Some questions!

[Renesco]

hey all first of all let me say that this is one of the most fun games I've ever played, I only heard about it recently enough and got it on steam, since then I've been playing it a lot but I've some questions about stuff I've not been able to figure out from lurking here.

> is there a way to edit the game so you can use the deck gun in rougher waters, after 6 metre windspeed it becomes unusable, it seems calm enough up to 9 or 10 metre windspeed to me for the deck gun to be used.

> whats the difference between the observation and attack periscope?

> when does the XXI become available? it's not available in 1944 from the 11'th at bergen in my campaign, and the VII B I've used is getting murdered on every patrol

> is there a way to change the amount of days spent in home base (not friendly ports) or is SH3 Commander used to change that?

> what boat has the u-flak conning tower, is it the VII C ? and is it any good

> how do you re-equip at sea? I've read people can do this but I dont think its in my version, does that only come along in grey wolves?

> is grey wolves a mod or an expansion, lets say I had a .rar with it, could I install it over my steam version? what kind of stuff does it add to the campaign mode?

> is the radioman that picks up long range contacts on the map? or are these contacts relayed from other uboats or command, what determines the contacts you pick up on the map outside hydrophone range?

> since I've registered all the threads are backwards, the first post is at the bottom of the last page and the last post the top of the first page, whats that about?

> difficulty curve, since 1944 has hit in my first campaign, the game has become extremely hard, every patrol is die - reload - die to planes - reload - remember to turn off radar - die anyway - reload - try and sneak away, die anyway to a destroyer that comes out of nowhere, am I missing something? is there a way to tone down the difficulty and keep it at 1943 level for the remainder of the game?

> SH3 commander, how essential is this? I've not been using it but everyone seems to swear by it, and is it compatible with steam version?

> I've heard people talk of a XXIII boat? or is it XIII series, is that from grey wolves or in the stock game, and what flotilla?

thats all the questions I could think of (for the moment)

[KL-alfman]

welcome aboard, Renesco!

that's quite a lot of Q, I'd suggest to go through all the stickies on this page. there your questions will be answered in detail.

but I'll try in short:

- GWX is one of the super-mods for SH3 (NYGM, LSH, WAC are the other ones) and is needed to install over a clean and fresh SH3 (makes no difference if a steam or DVD-copy).

- you should go down to the bottom of the page where you can change the "Display Settings" to show the threads as you like.

- there are mods for "type XXI"-availability from 1939 on and for the XXIII too. the same is for "all-wheather guns". make a search in the download-section.

- SH3Commander lets you change many options of your game, amongst others: days spent in port.

- GWX enables milk-cows and other supply-vessels which were not scripted in stock.

- the "Turm IV" is for the VIIC but if you prefer diving more than risking getting sunk it's of no use, IMO.

- and yes, SH3Commander is essential for the game (all the same if you play stock or any super-mod).

hope this helps for once

[frau kaleun]

Hi and welcome to the forums.

To answer some of your questions -

There is a mod called "All Weather Guns" that will allow you to use the guns regardless of weather. Be aware however that in order to do so it must redefine what constitutes "storm conditions" and because of that your watch crew will never don their wet weather gear if you use it. The settings can also be manually edited in the game if you desire, once you have the mod you can see what edits it makes and act accordingly if you want to go that route.

IIRC the observation periscope provided a somewhat larger and "better lit" field of view than the attack 'scope due to its design differences, this may make it preferable for use in night attacks or rough weather when visibility is at a minimum. It also can be used to scan the sky above where your boat is in order to look for aircraft before surfacing.

There is probably a way to manually edit game files with regard to days spent in base, however most folks probably use Commander to do that since it's just quicker and easier (and negates the problems one might run into with a "bad edit" on a crucial file).

Grey Wolves or GWX is an expansion that is installed over your existing game files - not a mod that can be enabled or disabled at will either manually or via JSGME. It's considered a "supermod" because it pretty much overhauls the entire game. Check out the sticky thread in the Mods forum for more and better details.

Re-equipping at sea is done by "docking" at a resupply ship, of which there are several in GWX depending on where you are in the war's timeline. I don't recall that they existed in the stock version.

