Silent Hunter III - and how it compares to SH4 & SH5 & good old AOTD

[REV_BL!TZKR!EG]

This is not some stupid "my game is better than yours"-rage, here we attempt to compare the gameplay of

SH3 vs SH4
SH3 vs SH5
SH3 vs AOTD

Enjoy and feel free to comment!


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[REV_BL!TZKR!EG]

Dear fellow KL,

I had written this in view of SiLENT HUNTER III's 10 YEARS ANNiVERSARY and the circumstance that I found more and more names from SH3 in the SH4 sections. The credits-list of "SH4OM" for instance reads like the "who-is-who" of old SH3-times. Background of all this is the truth that we all are pretty much disappointed by SH5 and therefore stick with SH3 and SH4.

Thus let me come to a comparison:

The old approach was: What do you want to play? Which do you like more? U-Boote or Fleet-Boats?
U-Boote: SH3 or AOTD
Fleet-Boats: SH4.
Typ VII: SH5

Another, newer approach is the one I will be taking in this thread - and I request everyone to post his view, his 2-cents(comment) or constructive remarks.


EDiT: The idiots and snots on SuSi have censored that thread and thereby deleted all posts therein, so the above link does no longer work. However, I found it archived at https://archive.is/sT5gl

[REV_BL!TZKR!EG]

What speaks PRO/CON SH3:

• PRO: SH3 is best for German U-Boote
  
• PRO: still continued development of MODs
  
• PRO: SH3 has sooooo many mods out there for it. More so than any other submarine-sim!
  
• PRO: There are mods that add ~1000 extra units to the game!
  
• PRO: all at the time fighting German U-Boot-types: II, VII(A,B,C,C41,U-Flak,D), IX(B,C,C40,D2), XXI, XXIII plus Axis-Italian 600
  
• PRO: has S3C (Silent Hunter III-Commander)
  
• PRO: Gameplay, gameplay, gameplay - best and most immersive playabilty of all SHx-games (I liked SH2 also)
  
• PRO: H.sie & Stiebler-patches provide a lot of fixes (14+24=38 hardcode-fixes!)
  
• PRO: Multiplayer/Wolfpack-games on Tunngle, immense mission-archives!
  
• PRO: has interior-mods, TOMI for example is now working on his interiors again!
  
• PRO: What i LOVE the most about SH3
  
• PRO: KM Grid was hard coded into the SH3.exe
  
• CON: lenghty loading-times
  
• CON: Savegames often crash with CTD.
  
• CON: What i HATE the most about SH3
  
• CON: "babysitting the crew" - but can be switched off by using S3C / no-fatigue
  

The simple fact that so many of us still play it more than 10 years after its release speaks volumes to its quality and playability. You won't be bored anytime soon.

[REV_BL!TZKR!EG]

What speaks PRO/CON SH4:

• PRO: SH4 is best for allied Fleet-Boats - "Operation Monsun", however, has a full German U-boot-campaign just like GWX. Despite the misleading name.
  
• PRO: far better integration of planes WITH ASW-torpedos (incl Fido)
  
• PRO: Graphics have been enhanced significantly over those of the predecessor, and according to the developers, the game's menu system and game-play is to look like a Hollywood movie. The developers chose this approach to appeal to a larger fan-base, hoping to attract players of less realistic, action-oriented games as well as simulator players.
  
• PRO: much more stable engine, not only better-looking
  
• PRO: loading-times way better because only the nearest objects are loaded
  
• PRO: crew-capabilities REALLY influence the game
  
• PRO: crew management that has the men rotating themselves for their three shifts of 8 hours each
  
• PRO: 'General Quarters'
  
• PRO: 'Battle Stations', which puts the entire crew on alert and the best men of each team into their assigned compartments
  
• PRO: Radio: ACTUAL radio instead of only text!!! And the much nicer 'M' key which brings the message to you rather than take you to a 'Radio Room' screen
  
• PRO: Radio can pick up stations based on where your sub is located
  
• PRO: U-boot-types NOT limited to only 8 slots
  
• PRO: more specific and varied mission objectives during the campaign—including rescues, reconnaissance and agent insertions—rather than just assigning a specific patrol area.
  
• PRO: upon completing one task you can send a report and then receive a new patrol-grid.
  
• PRO: you can command other units
  
• PRO: MultiPlayer: Pit Japanese destroyers against US submarines
  
• PRO: CAMPAIGN - structure sorted by WAR-YEAR
  
• PRO: new engine-option: "zone"
  
• PRO: new in GUI: animated items
  
• PRO: SH4 lets you select where to start: i.e. at sea for a quicker departure
  
• PRO: true widescreen and for all possible resolutions - unlike SH3 also for NAV.Chart and ATT.Chart (!) available as WS in SH4
  
• - Journey's End for The Grey Wolves Mod Team
  
• CON: SH4 came on the heals of a very successful SH3, at a time when mods were just heating up for 3. So it was difficult for it to gain traction early on and never really caught up. Plus many still don't appreciate the Pacific War like they do the Battle of the Atlantic.
  
