The next title in the Silent Hunter franchise will add new dimensions to the simulation experience. The player will engage in a compelling ocean environment, featuring dynamic weather, and experience the intensity of historical naval warfare. Taking the role of the U-boat commander, players will seek their enemy with sonar and periscope, attack the enemy with torpedoes, destroy them with the deck gun, or command their crew to do the job. The all-new 3D engine features impressively detailed U-boat models, both externally and internally, with exact replica WWII technology.
If you had to order all the possible assignments during World War 2 according to comfort and survivability, submariners would be right at the bottom of the list. With all due respect for the deprivation and danger inherent in being a ball turret gunner or an OSS agent, the life of the submariner wasn't likely to inspire envy. But that doesn't mean that the life of the submariner doesn't make for a thrilling simulation. The new game Silent Hunter III recreates that world in as exciting and exacting a way as any submarine sim before it.
Silently stalking a merchant ship, the U-boat crew has to be smart, patient and exacting. After finding and following their prey, the U-boat crew has to fire off their torpedoes and then sneak away before the target's escorts can counterattack. In a way, sub sims play like Hitman; you just never want to go toe-to-toe with your enemies. Though submarines have fought in numerous theaters in numerous wars, the German Wolfpack's operations in the Atlantic represented here is the most classic image of submarine warfare.
Developed by Ubisoft Romania, Silent Hunter III wonderfully simulates these battles for control of the Atlantic. You play as the commander of one of these U-boats in careers that span the whole length of submarine warfare. You can opt to begin in 1939 when the U-boats first began to attack Allied shipping or start later in 1943 once the tide of war had turned against the submariners.
As the commander of the submarine, you'll be responsible for a variety of tasks. First, you'll need to set a course, running fast along the surface at night and creeping below the waterline during the day when spotters are more likely to see you. When you spot an enemy, you'll have to determine the best way to engage them and the best way to escape if you're detected. But though those are the basics, there are a number of complex systems you'll have to learn to manage in order to make this all happen. While you can order your crew to take charge of some of these systems, you'll find you get more enjoyment out of the game if you take a more hands on approach.
The tutorials are fantastic. In addition to offering a text-based explanation of the keys and commands that need to be used, there are also movie files that show where everything is and how it all works together. After watching this, you can take actual exams that put you in charge of your own sub. Getting some hands on time with the various systems before heading off into the campaign is definitely a good idea. That way you'll be prepared to launch the deck guns yourself, or man the flak cannons personally if need be.
The variety of realism options let novice and experienced gamers each get a satisfying experience. On the more casual side you can opt to play without torpedo duds and much quicker reload times. If you really want to get the full experience, you can set the game up so you have to plot your own firing solutions and carefully monitor your oxygen levels while submerged. The only real problem with the realism is that your crew will automatically alert you when a ship has taken enough damage to be classified as destroyed. Since knowing whether or not you've scored a fatal hit on a ship can have serious ramifications, it would be nice if the game was a bit more vague about your successes.
The campaign missions here are much better than the heavily scripted missions from Silent Hunter II. You're still expected to achieve some basic objectives in each mission but there's plenty of room to engage targets of opportunity. Patrol missions sometimes yield up no targets, so you'll want to be on the lookout for fat, unprotected cargo ships on your way home. The time compression works well to eliminate the monotony of month-long sub patrols.
The AI provides a great challenge. The destroyer escorts are very aggressive and work in conjunction with anti-submarine airplanes. I've even had destroyer escorts crash into my periscope to render it unusable. The merchant ship AI is good enough to tack when it senses danger. Unfortunately, you'll sometimes come across merchant ships that aren't moving at all. They just sit there and let you torpedo them. I checked a few of these out to see if they might radio for help but after sitting beside a stationary tanker for two days, I gave up and went home -- after sinking her, of course.
