Finally Ready To Play!

[Sailor Steve]

Well, I've been un-homeless and using my own computer for almost eight months now, and I still haven't played a game. I bought Sid Meier's Pirates and ran through it a few times; I've been working on a couple of projects of my own; I've been working on my own non-mod day and night; and I've been slowly building my personal setup to get the game I wanted to play.

I've played single scenarios and tested mods. I've sailed out of Kiel and Wilhelmshaven more times than I care to remember. I've sunk more ships in the 'Happy Times' scenario than I think they had ships. I've had crashes that had me going back to square one and starting over from scratch.

And now I'm ready.

I'm certainly no newcomer to SH3. I played Silent Service back in the day, Aces Of The Deep and Silent Hunter and had a ball with SHII and Destroyer Command multiplayer. And I've played SH3 for more than a year until I had to move out. Now I've got my mods adjusted to my liking.

First, I loaded GWX. Why GWX? Not because I think it is the be-all, end-all of SHIII gaming, or because I think it's "SHIII as it should have been!" I don't think those things. Every mod and every supermod has its selling points, and without the source code we can never fix some of the most glaring problems. And, there are things about every supermod that I don't like. But GWX is still the most intense version graphically, and for me it's not the eye-candy, but rather the feel. The visuals put me back in the harbors and back on the seas, and I like the travelling part.

So, I loaded up GWX 2.1, the 16km, the enhanced damage effects and the minor fixes. I loaded up AIL's Small Moon and Das Boot Officer Icons mods.



I loaded up the Assisted Plotting mod. Maybe twenty ships in the harbor and the only one showing is the one I locked onto and identified. And the Clean Nav Map.



I loaded up the Das Boot Clothes Mod.





I loaded up the Das Boot Sound Mod. Can't show a picture, obviously, but I like the fact that is sounds less stilted and 'automatic' than anything else. At least for me.

I loaded up English To German Names, by Phoenix3000. it doesn't show up in my screenshots because some other stuff I installed overwrote it and I haven't gone back and fixed it yet. But I will.

I loaded up Sergbuto's Free Cam mod.





I loaded up the Kiel Canal Locks mod, by Nautilus42.



I loaded up Lifeboats and Debris, by Rubini. The new version, with rowers.



I loaded up No Medals or Rank On Crew, by Dertien.

I loaded up the Open Hatch Mod on All Types, by Diving Duck.

I loaded up Port People, by Pascal. It puts pretty print dresses on the nurses, among other things.



I loaded up Radiolog Expanded, by IrishRed and Danurve, with some modifications of my own.

I loaded up Water Streams, by Rubini.

[Sailor Steve]

I loaded up Exhaust Smoke, by Racerboy, modified for Water Streams by Philipp Thomsen.



I followed Danlisa's instructions to remove the binocular bearing marks (Free Cam mod puts them back in).



I followed Ichso's instructions for removing the the big compass from GWX.

I installed the TDC Dials in Periscope View, by FLB_Sale U-999.



I installed U-Jagd Tools, by JoeGrundman.







And finally I installed the Simfeeling Six-Dials mod, by FLB_Sale U-999.





It took a lot of fiddling and fussing to get it all to work together, but I'm happy with it now. It might seem excessive or obsessive to some, but I've played enough games in my life that I don't get a thrill out of winning anymore. I just want to pretend I'm a U-boat captain and imagine it's all real.

I'm still not ready to play quite yet. I still have my own Ship Names mod I'm working on, and I don't want to sail until I'm ready for my first phase release. I think I'm now going back to Torpedo School and bone up on my manual targetting.

[bigboywooly]

Slacker
The rest of us are busting our hump sinking ships while you fiddle
Nero ?

:rotfl:

[Sailor Steve]

:rotfl:

Hey, I'm a perfectionist. I should be ready to sink some British ships by, say, 1948 or so.

[bigboywooly]

Nice to see you back in the saddle
Trouble is there is always something new being worked on so you will never be finished
Or happy

[WeeBubba]

Steve

This is fantastic post! Because it makes so much sense to me!

I too am a bit of an obsessive compulsive when it comes to this, and I wouldn't allow myself to start the game proper until I was confident that I had the ultimate setup. It's good to hear I'm not the only one!

Here is what I installed!

GWX - Alternate Loadscreen - Full Circle
GWX - Axis Mediterranean Aircraft Skins
GWX - English Nav Map and Grid Refs
GWX - Captain America's Officer Icons
GWX - Late War Sensors Snorkel Antennas
GWX - Main movie - 'Das Boot'
GWX - Merged Campaign
GWX - No Medals on Crew
GWX - Open Hatch Mod
OLCE2
OLC GUI Special
LifeBoats&Debris_v3B
Rowers_for_LifeBoats&Debris_v3B
Fuel Economy mod v1.1
interior diving angles
interior diving angles (openhatch)
Torpedo damage Final ver2.0
Community units
Authentic_Off_Faces #2
OLCE2 - Adjusted GWX 2.1 Crew Skins
OLCE2 - Adjusted GWX 2.1 Enhanced Particle Effects (with reflections)
WBNN Messages
Das Boot Sound Mod (German)
Real Depth Charge

The only thing that I am missing is Rubini's water streams and RB's exhaust mod. I posted about that and was told I could overwrite the OLC data without fear of breaking anything. But I haven't tried that yet.

