2 things that have been bugging me for some time

[Paul_IronCoffin]

Good evening all,

2 things, if I may:

Tonight I came across a large convoy which included HMS King George V (the first battleship I've ever seen, and so was rather excited to chase and get a kill). The accompanying escorts detected me and I went very deep to escape them. In my haste to get back on the attack I blew ballast, and noticed the stealth meter didn't change from its reassuring green.

But this action seems to be such a noisey affair.

So, is blowing ballast detectable?

Secondly, saving a game seems doesn't seem to save the situation 'at the monent'. This is something I've noted before, but it was particularely acute tonight when I saved after being detected and then continued to play for over an hour before suffering catastrophic damage. When I reloaded from my saved game, I was already fatally damaged and didn't last 5 seconds.

Is this right?

cheers
Paul

[Laufen zum Ziel]

Did you request a Death Card fro BdU (D.I.D. Thread)????

[Paul_IronCoffin]

I've no idea what you're talking about. I don't do D.I.D...

I'd prefer a simple answer to my questions.

[UnterseeBoogeyMan]

Did you save while under water? If so, there is a bug, originating in stock SH3 where saving underwater leads to corrupt game saves and other weirdness.
Blowing ballast COULD be detected. It's certainly less stealthy than adjusting the bow planes and adjusting depth by a few meters. A sudden discharge of air could be heard just as rolling along at 3 knots in a type VII or a IX can be heard. Also, the boat suddenly is rising rapidly through the water, and the hull-popping noise can be heard. In reading accounts from destroyer captains, their sonarman could detect hull-popping after a depth charge run, if the boat was critically damaged and the Germans were going to blow to the surface.

To stay stealthy, generally a good idea to do small turns.If you have to crank it and make a hard turn, do so after they make their run. That way you are in their baffles. When this happens,you are in the DDs acoustic shadow.

[mookiemookie]

D.I.D. is an acronym for "Dead Is Dead" meaning that if you die on patrol, you don't reload and earlier save an accept the fact that your career has ended with the death of your Kaleun.

Moving on... in my experience, blowing ballast is noisy and the escorts hunting you will hear it. Were you in the baffles of the DD that was hunting you? Escort destroyers have a blind spot, just as u-boats do, directly behind them due to the noise of their own propellers.

Second - saving a game within range of a convoy or escorts has long been a wonky thing with SH3. Saving a game while submerged, or within range of another ship tends to lead to funny behavior when the save game is reloaded.

I'm not sure why your game crapped out as soon as you reloaded, but I do know that if your u-boat is damaged and when you reload a save, no matter how long ago it was damaged you'll hear the tinkling of broken glass and see the flicker of lights. It's like the game first loads your u-boat in pristine state and then applies the damage you've sustained in that patrol when reloading.

I wish I could be of more help.

[Coyote88]

if your u-boat is damaged and when you reload a save, no matter how long ago it was damaged you'll hear the tinkling of broken glass and see the flicker of lights.

Which I originally found annoying, but now think is a good idea. If I've been away from the game for a few days, it doesn't hurt to remind me that my boat might not have 100% hull integrity. :shucks:

[Oneshot/Onekill]

I've no idea what you're talking about. I don't do D.I.D...

I'd prefer a simple answer to my questions.

No need to get impatient, or rude. There is a D.I.D. thread and he was just wondering if you were going to post there.:nope:

[Kapt Z]

D.I.D. is an acronym for "Dead Is Dead" meaning that if you die on patrol, you don't reload and earlier save an accept the fact that your career has ended with the death of your Kaleun.

Moving on... in my experience, blowing ballast is noisy and the escorts hunting you will hear it. Were you in the baffles of the DD that was hunting you? Escort destroyers have a blind spot, just as u-boats do, directly behind them due to the noise of their own propellers.

Second - saving a game within range of a convoy or escorts has long been a wonky thing with SH3. Saving a game while submerged, or within range of another ship tends to lead to funny behavior when the save game is reloaded.