SH3 Commander is Teh Awesome, it's not "essential" since you can play the game without it, but for most folks it seems they don't want to once they've tried it. AFAIK it's compatible with any "flavor" of SH3 since it's a standalone program.

To change the way threads/posts are displayed go to the User CP and click on Edit Options, scroll down that screen and you'll find your Display options, there's a dropdown menu that will let you select how posts are displayed (oldest or newest first, etc.).

Others will no doubt be along to answer more of your ??, we're a chatty bunch in that respect.

[sergei]

Welcome aboard
Many would say SH3 Commander is essential, regardless of whether you are running the game with mods or not.
I would agree.
Here is a thread that's been running a few days about the benefits of Commander
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=168084
Includes a link for the Commander user manual. Download it and have a look see if you like it.

The observation scope has a larger aperture that lets in more light, but is easier for a ship to spot, being bigger. Good for low light conditions.
Can't remember how well the stock game models this though.

XXI becomes available in GWX around about May 44 (I think). Dunno about the stock game.

I am sure after I have awarded my radioman the radio qualification this leads to more contact reports.
(I may just be imagining this )

I've heard 1944 is a bitch. Never made it that far myself

Type XXIII, is a GWX addition I think
Further reading
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_...XIII_submarine

[Sailor Steve]

WELCOME ABOARD!

Originally Posted by Renesco

got it on steam

You might want to think about a hard copy. They're real cheap now and can be had almost anywhere. Or maybe I'm just nervous about losing stuff.

> is there a way to edit the game so you can use the deck gun in rougher waters, after 6 metre windspeed it becomes unusable, it seems calm enough up to 9 or 10 metre windspeed to me for the deck gun to be used.

Yes. It's in the individual u-boat text files in the Submarine folders. You can change the storm levels to anything you want. But be aware: the clothes are also tied in with that control. If you raise it to 15 (the max) they will never put on their wet-weather gear. The GWX mod already has them raised to a nice compromise.

> whats the difference between the observation and attack periscope?

In real life the observation periscope had a bigger head to let in more light at night, and could crank up to 90 degrees to look for airplanes. The attack periscope had a smaller head to make it less visible to the enemy, but it was hard to use in bad lighting conditions. They also had the same magnification levels, x1.5 and x6.

> is there a way to change the amount of days spent in home base (not friendly ports) or is SH3 Commander used to change that?

It can be changed in the .cfg files, but Commander is so much easier, and includes a 'Random' choice (my favorite)

[quote]> how do you re-equip at sea? I've read people can do this but I dont think its in my version, does that only come along in grey wolves?[/quote=
GWX, and maybe some other supermods (I haven't looked that closely, as I've never gone far enough in the war to use it). There is a stand-alone mod out there somewhere.

> is grey wolves a mod or an expansion, lets say I had a .rar with it, could I install it over my steam version? what kind of stuff does it add to the campaign mode?

It's a supermod with its own installer. You can use it with the Steam version, but make a backup of the stock game first, and put it on disc as well.

GWX changes everything. The enemy AI is much better; the harbors look fantastic, with lots of ships docked and coming and going; the planes all have clear canopies with pilots in them; the entire campaign has been rewritten to reflect realistic convoy movements and escorts; the u-boats themselves handle more realistically; and a whole bunch of other stuff that I can never remember. GWX and SH3 Commander combine to make an amazing experience.

But that is also true of the other supermods as well.

> is the radioman that picks up long range contacts on the map? or are these contacts relayed from other uboats or command, what determines the contacts you pick up on the map outside hydrophone range?

Whether they are relayed or intercepted, it's still the radioman who does it.

> since I've registered all the threads are backwards, the first post is at the bottom of the last page and the last post the top of the first page, whats that about?

There is a way to change it, but I never have since I read every thread I can and like it that way. But don't worry - someone will get it straightened out for you soon.

> difficulty curve, since 1944 has hit in my first campaign, the game has become extremely hard, every patrol is die - reload - die to planes - reload - remember to turn off radar - die anyway - reload - try and sneak away, die anyway to a destroyer that comes out of nowhere, am I missing something? is there a way to tone down the difficulty and keep it at 1943 level for the remainder of the game?

Play at a lower level? Be more careful? I can't help there since I've never played past 1940. Sorry.

