SH3 Crashes to desktop on mission load

[mungojerry311]

I'm probably not the first person to post about this sort of thing, but here I go.

I've been watching Wolfpack345's series on SH3 and wanted to get back to playing it. I've even installed most of the same mods in his list. However when I try to load a mission, any mission, the loading bar goes all the way full and then the game crashes to the desktop without so much as an error message.

I've installed the 4gb patch and done the compatibly mode stuff, but that hasn't solved it. I'm really frustrated, needless to say. Any help?

Here's the link to my PC specs courtesy of Speccy:
http://speccy.piriform.com/results/1...DYfEVXGHLFD8xR

And here is the list of mods I have enabled:

GWX - 16km Atmosphere
GWX - Main movie - 'Das Boot'
GWX - Open Hatch Mod
GWX - VIIC41 Player Sub
GWX - English Nav Map and Grid Refs
Thomsen's Sound Pack V3.2cg
Rbs1_SH4_Effects_GWX_30_71
Rapt0r's Uniforms V2.0 [Black]
Rapt0r's Uniforms V2.0 [Black - All Leather] Patch
Rubini´s Underwater dust&plancton v1
M.E.P v6
Optional - ShipVanishingHull for MEP v6
Optional - FSF for MEP v6
TKSS18 German U-Boats Compilation
U-Boot 7c-II
FixAllSubGWX
English & Deutsch
Sh3_volumetric_clouds&fog_V2.2
Ricks_GWX_Rec_Man_Final
M.E.P v6- VisualSensors for GWX3

Not shown here but also installed:

ARB WideGui 1920x1080 V3

[Mad Mardigan]

Originally Posted by mungojerry311

I'm probably not the first person to post about this sort of thing, but here I go.

I've been watching Wolfpack345's series on SH3 and wanted to get back to playing it. I've even installed most of the same mods in his list. However when I try to load a mission, any mission, the loading bar goes all the way full and then the game crashes to the desktop without so much as an error message.

I've installed the 4gb patch and done the compatibly mode stuff, but that hasn't solved it. I'm really frustrated, needless to say. Any help?

Here's the link to my PC specs courtesy of Speccy:
http://speccy.piriform.com/results/1...DYfEVXGHLFD8xR

And here is the list of mods I have enabled:

GWX - 16km Atmosphere
GWX - Main movie - 'Das Boot'
GWX - Open Hatch Mod
GWX - VIIC41 Player Sub
GWX - English Nav Map and Grid Refs
Thomsen's Sound Pack V3.2cg
Rbs1_SH4_Effects_GWX_30_71
Rapt0r's Uniforms V2.0 [Black]
Rapt0r's Uniforms V2.0 [Black - All Leather] Patch
Rubini´s Underwater dust&plancton v1
M.E.P v6
Optional - ShipVanishingHull for MEP v6
Optional - FSF for MEP v6
TKSS18 German U-Boats Compilation
U-Boot 7c-II
FixAllSubGWX
English & Deutsch
Sh3_volumetric_clouds&fog_V2.2
Ricks_GWX_Rec_Man_Final
M.E.P v6- VisualSensors for GWX3

Not shown here but also installed:

ARB WideGui 1920x1080 V3

Source of your copy, of SH3.? for 1... &

2ndly... of importance... is... where do you have SH3 installed.?

[mungojerry311]

Originally Posted by Mad Mardigan

Source of your copy, of SH3.? for 1... &

2ndly... of importance... is... where do you have SH3 installed.?

Oh yeah, I always forget something...


Anyway, I have the version of SH3 from Steam. I have it installed here: D:\Games\Steam\steamapps\common\Silent Hunter 3

[Mad Mardigan]

Specs, & where you have it installed... look ok....

Relooking at your mods list...

is ringing a warning bell, with "GWX - English Nav Map and Grid Refs"...

Seeming to recall that there is 1 of the other mods, that is NOT supposed to be used with GWX - English Nav Map and Grid Refs...

or that other mod in conjunction with GWX - English Nav Map and Grid Refs...


