Anyone else still play this? I got into it again after a pretty long absence, I'd forgotten how great it is.

I started a new campaign out of Fremantle, Australia. Having never worked COMSUBSOWESPAC's area before, it was interesting how challenging hunting on the narrow and shallow straits can be. I was given command of USS Tautog (SS-199), a Tambor class submarine and a formidable ship in her time indeed.

(captions describe the picture below them)

Torpedo impact! Don't worry about the first one hitting so far aft sailor, this salvo was spread stern to bow.


A lone ship burning helpless somewhere in the Pacific in the dark of night can make for a very atmospheric scene. The game has lots of those.


Sinking this one was very satisfying. I was chasing her through the Makassar strait for the better part of a week (or was it two? I lost track of time at some point), through heavy seas, thick fog, pitch black starless nights and torrential rain. I couldn't get a visual on her even from less than 1000 yards out and plotting sonar solutions is not something I am versed in. Eventually though the weather cleared and I plotted an intercept course for a night surface attack. I fired a three-shot salvo and they all hit. However, only one exploded as the other 2 were duds, a common problem with the early war torpedoes. In an act of frustration I quickly guestimated a new solution and fired off my remaining three bow tubes. To my big surprise they all hit the now hard-maneuvering merchant. To my bigger surprise all three were duds. This ship had a guardian angel it seemed, she braved it all and it was one of the many times I had contemplated just letting her go. Then I proceeded to finish her off with the 4 inch deck gun. In the end she took the fast road to Davy Jones' locker like the rest of them.


The real USS Tautog survived the war placing first for number of ships sunk, and ended up being sold as scrap. Sadly, my ship's fate was a lot worse as this picture is the last ever taken of her. During her last patrol she was tasked to recon the harbor in Manila, searching for possible aircraft carriers. While inside the harbor's very shallow waters, three Japanese Destroyers started pinging her, got a fix and made multiple depth charge passes. After 10 successful patrols with 27 ships sunk for approximately 110000 tonnage, she sunk with all hands on a late August night in 1943.


Miraculously though, I soon felt better. So I transferred to Dutch harbor and was immediately given command of USS S-37 (SS-142), an S class submarine. A bit underwhelming after "The Terrible T", but I'm glad to be on the open sea again.

I hear Alaska is great this time of year.




I'm running SH4 1.5 with the following mods:

Trigger Maru Overhaul (TMO) 2.5
TMO 2.5 small patch
Easier AI for TMO 2.5 (sue me)
Improved Stock Environment v3 for TMO & RFB
Alaska Campaign Winter Clothing for TMO 2.5 (in my new campaign)

TLDR; SH4 is awesome.

looks interesting, thanks for sharing. I have never heard of this one, but you have inspired me to do some research.

Beautiful shots. Using any mods?

Never heard of this one? You're kidding. It's a goodie. Played it to death, and I'm so glad I kept it because I'm really tempted to load 'er back up. I see some mods at SUBSIM that look great.

Hey Kosmo,

Thanks very much for posting this. Lovely shots and great narrative.

It's actually just what I needed as I sit here on my holidays in Turkey watching the rain lashing down outside and lamenting the fact that I didn't invest in a gaming laptop, lol.

I have SH4 at home, and spookily had been reading back up on it while on holiday, looking forward to reinstalling when we get home. In fact your post has been quite reassuring, as some of the shots I'd been looking at over at subsim didn't look that great, I seem to remember that it was a good looking game, you've just confirmed that, thanks!

Oh Coot, yes he is, if you look at the bottom of his post he lists them all. ( handy, as those are now what I will be downloading! )

I think we're having a twilight zone moment here. Just today I was thinking about re-installing this bad boy and was looking through the mods at Subsim this afternoon. I figured I would just try RSRD with vanilla as a starting point. Anyway, I didn't get time to install it this evening as planned but just doing one last check of the forums at SimHQ before bed and here's screenies of someone playing again.

I think I have to install it for sure now and maybe buy a Lotto ticket.

Very nice screenies.



I recently tried SH5 again but...

Might as well try SHIV again.

Nice shots. I can almost smell the salt air..

BeachAV8R

SH4 (with some mods to fix a couple issues) is a classic.

Cheers guys, I'm glad you enjoyed them.

@N8: If you're even vaguely interested in naval/submarine sims, like I was, you won't be disappointed. It's a really cool game once you get the hang of it, which shouldn't be too long (the game includes some decent tutorials to teach you the basics and there is a ton of info and guides over at the subsim.com forums). If you do get it, make sure to get the latest patch (1.4) as the original release was somewhat buggy. If possible try to get the U-Boat Missions expansion as well, which among other things patches the game to 1.5 (there is no standalone 1.5 patch). Starting out I'd stay away from big "overhaul" mods or supermods, as they usually ramp up the difficulty. Also keep in mind that most of the big mods require 1.5.

