Thanks for the date detailing. Very helpful... The main problem is probably the early command upgrade where you got the Balao in July of 1943 at Tulagi. It has "AvailabilityInterval= 1943-08-01, 1943-10-01", when it then transfers to Milne Bay, with "AvailabilityInterval= 1943-10-01, 1944-05-17", where it then transfers to Manus Island. The missions are set though, that you do not crash or get retired with the early boat, and that really does not seem like it should mess anything else up along the way. However, we also do not have a "new paint scheme" in FotRSU. The paint should change with a conning tower change, and that should be the prompt, but we might be pointing to the wrong menu.txt entry... I don't think we even have a Measure 32 in the UpgradePackSlots... If the game is calling that "logic" somewhere with the Balao, that might be the problem... A very slight possibility is the going from a Gato boat with its bow mount, to the Balao, with its stern mount, and then the game getting confused... Sad thing is, the "upgraded gun slot" and losing of crew positions has been with SH4 since March of 2007 when it was released. Each update they released had a "fix" for the issue, and yet it remains to this day. Something goes wrong in the Save file, and "poof!" the gun slots are among the first things to be lost.
We will dig into this though, because this is the first time I have ever heard of it happening this way. The "upgrading" issue from a 4 to 5 inch gun is well documented, but that paint change message is definitely new. Now for some questions:
1. Did you get a conning tower upgrade when the paint scheme changed? It would look the same as the first, with slight improvements to some of the "slots" for future radar upgrades, but the only noticeable difference would be going from Measure 9 black to Measure 32 grey.
2. Had you removed the deck gun crew prior to buying the new gun? If not, and you lost the slots, were the slots for the Damage Team filled back the way they were? In other words, did you lose the crew men, along with the slots?
3. Other than the loss of the gun crew slots, all else seems to function as intended then?
4. Can you zip-up your Save folder again, and PM me a link to it, so that I can attempt to follow the sequence of events in it? There is a "NewColetrainsAndOthersDGfix.pdf" file in the Support / HowTo folder, and it has some relatively detailed instructions for recovery from this, with several examples of what you might find, especially in the newer "New and Improved FotRSU Way" on Page 3 and following. You could do that before or after linking to the Save folder, if you do, since you have a couple of Saves with the condition.
Thanks.