> SH3 commander, how essential is this? I've not been using it but everyone seems to swear by it, and is it compatible with steam version?

I'll put it this way: it's not essential at all. But...whereas a good supermod changes the way you play the game, Commander changes the way you think about your career. Want a chance to retire before the war ends? Commander does that. Want a choice of 1.7 billion crew names, so you never get the same name twice? Commander does that. Want your crew to rotate out and get new guys? Commander does that. Want to promote your men or give them medals any time? Want to have a chance for some vital piece of equipment to malfunction? Want to have every merchant you sink receive a name, cargo listing and crew onboard/killed (all historically accurate, of course)? Yep, Commander does that too.

Of course it also lets you change in-game parameters (wave height, gun reload speed, etc) and it has date-based randomization for your gramaphone and radio reports (and sub skins), and non-date-based randomization for malfunctions and a host of other cool things, including a mod that takes over 100 loading screens made over the years and randomizes them so you get a different one every time you load the game, along with a bunch of different marches so the dockside band always plays different ones.

No, it's not essential, it's just so good that you don't want to be without it.

Don't have answers for any of your other questions.

[Renesco]

thanks all, I've a lot of pondering, installing, uninstalling and fiddling to do now

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Renesco

thanks all, I've a lot of pondering, installing, uninstalling and fiddling to do now

Hi matey

I'm the lazy git that comes in at the end after the fellas have answered your questions.

If you give it a go I'm confident you'll enjoy the GWXperience.

SINK EM ALL!!

[Renesco]

quick question, I now have a steam version of the stock game installed and another version with GWX installed, and SH3 Commander installed, since I installed SH3C my stock version games wont load, the game crashes, does fiddling with settings with SH3C make old savegames unusable?

You need Multi-SH3
Should be in the downloads section.

[Renesco]

I cant find it in the downloads section, what is it? a version of SH3 Commander for use with multiple installs of the game? will it allow me to play my unmodded game again with my old saves alongside the GWX version without conflict?

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Renesco

I cant find it in the downloads section, what is it? a version of SH3 Commander for use with multiple installs of the game? will it allow me to play my unmodded game again with my old saves alongside the GWX version without conflict?

You can get it here:

http://www.filefront.com/13679648/MultiSH3.zip

compliments of Jimbuna and his awesome Filefront page.

It will allow you to run multiple installs of SH3 on the same system by letting you create a separate folder within My Documents for each install to use. This means savegames and career data from one install will not get mixed in with the savegames and career data from any other install.

It is very simple to use and there are complete instructions included with the download, once you extract the necessary files you just copy the multish3.exe into each install's game folder, run it once from there, and designate a new folder for that install to use for your savegames and career data.

Edit: Oh and if you are using Commander I recommend a separate install of it for each game install. Then you can tell each install of Commander which game install you want "linked" to it by opening each install of Commander, going into Options and in "SH3 path" telling it which game install you want it to run for you. This way if you want to make changes via Commander for a stock install, you don't have to undo them before you use it to load a GWX install or vice versa. Just make sure you label all your Commander shortcuts appropriately so you know which one is which.

[Renesco]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

You can get it here:

http://www.filefront.com/13679648/MultiSH3.zip

compliments of Jimbuna and his awesome Filefront page.

It will allow you to run multiple installs of SH3 on the same system by letting you create a separate folder within My Documents for each install to use. This means savegames and career data from one install will not get mixed in with the savegames and career data from any other install.

It is very simple to use and there are complete instructions included with the download, once you extract the necessary files you just copy the multish3.exe into each install's game folder, run it once from there, and designate a new folder for that install to use for your savegames and career data.

Edit: Oh and if you are using Commander I recommend a separate install of it for each game install. Then you can tell each install of Commander which game install you want "linked" to it by opening each install of Commander, going into Options and in "SH3 path" telling it which game install you want it to run for you. This way if you want to make changes via Commander for a stock install, you don't have to undo them before you use it to load a GWX install or vice versa. Just make sure you label all your Commander shortcuts appropriately so you know which one is which.

right-o done that and everything is working fine, thank you kindly for all your help

[frau kaleun]

You're very welcome! Now go sink 'em all.