• CON: None of the best modders/programmers has been interested in doing that work for SH4.
  
• CON: SH4 has never received the attention of modders that SH3 greatly benefited of. SH4 is in some aspects better than SH3, but it doesn't have the flair that all those SH3-mods bring, and it seemingly never will. All major modding work on SH4 has long stopped - SH4 seems to be "retired", SH4 modding is quite reasonable with RFB and TMO but nothing touches GWX and SH3 commander.
  
• CON: has no S3C (would be called S4C), Strategic War Mod being the closest (but still not the same).
  
• CON: SH4 doesn't have a multi-time-zone clock like SH3 does. SH3 shows GMT  but if you pass the cursor over the time it also gives you local time, which changes with each time zone. SH4 gives you the time at your home base, and nothing else.
  
• CON: no longer uses .tga, but .dds - Use the GiMP-plugin/Converter.
  
• CON: "boring" water, not like SH5-water-in-SH3
  
• CON: If you are used to using the KM-grids, you will miss them in SH4, they removed it.
  

RADIO in SH4:
SH4 not only offers you a gramophone just like SH3 did, but also a radio for date-controlled messages, i.e. battle-reports and all that. Receving such an SH4-radio-message lowers the volume therefore. The frequencies can be edited in a simple text-file. Any piece of music you would like to hear will then start to your liking. A VERY cool feature! Another neat feature of the radio is it can be set up to pick up stations based on where your sub is located. Here

Command other units(escorts etc.) in SH4:

Spoiler: "Excerpt from Commands.cfg" • show

[Cmd549]
Name=Show_Intelligence_Units
Ctxt=1

[Cmd550]
Name=View_previous_escort_unit
Ctxt=1

[Cmd551]
Name=View_next_escort_unit
Ctxt=6,11
Key0=0x43,,"C"

[Cmd552]
Name=View_next_escort_unit
Ctxt=6,11
Key0=0x56,,"V"
Page=0x34000000

[Cmd553]
Name=Show_multiplayer_status
Ctxt=1,6,7,11
Key0=0x09,c,"Tab"

[Cmd554]
Name=ActivateEscortTab
Ctxt=11
Key0=0x71,,"F2"

[Cmd555]
Name=ActivateConvoyTab
Ctxt=11
Key0=0x72,,"F3"

[Cmd556]
Name=ActivateCameraTab
Ctxt=11
Key0=0x73,,"F4"

[Cmd557]
Name=Toggle_Escort_Defensive_Mode
Ctxt=11

[Cmd558]
Name=Toggle_Escort_Search_Mode
Ctxt=11

[Cmd559]
Name=Toggle_Convoy_Evasive_Course
Ctxt=11

[REV_BL!TZKR!EG]

What speaks PRO/CON SH5:

• CON: unplayable without SOBER's or TWOS
  

[REV_BL!TZKR!EG]

What speaks PRO/CON AOTD:
Aces Of The Deep, aged as it is, is still appreciated as one of the best, but sadly .

Nevertheless though, a heap of players are still playing it.

In supporting one of the upcoming games and collecting possible features for this endeavour, I wish to raise this subject in the sense of a technical/gameplay-orientated comparison vs SH3 and would like to read everybody's opinion on:

What does AOTD have that SH3 is still missing?

• CON: out of touch with modern computers

[REV_BL!TZKR!EG]

SH3 uses .tga
SH4 uses .dds

SH3 uses .cfg (for instance crew-config)
SH4 uses .dat / .sim

SH3 uses text-files for configuration
SH4 needs editing with S3D

[REV_Grey Eminence]

SH4 & 5 are really watered down for casuals.

SH5 is a hasted shame for Ubisoft. released much too early, unfinished in many aspects, totally broken and in some regards completely unplayable. WOS mod fixes much of this, it's the very best mod for SH5. But even with it, you can't play type IX subs and the gameplay just can't compete with...

SH3, the aged predecessor. 15 years old and no other game of this series has ever gotten as much attention by the modders. The hundreds (!) of mods provide game-fixes, a lot of new units (even airplanes) and literally make SH3 a new game, the environment mods update the graphics and there're even widescreen-mods around. Many modders were so disappointed and fed up with SH5 that they went and converted beautiful ships from SH5 to SH3.

SH5 has the graphics, but SH3 has the gameplay and does not miss much , if anything at all since 1920x1080 widescreen and MEP environment mods!