Hi CF
Sounds like you have a number of issues going on with the binoculars and end of patrol.
The sub base icon is just to inform you where your base is.
It is a marker to aim for when entering a harbour as without it if you were going there for the first time you would not know where to go.
Entering Kiel at night and in fog can be challenging.
As you will notice the icon is nowhere near the actual bunkers, but as you head towards it the end of patrol/refit activates with the flashing anchor.
I would be inclined to install a new version of TWOS and see if that sorts your problems out.
I have had a problem in the past also and that fixed it for me.
You maybe unlucky that in the download a file was corrupted.
If not you may need to re-install SH5.
If so make a copy of of the CareerHistory cfg file found in the path
Documents\SH5\data\cfg\CareerHistory
Copy and paste it back when SH5 is re-installed.
If you use refit you will not get a grid reference.
The plus side with refitting is there is no date advancement.
When you end the patrol you are able to request a mission which will give you a number of grid references to patrol and earn bonus points.
The downside is the bunker days have been increased from 14 to 24 days.
This puts pressure to complete BCW and NWA as where I used to get a VIIB I like Shaefer still have a VIIA.
Completing BCW and NWA is more important than going after the BB's in BTF where your limited torpedo resources will be tested.
If you want to take out both of the BB's means an earlier torpedo replenishment which eats into the mission times.
To get around the new bunker days in v1.04 you can always add the mod Change days in bunker and set your own limits.
I am not having any problems with these mods.
The Wolves of Steel 1.04
The Wolves of Steel 1.04 - Real Navigation_by TheDarkWright
The Wolves of Steel - 16x9 Resolution Patch
DeckGun Friendly Waves_Test
DeckKannon
sobers 7A_B deck crew moved for Shaefer SH5
sobers OH2.5 Kiel Lite mod V4 SH5
Change days in bunker
Clock by Shmal
one ship, one torpedo v1.00
Critical hits v 1.2
gap - HD 1 deg Scope Bearing v 1.0
The Wolves of Steel - Wind & Smoke addon
I added the deck gun mod after sinking a SV SMC 1936 tons I only had 59 HE and 53 AP shells left.
In hindsight I probably could have used less shells and waited for it to sink.
Not had a chance yet to put this deck gun mod to the test on anything larger than a coastal boat.
As far as the Auto TDC I think this is an enforced manual setting in the Options File Editor Viewer (OFEV) that needs to be disabled.
If you are using the internal OFEV that comes with TWOS I think vecko may have set a number of the default patches to suit his mod.
You need to disable the last patch in the XO tab.
In the Game Play Options you need the Manual Targeting System tick box empty.
I would recommend my tutorial post #146 rather than using the circles.
The circles really limits your capability where as my tutorial will still allow you to fire at targets beyond 4,000 metres.
If you cannot do without the circles then make changes in the OFEV Navigation and TAI tabs where you can enable the patches to enforce the circles to show in your game.
Peter