Mega Mods
 

Hi guys
After a long hiatus I'm wanting to play SH4 again. Is there a thread that summarizes the respective design philosophies behind the various overhaul mods? Eg I recall that TMO ramps up the difficulty substantially whilst GFO focuses on fixing bugs and issues in the "vanilla" game. I want to determine which mod to use.
I've searched this and the mod forums but I've been unable to locate any relevant thread. The threads of the respective mods also don't contain the information I'm looking for.
Thanks.

Welcome back
 

TMO (Trigger Maru) - greater difficulty - ultra experience realism. Things like - Mk 14 torpedo failure reflects how badly they historically performed. Japanese escorts have a varied skill set. Some of them are so damned good they'll wear you out trying to evade. Some aren't so good. I like the authenticity of the U.S. uniforms and the rank distribution/promotion track. etc.

FoTRS (Fall of the Rising Sun) - Pretty ... very pretty. Lots of ships modeled (as in TMO). Not as hard a play as TMO. There's also some added internal compartments (officer's and chief's quarters and wardroom (forward torpedo in S class boats). Another worthy super-mod.

Those are the two I'm most familiar with. :shucks:

To add to that list, is what I refer to as... TMOverhauled v2.5, a rework of TMO 2.5 by Bubblehead1980. Which is looking very good, & not to be overlooked here... :yep:

:Kaleun_Salute:

M. M.

That's actually the TMO I'm talking about. :shucks:

My bad... as there is the standard stock version of TMO 2.5 still available, as I know of too... thought you were referring to that one... a 1k apologies Arlo.. :shucks:

:Kaleun_Salute:

M. M.

No worries. I consider myself part of the shakedown of the current iteration. I've created three careers so far and will like make three or four more just to get a feeling for the start years and sub classes. :) :shucks:

I would try them all over time honestly. May find preferences change over time, with experience, preference for type of simulation etc.



I consider FOTRS the current gold standard for SH 4 mega mods, it is quite impressive visually and has a lot of substance as well, plus currently the only mod compatible for officers interiors mod that gives more compartments to the subs (TMO version is in the works) . Mod adds many ships, planes etc. which I borrowed some for TMO.

The overall goal seems to be an immersive experience, which is achieves. The team as done a excellent job, and can not go wrong with the mod. Definitely give it a try.


Trigger Maru Overhaul, admittedly, is my favorite mega mod of all time, and has been for a long time. Few years back I had grown somewhat bored with SH 4 and decided to take the leap into TMO for the purported challenge, and was not disappointed. The mod, at the core is designed to challenge the player, to force thinking and realistic behavior on player's part, when run with full difficulty options and manual targeting, it is a challenge, even after all these years but man is it fun. . The AI is often tough, but not unbeatable.


Last week, I released an update, an overhaul if you will of TMO. This was done because the creator of the mod is no longer active in the community and it had been some time since the update. I added in somewhere over 100 ships (lost counter), more planes, etc. Also, completely reworked the campaign traffic to historic accuracy, but also with playability. Changed up the damage model on subs to be more realistic and managed to make something possible for first time in SH 4, the ability to actually pull off night surface attacks as US subs did during the war, which is a game changer as those running the mod have found. Plus, many other great updates and changes.

I designed my update to keep the core mission of TMO , which is challenge the player and force them to conduct in a realistic manner but balanced same for the enemy. One example is the torpedo malfunctions. I assume you are aware of the real life torpedo scandal US submarines dealt with in WW II , if not, definitely research the Mark 14 torpedo.

To me, SH 4 stock game nor any mod has ever accurately portrayed the torpedo issues of duds (Failure to explode on contact, the premature explosions (magnetic detonators) , depth control issues (running much deeper than set, to point do not impact side of run close enough to ships keel to set off the magnetic exploder) . I sought to do this and have achieved it in the sim

Now, this is historically accurate but it can make for frustrating game play. Sail from Pearl Harbor to Japan, search for targets, find them and torpedo fail. Maybe some work, you go home with one, maybe two ships sunk after firing 16-24 torpedoes (depending on class of boat) due to various defects in torpedoes. Miss out on sinking an aircraft carrier in a perfect set up because your torpedoes malfunctioned. Gives a very small idea or what real sub crews dealt with. Now, for many players this is great, part of the sim and it does change as your career goes on, in line with history as problems were fixed over time.

However, some players maybe just can not deal with that level of realism/challenge and I understand, it really is up to the individual. Of course, this can be disabled in the option (torpedoes will still run deep though, circle run, gyro errors) they just wont dud or premature explode.


GFO is fine but does not go far enough for me, so never spent much time with it.


Real Fleet Boat 2.0. I not believe the RFB team is active anymore, but RFB is a fine mod , which focuses on the boats themselves more than anything. RFB with Run Silent Run Deep Campaign (great overhaul of the campaign) is excellent, but have not been updated in a long while so are feeling a bit dated, won't have many of things available now.

Thank you all for your replies.
I might give FOTRS a try - is the campaign in the mod changed also or is it the vanilla campaign? If so, does RSRDC have a FOTRS version?

Don't forget there is an MODPACK for german subs for sh4 called KSD II. I am currently updating it.