If you wanna give it a try urself, its not hard, just gotta know basic editing with a cfg document. The file is named

SpecialAbilities.upc and can be found in

\Ubisoft\Silent Hunter 5\data\UPCDataGE\UPCCrewData

To edit the file, rename it to SpecialAbilities.cfg or.txt
open it and half way down the document you see the important stuff. Heres an example on rasing speed...

REMEMBER MAKE A BACKUP OF ORIGINAL BEFORE EDITING ANYTHING
AND AFTER EDITING RENAME FILE BACK TO .upc (like those other files in same directory)

Cut from halfway down the file... :

;MOTOR OFFICER - Passive abilities

[SpecialAbility 6]
ID=Ability-Engines-Speed-Increase
NameDisplayable=Ability-Engines-Speed-Increase-Name
Description=Ability-Engines-Speed-Increase-Description, Ability-Engines-Speed-Increase-Description, Ability-Engines-Speed-Increase-Description, Ability-Engines-Speed-Increase-Description, Ability-Engines-Speed-Increase-Description
Levels= 5
AbilityType=SurfaceSpeed, SubmergedSpeed ;increases engine speed (in percents)
AbilityValue= 5, 5, 10, 10, 15, 15, 20, 20, 100, 100
AbilityInternalValue= 18.5, 17.25, 37, 34.5, 55.5, 51.75, 74, 69, 200, 200 ; factor1: 3.7, factor2: 3.45

PointsRequirement= 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
AbilityRequirements= 0, 1, Ability-Engines-Speed-Increase, 1, 1, Ability-Engines-Speed-Increase, 2, 1, Ability-Engines-Speed-Increase, 3, 1, Ability-Engines-Speed-Increase, 4
LevelUpTree= 2, 3, 4, 5, 0
MoraleCost= 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
PointsCost= 1, 1, 1, 1, 1

AbylityActsIn= ALL

Duration=0, 0, 0, 0, 0
Cooldown=0, 0, 0, 0, 0

----------------------------------------------------

Ive made the parts i've edited bold so you can see what part of each section you will have to concentrate on, Why i only changed the last numbers on that ability is baicly cuz i had gotten the 5th engine speed ability, so no need to "fix" the lower ones, tho i could have ,made em all 100\200... or more, thats 100% of the original speed btw...so basicly from the document whats important to notise is:
Levels= 5 (each has two numbers as stated right under this)
AbilityType=SurfaceSpeed,SubmergedSpeed
increases engine speed (in percents) Tho seems theres a max, at 200% ive got about 27-30 Surface and 12-13 Submerged speed.

Changing other abilities are basicly the same, check for the lines i edited, and you'll probably understand what to do, thats the only reason i marked out Morale Cost, this ability doesnt use it, normaly it says MoraleCost = 1, 2, 3 i think
so set it at 1, 1, 1, or 0 hasnt tried that yet... one for each of the 3 levels that is

Hope this helps for someone, alot of fun one can edit from that file only, Aslo things like Range on Sonar, Nightvisual range penalty, as said above Torp damage\speed also lowering the penalties some of the abilities gives, Gun\Flak damage\accuracy and so on.

Tried editing the Subs so i could have more torps, was easy in SH3 and SH4 but still no-go in 5

I ive also edited the date of wich torpedoes are "made" or available ingame even, so atleast can use torps like XI and VII or T11 and T7 as theyr called

---

Just tried to double that Speed and my max speed is now 32 surfaced and 14 kts submerged, think thats about the max. Be carefull in ports tho, ive sank more then once cuz you move so fast ships cant move outta the way anymore, when using waypoints that is even ran into a friendly taskforce way out at sea while cruzing to a mission.

again have fun, was alot of text but if you like the game, this can add some fun

I have found the answer to your speed problems. Go back to SH5/Data/UPCDataGE/UPCCrewdata/SpecialAbilities #6 "Speed Increase" as well as #9 & #10 overcharge diesel and electric.

Here are my values. My speed is approx "47 knots" on the Surface and "24 knots" submerged. Any faster and it would be silly I think. Be careful when you turn too sharp, "if you have mods to boost turning", make sure your Captain is standing well within the boat or he will fall out......hehehe. If that happens, press "shift U" and he should return. Also your speed is only at it's "full max" when you have "battle stations" active and "overcharge" on. If not, the speed is still much higher than normal without them activated. Your Motorman needs to have level 5 too. There is a cheat that you can get from this site to make that happen. "promotional points", I suggest you use that.

Ability #6 ; Speed Increase
AbilityValue= 999, 999, 999, 999, 999, 999, 999, 999, 999, 999

Ability #9 ; Overcharge Diesel,Fuel Consume
AbilityValue= 999, 1, 999, 1, 999, 1

Ability #10 ; Overcharge Electric,Power Consume
AbilityValue= 999, 1, 999, 1, 999, 1

Delete the line under this. "Abiltiy Internal Value". It causes a glitch somehow, making the mod useless.

As you can see, my speed is high, but consumption is low.

Now go to "My Documents/SH5/Data/Cfg/UserPlayerContextGE and put these values in the "special abilties" file.

#6
AbilityValue=999.0, 999.0, 999.0, 999.0, 999.0, 999.0, 999.0, 999.0, 999.0, 999.0
AbilityInternalValue=999.0, 999.0, 999.0, 999.0, 999.0, 999.0, 999.0, 999.0, 999.0, 999.0

#9
AbilityValue=999.0, 1.0, 999.0, 1.0, 999.0, 1.0
AbilityInternalValue=999.0, 1.0, 999.0, 1.0, 999.0, 1.0

#10
AbilityValue=999.0, 1.0, 999.0, 1.0, 999.0, 1.0
AbilityInternalValue=999.0, 1.0, 999.0, 1.0, 999.0, 1.0

Internal value is now in place for mod to work.

Now go to: SH5/Data/Submarine/NSS_Uboat7a,NSS_Uboat7b,NSS_Uboat7c/cfg Files, and make changes to speed references.

MaxSpeed=47.0
MaxSpeedSubmerged=27.0

Not sure if this matters, but I did that anyway.!!

I can't tell you how long I have spent finding this mod, hope you like it. You now have enough speed to outrun any other ship in the game. Have Fun.!!! If you need help with anything else, even other games, my email address is; mark.porter4@optusnet.com.au