Help! GWX Messed Me Up
 

I'm new to SH3. Bought it on Steam, and it was running just fine. I loved it and made it through the tutorials. Then I got greedy and downloaded GWX 3.0 Gold, hoping to mod the game like everybody else seems to be doing. Bad idea.

It took a while to even figure out how to mod the game at all. When I did, it seemed to be working well at first. But if I try to start a career or play certain single missions, the game crashes before it gets started.

I uninstalled and reinstalled SH3 in Steam, hoping to get rid of GWX and go back to what I had before. But somewhere, all those GWX files are still in my system. And I don't even know where (I poked around in Windows Explorer and couldn't find them). But they're screwing up my game so I can't play it anymore.

I've forgotten what little I ever knew about computers. These days, if something doesn't work right out of the box, I'm lost.

I'm using an Acer Aspire 5 with Windows 10.

I'd be happy to get back to vanilla SH3. Even happier to get GWX running properly. Right now, I can't do either.

If anyone can help, it'll be much appreciated.

Which version of Windows do you have? Since you have Steam, did you happen to install it in "C:\ Program Files (x86) \ Steam \..." on your computer? Did you use JSGME (Jones Soft Generic Mod Enabler) to activate the mod, and then the same thing to de-activate it before un-installing SH3? Have you tried to "clear" (delete) the Save folder? That's usually found in "C:\ Users \ YourName \ Documents \ SH3\..." The game will re-create it when it needs it. Don't delete the Documents folder, just anything below the SH3 folder that's inside of it.

Windows 10 Home, version 1703. And yes, it looks like Steam installed in Program Files (x86), etc.

I downloaded the mod here in SubSim and just followed the instructions. Looks like it may have used JSGME, since a desktop icon for that appeared when I was done. But I didn't consciously use JSGME for anything--certainly not for uninstalling (in fact, the mod may not be uninstalled, for all I know).

HOWEVER, I did partially solve my problem late last night. I watched a YouTube video on how to install GWX in the Steam version of SH3, and that gave me some clues on how to clean up and get back to the unmodded game. This time I used Steam to uninstall, then went to the SH3 folder Steam had created and deleted everything there. After that, when I reinstalled and started SH3 in Steam, the base game worked just fine. The only artifact from my modding attempt was a player name I had created for my first SH3 Career. That name still shows up as a default for me.

I'm guessing that if I were to completely uninstall SH3 again, AND delete the files in the folder (AND maybe some files in My Documents, which I haven't even looked for yet, though I've heard about them), then reinstall SH3 and immediately install the GWX mod, it might work without crashing.

But for the moment, I've had about enough. It's a relief just to have the base game running again. GWX looks good, but it's pretty stressful for me to work through all my ignorance and deal with these computer details. And "vanilla" SH3 is plenty of sub sim for me at this beginning stage. (In fact, before I got it working again, I went back to SH2--I have the GOG version of that--and enjoyed it well enough. I also played Silent Service II and had a fine time with that as well.)

Still, thank you for your reply! And I'm still open to helpful tips. One of these days I would like to enjoy GWX. I'm just not in a huge hurry.