I suggest you lookup the WBNN messages, real depth charge and fuel economy mods too. hope that helps.

[SandyCaesar]

Wow!

All you need are steel bulkheads around your walls. It's going to be one hell of a trip when you do play--are you planning to emulate GoldenRivet and his 1X patrol someday? That is, if you could? It'd be...interesting.:hmm:

Still, for once I agree with BdU: BE MORE AGGRESSIVE!

[antikristuseke]

Nice selection of mods there Sailor Steve, well done. Personaly I just stick with GWX and OLC ui, but each to their own. Speaking of real time patrols, I should do one myself, I have 28 days till I have to report to my unit to do national service as a groundpounder (wether recon, infrantry or engineers will be decided after the first 3 months) so that should be ennough time for some real time patrols in a type II.

[Jimbuna]

I'm really chuffed for you Steve...... I hope you have loads of exciting experiences on your jorney

Somehow though, I don't think this will be the end of additional mod content

SINK EM ALL!!

[Red Heat]

Bon Voyage, Sailor...

[Sailor Steve]

@ WeeBubba: Yeah, it's almost as much fun searching for that 'perfect' setup as it is to play. Almost. I have the Real Depth Charge mod, but I think the reduced effects are incorporated into GWX. If I find out that's wrong, I'm ready to reinstall it.

@ SandyCaesar: I probably won't ever do a 1x patrol, partly because I've been in the navy and partly because I always feel like it's not really real; that is in real life I wouldn't be 'outside' of the ship doing something else, except maybe reading, so time spent doing other chores for me might as well be time spent in TC. That said, I'm probably going to limit it to 256x just to make it feel a little more real/boring.

@ antikristuseke (man, I have to copy and past that name - no way could I ever spell it, even while I'm looking at it): OLC-GUI is advanced from U-Jagd, and arguably better, but U-Jagd lets me keep using Simfeeling, and I like having nothing on the screen but knowing it's there if I need it. That's one of the things that makes me reluctant to go to SH4. OLC's screens are just too cluttered for my taste.

ps: Have fun playing Army.

I didn't mention the external mods: I have all my gramophone music in SH3 Commander so it only appears at the proper time, and I'm also using my own Loading Screen Randomizer, which also randomizes the dockside band music and the chart table background (Leer).

[h.sie]

oh, i am not alone! after 3 months of reading, trying, testing, searching and so on, now i feel ready to start to play. perhaps.....

i have nearly the same mod setup as you, except an self-modified version of the longer repair times mod, which is a compromise in repair- and flooding-time behaviour between vanilla sh3 and the LRT mod from nvdrifter.

but perhaps i'll never finish a career. perhaps my fun is to optimise a game i'll never play with for a long time.

[antikristuseke]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

@ antikristuseke (man, I have to copy and past that name - no way could I ever spell it, even while I'm looking at it): OLC-GUI is advanced from U-Jagd, and arguably better, but U-Jagd lets me keep using Simfeeling, and I like having nothing on the screen but knowing it's there if I need it. That's one of the things that makes me reluctant to go to SH4. OLC's screens are just too cluttered for my taste.

ps: Have fun playing Army.

Heh, you should try pronouncing it
Anyway, most people just shorten it to anti for convenience sake, so that would be fine aswell. Or if you want to add more confusion to the mix you could call me by my other nickname Kondor, given to me by a barman at Hades because my nose is suposedly shaped like the beak of a vulture.
But moving on now, With mods its simply a case of each to their own, personaly I really dislike slide outs at mouse over. ThoughI have to admit the views without screen cluter are indeed nice.

I'll deffinately make the most of my time in the Estonian Defence Forces, cheers.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by h.sie

oh, i am not alone! after 3 months of reading, trying, testing, searching and so on, now i feel ready to start to play. perhaps.....

No, you are not the only nutjob idiot side-tracker in existence - there are lots of us!:rotfl:

i have nearly the same mod setup as you, except an self-modified version of the longer repair times mod, which is a compromise in repair- and flooding-time behaviour between vanilla sh3 and the LRT mod from nvdrifter.

LRT! I knew there was one I was forgetting! I'll be experimenting with it later as well.

but perhaps i'll never finish a career. perhaps my fun is to optimise a game i'll never play with for a long time.

I've never finished one. I'm always restarting because I wanted to try something else out. Maybe this time...but probably not.

[yamato9]

I've played single scenarios and tested mods. I've sailed out of Kiel and Wilhelmshaven more times than I care to remember. I've sunk more ships in the 'Happy Times' scenario than I think they had ships. I've had crashes that had me going back to square one and starting over from scratch.

Just like i listen myself, only troble with me that i get bored with game and than switched to IL-2.