[REL] Merchant Fleet Mod for Silent Hunter 3

[iambecomelife]

MERCHANT FLEET MOD - INITIAL RELEASE INFO

This mod's designed to replace Stock SH3's paltry merchant roster with a huge variety of surface craft, from motor launches to tramp steamers to fleet oilers. It has its roots back in the early days of Silent Hunter 3, when I noticed that the existing merchant ships were sometimes crudely detailed, or were types that would rarely have been encountered during the Battle of the Atlantic.

The mod uses about 60-70 base models and over 3,000 skins to create profuse variety amongst shipping in both convoys and random merchant encounters. Skins from dozens if not hundreds of historical companies are represented. Nations featured in this initial release are as follows:

United Kingdom
United States of America
Denmark
Norway
Sweden
The Netherlands
Belgium
Ireland
Argentina
Brazil
Panama
Canada

Whereas before you encountered a monotonous selection of C-2's and coastal merchants in all nations' rosters, now almost anything is possible. That speck on the horizon could be a brand-new, 10,000 ton tanker or a rusty old tramp making its rounds from coast to coast. It could be a bulk freighter loaded down with minerals, a tiny steam launch, or a fast freighter-transport, carrying troops and war materiel for an Allied invasion.

Neutral ships will be common, and they may or may not be carrying cargo to the enemy. As commander, it will be up to you to decide based on vessel location, paint scheme, deck cargo, and behavior whether or not a target is legitimate. This mod is intended for serious players - sink anything that moves and you may well end your patrol with a huge renown hit.

Installation is quick and easy, using Jonesoft's Generic Mod Enabler.

PRIMARY FEATURES:

1) Dozens of ship models inspired by photographs of typical ships constructed between 1900 and 1945




2) Tremendous paint scheme variations, based on hundreds of historical shipping companies and wartime camoflage patterns




3) Neutral ships, which may or may not be legitimate targets. Hull flags, lettering, and shipping company names printed on the sides of vessels.









4) Different amounts of smoke affect ship visibility. Particle effects for coal-burning steamers and modern motorships.





4) Changes in armament and coloring as the war goes on. Weapons range from light AA guns to Hurricane fighters. By 1942, expect most ships to be camoflaged and armed.



5) Varied damage resistance depending on vessel size and age.







6) Easy installation/uninstallation with the click of a mouse (JSGME required).

7) Compatibility with existing Silent Hunter 3 supermods.

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GET IT HERE [UPDATE: REUPLOADED 1/03/2012]:

http://www.gamefront.com/files/21149818/Merchant_Fleet_Mod_3_2_rar

SKIN PACKS (Not required but recommended)

http://www.gamefront.com/files/21149864/MFM_v3_Skin_Packs_7z

Version 3.2 (improved ships removed to prevent crashes with supermods. Changed eqp file to tanker T14B. Recompressed due to error messages following downloads.)

SKIN PACKS as of 6/09/10 (~ 3,000 skins, with hundreds of variations):

[LINKS REMOVED]

LIGHT VERSION (IMPROVED STABILITY FOR GWX INSTALLS & OLDER MACHINES. NO NEUTRAL SHIPS EXCEPT AMERICAN VESSELS.)

[LINK REMOVED]

Version: 3.1 (improved stability to prevent career & museum crashes, especially with GWX. Added tanker T19A.)

[LINK REMOVED]

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Skin Packs:

[iambecomelife]

Miscellaneous screens - just a sample of the variety you can expect.

[iambecomelife]

MERCHANT FLEET MOD SKIN PACKS

Extract to JSGME and install, depending on the time period you wish to simulate. Circa 1941-1942 you will see increasing numbers of camoflaged ships.



http://www.filefront.com/16685183/MF...kin_Packs-1.7z

http://www.filefront.com/16685157/MF...in_Packs-2.7z/

[Reece]

Very good, this has been a long standing mod, I think you will be relieved to have it completed since you have the WW1 mod on the go as well.
Many thanks.

[Sailor Steve]

[rowi58]

GREAT



rowi58

[Freakwave]

Thanks for this mod and for your perseverance!

[Jimbuna]

Nice one

[Quagmire1975]

Looks great iabl.

One question though, do you have the full englishnames.cfg? I couldn't find it in the .rar file. Could you make it available to download at all?

Thanx iabl

[SkyBaron]

ok I'm new to this mod and in the readme file it says:

"-Download the various skin packs..."

Where can I download these skin packs?

Thanks for the mod btw!

[jaxa]

Probably the skin packs will be uploaded as soon as possible. We have to wait a bit for release. Anyway, many thanks iambecomelife

[Fubar2Niner]

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeee HHHHHHHHHHHHHaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrr



Well done IABL, I always knew there was something in the old addage 'Patience is a virtue'. Top marks old boy

Best regards.

Fubar2Niner

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by NewCaptain

ok I'm new to this mod and in the readme file it says:

"-Download the various skin packs..."

Where can I download these skin packs?

Thanks for the mod btw!

I got the skin packs ready for download - only to discover the file was too big for filefront.

I will separate it after work today and re-compress it for upload.

[melnibonian]

Spectacular work IBL.

Is it possible to upload the englishnames.cfg as well?

Thanks a lot for all your hard work

[VonDos]

Sooooooooooo good!!
I was waiting for this, since .. 2008\9


Thanks for this HUGE work!