1.4b Changes and Additions

Please note:

The DVD patch is for those people who have installed Silent Hunter III from a DVD, the download patch is for those people who have purchased and downloaded Silent Hunter III from the Internet. Please ensure you install the relevant patch for your version of the game.

US = United States, EMEA = Europe, Middle East and Asia.

The version of the multiplayer game has been labeled as 1.4b and it is incompatible with previous versions (i.e. 1.0 or 1.1 or 1.2 or 1.3). Please ensure you only play against people who have the same version of game as you, as this will stop any problems or getting the message “Wrong game version” when attempting to play multiplayer games.

WARNING: New patches modify game data and in some cases, the saves that are made while in missions will not load properly. We highly recommend, before installing a patch, that “all the Captains should return to base” or to load a previous in base save (after install) in order to avoid possible problems.

Campaign radio messages improved so that a message can have “from” and “to” fields
Multiplayer version changed to 1.4.
Fixed the bug concerning sonar ping for clients
Added new buildings in German bases (harbors)
UZO view by night was improved;
Navigator tells when the last waypoint was reached;
Customizable values for storm parameters for each U-Boat (see StormConditions entry for each uboat.cfg file);
Depth report only when diving (from 10 to 10 meters); Time compression will drop to 1 (if greater) when critical depth was reached;
Sonar new contacts are identified as merchants or warships (not as unknown contacts as in the previous patch);
Sonar indicator will move faster when the player is at sonar station (and clicks on the sonar dial); and now it can be dragged with the mouse;
Some shortcut keys will toggle between current view and the next view: radio messages (M), captain’s log (K), hydrophone station (H) and radio station (R);
A new option was added on “Merchant/Warship/… spotted” popup window. By checking this check box (called “Set as default action”) the selected action will be always performed when the situation occurs. This default action will be saved from a game to other and can be reset, during the game (when press ESC) by choosing “Options/Reset default action” from Game options;
Corrected several torpedo descriptions errors within the game
Added the P38 fighter bomber to the inventory of American forces and the campaign
Added the Wellington bomber to the inventory of British forces and the campaign
Corrected the damage model for the German Armed Merchant Cruiser
Increased the detonation range of star shells to 1800m
Changed Torpedo Momber aircraft type designation to Bomber 🙂
Improved the rough waters behavior of Small and Coastal Merchants
Sonar man – Fixed a bug where “Report on nearest contact” was not function properly
Sonar man – Fixed a bug where “Follow nearest contact” was not function properly
Dynamic campaign – Add new harbor ships and traffic, including merchants, minefields and patrols
Dynamic campaign – Corrected some data in the naval rooster

1.3 Changes and Additions

Now external camera is linked to the U-boat using “,” and “.”
New order for Chief Engineer – Periscope depth
Torpedo tube ready message and voice is now active
View to heading order implemented using key “-“
Head to view order implemented using key “=”
Fixes a bug where the oxygen was not replenished using snorkel
Fixes some bugs to dials in command and sonar room that display wrong information
A new advance plotting mode is available (thanks to Akifumi “Jiim” Nojima)
Fixed a bug to the waypoint plotting system
The crush depth for all submarines has been corrected
Submarine damage model has been improved
Now Liverpool and Firth of Clyde are in the correct position
T II torpedo range bas been corrected
Type XXI torpedo loading speed had been corrected
More radio messages from BdU had been added
Escorts ASW attack methods have been improved
Escorts spawning issue was solved. Now the convoys will be better protected.
Navigation tutorial issue solved: there are no more sudden explosions on boats
Gramophone issue was solved: it will be available now while the in-game music was switched OFF.
Side of the detected ships is no longer revealed by radar or sonar
UZO view by night was improved
Nvidia workaround was improved. First time when the user (with Nvidia) uses UZO the spray bug will appear. If the user uses Ctrl+P that option will be stored in the main.cfg file and will not be necessary to switch off again that particle system (because the main.cfg will be updated). The Ctrl+P now is linked only with the particle system from the sub so the other particles in the game will not be affected. When you will exit to free camera or any other view the particle system from the sub will be automatically restarted and the player will not have any issues related to it. After this the player can enter/exit UZO station without any other worries about Ctrl+P.
We didn’t make this ON by default because there are the users of ATI cards that have no need of this workaround. The N-Vidia users can also add in the main.cfg in video section, this line:
HideParticlesNearView=Yes;
Un-checking the event camera in video settings now disables it regardless of the setting in the realism menu. The “no event camera” option in that menu is grayed out to reflect this.

1.2 Changes and Additions

SHIPS & AIRPLANES DAMAGE SYSTEM
Improvements in collision and damage model have been made for several ships:

Liberty Cargo
C2 Cargo
T2 Tanker
T3 Tanker
Tug Boat
LST

CAMPAIGN DATA

Netherlands properly enters and exits the war now
Gdansk is now renamed Danzig when under German control
Added mine fields and anti sub nets

INTERFACE

Local time displayed (under the current date) when the mouse is over the current hour (bottom-right corner) in game; this local time will depend on the U-Boot position on Earth (which is divided in 24 slices having 15 longitudinal degrees each)
Game version displayed in the bottom-right corner of the main menu page
Data from notepad (top-right section in periscopes or UZO pages) will not be reset on expert mode when the target in view is changing
A new tool: Angle tool (protractor) on navigation map
No weapon officer assist option (a new option in difficulty settings); when this option is checked then the Identify target and Solution to target orders from Weapons officer will be disabled
Wound badge fixed (when drag & drop)

WEATHER SYSTEM

Solved issues related to rain on time compression (rain will not became invisible after long time compression sessions)
A more balanced weather system

GAME EDITOR

Solved Game Editor crashes related to terrain data, mission objectives and triggers

IN-GAME

Solved the black sun problem and environment texture errors
The escorts will now make evasive maneuvers while pursuing contact (depending on the crew skill)

MULTIPLAYER

Ready button issue was fixed
Message box issues
The interface to servers list has been slightly updated to reflect the version of the game server and also to show if the server is password protected
The crash that is happening when chatting in session menu has been fixed.
Other minor updates

1.1 Changes and Additions

Career menus were changed. “Continue Career” button was removed.
The “German Cross in Gold” will now be visible on crew.
Workaround for nVidia bug mentioned in the Readme (now it will be possible to switch on /off the particle systems using “Ctrl+P”)
The career “Save& Exit” was modified: now it will be possible to save the game and “Exit to Menu” without adding unnecessary saved games.
The possibility to return to base from any situation while in a career patrol was changed. The sub will be able to return to base only if is undetected and at surface.

1.1 Changes and Fixes