[CaptBones]

Hello again Urmel/LSH Team/fellow "Kaleuns";

Really do like LSH3 2015...thank you again! Now, I want to apologize in advance for writing such an extensive message in English and I understand the difficulty you might have translating everything. As such, I don’t expect a reply, but just wanted to make a few comments and hopefully offer some constructive criticism for your consideration.

During the time I was trying to solve the problem with my d3d9.dll “Warning”, I ran through the Naval Academy training scenarios, in order to become familiar with the LSH3 2015 changes to the stock game and then started a “test career” in the LSH-specific version of SH3 Commander. After getting the d3d9.dll problem fixed, I went through the Naval Academy Exams again and completed a training/shakedown cruise out of Stralsund in August ’39. There were several things I found that I decided to modify on my own and thought I’d let you know about, in case you find any of them to be useful in a future revision of the Super-MOD.

Here is what I did on my own, by installing new or replacement files and renaming the original files so they are there as back-ups if needed:

1. The opening screen “dirge” is very depressing, even considering the real world situation around which the game is built. There are also a number of other sounds that have “better” (IMHO) versions available, such as the ambient submarine interior and exterior diesel engine sounds, and several of the “Speech” files (I use German voices). The warnings in the MOD’s installation and instruction manuals do not indicate replacement of “Sound” folder files is risky, so I replaced the Menu_Master LOOP, several Speech Folder files and many other sounds, as well as adding a “Gramaphone” folder with a large selection of popular 1930’s-40’s music. No problems have occurred after doing so.

2. Since I keep a detailed, handwritten “KTB” during my patrols, I added the very useful GridXXXX Scheme by “Tycho” to the Navigation Map as menu_1024_768.ini item [G31 I35]; the position (Pos) needs to be revised to 125, 1650 to fit correctly (but keep the size 714, 922).

3. I found the Type 2A Navigation Map was missing the 1500m Range/Bearing circle (the other boats have it). So, I copied the NSS_Uboat7b_shp.tga file, renamed it to NSS_Uboat2A_shp, and copied it to the NSS_Uboat2A folder; it works perfectly.

4. I replaced labels in “en_menu.txt” with labels from the “EnglishToGermanNames” MOD by “Px3000” (although I had to manually change 2776=LEAD ANGLE SOLUTION and 2778=AUTO/MANUAL to 2776=VORHALTEWINKEL LÖSUNG and 2778=AUTO/MANUELL). I realize that those labels are obviously in German in the “de_menu txt” file and changing them in “en_menu.txt” might not be suitable for every non-German-speaking player, but it does lend a lot more “authenticity” to the game and learning the English meaning of the German terms was not that difficult, even for an “old dinosaur” like me.

5. As others have commented; being outside of Europe, I replaced the German and German_M .tga’s in "data\Textures\TNormal\tex" with the historically-correct (with swastika) flag .tga’s from my GWX3 installation. I think I mentioned earlier that I used JSGME to successfully replace the “ofaces” folder in the data\Menu\Data folder with the “Das Boot” crew faces and I attempted to replace the OfficerA and OfficerB .tga files in the data\Menu\Gui\Layout folder using JSGME, which did not work. Could anyone suggest why that didn’t work?

There are several other things that I’d like to modify, but need some advice on how to do so; or to not attempt to do so if they won’t work.

1. Can the Type 2 “Command Room” camera be relocated? It’s in a very awkward location and I have to switch to the Free Camera in order to get a good view within the Command Room.

2. Would it be possible to enlarge the Navigation Map? IMHO the big black area to the right of the Nav Map is really “wasted space”. The bearing circle, nomograph and “depth thingy” stored there could be relocated a bit to give a little more “working room” on the map. Actually, I think that having a draggable nomograph is not really useful…it has to be in a fixed location anyway when using it and having it located permanently on the far right side of the visible Nav map works quite well, if the map is enlarged a bit anyway. The bearing circle and “depth thingy” could then be relocated slightly farther to the right and would still be accessible.

Finally, could you/would you be willing, to give me a hint about which terrain texture files on your great MOD I could copy and use in GWX? With all the excellent features in that terrific Super-MOD, I have always been a little unhappy about the Kiel Canal looking more like the Suez Canal. Most of the shoreline areas in GWX seem to be mostly sand, gravel and rocks, while yours has green grass and textures that look like shrubbery.

One last question; as noted on page 16/62 of the 2010 Mini Manual, the only boat available at Erprobungsstelle Kiel in August 1939 is the Type VIIB. However, the chart on page 15/62 of the Mini Manual seems to indicate that a Type II boat should be available there before the start of the war. Is it possible to begin a career in August ’39 with a Type II boat?

Thanks again; good luck and good hunting.