Help! No Ships Spawn.

Maphisto86 · 07-14-18, 07:24 PM

Hello all.

I apologize for only posting problems lately but this is a weird one. I have two problems actually. The big one that I posted a thread about is that I am in my career, twelfth patrol and for some reason no ships spawn at the harbour at Kiel or elsewhere. It is like I am the only ship in the game. Before anyone asks, no I do not have GWX's Lite Harbour Traffic mod activated. I have not added any new mods and changed nothing aside from turning Steam off and on. That might have done something. I tried an earlier save but the same thing happens.

Second problem is that my next grid posting is listed as "Null". I know that can happen if you dock elsewhere besides your home base but I was at my home base. SH3 Commander does not seem to allow me to change the patrol grid so I am kind of stuck. Any helpful tips would be appreciated.

XenonSurf · 07-14-18, 07:38 PM

Your first problem may have to do with harbor raids or when attacking ships very close to a port (around 40-50km).
Because the SH game engine is not designed to attack ships in harbors (IIRC no port ships were included in the stock game for a reason!) it can be that all your traffic gets screwed-up when attacking ships in ports and then leaving the port. That's because all traffic nodes are mostly located around ports.
To avoid this problem, except for the Scapa Flow which has a special script (see GWX manual), avoid attacking ports, also because too easy. If you do, then make a separate savegame to be safe.

For your second problem:
Maybe it's good if you roll back the commander once you are in bunker (port). Something is screwed up in your settings.
The NULL usage is explained in the Commander manual at point 4 on page 31, but it doesn't give much details.

Sailor Steve · 07-14-18, 07:49 PM

Set Commander to "Always Roll Back". The only time you don't want a rollback is if you're working on creating a mod and need to test a lot.

It sounds like you've turned on one of the GWX "...only" campaigns enacted. If you have the Black Sea Campaign turned on it will turn off ships everywhere else in the world. I can't think of anything else.

Maphisto86 · 07-14-18, 07:55 PM

Thank you both Xenonsurf and Sailor Steve for your input. I haven't attacked ships in port as of yet and won't based on your feedback. I suspect the problem may be that I have "Indian Ocean Campaign files only" activated in JSGME. If I want to do the Indian Ocean campaign when should I activate that mod?

I don't know why the "NULL" grid patrol option is occuring or why I cannot change it in SH3 Commander. However, I found something of a fix by simply docking immediately after mission loads. It costs me a patrol but fixes that problem. Oh and I always set SH3 Commander to automatically roll back.

XenonSurf · 07-14-18, 07:58 PM

As Sailor Steve said, if you play outside of Atlantic or med sea, then you must load special traffic files with GWX. It's explained in the manual, and it warns that you won't have traffic elsewhere, so if you are finished patrolling there (Black Sea, Indian Ocean, Pacific) you must take these mods out again.
Read 'Scripted Campaign Enhancements' section of the manual p. 181 and forward.

If you have changed mods, then you MUST be in port already, roll back commander immediately when launching it, then close and relaunch it, start game with it. If you are not in port it's no good to make changes in Commander (except the 'set days in port') and you simply launch game with SH3 shortcut.

Maphisto86 · 07-14-18, 09:09 PM

Thank you to both of you. I need to read more of the manual obviously!

The 'Indian Ocean campaign only' mod was the obvious culprit. I should have figured that out but I assumed it meant the Indian Ocean campaign files and not a merged campaign. To save future headaches I might activate 'Merged Campaign' despite the longer wait times.

