Silent Hunter 4
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Silent Hunter 4 Video

Answers from the Developers

Thursday 01/11/07 -
DateUserQuestionAnswer
4-DecMoortaucher (9te Flottille):Will I be able to command a total evacuation of the submarine?This is still not decided, but we'd sure like to allow this.
5-DecVikingGrandad:Are any of the existing SH4 preview screenshots and movies taken directly from the actual game, or are they enhanced/CGI?SH4 uses post processing for a cinematic feeling, and that uninformed viewer may think at first those screenshots are edited. The game looks indeed as good, though of course all screenshots and footage released are work in progress.
6-DecStabiz:How is the damage model? Will the ships and subs take viewable damage and not just smudges and flying boxes?The visual damage model of the ships has been enhanced, and now torpedoes create gaping holes in the ship structure.
7-DecTheRealPotoroo:Will the damage model be similar to SH3's or be more oriented to target vulnerabilities (a la Grey Wolves)?The damage model is similar to Silent Hunter 3 but with several subtle changes.
8-Decdemigod151:Will there be more options available to the radioman other than Send patrol report, send contact report?Even though the player options for this station may not have changed much, we believe the onboard radio has received a new breath of life. You will like it!
11-DecGvogt:Have you cut down on the number of aircraft attacking?SH4 takes place in a different theatre of operations, with different force ratios and planes attacking.
12-DecVikingGrandad:Will SH4 include the same or better external camera controls? e.g. depth of field effects (distant objects are blurred) or different view-angles (such as wide angle)?If time allows we will add the depth of field effect to the camera to enhace the player experience.
13-DecEineSchaufelSand (9te Flottille):Will engine parts wear out after a while?This is something that we do not wish to disclose at this stage, but overall the submarine damage workings have been enhanced.
14-DecDerAlte1977:Will there be a'real' ending after a 10 hours battle or just a screen as in SH3?I'm not sure I understand the question, but patrol ending and player results will be quite different from SH3 to 4. This time you will really feel you accomplish something when sinking an enemy ship.
15-Decdemigod151:Will the destroyers ever run out of ammo?Destroyers do run out of ammo, even in SH3. However, the ammo numbers might be a little high, but then an AI will never be able to be as cunning and intuitive when deploying them against your submarine. Moreover, keep in mind there are specialized ASW escorts that would carry a large amount of DC even in real life.
18-DecVikingGrandad:What gameplay realism settings will SH4 have?Gameplay settings will be quite similar to SH3, in that they will allow the player to customize the game to his playing style and the level of realism/complexity that he desires.
19-DecTheRealPotoroo:Will the crew fatigue model be improved?The crew evolution and management system is completely new and we feel it will be a great improvement over the previous title.
20-DecLI Fritz (9te Flottille):Will there be the possibility to start the right and left engines separately?Negative, for now we're not gonna allow that. We recognize this is an interesting option, but it's always a matter of priorities and we believe there are more important areas of the game that warrant improvement.
21-DecCreepingDepth:Is there any possibility of including the Balao-class sub?The Balao class submarine will be in the game, and it was always meant to be.
22-Declecek:SH3 used a horribly stretched out flat map. Are you considering replacing it with something better? Something that would have great circle routes?SH4, as SH3, uses a cylindrical projection - which is one of the normal ways to represent the world map. Most games use this kind of map projection, the only drawback is that on this map the distance between two points does not take into account your position relative to the Ecuator. We are aware of the problems arising from this, but on the other hand it allows a much better performance on the simulation module. So for now, it is a decision we're content with.
25-DecRealjambo:I'd be interested to know what the minimum specs for my PC would have to be to run SH4 smoothly.The minimum requirements to run SH4 would be: 2GHz processor (Pentium IV or equivalent AMD Athlon), 1GB of RAM, DirectX 9 video card with Pixel Shader v2.0, Vertex Shader v2.0 with 128MB of RAM, DirectX compatible sound card and around 5.5-6GB of space on your HDD. The game options will allow you to activate or deactivate different visual aspects that can increase or decrease performance. Of course, in the minimum requirements PC you will run with most options OFF. A recommended system will have: 3GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, DirectX 9 video card with PS 3.0, VS 3.0 and 256MB of RAM.
26-DecNachtwesen (9te Flottille):Can crew members loose their temper due to stress?Like in any good simulation, morale and stress are modeled in detail. So yes, it is possible to have crewmen panic when under attack.
27-DecEineSchaufelSand (9te Flottille):Will there be Japanese submarines?Unfortunately, there will be no japanese submarines in the release version of the game.
28-DecTheRealPotoroo:Will the weather model be improved (the SH2 'weather front' model was superior to SH3's '6 weeks of heavy fog' model)?Yes, the weather control will be improved, allowing for better diversity. Of course, sometimes you could get a longer period of heavy fog (not for 6 weeks) but the weather will be more variate.
29-DecVikingGrandad:Is SH4 being developed in such a way that it will be even more open to community modding than SH3 is?Definitely. We've took a hard look at what the community has modded on the game, plus stuff that we wanted to be moddable ourselves. Whatever we could improve, we did, and we won't stop here.
1-JanTheRealPotoroo:Is SH4 designed with multiplayer in mind?SH4 was designed with both single player and multiplayer in mind, as both parts are very important for us. True, Silent Hunter is more of a Single Player experience, but we believe that the new adversarial gameplay mode will change multiplayer in a significant way.
2-JanAndreas_Frank:Will there be a new Multiplayer-Mode which enables players to play Submarine vs. Destroyers?Yes, as announced, the new adversarial multiplayer mode will allow the server operator to control the escort forces of a convoy that submarine players attack.
3-JanHans (9te Flottille):Can you tell us a bit more about the Multiplayer? Will there be real servers and a working game service which allows us to play fluently?SH4 will use the AGORA game service. The online will be similar to the online in SH3, meaning that you will be able to create a session and advertise it so that any one could join your server. There will be no dedicated servers on the web, but there will be the AGORA servers that will allow players to create matches.
4-JanVikingGrandad:Are there any changes/improvements to the save game system? e.g. the ability to 'preserve' great moments that can be re-played without losing subsequent saves?Besides improving the save game system, we have also added a replay system that allows you to view the action - movie style - after it's done.
5-JanEineSchaufelSand (9te Flottille):Depth Charges - Do different depths have an influence on the impact of detonation?This is an idea we toyed with from SH3, but haven't been able so far to put it in the game.
8-JanTheRealPotoroo:Will SH4 include team voice support?Negative, the game will not include it. It is possible to use freely available tools such as Teamspeak, but for immersion considerations one should remember that communication between submarines was, in fact, quite limited at the time.
10-Jandemigod151:It would be pretty good if I could have a walk round the inside of the sub too, any chance we can do that?We'd like to have the player freely roam the command room and other accesible areas. Unfortunately, the current development cycle and the existing technology didn't allow for it.
11-JanLI Fritz (9te Flottille):Will we be able to 'pre'-flood the submarine so that the crew can remain on deck?The crew on the deck options won't be as restrictive as in SH3.
12-JanTheRealPotoroo:In the event a mod 'misbehaves' will SH4 trap the exception properly and pass an appropriate error message instead of just crashing to the desktop?We thinked the game so that a user could easily modify parts of it. When 'bad data' is added to the game in most cases the game will ignore the bad data or load some defaults instead of it, but no error messages will be shown to the player. Of course, if the data is very very bad, the game could crash.

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