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SILENT HUNTER III v1.0
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Table of Contents
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1. Minimum/Recommended Specifications
2. Operating System
3. Single Player Issues
3.1 Profiles
3.2 Realism Settings
3.3 Naval Academy
3.4 Career
3.5 Single & Multiplayer Missions
4. Multiplayer Issues
4.1 Bandwith Issues
4.2 Sessions
4.3 Mission Generator
4.4 NAT and firewall issues
5. Miscellaneous
5.1 Crew Behavior/Time Compression
5.2 U-Boat Pressure Death
5.3 Renegade Status
5.4 Friendly units
5.5 AI Support
5.6 Radio Communications
6. Known Issues
6.1. Installing video drivers
6.2. Installing sound drivers
6.3. Installing DirectX
6.4. Known problems
7. Important Web Sites, Contact Information and Technical Support
7.1. Technical Support
7.2. Other Important websites
8. Manual Errata
9. Copyright
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1. Minimum/Recommended specifications
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-Minimum Configuration:
Win 2000/XP Only
DirectX 9.0c
1.5 GHz Pentium 4, AMD Athlon, or equivalent
512 MB RAM
64MB DirectX 9.0c compatible graphics card with Pixel Shader 1.1
capability
DirectX 9.0 compatible sound device
DVD-ROM 8x or faster
2.8 GB hard drive space
Windows-compatible mouse required
-Recommended Configuration:
Win 2000/XP Only
DirectX 9.0c
2 GHz Pentium 4, AMD Athlon or equivalent
1024 MB RAM
128MB DirectX 9.0c compatible graphics card
DirectX 9.0 compatible sound device
DVD-ROM 8x or faster
2.8 GB hard drive space
Windows-compatible mouse required
Internet connection for play on Ubi.com (minimum 56k modem or
broadband)
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2. Operating System
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The game has been tested successfuly on Win 2000, Win XP (SP1 and SP2)
Not Supported:
Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows ME
Windows NT
Directx9.0b and previous versions.
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3. Single Player Issues
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3.1 Profiles
3.1.1 Profile Creation
You can create a profile only in the career menu.
To create a new profile, left click in the edit box, edit a new
profile name and press the "Accept" button.
3.1.2 Delete Profile
Deleting a profile will delete all the career saves under that profile.
3.1.3 Continue with a Profile
Select a profile from the list and press "Accept" button to continue a
career with a previosly created profile.
3.1.4 Profile Location
All the profiles are saved in "C:Documents and SettingsUser NameMy
DocumentsSh3cfgcareers" folder.
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3.2 Realism Setings
3.2.1 Accessing Realism Settings
The realism settings menu page can be accessed before entering game in
any single game mode.
3.2.2 Modifying Realism Settings
Note that modifying the realism settings for one single game mode will
set the difficulty as default for all single game modes.
E.g.: setting your realism for easy in Single Missions mode will set
the realism for easy in Career mode also.
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3.3 Naval Academy
3.3.1 Completion Bonus
To complete the academy, you have to play the tutorials in Exam mode.
Playing a tutorial mission in Training mode will not be considered for
evaluation.
When playing a tutorial mission multiple times, only the best result
will be considered.
Successful completion of all tutorial missions as exams will grant you
a bonus of 1000 renown for the career. This bonus applies for every profile
for the current install.
This means that you will need to complete the tutorials only once.
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3.4 Career
3.4.1 Campaign files
The dynamic campaign files are stored in the "Game
FolderDataCampaignsCampaign".
Modifying these files may cause unexpected results that can alter
drastically the game quality for Career mode, for Single Missions mode for
Mutliplayer Missions mode and for Multiplayer Generated Missions mode.
If you intend to edit the campaign files, it is best to create a
backup for the original campaign files.
3.4.2 Autosave
Silent Hunter 3 Career mode autosave feature is automatically creating
two differen autosave files:
- when leaving the base for a career patrol
- at return from a career patrol
You can identify these saves by the game date and by real time date at
which they were saved.
3.4.3 Save
IN CAREER MODE, DELETING OR LOADING A SAVE FILE WILL DELETE ALL THE
SUBSEQUENT SAVE FILES FOR THAT PROFILE.