07-14-18, 07:24 PM	#1
Maphisto86 Seaman Join Date: May 2018 Location: Clarington, Ontario, Canada. Posts: 42 Downloads: 105 Uploads: 0	Help! No Ships Spawn. Hello all. I apologize for only posting problems lately but this is a weird one. I have two problems actually. The big one that I posted a thread about is that I am in my career, twelfth patrol and for some reason no ships spawn at the harbour at Kiel or elsewhere. It is like I am the only ship in the game. Before anyone asks, no I do not have GWX's Lite Harbour Traffic mod activated. I have not added any new mods and changed nothing aside from turning Steam off and on. That might have done something. I tried an earlier save but the same thing happens. Second problem is that my next grid posting is listed as "Null". I know that can happen if you dock elsewhere besides your home base but I was at my home base. SH3 Commander does not seem to allow me to change the patrol grid so I am kind of stuck. Any helpful tips would be appreciated.

07-14-18, 07:38 PM	#2
XenonSurf Sea Lord Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Germany, Italy Posts: 1,703 Downloads: 107 Uploads: 4	Your first problem may have to do with harbor raids or when attacking ships very close to a port (around 40-50km). Because the SH game engine is not designed to attack ships in harbors (IIRC no port ships were included in the stock game for a reason!) it can be that all your traffic gets screwed-up when attacking ships in ports and then leaving the port. That's because all traffic nodes are mostly located around ports. To avoid this problem, except for the Scapa Flow which has a special script (see GWX manual), avoid attacking ports, also because too easy. If you do, then make a separate savegame to be safe. For your second problem: Maybe it's good if you roll back the commander once you are in bunker (port). Something is screwed up in your settings. The NULL usage is explained in the Commander manual at point 4 on page 31, but it doesn't give much details. Last edited by XenonSurf; 07-14-18 at 07:48 PM.

07-14-18, 07:49 PM	#3
Sailor Steve Eternal Patrol Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: High in the mountains of Utah Posts: 50,369 Downloads: 745 Uploads: 249	Set Commander to "Always Roll Back". The only time you don't want a rollback is if you're working on creating a mod and need to test a lot. It sounds like you've turned on one of the GWX "...only" campaigns enacted. If you have the Black Sea Campaign turned on it will turn off ships everywhere else in the world. I can't think of anything else. __________________ “Never do anything you can't take back.” —Rocky Russo

07-14-18, 07:58 PM	#5
XenonSurf Sea Lord Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Germany, Italy Posts: 1,703 Downloads: 107 Uploads: 4	As Sailor Steve said, if you play outside of Atlantic or med sea, then you must load special traffic files with GWX. It's explained in the manual, and it warns that you won't have traffic elsewhere, so if you are finished patrolling there (Black Sea, Indian Ocean, Pacific) you must take these mods out again. Read 'Scripted Campaign Enhancements' section of the manual p. 181 and forward. If you have changed mods, then you MUST be in port already, roll back commander immediately when launching it, then close and relaunch it, start game with it. If you are not in port it's no good to make changes in Commander (except the 'set days in port') and you simply launch game with SH3 shortcut. Last edited by XenonSurf; 07-14-18 at 08:19 PM.

07-14-18, 07:55 PM	#4
Maphisto86 Seaman Join Date: May 2018 Location: Clarington, Ontario, Canada. Posts: 42 Downloads: 105 Uploads: 0	Thank you both Xenonsurf and Sailor Steve for your input. I haven't attacked ships in port as of yet and won't based on your feedback. I suspect the problem may be that I have "Indian Ocean Campaign files only" activated in JSGME. If I want to do the Indian Ocean campaign when should I activate that mod? I don't know why the "NULL" grid patrol option is occuring or why I cannot change it in SH3 Commander. However, I found something of a fix by simply docking immediately after mission loads. It costs me a patrol but fixes that problem. Oh and I always set SH3 Commander to automatically roll back.

07-14-18, 09:09 PM	#6
Maphisto86 Seaman Join Date: May 2018 Location: Clarington, Ontario, Canada. Posts: 42 Downloads: 105 Uploads: 0	Thank you to both of you. I need to read more of the manual obviously! The 'Indian Ocean campaign only' mod was the obvious culprit. I should have figured that out but I assumed it meant the Indian Ocean campaign files and not a merged campaign. To save future headaches I might activate 'Merged Campaign' despite the longer wait times.