiously need to be launched withing SH5 game itself.

Honestly I've had so little time in-game for it so far that even though I've familiar with the basic operations now, I still cant really go either way to say if its good or bad. I need more time to play to get more deeper into the campaign and so on. Oh and sure, more patches from developers, there is still bad bugs which need to be fixed.

At this point, right now, would I recommend anyone to buy this... uh tough call, if you are die hard sub sim fan, yes buy it just for the sake of being sub sim guy... but for average joe who might find some nice screenshots interesting, dunno really.

I don't really want to take part of the DRM discussion and its relation to the game itself.

[dmarkwick 261]

The impression I'm getting, from reading the various discussion forums, is that you get a more concise and better sim experience playing a modded SH3 than you can get playing SH5. Inevitable graphic improvements and first-person nonsense aside, I don't see any reason to "upgrade" yet. In fact many people are calling it a downgrade, sim-wise.

[fincuan 0]

Editing support seems to be very good also, there is the default mission editor which has been changed (upgraded?), goblin editor for 3D and other stuff and also terrain editor which curiously need to be launched withing SH5 game itself.

This is probably the greatest thing about SH5: Finally some tools! Previously all modding tools were user-made and we had nothing from Ubi. It's now also possible to script in the game with a proprietary python-like "silent hunter script", although if I've understood things correctly it's pretty limited: You cannot assign new variables for example. There's also still no support for loading data from anywhere else apart from the original locations, so you'll actually have to overwrite original files to get your mods into the game :eek:

Oh, and afaik Goblin editor is pretty much similar in function to the user-made S3D, ie. it handles the data files and allows you to import and export 3d-models into game-readable format but doesn't have any 3d-editing capabilities on its own.

[LondonLad 13]

Oh dear UBIsoft!!

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/ubisoft-drm-assassin-s-creed-online,news-32919.html

[TangoRomeo 10]

The impression I'm getting, from reading the various discussion forums, is that you get a more concise and better sim experience playing a modded SH3 than you can get playing SH5.

Not much more to add. Substract visuals, which weren't too bad in SH4 either, and the player is left with an mediocre, unfinished, product that didn't build on- nor improve on it's predecessors. Same book, different cover. Only this time they tried to fit in Tolkiens hobbits into their idea of a spezialized book on submarine warfare.

[sudayev 27]

This game isn't worth the money.

My impressions are very negative.

Here's a loose list.

- Lack of ANY tutorial. You have to spend many hours and nerves to discover basic game features. I spent 40 minutes to figure out how to fire from a deck gun. Very discouraging.

- Pitiful game manual

- Very annoying and cumbersome GUI

- Tons of bugs, flaws and glitches. Ex. Deck crew remians on the deck when underwater

- TDC ? What TDC? Where are these fine controls from SH3?

- Timeline up to 1943. 43-45 as crappy dlc I suppose.

- U Boot feeling. When battle stations are on, and ship is bombarded with charges some crew members behave very stiff, some of them enjoy their time while resting on thier bunks. Wearing shorts and uniform jacket on winter stormy day somewhere in the North Atlantic is a great idea too!

- Nerve wracking crew management. Everything is like automatic, we have very small controll of everything.

- Lack of SH3 manual controls like gauges, bearings and such.

- Snippy ship recognition book. No dimensions, tonnage, only a picture of a ship.

- LADDER you have to fight with to enter/leave deck. For example I was attacked by 3 english planes and I was unable to quickly leave the deadly zone on the deck only because of this stupid ladder you have to point exactly and get down. What a bloody natural perversity of inanimate objects!

- Why do I have to approach every crew members to give them a specific

order ? Being a submarine captain is a like a being a sodding running dog.

- This is submarine sim or captain sim ? I'm getting this second impression more.

- Not ot mention fantastic DRM.

Great job Ubi, wrong course. SHV - Operation Flashpoint 2.

NO NO NO. THis game at THIS moment is a total screw up and fail. It will require a tons of patches and game mods to become playable. Just like SH4 became playable after two years.

Only things I like about this game. There are few. Superb graphics, crew's special abilities player can activate to gain certain profits, missions.

Now let me uninstall SHV and go back to the real deal which is SH3 + GWX (GWX has 500 pages of manual&almanach to read)

SHV 3/10. For now.

Edited March 12, 2010 by Sudayev

[Snake Man 401]

"A better question is: What exactly is a finished game? One thing I know, Silent Hunter 5 isn't one." -Subsim.com review.

That review is quite nice, although I'm personally bit surprised how "bad" Mr Neal Stevens slammed SH5 even though his site is even linked on official ubisoft's SH5 main page. But then again... should he lie, he spoke the truth, so I guess its OK.

I have now been playing quite a lot of SH5. I'm using few mods, but none of those that change the UI, I'm still sort of punishing myself to stick with the idiotic console UI and keyboard setup and to that I've now learned how to use it.

It still amazes me how incredibly beautiful the graphics are, while I never take graphics over game play, I must admit that cool graphics go long way. I'd say the generic SH3/SH4 game play is on the "bottom" of the SH5 core so its pretty okay setup as it is (with the console UI and stuff).

Campaign is being advertised as "Dynamic", well I'm kind of wondering if that's one of those things where people call it dynamic just for the fancy D word. I mean when looking at the campaign files all the convoys, ship routes etc are scripted. Hey did you hear that, SCRIPTED? Yep, so its dynamic by how exactly? yes sure there is for example convoy X traveling from New York to London and then returning back to New York... but if you as player intercept the convoy, sink it... it disappears and is never to be seen in the campaign. Yes in a way that's dynamic, but lets not kid ourselves, real dynamic with the capital D is campaign like Falcon 4 has where targets are tasked, ground units moved etc according to the game phase/player actions etc.

The campaign is on phases and feels even more scripted that way. I've had to endure some *cough* "save game" problems and was stuck hammering the first two missions without passing them. I discovered that there seems to be few task forces, convoys and harbor ships that appear time after time even when you sink them. Is this due my save game problems or by designs, I can't say. Just and observation really.

Anyways, the campaign rocks in SH5, don't get me wrong. It is so huge that there is way too much to discover and so forth.

The ubisoft launcher seems to save games terribly long time with my internet connection. It can be easily staying up more than 5 minutes after I exit from SH5. Maybe this is my lagging internet connection or maybe its this slow for everyone, I cant say.

Today after several hours of game play... SH5 feels OK enough to keep me playing and learning more. Yes there are issues, severe issues... but I think I start to see the bright future with user made mod's and so on. The near future shows if ubisoft authorizes the dev team to release more patches. Without patches as is now... in the long run, I'd go back to SH3/SH4 I think.