E.g: if your last save in career is date 25 July 1943 and you delete
or load a save (or autosave) file in 13 September 1940, all the saves (and
autosaves) following 13 September 1940 will be deleted.
3.4.4 Time between patrols
Silent Hunter 3 uses the following conventions to evolve time during
the career:
a. Changing or acquiring a subsystem/weapon on your u-boat will evolve
time with 1 to 3 days of game time.
b. Changing to a new u-boat will evolve time with up to 2 months of
game time.
c. Changing the conning tower on your u-boat will evolve time with 3
weeks of game time.
d. Repairing each hull damage percent at return from patrol will
evolve time with 1 day of game time.
e. Even if you don't have damage or you didn't modifyed/improved your
u-boat, the minimum time you have to spend in base between patrols is 28 days.
3.4.5 Returning from patrol
There are two modes you can return to base from patrol in career mode.
- real navigation
- pressing ESC during the patrol in following conditions:
a. u-boat is at surface
b. no enemy unit has the u-boat visible on sensors
Using the ESC return will automatically return the u-boat in the
Flotilla base.
3.4.6 Patrol Completion
A patrol is considered complete only when you return to your Flotilla
base.
You have the possibility to dock at any friendly port during a patrol.
This will repair any damage you may have received during the patrol, will
automatically ressuply you with fuel and weapons and you will have the
possibility to enlist new crew to complete the eventual casualties.
You will not be allowed to upgrade any subsystem or change your u-
boat, you will not receive any rewards (medals, promotions or qualifications)
and your patrol will not be considered completed.
3.4.6 Resupply in patrol
The resupply feature is not available for this installment.
This issue will be addressed in the first patch.
You should always pay attention to your diesel fuel and try to avoid
remaining out of fuel in mid ocean.
For the time being, you can solve this problem by returning to your
home base with the ESC method.
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3.5 Single & Multiplayer Missions
3.5.1 Playing Newly Created Missions
You can create new missions using the mission editor included on the
game DVD.
To play a newly created single mission in Silent Hunter 3, save your
mission file using this path: "Game FolderdataSingleMissionsEnglish".
To play a newly created multiplayer mission in Silent Hunter 3, save
your mission file using this path: "Game FolderdataMultiMissionsEnglish".
If you are using the German version of Silent Hunter 3, use the same
paths except the final folder, which should be "Game Folder..German".
3.5.2 Multiplayer Scripted Missions
You will be able to play in multiplayer (LAN or Online) a mission you
have created if you are hosting a game session, even if the other players
don't have the mission on their hard disk.
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4. Multiplayer Issues
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4.1 Bandwidth Issues
In order to be able to play multiplayer games some bandwidth issues
must be accomplished.
The necessary bandwith is highly dependant on the number of AI units
and on the number of players in the mission.
Obviously, the higher the number of units and players, the higher are
the bandwidth requirements.
During an online session (either a LAN game or an UBI.COM one) the
server requires a much higher bandwidth than the clients.
The bandwidth recommended requirements for the host player (the one
that created the multiplayer game):
- 80kbps internet/lan connection for a 2 player game (one
server and one client).
- 320kbps internet/lan connection for a 4 player game (one
server and three clients).
- 1024kbps internet/lan connection for an 8 player game (one
server and seven clients).
The bandwith recommended requirements for the client player (the one
that connected to the multiplayer game);
- 80kbps internet/lan connection for a 2 player game (one
server and one client).
- 128kbps internet/lan connection for a 4 player game (one
server and three clients).
- 148kbps internet/lan connection for an 8 player game (one
server and seven clients).
If the selected mission is a simple one (reasonble number of AI
controlled units) a lesser bandwidth may be enough.
Also, if the AI units are very numerous you may need higher bandwidth.
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4.2 Sessions
4.2.1 Similar name
When searching for LAN or Online games, you may encounter game
sessions with similar names.
This issue could not be addressed due to technical limitations.