Only thing is... can't recall the name, of that other mod... & don't have GWX3, installed, so I, can't read the manual for it. Thought I might have, still had that manual... which is why it took a bit for My reply back now.

I'll see if I can find that info... that is, if another doesn't beat Me to it, 1st...



M. M.

[Mad Mardigan]

Ok, downloaded the GWX3 manual... & found this...

If you use the ―GWX – Navigation Maps and Grid References in English‖ mod it must be installed before installing the "Alternative Flotilla's mod", or the flotilla changes will not take effect.

but, from what I can see of... you don't have "Alternative Flotilla's mod", so... that's that.

Only thing I can think of... is that 1 or more mods, may not be activated, in the right order... off the top of My head.

1 other thing I can think of... with the non gwx mods... check to make sure that they, aren't double nested, inside of a same named folder...

example: English & Deutsch\English & Deutsch\data(whatever folder comes after data in the chain... )

That, can also, cause issues...

Not... 100% completely sure... but 1 final thing I can think of... related to non gwx mods, & them not being recommended added in the mix... is with that volumetric clouds & fog v2 mod... know that some discussion was mentioned of issues with that... of clouds/fog disappearing & then right afterwards, of SH3 crashing...

I don't know what the user's specs were on their computer, but... it may be that their computer is a desktop... which would be somewhat beefier than a laptop... I think. As I said... not going to swear 100% to that... either... but... as I said, I do know that they, had issues with that mod & their mentioning suffering a CTD with that mod in the mix of the SH3 mod set they were running with. It could be related here, as well.


Any way... hope this info helps track down & fix the issue you're having, here.



M. M.

[mungojerry311]

Originally Posted by Mad Mardigan

Ok, downloaded the GWX3 manual... & found this...

If you use the ―GWX – Navigation Maps and Grid References in English‖ mod it must be installed before installing the "Alternative Flotilla's mod", or the flotilla changes will not take effect.

but, from what I can see of... you don't have "Alternative Flotilla's mod", so... that's that.

Only thing I can think of... is that 1 or more mods, may not be activated, in the right order... off the top of My head.

1 other thing I can think of... with the non gwx mods... check to make sure that they, aren't double nested, inside of a same named folder...

example: English & Deutsch\English & Deutsch\data(whatever folder comes after data in the chain... )

That, can also, cause issues...

Not... 100% completely sure... but 1 final thing I can think of... related to non gwx mods, & them not being recommended added in the mix... is with that volumetric clouds & fog v2 mod... know that some discussion was mentioned of issues with that... of clouds/fog disappearing & then right afterwards, of SH3 crashing...

I don't know what the user's specs were on their computer, but... it may be that their computer is a desktop... which would be somewhat beefier than a laptop... I think. As I said... not going to swear 100% to that... either... but... as I said, I do know that they, had issues with that mod & their mentioning suffering a CTD with that mod in the mix of the SH3 mod set they were running with. It could be related here, as well.


Any way... hope this info helps track down & fix the issue you're having, here.



M. M.

Alright, I tried disabling the volumetric clouds & fog but it still crashed. I also checked every mod folder and none are double nested.


Another couple of things I didn't mention. I'm playing this (or at least attempting to) on a laptop. I also have SH3 Commander installed like Wolfpack345. Could that be affecting things?


Or is this a lost cause and I should give up all hope of ever playing this wonderful game again?

[Mad Mardigan]

Hmmm...

From a check on cpu, gpu & Ram... against what the (at the time of release... of SH3) spec's it called for, minimum & max recommendation's, your spec's there... are more than adequate.

