This is the first game I've d/l through Steam so I'm rather confused.

I can't seem to play without having the game start up Steam first - is there a way to disable this?
I don't seem to have a manual - in fact I don't have an SH4 install folder on the PC, other than in My Documents (I'm on XP).
It appears to be v1.3 - can I update to 1.4 without apparantly having a "normal" install?

I've had a quick play of the game, mainly just to make sure that it plays OK, which it appears to do fine. But without any kind of key listing or manual, how the heck am I supposed to learn how to play? Are there any walk-throughs / tutorials around for a complete beginner like myself?

Ta muchly.

Steam installs the games into steam/steamapps/common

There you should find the game and perhaps even a manual.

As for the rest, I can`t help you as I have the disk version.

Ah, excellent - found a manual and keycard, thanks for that.

However, just tried to apply the 1.4 patch but couldn't, as the patch install can't find the game install and terminates

You will have tell the patch where to go. But most likely its already patched from steam.

That's the problem - there is no way to tell the patch where the game install is. When you run the patch .exe, you get the option to choose the language, it then comes up with an error message to say it can't find an install and that's it - no option to point it anywhere else.

The Steam version is v1.3.

Games bought from Steam have to be launched via Steam. No way around this, afaik.

Only other thing i can think of is to buy the uboat missions addon. That will patch it up to 1.5 {Maybe not sure}

I guess so - just a bit loathe to do so as it's my first sub sim since Silent Service II 20 odd years ago and still not too sure if it's the game for me. I'm also not interested in playing a German sub which is the main reason I went for 4 rather than the cheaper 3 or the newer 5.

Ach well, no biggie. Seems to work fine even if my torpedoes don't!