SH3 Newbie Guide, FAQs, Tactics & Tips, Links, & other helpful stuff

[RustySubmarine]

I have just downloaded the Grey Woves add on and was wondering, does it affect realism to the extent, that a newbie would have difficulty using the sim with these mods.
Can it be played with the same options as the initial SH111 install?

[kylania]

Sure, you can use the same realism settings as normal, you're not forced to use manual targetting or no weapon officer help or no cameras or anything. Newbies will be able to play just fine really. To be honest, the only "vanilla" SH3 I played was the Navigation tutorial. After that I liked the game so much I looked for add ons and have been using GW (and lately NYGM) since "the beginning" for me.

A few things you will find more difficult and cannot easily change are:

Damage model is changed. Ships sink by flooding rather than just damage. Meaning you need to hit multiple times in various places and wait longer for a ship to sink now.

Along with the above, deck gun is slower, does more damage per hit, but is less effective due to the above changes to how a ship sinks. Previously a ship had X numbers of hit points and if you exceeded that, say by shooting the bridge with your deck gun, you'd sink the ship. No longer.

All contacts are grey. No more red = bad guy, green = neutral. You'll need to risk and approach to get close enough to ID a target now. Sometimes you'll end up creeping up and getting into firing position of a friendly tugboat, othertimes not.

That said, it's a superb mod and definately worth running. It's beautiful, more lively and really adds enough to the game that even with it's more difficult aspects it's rewarding and enjoyable.

[Sailor Steve]

Some parts are actually easier. In the stock game depth charges are much more powerful than they really were. In GW you can realistically be depth-charged for hours and still escape intact.

[Bis71]

I found that it was trickier tan the Wiki says. The stationary ship will move if you move too fast or leave the scope up too long. After it goes, the other ships may start to move. Hit the C2 cargo ship next with two torps. Alternatively, you can stop her dead in the water with one torp and come back to finish her off after you get the other three. By now, the others are zigging. Take out the merchie almost due west of the C2; then head ESE fast to get the small tanker, the speediest target. Leaving her for last may let her escape. Finally, run ENE for the last merchie.

[Dave Kay]

Now that I have upgraded to a great laptop computer with all the bells and whistles, I come to find out that I can no longer play my absolute favorite game, SHIII, because of my 64bit operating system.
Furthermore, there appears to be no other work-around except for Ubisoft to release an update or patch for the StarForce protection software. Additionally, I understand this is an issue between 32 and 64bit software and according to the StarForce website; this is a very simple fix for most game companies.
What I would like to know is IF, or WHEN this update will be made available. Sans that, I can see many people in the buying public getting rightfully miffed at Ubisoft not only because there is no fix for this problem if one has bought a new PC and attemted to install your games, BUT, I also see as newer Ubisoft titles come onto the market there will be a great many people who cannot play them on older computers... many of us are being caught unaware of this situation and this is not good business! NEW PC BUYERS BEWARE!
Sincerly, a very watchful user of Ubisoft product.

[Dantenoc]

Originally Posted by robj250

Oh, there is no confusion. I have a new copy of SH3 because the other one is scratched too much

Yet another example of copy protection hurting the legitimate user (having to pay twice) when the real bad guys simply copy a cracked version

[Oldgamer48]

Good evening, gents! Although I'm a "newbie" here, some of you may know me as "Oldgamer" at the Total War Center.

I like the website, and this thread has been most useful. I do have a question:

When I download some of the mods, I get the following, instead of a .zip or a .rar file: NYGM_TW__V2.2_Full_Version.7z (and this is just an example). I can't open the file, and it doesn't come with instructions on where to put it or what to do with it.

Am I doing something wrong with the download? What's the answer?

(NOTE: I helped out with Rome: Total Realism, and I'm quite familiar with working with mods and files. I just can't figure out these files that aren't .zip or .rar.)

EDIT: Bilge rat?

Originally Posted by Oldgamer48

Good evening, gents! Although I'm a "newbie" here, some of you may know me as "Oldgamer" at the Total War Center.

I like the website, and this thread has been most useful. I do have a question:

When I download some of the mods, I get the following, instead of a .zip or a .rar file: NYGM_TW__V2.2_Full_Version.7z (and this is just an example). I can't open the file, and it doesn't come with instructions on where to put it or what to do with it.

Am I doing something wrong with the download? What's the answer?

(NOTE: I helped out with Rome: Total Realism, and I'm quite familiar with working with mods and files. I just can't figure out these files that aren't .zip or .rar.)

EDIT: Bilge rat?

http://www.7-zip.org/

It's a similar but different file-compression software than WinZip or .rar is.

[thesnowpig]

The first time I ran into a ship or a plane a dialog box popped up and asked what I wanted to do. I checked the box to alway perform this action, in my instance go to periscope depth, but now I wan't to change the action. Is there a way to reset this, or get the dialog box back?

Thanks

[Sailor Steve]

When you escape from the game, one of the options is, I think, "Options". From there you can reset the buttons.

[Navy Spy]

How can I get that fancy compass that has the degrees on it? Is it located in some mod that I have to download? Any help would be greatly appreciated to this new SHIII player.

[TarJak]

Which one? There are about 20 different compass mods that I know of. Have a look at http://ubrsdlc.realsimulation.com/ to see probably the most comprehensive mod download site for SH3.

[thesnowpig]

Hello.

I just transfered to lorient. I can't seem to get out of the harbor using time compression. Is there a cfg file I can modify to either disable or decrease the range to objects that will deactivate time compression?

Thanks

VIIC
U-46

TheSnowPig

[kylania]

Originally Posted by thesnowpig

Hello.

I just transfered to lorient. I can't seem to get out of the harbor using time compression. Is there a cfg file I can modify to either disable or decrease the range to objects that will deactivate time compression?

The easiest and most fully featured way is to use SH3 Commander to start SH3 for you and in it's options set your Near Land TC to 64x or so. Remember though, there are subnets and minefields around the French ports especially, so try to follow your escorts out of the harbor or check your route against the minefield maps first.

To manually change your TC settings, see this post by Albrecht Von Hesse, he tells how to set that in the actual data files. Just remember if you install anything that overwrites that file you'll need to make the changes again.

[rjbudz]

I don't know if I'm just thick or what!. I cruise up to within 500 meters. I turn the attack periscope to the target, get a green or yellow arrow. Select tube, press fire. Miss. I haven't a clue where the torpedo goes sometimes, it doesn't even get near the target. I can hit 'em once in a while, but I feel it's just luck. Once I crawled right up a target's screw and the torpedo just ran past it along the hull. What amd I doing wrong?

I can't find any Topedos For Dummies sites, and have no idea what torpedo ranges are, when the arrows turn colors (red, yellow, green, seems irratic).

Thanks!