"Silent Hunter III System Requirements"

(Minimum)
CPU: Pentium III 1.4 GHz or AMD Athlon 1.4 GHz
CPU SPEED: 1.4 GHz
RAM: 512 MB
OS: Windows 2000/XP (only)
VIDEO CARD: 64 MB DirectX 9-compliant graphics card (NVIDIA GeForce3+ / ATI Radeon 8500+)
TOTAL VIDEO RAM: 64 MB
3D: Yes
HARDWARE T&L: Yes
PIXEL SHADER: 1.1
VERTEX SHADER: 1.1
SOUND CARD: Yes
FREE DISK SPACE: 1.5 GB
DVD-ROM: 4X or better (DVD only)

(Recommended Requirements aka Maximum)
CPU: Pentium 4 2.0 GHz or AMD Athlon 2.0 GHz
CPU SPEED: 2 GHz
RAM: 512 MB
OS: Windows 2000/XP (only)
VIDEO CARD: 128 MB DirectX 9-compliant graphics card (NVIDIA GeForce3+ / ATI Radeon 8500+)
TOTAL VIDEO RAM: 128 MB
3D: Yes
HARDWARE T&L: Yes
PIXEL SHADER: 1.1
VERTEX SHADER: 1.0
SOUND CARD: Yes
FREE DISK SPACE: 1.5 GB
DVD-ROM: 4X or better (DVD only)

(Note: Since downloads are able to be done online through generally, any available web browser... cd/dvd rom drives, are pretty much extraneous... not really needed any more, to be frank. So, that stat, is a moot point there... )

With SH3 install, is it on the SSD or is it on the Hitachi drive.?

Can't tell what your left over, available drive space is... but... know that less than 1/2 of the space left... can (iirc) affect things... I think. I will admit I haven't kept up with computer equip. specs, as I used to & I pretty much grew up with computers since they became available as personal devices, since the 1st IBM compatibles.

Right now... am racking My head, to see if I can shake any useful info from it on your troubles.

Was hoping for some others, to check in here & chime in... as right now, am drawing a blank.

1 thing I can think of, is wiping everything out & retry installing & modding... but... that, I'd reserve as a last ditch, scorched earth approach... as a.. measure of last resort.



M. M.

[mungojerry311]

Originally Posted by Mad Mardigan

With SH3 install, is it on the SSD or is it on the Hitachi drive.?

1 thing I can think of, is wiping everything out & retry installing & modding... but... that, I'd reserve as a last ditch, scorched earth approach... as a.. measure of last resort.

The D: drive would be the Hitachi drive so yes, SH3 is installed on there.

I know there were leftover files in the SH3 folder from when I had it installed last. AFAIK it worked fine then.


I just want to get back to playing the game dammit.

[Mad Mardigan]

Originally Posted by mungojerry311

The D: drive would be the Hitachi drive so yes, SH3 is installed on there.

I know there were leftover files in the SH3 folder from when I had it installed last. AFAIK it worked fine then.


I just want to get back to playing the game dammit.

Ok, given that info... would then... recommend... a complete slash & burn uninstall... (including, deleting the save game folder) use ccleaner (if you have that, to ensure complete wipe of the install... uninstalling, can leave residual files behind. You'd think that uninstalling, would remove everything... but, it doesn't.) After Uninstalling, use the ccleaner custom clean portion 1st, then follow that up with... the registry cleaner portion, after that, then a fresh install of SH3. On that volumetric mod, avoid adding it in... as I mentioned, another subsimmer... reported issues with it.



M. M.

[mungojerry311]

Originally Posted by Mad Mardigan

Ok, given that info... would then... recommend... a complete slash & burn uninstall... (including, deleting the save game folder) use ccleaner (if you have that, to ensure complete wipe of the install... uninstalling, can leave residual files behind. You'd think that uninstalling, would remove everything... but, it doesn't.) After Uninstalling, use the ccleaner custom clean portion 1st, then follow that up with... the registry cleaner portion, after that, then a fresh install of SH3. On that volumetric mod, avoid adding it in... as I mentioned, another subsimmer... reported issues with it.



M. M.

Even delete all the mods I worked so hard to find? And GWX? And the 1920x1080 UI mod?

[Mad Mardigan]

Originally Posted by mungojerry311

Even delete all the mods I worked so hard to find? And GWX? And the 1920x1080 GUI mod?

No, can take the MODS folder & save it elsewhere... (same with the "1920x1080 GUI mod", just be sure to do that, where you'll know where they are when you need them. Do, however, delete the following from in the MODS folder, however of:

!BACKUP

!INSTLOGS

JSGME (this will be the last item, on the list in the MODS folder... the "configuration settings" file, located in there)

GWX3, if am not mistaken, is an installer application, so will just have to rerun that, once you've clean wiped SH3 out... including the games saves folder.

