We were sitting at the big oval in a darkened room with cold drinks and coffee, right opposite Emil Gheorghe, the Project Manager, accompanied by Olivia Zaharia, Marketing Coordinator of Ubisoft Bucharest.
The speakers were playing the introducing music of the main menu of Silent Hunter 4. Animations with the fade-in of American submarine aces were played, definitely emphasizing the atmosphere.
Asked about the impression of the main menu the answer came immediately – it is similar to a Hollywood movie. Probably this is an essential part of Silent Hunter 4: the graphics have been significantly improved by the Shader Model 2.0.
Silent Hunter 4 Präsentation von Ubisoft
Any explanation concerning the gameplay wasn´t necessary as it is basing on SH 3 which we are very familiar with; therefore we instantly entered the submarine and took a look at the control room.
The spatial impression of the interiors is better than in SH 3, also the faces of the crew members are depicted much more realistic.
Finally Gheorghe presented us the reworked crew management with the words „No babysitting anymore“.
The management of the crew has been significantly improved. No more „dragging“ but a simple schedule of the crew in three shifts. One shift at work, one at reserve and one at sleep. Important is to select a homogeneous mixture of experience and efficiency for having a powerful team at the instruments at every time of the day.
Let´s have a look at the periscope. By clicking at the „column“ you can see now how the periscope is slowly raised. Unlike SH 3 there are animated functions in the control room.
In the periscope view the most important instruments for the calculation of a target solution move into the screen via „slideout“. Some modifications that were implemented in SH 3 later served as an example for this.
But if you look at it in the observation view you can see where the focusses of SH 4 are.
The water looks very realistic. In some views you have to look very closely to see the difference to a real movie scene. The lightning effects of the sun and on the water plus the different colors and the varying shapes of the clouds which depend on the weather, all this comes close to a never seen before reality. The wakes of the ships, the spray at the hull, all this seems very realistic. The reason for this is that the developers substantially increased the numbers of the water´s polygons.
Several effects were also added to the underwater view. You have more or less the feeling of looking through the camera of an accompanying diver. The boat´s hull seems to change by flowing and blurring, as known by underwater pictures.
Sunbeams do not get simply absorbed below the surface. If you like, and if your computer allows, you can see a real splendor of refractions of light and just watch your submarine moving away in the murky blue of the pacific.
The damage textures of torpedo and shell impacts at the hull of ships have also been greatly improved. You can clearly make out the impact and in case of a penetration you can even see the interior of the ship in 3D. Last but not least the effects of a battleship´s salvo must be emphasized as it is a deafening and blinding event.
The mainland with its beaches and harbors has been significantly reworked, too. As due to the missions the mainland in SH 3 was rarely seen, the missions in Silent Hunter 4 very often take place near islands and harbors, for example if the mission goal is to take pictures of a harbor.
Busy shipping ensures that harbors in SH 4 are no longer lonely places which was an imperfection of SH 3, unless you used a corresponding modification.
The dynamic campaign remains the same as in SH 3. You may start between 1941 and 1944. Some may correctly state that the war lasted until 1945 but the historic amount of Japanese ships was so reduced at that time so the last year was not worth of implementing it .
Just in case that somebody is longing for the Atlantic: you can leave your operational area and head for the „blue“ ocean. Certainly doable by a time compression of 4096 but you won´t find anything of interest there which doesn´t have to remain that way.
The possibilities of modding SH4 will be the same as in SH 3. It won´t take long for modders to familiarize with SH 4, so you can expect a lot of modifications within a short time.
Something we couldn´t see at the presentation yet was a moving crew aboard the ships and harbors but this is still to be implemented.
Multiplayer
We can´t report much news about the multiplayer part of SH 4 except the old informations: 8 players via internet/LAN (4 is recommended).
An interesting news is the possible implementation of an „Escort Commander“: Players have the possibility to directly fight against each other. This mode allows the player to take control of a convoy by issuing heading, maneuvers and further orders. We have to wait and see how this mode is to be played. Fact is that such a mode would be an enrichment for the multiplayer mode.
Graphics settings:
The minimum resolution of this spectacle will be 1024 x 768. Players can change it according to the abilities of their graphics cards. Sadly that nobody could tell us the maximum resolution at that time. Widescreen users will have the possibility to experience SH 4 in widescreen.
All in all at the market for naval games the graphics is really unbeatable and gives the player a closeness to the sea.
Summing up:
Generally speaking SH 4 is a worthy successor of SH 3. Apparently the developers considered many of the points of criticism of SH 3 and corrected them in SH 4, e.g. normal harbors and also radio traffic.
The presentation made it possible for us to primarily get a view of the graphical possibilities of a SH 4 but did not allow questions of details due to time and status of development. Though Ubisoft assured that we will be allowed to send further important questions to the developers. This offer we will gratefully accept.
I hope we could give you a rough impression of SH 4. We, members of Aces of the Deep and MarineSims, are looking forward to SH 4 and the Pacific.
Special thanks to Marc Homyaounpour (Online Marketing Manager Germany), Emil Gheorghe (SH 4 Project Leader), and Ubisoft for presenting SH 4!
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Silent Hunter 4 In-Game Footage YouTube
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In-Game Footage November 2006 (78Mb)
-Moving objects in the interior: if you raise the periscope you also see it in the interior.
-Menus are slideout menus now, similar to modifications of SH 3. Additionally displays are magnified if you move your mouse over them. The whole menu bar is freely adjustable.
-Nautical chart in high resolution, displaying depths and shallows (no metric values, just visual).
-Crew management with three shifts, no more „babysitting“. Experience and special abilities similar to SH 3, but improved (management screen).
-Time compression up to 4096.
-Higher amount of polygons of the water, resulting in a much more detailed and living surface (see dev-video part 2).
-Self-generating clounds, continously changing during the day and weather conditions.
-High-detailed ship models with high resolution textures, bumpmapping and new shaders.
-Standard resolution 1024 x 768, higher resolutions are freely selectable, additionally a widescreen option has been implemented.
-Water and waves are now much more detailed and extravagant.
-Harbors are equipped with traffic.
-The whole (!) world is navigable, even the Atlantic is available.
-In single missions there are introducing videos of the situation you are in, similar to Fighting Steel.
-Ships now have bullet holes (see screenshots). The damage model has been extended in a way that smaller ships need holes at the water line in only two sections for flooding and sinking.
Silent Hunter 4 