4.2.2 German/English server - briefing
There is no possibility to identify a game sessions hosted by a player
with a German or English mission.
If you are playing with an English version and you login to a German
version host, the mission briefing will be in German.
We suggest to name your game sessions in a suggestive way to allow
easy identification of the language of your server.
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4.3 Mission Generator
The mission generator uses the campaign files to create missions.
Using modified campaign files in a multiplayer session with generated
mission will crash the game for the clients.
4.4 NAT and firewall issues
NAT is the acronym for "Network Address Translation" and represent a program
or piece of hardware that converts the IP address from a private address to a
public address real time. This allows multiple users to share a single public
IP address. It also prevents access to these users from the outside without
special configurations.
If you are behind a NAT server and you host an internet game, your game will
be published on the Ubi.com games list but other players which are not behind
the same NAT will cannot join to your game; only the players sharing the same
NAT with you will be able to join to your game. Similarly, you will not be
able to join to a game server created by someone which is behind a NAT server
and your computer is outside this NAT. If you own a public IP address everyone
should be able to join to a game hosted by you, but please continue to read to
final of this section.
In case that you cannot join to a game created by someone which has a public
IP address this could by caused by a firewall restrictions and you should
either check your firewall or address to your internet service provider.
Similarly, if you are hosting a game and you have a public IP address but no
one can join to your server this could be caused by a firewall and you should
address to your internet service provider. You may also try to change the port
that the game is using (search for GamePort section in "My DocumentsSH3
datacfgmain.cfg" file) but we recommend this only for advanced users.
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5. Miscellaneous
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5.1 Crew Behavior/Time Compression
Silent Hunter 3 allows high time compression for long distance
navigation.
To avoid unwanted gameplay issues, the crew endurance and morale
evolution is frozen when time compression values are higher than x32.
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5.2 U-Boat Pressure Death
The u-boats have a resistance limit specific to each type (see manual
for details).
Note that when you have a damaged hull, the depth limit for the u-boat
changes.
The more damaged the u-boat hull is, the less depth is the pressure
hull capable of handling.
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5.3 Renegade Status
When attacking neutral units, your status will change to "renegade"
for AI. All neutral units belonging to the nation of the attacked neutral ship
will treat you as enemy for the next 24 hours. Note that this includes
aircrafts and coastal defenses, beside civil and military ships.
E.g: attacking a US merchant before January 1942 will cause all US
ships to treat you as enemy for 24 hours after the attack.
Beside the status change, any neutral unit sunk will earn you negative
renown during the career mode.
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5.4 Friendly units
5.4.1 Sinking Friendly Ships
Sinking a frindly ship in career mode will cause massive renown loss.
5.4.2 AI Friendly Units in Career Mode
The dynamic campaign data includes AI friendly units (commerce
raiders, surface waships, air bases) that will engage enemy units if they are
present in your area of action.
E.g.: maintaining contact with an enemy convoy while in range of a
friendly airbase will generate friendly air strikes versus enemy ships.
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5.5 AI Support
Engaging enemy ships in well defended areas is very dangerous.
As soon as the attacked ship detects the presence of your u-boat, air
patrols and surface military ships will converge on the area of the reported u-
boat contact.
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5.6 Radio Communications
The long range direction finding of the British and American Allies is
simulated in the dynamic campaing.
Sending radio messages during a patrol will cause the AI to send air
patrols in the suspected area of the message source for investigation.
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6. Known Issues
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6.1. Installing video drivers
If you experience any graphical problems, please install the latest video
drivers available for your video card. Links to the most popular video cards
manufacturers are available at the bottom of this document.
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6.2. Installing sound drivers
If you experience any sound problems, please install the latest sound
drivers available for your sound card. Links to the most popular sound cards
manufacturers are available at the bottom of this document.
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6.3. Installing DirectX
Silent Hunter III needs DirectX 9.0c to run properly. To get the latest
version of
DirectX, please visit:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/downloads
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6.4. Known Problems
On NVidia GeForce6800 GT with 66.93 drivers there are some performance losses
when the player
uses Binoculars,UZO or Periscope while the submarine is moving.The image
becames foggy and
the frames per second drop.