@Ratcatcher & Force10: You guys think it's some form of government collective mind control? Never mind that we don't have the same government, I'm getting some tin foil just in case. On second thought if they are conditioning us to turn us into sub skippers...

RC your memory serves you correctly, the game does look very good even with no mods, especially being a bit old (2007!). There is no AA or AF implemented, but I could force them on just fine through the nVidia control panel (nHancer wasn't necessary). 16xQ CSAA, 4x supersample transparency AA and 16x AF, forced triple buffering on and turned on VSync as well and it's always pegged at 60 FPS @ 1920x1080 on my very modest rig. No idea how it runs with ATi though.

Nice one Kosmo.I have IV (and V) installed with mods. Every so often I feel compelled to fire one up and try to sink a few ships.

What version are you running Kosmo? I have a hard copy I bought from PanzerMeyer years ago. I did buy the Uboat expansion but I can't for the life of me remember where I bought it. It was digital. I think perhaps from ubi? Hope I can remember.

I've been playing 4 with some mods. Right now i'm just screwing around with a 688i mod. Unrealistic as heck, but sure is fun. The deadliness of the sub and the torps is countered by the fact that you only have 4 shots at a time. I have 5, but haven't heard much on what mods are good for it, so haven't messed with it too much yet.

@Coot: I'm running 1.5, though I haven't touched the U-Boats at all yet. Maybe now's as good a time as any. Just watched Das Boot last night for the first time (blasphemy!) as well.

I only saw Das Boot several years ago myself. In between jobs and didn't have a good pc anymore as I gave it to my sister for school, I took an old pc we had and put some extra ram and a geforce4Ti I had from another computer in it(I loved that video card!) and was able to really get into SH3 for the first time. Hunkered down in a back room and played the heck out of it. Playing a sub sim in a small, cluttered storage room adds to the atmosphere and immersion.

I wish I could clone myself so my clone could give games like this and F4 BMS the time they deserve. Lovely screenshots. I bet it is pretty cool sailing on the ocean there under a full moon. Does the game ever model any ambient environment, be it sea life (be super cool if dolphins, sharks, whales, etc could sometimes be seen off the deck), and various weather and sound effects?

Weather is modeled yes, so are the associated sounds. Feels very authentic when you can only hear your engines and the waves splashing and the wind. I don't think the the game has any sea life but I think I've seen some mods for that. You can see and hear seagulls usually when close to shore though, which is also very cool.

Dangit Kosmo, I just reinstalled this now. There goes my next couple of weeks.

I enjoyed the pics, and made my memories back when I played the game. Still can remember my first kill!

i heard that SH5 wasn't so good upon launch...did the mod community sort it out and make it good?

SH5 is superb with a big mod soup.

That's what I hear too. I recently bought it on steam and comparatively it was pretty turdy when I launched it. If up for the mod dance I hear it can be very good.

I need to reinstall SH5 and mod it.

I have the Trigger Maru Overhauled and the Run Silent, Run Deep Campaign for SHIV. I still enjoy the game.

This is an example of a good game turned into a great game by the dedication of a group of modders.

Can you advise? If it's not too time consuming/tough to mod I might give it a shot when I have some free time.

You could try 'The Wolves of Steel' megamod for SH5.I've installed it but have only dabbled so far.There is a little bit of changing to be done in the cfg files but it's fairly easy.I mean I managed it.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=4298

Thanks. WIll do if/when I buy SH5.

Based on the description, it looks like it makes the game more difficult. That's an intimidating prospect. Have you found that to the case?

You're welcome.

Well I have just reinstalled SH4 and have got the Trigger Maru mod installed. I don't suppose if anyone knows about getting it to run on a triple screen setup? I have trawled Google but cant find anything that mentions getting it to run?

Also with SH5 is there a Pacific US mod for it?

I don't normally use external views (not that I'm against it, I just never felt the need to) but here are a couple of shots.

Leaving port under the cover of darkness, while some seagulls see me out. No food for you guys, sorry, we barely have enough for our patrol.


Surprisingly good weather for most of this patrol. Though...


... we did get to gallop on the waves some, which is always exciting.


And a view of USS S-37's control room. I did have a cooler coffee mug sporting the submarine warfare insignia, but it broke during a crash dive drill.

Subsim.com is probably your best bet, have you searched/asked over there? I think I've seen someone mention running it on a triple screen setup but I might be wrong.

For sure,but std SH5 uses a dumbed down firing system that no self-respecting skipper would use. Plus once you have used some of the mods you will never want to go back to vanilla. It all boils down to how realistic an experience you want.

Thanks Cosmo, I will take a look.

Ok cool. My mobo was great enough to go on the fritz so I am without a desktop now. Hopefully later this summer I can carve out a few hrs a week to give this a shot.