The GWX3 installer, as far as I know of, does NOT need to be in the SH3 folder.. at all, can have it elsewhere & still run it from wherever it is... to let it do its thing to install GWX3 to SH3.

1 thing to make sure of, before running the GWX3 installer.

After reinstalling SH3, open the install folder for SH3, click on the SH3.exe then look at the top of folder. Make sure that the "Home" tab is selected. In the menu for Home tab, should see an option called "properties" (1/3 roughly, from the right side of the folder) Clicking on that will open up SH3.exe's properties sub menu.

Once in that, check in the section, marked "attributes" & ensure that the "Read-only" box, is NOT checled" then hit "apply". What this does is sets the .exe to be written over, by the mods.

After that, click on the "compatibility" tab, in that sub menu... in the "compatability mode section, check the box, titled "Run this program in compatibility mod for: then in the menu box just below that, open & look for "Windows 7" & select that. Next, in the Settings section, just below the compatibility mode section, look for & check the box titled, "Run this program as an admin", then click "accept" & then, click "Ok"

Then run SH3, to allow it to finalize set up... including the standard SH3 game save folder.

One thing.. if you intend, to run more than just GWX3... I'd strongly suggest you leave that copy... unmodded... as your "go to GOLD Standard" virgin copy, to use to copy the guts of the game from...

Create in the \Common folder another folder named "SH3-mega mods" (minus the " " marks.... in "SH3-mega mods" create & name a folder, titled... "GWX3-SH3"

Once that is done, then go into your virgin copy of SH3, use select all or hit Cntrl+A then paste the files in there, to the newly created "GWX3-SH3" folder.

After that, you're free & clear, to mod that copy of SH3...

With running any other mod sets, beyond GWX3... I'd also suggest getting hold of "MultiSH3", as well. That app will make it so you can set up a separate game save folder, well away from the SH3 initial run set up game saves folder... thereby avoiding any chance of game save files... getting corrupted... which can occur.

Now, if you're dead set on GWX3, being the only copy you're going to tun with... then disregard the steps to make the initial "SH3" a to go to GOLD standard" virgin...

Your choice... Me, I'd strongly suggest doing that step, as a just in case, should GWX3 run into any issues... just a suggestion.

Hope this info helps...



M. M.

[mungojerry311]

Ok, after following all your instructions it now seems to be working perfectly. Thanks you so much!


Now I just have to learn how to do a torpedo attack, which you'd think I'd have learned by now.

[flag4]

installed SH3 the other day onto this new laptop. plenty of power for it.
running windows11. inspiron 15 3000. downloaded from steam. patched to 1.4.
been running fine with gwx gold. then yesterday started crashing at grey wolves load screen back to desktop. cant figure it out?

steam puts it in program files x86. is it alright there. and if not how can i move to prog files?

had mod enabler running to. popped in a few installed mods. nothing heavy.

enabled SHCommander and that seemed to make it worse.

i am now all uninstalled and cleaned out. any help would be a great help!

thanks flag4

[Doolar]

Because I had made several Modding mistakes of my own the "volumetric clouds & fog v2 mod" + something else was crashing my game. All has been fixed. If you're using GWX3, the "volumetric clouds & fog v2 mod" should be fine. I used it several years when I used GWX3, with no issues. It adds a whole new dimension to the environment. Not sure here, but I believe that the "volumetric clouds & fog v2 mod" should be added last or as close to last as you can.

[blackswan40]

Hi Flag4 you could try the SH3 Download link i sent you unpack with 7zip then place it on drive C:/ but outside Program files x86 then all should work fine so you no longer need the steam version.
The SH3 ive sent you is the same one i sent Doolar but the one i sent him was a dvd a while back.
also its already patched to 1.4 The Mod Guru's have been looking after Onkel Neal's Navy for years its a calling a Line Chiefs job is to get the fleet at sea happy hunting



4Gig Patch download

https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/dow...o=file&id=5737


Commander Mod 3.2

https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/dow...o=file&id=4789