The manufacturer is aware of the problem and it may be solved in the future
driver versions.
On ATI Radeon 8500,9000,9200 there are graphic artefacts consisting in missing
triangles
from the game sky.
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7. Important Web Sites, Contact Information and Technical Support
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7.1. Technical Support
AMERICA
TECHNICAL SUPPORT:
To get technical support, go to http://support.ubi.com/
AUSTRALIA
TECHNICAL SUPPORT:
To get technical support, go to http://www.ubisoft.com.au/
CANADA
TECHNICAL SUPPORT:
To get technical support, go to www.ubisoft.ca and click "Support" (French &
English available).
FRANCE
SUPPORT TECHNIQUE:
Support technique Ubisoft votre service: connectez-vous
http://www.ubi.com/FR/ et cliquez sur "Support"
GERMANY
KUNDENDIENST:
Ubisoft Kundendienst: besuchen Sie die Support sektion im Internet unter
http://www.ubi.com/DE/
ITALY
SUPPORTO TECNICO:
Visitate la sezione Assistenza del sito del nostro Supporto Tecnico
http://www.ubisoft.com/it
JAPAN
????:
?????,??www.ubisoft.com.cn ??"??"
SPAIN
SOPORTE TECNICO:
Para obtener soporte tcnico, acude a www.ubisoft.es y visita la seccin
de "Soporte"
UNITED KINDOM
TECHNICAL SUPPORT:
To get technical support, go to www.ubi.com/uk/ and click "Support"
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7.2. Other Important websites
Latest DirectX Runtime:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/downloads
Latest ATI Drivers:
http://www.ati.com
Latest NVIDIA Drivers:
http://www.nvidia.com
Latest Matrox Drivers:
http://www.matrox.com
Latest Creative Labs Drivers:
http://www.creative.com
Latest Hercules Drivers:
http://www.hercules.com
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8. Manual Errata
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8.1 On Page 8, section "STARTING FLOTILLA", replace with:
1st Flotilla
1939: U-Boat Type IIA
1940: U-Boat Type VIIB
1941: U-Boat Type VIIC
1942: U-Boat Type VIIC
1942: U-Boat Type VIIC
2nd Flotilla
1940: U-Boat Type VIIB
1941: U-Boat Type IXB
1942: U-Boat Type IXC
1943: U-Boat Type IXC
7th Flotilla
1939: U-Boat Type VIIB
1940: U-Boat Type VIIB
1941: U-Boat Type VIIC
1942: U-Boat Type VIIC
1942: U-Boat Type VIIC
10th Flotilla
1942: U-Boat Type IXC
1942: U-Boat Type IXC
11th Flotilla
1942: U-Boat Type VIIC
1942: U-Boat Type VIIC
29th Flotilla
1941: U-Boat Type VIIB
1942: U-Boat Type VIIB
1943: U-Boat Type VIIC
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8.2 On Page 24, section "The repair system works as follows", add
"..., except for the Bow and Stern Quarters."
To the phrase:
"If any crew members are on location, they will repair any minor
damages to the compartment/location and any system."
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8.3 On Page 44, section "TYPE II-A" replace "Reloads" entry with:
- Reloads: 2
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8.4 On Page 54, section "3,7 cm Anti-Aircraft Guns", replace first phrase with:
"The 3.7cm was used on every major combatant ship in the Germany navy."
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9. Copyright
USES BINK Video
Copyright (C) 1997-2005
By RAD Game Tools, Inc.
USES MPEG Layer-3 audio coding technology
licensed from Fraunhofer IIS and Thomson.
USES OGG Vorbis
2005, Xiph.Org Foundation
Portions utilize
Microsoft Windows Media Technologies
Copyright (c) 1999-2002 Microsoft Corporation
All Rights Reserved
(C)2005 UBISOFT ENTERTAINMENT.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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