Starting Position Outside Kiel
 

Hello everyone. :Kaleun_Salute:
I know this is a subject which has been discussed before, but I have been unable to find a solution to the problem here at Subsim or elsewhere. I finally started my career with 1st Flotilla, and I want to use the Kiel Canal search pattern to autopilot between Kiel and the North Sea instead of going around Denmark. However, I do not start at the sub pens where the waypoint out of Kiel is. I am using GWX 3.0 Gold and SH3 Commander but did NOT select the "Start patrol at sea" option. Is this just something SH3 Commander does automatically? I tried the game without starting through SH3 Commander, and I still started outside Kiel harbour. It is as if I am stuck with the "Start at sea" option always on even when it is not selected.

If you use SH3 Commander, you must install special files for it to use with the GWX3 mod, have you installed them? Also IIRC, there are limitations in the usage of the Commander, not everything goes in the settings. Maybe re-read the behemoth manual about it...
But that's only a possible reason. I guess it should be possible to edit your savegames to start from where you want, I do it in SH5, but I don't know the procedure in SH3.

Yes, I have installed the GWX 3.0 config files for SH3 Commander 3.2. I will recheck the manual for SH3 Commander, but I find that I still start in the position outside Kiel harbour even if I run the game without SH3 Commander. Hopefully I can find a fix because I feel silly going around Denmark when the canal is right there. I did go through once but making the course waypoints are tedious.

I'm always the weird one. I go through the Canal, and lay out my waypoints one at a time. Every few hours I drop to regular time and look at the sights. For me traversing the Canal is just as much part of the experience as sinking ships. I even use the mod that makes me stop at the locks and wait for the gates to open.

I know that doesn't help you with the way you want to play the game, and I understand. I just wanted to share my own viewpoint. :sunny:

Thank you Sailor Steve for sharing your views on traverssing the canal ingame. :salute: That makes me feel a little better about my perdicament. I just hate it when I create a waypoint only to crash into the side of the canal when I am not careful enough. :oops: As I pointed out earlier, it seems like my game automatically starts out to sea when I have not selected that option in SH3 Commander. I might be able to start in dock by editing the coordinates in the "start at sea".cfg parameters if I can figure out what the coordinates are. I would rather not do that if I can help it though.

[EDITED...]
Important: Before making changes to the savegame, make a BACKUP of it and reload from there if things go wrong...


The standard method is surely as Sailor Steve explains it.
If you are really annoyed by all these waypoints to pass, you can try this:

Go to your savegame folder for SH3, to ...\SH3\data\cfg, and open the file playersettings.cfg. You will see at the end something like this:

(...)
DeparturePointLong=1219147.000000
DeparturePointLat=6517648.000000
DeparturePointHeading=298.000000


Then you must also go to your most recent savegame located in ...\SH3\data\cfg\Careers\[Captain name]\0, and locate the file [savegame name].psc where you should read the same data.


First you must find out what this data will look like for the port Wilhemshaven by stopping and saving in the vicinity and looking in your save. After you know this data, you can substitute the data for your current or future saves and start from there, bypassing all the chanel.
More generally, entering approximate data in these lines should start you wherever you want to start. Just be sure to keep all the number syntax (change the numbers to your liking, but the quantity of single numbers must remain the same).


Does it work? I don't know, I never tried it...Thanks to feedback if it does :yep:

The method you mentioned Xenonsurf probably works, though I eventually decided to just do a clean install and it seems to have fixed the problem. I can only recommend starting a career mission first before using SH3 Commander to avoid starting out to sea all the time. Though I fixed that problem, I seem to be missing the emblems under the upgrade menu. :hmmm: That I guess is for another thread.



Thanks for your suggestions on fixes. :salute:

Yes, that can be a little frustrating, and I don't really have an answer to that. I don't have that happen much anymore, probably because of all the hundreds of times I've done it.

I don't know what to say about that, as I've never had it happen to me. I hope you're able to get it fixed.

My proposition above was spontaneous, but I forgot to warn that you need to make a BACKUP of your save. I have edited the post above.

Thanks Xenonsurf for amending your post. :salute: I will make a backup before messing with savegame settings.