Reverie
05-12-07, 12:37 AM
Differentiating a computer game from a simulation is done by measuring the level of "play" as opposed to the level of "sim". More programmers are injecting what quantifies as "action" in the effort to give the experience more immersion. Replay value isn’t extended by the amount of mayhem the user can create. From a marketing point of view extended replay doesn’t absolve sales quotas; the mindset of software distributors is to let the customers play it, then move on to buy the next one. But customers can be programmers, too. They know that extending the replay value of a program comes not from bigger blasts, but from manipulating the environment.
I wasn’t familiar with the term "Modding" until I began running SH3. It seems that there are mods that were available in the days of SH2; sadly I resigned that program to the landfill before discovering it could be improved. From what I read on the Subsim Forum, without mods SH3 might very well be pushing up daisies as well. GWX for all intents and purposes is the program that was to be released when SH3 came out in the stores. It shouldn’t be up to customers to finish a software company’s product, but thank the Lord that Modifiers are there to do it.
The most recent Mod I have incorporated in my SH3 campaign is an application called Sh3Gen, available in the "Downloads" Section of Subsim as an eight hundred some-odd kilobyte Zip file, and requires Microsoft .NET software to run. The program is a stand-alone, but not real-time nor a TSR. It must have access to an initially saved file of a current war patrol, then reports this intelligence on your in-game log and nav chart, with a degree of reliability and accuracy designated by the user. This intelligence can be adjusted anywhere from sketchy to Eye-of-the-World (in the gaming parlance: god mode). It is not correct to refer to Sh3Gen as a Mod; it garners all its information from the Campaign files generated by SH3, that is what ship types will spawn and where. How Sh3Gen instills vagaries to this information, I cannot review, but the result is realistic and frustrating enough. At one point I didn’t locate a rumoured convoy, but tracked and sank an ore carrier in the vicinity. A different run found time-compressed days of nothing but another u-boat moving out to station. All this with default settings, and with increased degrees of accuracy it becomes fish on a platter. The intelligence information placed on the nav chart is in the guise of the "x" mark, basic description, and what appears to be the intended destination using a region code. For instance, seeing a marker in the North Sea described as "Convoy CE" might very well be a reliable b-dienst report of a North Sea convoy heading for the Azores. A Regions Table is provided with Sh3Gen, as well as The Map with reference to Areas Of Operation. The map isn’t resizable, but colour coded to help distinguish regions. Some colours could be more distinct, but if you’re like me you just lower the depth setting of your bifocals, and dream of a bigger monitor. If having the intelligence marked on your nav map is too much clutter, as I found, you may "erase" it; the information is also reported in the commanders log, the "k" key in SH3. Again, this isn’t a real-time app. Start your SH3 patrol, move away from harbor traffic before saving your activity (Sh3Gen recommends saving two different files, e.g. savegame patrol, savegame run. Sounds smart, but doesn’t appear to be necessary; the app is very benign), leave the sim to a main menu and then minimize SH3 (I’ve been exiting all together, oh well). Start Sh3Gen with the handy desktop icon, search out your savegame with the ellipsis switch, and then press the "Generate" switch to generate your current intelligence report. Exit Sh3Gen, then re-enter SH3 and load that savegame you indicated to Sh3Gen, then resume your patrol. You have the option of reacting to this information, or no. For roleplaying, think of it as opening your orders before getting down to the business of your patrol.
It’s not a Mod at all, rather an enhancement. And this could be, but in no way should be used as a cheat. The default settings of Sh3Gen alone provide an acceptable level of uncertainty and realism for helping to make SH3 a sim as opposed to being just a game. The nature of the app is also conducive to the role-playing element of SH3. This enhancement I can highly recommend, and combined with GWX and SH3Commander help to make SH3 a living, breathing experience heretofore only dreamed about. One must also take into consideration the users difficulty level selected in SH3. Raising the reality settings can only increase your enjoyment and replay value. Manual Targeting is the icing on the SH3 Modders / Enhancers cake. Be honest to yourself and admit it; before the enhancements and without the mods, running SH3 soon becomes no better than watching paint dry.
Reverie :)
I wasn’t familiar with the term "Modding" until I began running SH3. It seems that there are mods that were available in the days of SH2; sadly I resigned that program to the landfill before discovering it could be improved. From what I read on the Subsim Forum, without mods SH3 might very well be pushing up daisies as well. GWX for all intents and purposes is the program that was to be released when SH3 came out in the stores. It shouldn’t be up to customers to finish a software company’s product, but thank the Lord that Modifiers are there to do it.
The most recent Mod I have incorporated in my SH3 campaign is an application called Sh3Gen, available in the "Downloads" Section of Subsim as an eight hundred some-odd kilobyte Zip file, and requires Microsoft .NET software to run. The program is a stand-alone, but not real-time nor a TSR. It must have access to an initially saved file of a current war patrol, then reports this intelligence on your in-game log and nav chart, with a degree of reliability and accuracy designated by the user. This intelligence can be adjusted anywhere from sketchy to Eye-of-the-World (in the gaming parlance: god mode). It is not correct to refer to Sh3Gen as a Mod; it garners all its information from the Campaign files generated by SH3, that is what ship types will spawn and where. How Sh3Gen instills vagaries to this information, I cannot review, but the result is realistic and frustrating enough. At one point I didn’t locate a rumoured convoy, but tracked and sank an ore carrier in the vicinity. A different run found time-compressed days of nothing but another u-boat moving out to station. All this with default settings, and with increased degrees of accuracy it becomes fish on a platter. The intelligence information placed on the nav chart is in the guise of the "x" mark, basic description, and what appears to be the intended destination using a region code. For instance, seeing a marker in the North Sea described as "Convoy CE" might very well be a reliable b-dienst report of a North Sea convoy heading for the Azores. A Regions Table is provided with Sh3Gen, as well as The Map with reference to Areas Of Operation. The map isn’t resizable, but colour coded to help distinguish regions. Some colours could be more distinct, but if you’re like me you just lower the depth setting of your bifocals, and dream of a bigger monitor. If having the intelligence marked on your nav map is too much clutter, as I found, you may "erase" it; the information is also reported in the commanders log, the "k" key in SH3. Again, this isn’t a real-time app. Start your SH3 patrol, move away from harbor traffic before saving your activity (Sh3Gen recommends saving two different files, e.g. savegame patrol, savegame run. Sounds smart, but doesn’t appear to be necessary; the app is very benign), leave the sim to a main menu and then minimize SH3 (I’ve been exiting all together, oh well). Start Sh3Gen with the handy desktop icon, search out your savegame with the ellipsis switch, and then press the "Generate" switch to generate your current intelligence report. Exit Sh3Gen, then re-enter SH3 and load that savegame you indicated to Sh3Gen, then resume your patrol. You have the option of reacting to this information, or no. For roleplaying, think of it as opening your orders before getting down to the business of your patrol.
It’s not a Mod at all, rather an enhancement. And this could be, but in no way should be used as a cheat. The default settings of Sh3Gen alone provide an acceptable level of uncertainty and realism for helping to make SH3 a sim as opposed to being just a game. The nature of the app is also conducive to the role-playing element of SH3. This enhancement I can highly recommend, and combined with GWX and SH3Commander help to make SH3 a living, breathing experience heretofore only dreamed about. One must also take into consideration the users difficulty level selected in SH3. Raising the reality settings can only increase your enjoyment and replay value. Manual Targeting is the icing on the SH3 Modders / Enhancers cake. Be honest to yourself and admit it; before the enhancements and without the mods, running SH3 soon becomes no better than watching paint dry.
Reverie :)