Star Shells in GWX 3.0

[John O]

I enjoyed the use of star shells in the stock sh3. Sorry they were taken out of the GWX game. Has anybody come up with a fix or a Mod that can be added by JSGME? Using GWX, its an edit nightmare trying to get star shell into the locker and useable. It should be the Captain's perogative as to his Ammo locker load out.

Any help greatly appreciated.

[Contact]

I enjoyed the use of star shells in the stock sh3. Sorry they were taken out of the GWX game. Has anybody come up with a fix or a Mod that can be added by JSGME? Using GWX, its an edit nightmare trying to get star shell into the locker and useable. It should be the Captain's perogative as to his Ammo locker load out.

Any help greatly appreciated.

GWX has already fixed that by removing star shells for good. IRL u-boats had none of them on board.

[John O]

GWX has already fixed that by removing star shells for good. IRL u-boats had none of them on board.

Yeah, well I think you are wrong. It was a Captain's perogatative as to the content of his Ammo locker. Most had a few star shell on board. I've read accounts of their use from survivors of Uboats. Don't think GWX should have arbitrarily removed them from the game. The question asked was: Can a mod be developed to include them in GWX through JGSME it the player desires them?

[John O]

http://www.uboataces.com/weapon-deck-gun.shtml

http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/1689.html

http://books.google.com/books?id=5FVTihRxCo4C&pg=RA2-PA356&lpg=RA2-PA356&dq=U+Boat+star+shells&source=bl&ots=WXgu2euKwH&sig=fYU0CO8yzxhZwPwnBZZ61kR1IOc&hl=en&ei=_7hcSvzWEuaGmQe7uuXjDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5

U boats did have star shell on board and it was the captain's perogative of when to use them.

[Sailor Steve]

See my reply in your other thread.

[Contact]

Yeah, well I think you are wrong. It was a Captain's perogatative as to the content of his Ammo locker. Most had a few star shell on board. I've read accounts of their use from survivors of Uboats. Don't think GWX should have arbitrarily removed them from the game. The question asked was: Can a mod be developed to include them in GWX through JGSME it the player desires them?

Yep facts are facts. Need to find a way how to get them back :-?

[Empty B]

John O

I think that it isn't a nightmare.

I'm not an expert but I think that you have to edit a few lines in the file Basic.cfg. It is located in Silent Hunter III/Data/Cfg

First make a backup of this file.

Then open it with notepad. Search (Ctrl + B) for: [AMMO_TYPE0]
You will find something like this:

[AMMO_TYPE0];10.5cm SK C/32
Idx=0
Year=1939
Month=1
;AP=40
;HE=60
;SS=20
AP=0
HE=110
SS=0
Renown=0

Change the 0 for the number of starshells you want.

SS=number of starshells, AP=number of armor piercing shells and HE=number of high explosive shells.

I would advice you to keep the total number of shells. AP+HE+SS=110

This is for the type IX 105mm gun.
For the 88mm gun of the type VII change the same parameter in the next section:

[AMMO_TYPE1];8.8cm SK C/35
Idx=1
Year=1939
Month=1
;AP=40
;HE=160
;SS=40
AP=0
HE=220
SS=0
Renown=0

Again the 0 is the number you have to change

And in this case try to keep the total number of shells to 220
AP+HE+SS=220.

[Contact]

Damn I hate this part :doh: One tiny mod for this would be perfect. BTW does anyone knows how much historically star shells a u-boat had ?

[Kpt. Lehmann]

Damn I hate this part :doh: One tiny mod for this would be perfect. BTW does anyone knows how much historically star shells a u-boat had ?

Inspite of the sources listed above, our research indicated that starshells... at the very least... were virtually never included in the loadout.

By all means guys, do what you like to your installation... but don't assume everything is always right when you read it on the internet.

We did what we did for good reason. Keep your cool gents.

If I were you, I'd listen to this guy... He knows what he's talking about.:yep:

See my reply in your other thread.

[dcb]

Now, John O, this is the third thread you opened here, in a week's time, about enabling Starshells. In the other thread, I explained you where you should change and what changes you should do. I see others are going to great lengths to also help you. Then again, two years ago... Maybe you forgot, but I didn't:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=122901

Same thing, again and again. Back in 2007, I sent you a detailed PM with the explanations of how to do it yourself. I even e-mailed you a version of Basic.cfg modded so that to enable starshells.
Yes, I modded my GWX install to have starshells, but it is as personalized to suit the other modifications I brought to GWX, that it would do you no good. More than that, it would even crash your game if you enabled it.
So, your best bet would be to start learning how to enable starshells yourself, based on what a lot of people told you in all these threads and PMs. If you get blocked against a particular aspect of modding these files, a value that doesn't fit or something similar, then ask for help and there will certainly be someone to answer you here. But stop complaining about people not wanting to help you, 'cause you are wrong.