I'm not sure why your game crapped out as soon as you reloaded, but I do know that if your u-boat is damaged and when you reload a save, no matter how long ago it was damaged you'll hear the tinkling of broken glass and see the flicker of lights. It's like the game first loads your u-boat in pristine state and then applies the damage you've sustained in that patrol when reloading.

I wish I could be of more help.

Yeah, what Mookie just said.

[Paul_IronCoffin]

No need to get impatient, or rude. There is a D.I.D. thread and he was just wondering if you were going to post there.:nope:

Quite right. My apologies.

To all posters, thanks very much. I should've also said:

I did save whilst submerged, and
In close proximity to a convoy,
I'm using GWX2.1
I was aware of the bug in the stock game, but thought perhaps this had been addressed in the excellent GWX package?

Anyway, - since I don't play DiD games anymore - I live and learn to fight another day. Sincere thanks.

cheers
Paul

[UnterseeBoogeyMan]

check out GWX 3 when you get the chance. Even in '39, you have to be on your toes.

[Oneshot/Onekill]

Quite right. My apologies.



To all posters, thanks very much. I should've also said:

I did save whilst submerged, and
In close proximity to a convoy,
I'm using GWX2.1
I was aware of the bug in the stock game, but thought perhaps this had been addressed in the excellent GWX package?

Anyway, - since I don't play DiD games anymore - I live and learn to fight another day. Sincere thanks.

cheers
Paul

I have just starting playing DiD career's myself, in fact I am on my first patrol. All I ever played before this was of the die and try again genre.


To answer your question, I Know that there was a bug that when you save your game submerged, it would corrupt your saved game file.

GWX3.0 Gold addressed this issue by greying out the save game option while submerged, and if you were within 50 km of any vessel it could also cause issues with your save game.

P.S. have one on me mate!:()1:
Semper Fidelis!:salute:

[Paul_IronCoffin]

Thanks. I've GWX3 downloaded and all ready to go. Just thought I'd live out this last one career before I installed it.

....seems I'm not destined to finish this patrol anyway: twice I dodged the escorts, and whilst chasing the convoy attacked a damaged straggler, only to be asked by window if I wanted to report the error....

cheers
Paul

[Oneshot/Onekill]

:yep: That definitely sounds like a coruupted save game file. Too bad:nope:

Good luck with GWX, I think your going to be very pleased.BTW do you also run SH3Cmdr? If not I strongly reccomend you DL it, with or without GWX installed!


P.S. When I installed GWX I gave the manual a good once over just so I didn't screw anything up. Just chime in if you have any questions.:)

[Jimbuna]

Thanks. I've GWX3 downloaded and all ready to go. Just thought I'd live out this last one career before I installed it.

....seems I'm not destined to finish this patrol anyway: twice I dodged the escorts, and whilst chasing the convoy attacked a damaged straggler, only to be asked by window if I wanted to report the error....

cheers
Paul

If your planning on multiple installations I suggest you get MultiSH3.

If not, ensure you delete the SH3 folder in C\MyDocs before continuing with the GWX3.0 installation.

Comprehensive installation instructions are available from the GWX website (click on my sig) http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/thumbsup.gif

[Paul_IronCoffin]

Rats!! After reload after reload I finally managed to send a torp into HMS KGV's tail and stopped her dead in the water. The rest of the convoy disappeared over the horizon, and with it the escorts.

I came alongside and sat there for three days. She was listing but showing no chance of actually sinking. I was out of torps and had no deck gun ammo...

,,,I gave up eventually. Sad really: my first ever battleship sighting, and it ends so near but so far.

cheers
Paul

[Puster Bill]

You could have tried ramming it. :arrgh!:

[Robert Fulton]

...
I came alongside and sat there for three days. She was listing but showing no chance of actually sinking. I was out of torps and had no deck gun ammo...

,,,I gave up eventually. Sad really: my first ever battleship sighting, and it ends so near but so far.

cheers
Paul

Probably a good thing you had no deck gun ammo. Odds are good that KGV's armor would have been able to handle the 88 better than you could handle her 14".