[Sailor Steve]

[AMMO_TYPE0];10.5cm SK C/32
Idx=0
Year=1939
Month=1
;AP=40
;HE=60
;SS=20
AP=0
HE=110
SS=0
Renown=0
Don't change the numbers at all. Simply remove the bottom three entries, and remove the semicolons (;) from in front of the original three entries:

[AMMO_TYPE0];10.5cm SK C/32
Idx=0
Year=1939
Month=1
AP=40
HE=60
SS=20
Renown=0

Those are the way they appeared in the original game. There may be other files that need to be changed as well, but I don't know what they are.

@ John O: None of the three links you provided mention Star Shells at all. The first mentions the deck gun but gives no specifics. The second talks about a u-boat being fired at by a merchant gun. The third talks about u-boats being attacked by aircraft.

[Contact]

Inspite of the sources listed above, our research indicated that starshells... at the very least... were virtually never included in the loadout.

By all means guys, do what you like to your installation... but don't assume everything is always right when you read it on the internet.

We did what we did for good reason. Keep your cool gents.

If I were you, I'd listen to this guy... He knows what he's talking about.:yep:

Very well but how come the sources contradicts each other ? I think if a new or missed facts arises there should be a deeper review on that matter and if it turns out to be a missed out feature it has to be included for the sake of realism simulation. Am I wrong ?

[Sailor Steve]

Very well but how come the sources contradicts each other ? I think if a new or missed facts arises there should be a deeper review on that matter and if it turns out to be a missed out feature it has to be included for the sake of realism simulation. Am I wrong ?
There will always be contradictory sources. It's a part of life. In my Ship Names research I am constantly finding different sources listing three or even four different tonnages for the same ship. I hope that someday I'll find a way to make the game give the real tonnage for each ship you sink, not a randomized one based around a general 'class tonnage'. But if that happens, which one will I use? The sources disagree. It's a part of life that not all records are perfect.

No, you are not wrong. But since the GWX team has moved on to a new project, they would be wasting their time to go back and change the old one yet again.

dcb gave the link to the thread that explains how to do it yourself. Please feel free to do so - no-one is saying you can't.

[Kpt. Lehmann]

Very well but how come the sources contradicts each other ? I think if a new or missed facts arises there should be a deeper review on that matter and if it turns out to be a missed out feature it has to be included for the sake of realism simulation. Am I wrong ?

That depends on the situation. Many times in SH3, we are forced to go with a very simple answer... because one must choose a direction... You either do... or do not. The simulation doesn't often allow for variables.

If a majority of U-boats and patrols were carried out without starshells... our answer (and resultant modification) would be that the U-boat ammunition loadout in GWX should reflect the most common condition.

Those were our findings... and that is what we did.

Seriously, people can put nuclear torpedoes, armor piercing shells, etc. on their U-boats if they wish. We won't be doing such things with GWX itself though.

@ John O: None of the three links you provided mention Star Shells at all. The first mentions the deck gun but gives no specifics. The second talks about a u-boat being fired at by a merchant gun. The third talks about u-boats being attacked by aircraft.

[Contact]

That depends on the situation. Many times in SH3, we are forced to go with a very simple answer... because one must choose a direction... You either do... or do not. The simulation doesn't often allow for variables.

If a majority of U-boats and patrols were carried out without starshells... our answer (and resultant modification) would be that the U-boat ammunition loadout in GWX should reflect the most common condition.

Those were our findings... and that is what we did.

Seriously, people can put nuclear torpedoes, armor piercing shells, etc. on their U-boats if they wish. We won't be doing such things with GWX itself though.

Let's pretend I didn't see the last crazy paragraph :) We're not diging in fiction land here but discussing the history..
I was making a point to let Kaleun to decide in the game (if it's technically possible) to grab some star shells with the rest or the ammo/torpedoes if he likes. Since 20 min ago it turned out it was very possible historically.

[Kpt. Lehmann]

Contact, the sources listed by John O have already been refuted by Sailor Steve... and John O has again been instructed on how to change his loadout.

What more do you want? John O is getting what he wants.

[Contact]

Contact, the sources listed by John O have already been refuted by Sailor Steve... and John O has again been instructed on how to change his loadout.

What more do you want? John O is getting what he wants.


http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/1689.html

"About 04.15 hours on 21 May 1942, U-103 fired from about 400 yards a star shell across the bow of the unescorted Elizabeth"

If I understood it correctly it's: U-103 fired a star shell right ? :hmmm:

If not I don't know english anymore :)

[Contact]

Ok nevermind, it's not that bad I coudn't live without star shells but if I may ask leaving them in GWX4 as optional ammo, would be appreciated :)

Hope I didn't aroused you guys badly :03:

[Kpt. Lehmann]

Contact, we didn't say that "No U-boat ever carried a starshell."

What we are saying is that you can only mod it one way... not both, and we gave our explaination why.

If our methodology bothers somebody... they can change it on their installation.

The decision regarding how things are handled in GWX has been made.

Kind regards.

[Contact]

Kaptain it's almost clear now, thank yous for your time :)

GWX foreva!

[John O]

John O

I think that it isn't a nightmare.

I'm not an expert but I think that you have to edit a few lines in the file Basic.cfg. It is located in Silent Hunter III/Data/Cfg

First make a backup of this file.

Then open it with notepad. Search (Ctrl + B) for: [AMMO_TYPE0]
You will find something like this:

[AMMO_TYPE0];10.5cm SK C/32
Idx=0
Year=1939
Month=1
;AP=40
;HE=60
;SS=20
AP=0
HE=110
SS=0
Renown=0

Change the 0 for the number of starshells you want.

SS=number of starshells, AP=number of armor piercing shells and HE=number of high explosive shells.

I would advice you to keep the total number of shells. AP+HE+SS=110

This is for the type IX 105mm gun.
For the 88mm gun of the type VII change the same parameter in the next section:

[AMMO_TYPE1];8.8cm SK C/35
Idx=1
Year=1939
Month=1
;AP=40
;HE=160
;SS=40
AP=0
HE=220
SS=0
Renown=0

Again the 0 is the number you have to change

And in this case try to keep the total number of shells to 220
AP+HE+SS=220.

Thanks Empty. There seems to be more to it than that. From what I've been able to descern, editing the basic.cfg and the menu_1024 is required to load the Star Shells into the ammo locker but GWX also changed the range of the Star Shells to make them useless. My post in this forum was intended to see if a simple mod, using JGSME was available or possible. Seems to have started a debate I had not intended.

[John O]

Now, John O, this is the third thread you opened here, in a week's time, about enabling Starshells. In the other thread, I explained you where you should change and what changes you should do. I see others are going to great lengths to also help you. Then again, two years ago... Maybe you forgot, but I didn't:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=122901

Same thing, again and again. Back in 2007, I sent you a detailed PM with the explanations of how to do it yourself. I even e-mailed you a version of Basic.cfg modded so that to enable starshells.
Yes, I modded my GWX install to have starshells, but it is as personalized to suit the other modifications I brought to GWX, that it would do you no good. More than that, it would even crash your game if you enabled it.
So, your best bet would be to start learning how to enable starshells yourself, based on what a lot of people told you in all these threads and PMs. If you get blocked against a particular aspect of modding these files, a value that doesn't fit or something similar, then ask for help and there will certainly be someone to answer you here. But stop complaining about people not wanting to help you, 'cause you are wrong.

Yes, I remember your kind help in '07 but I was not able to make it work then and lost all the info you provided with a major computer crash. Since then I've learned and have a mirror image working. Again if I offend anybody by asking if there is a possibility of a mod that would load star shells via JGSME, then I apoligize. But, I thought that was the function of this forum. Believe there may be others that would like to have the Ammo load out in the locker that they as Captain would want for his mission. All HE is not realistic.

[John O]

@ John O: None of the three links you provided mention Star Shells at all. The first mentions the deck gun but gives no specifics. The second talks about a u-boat being fired at by a merchant gun. The third talks about u-boats being attacked by aircraft.

Sorry Steve, you must be 'quick reading' and didn't get to the part in each link that indicated the U Boat fired a Star Shell. I found those three links in less than 5 minutes. There are many more out there.

Isn't this forum where one can query the availability of a mod? Why all the flack from a simple question?:arrgh!:

[John O]

Contact, we didn't say that "No U-boat ever carried a starshell."

What we are saying is that you can only mod it one way... not both, and we gave our explaination why.

If our methodology bothers somebody... they can change it on their installation.

The decision regarding how things are handled in GWX has been made.

Kind regards.

Then, if the Star Shell is made available in the locker by one's editing of the Basic.cfg and the menu_1024 will it be functionalble in GWX. Has the range of the star shell been modified although it has been removed?

[Contact]

Then, if the Star Shell is made available in the locker by one's editing of the Basic.cfg and the menu_1024 will it be functionalble in GWX. Has the range of the star shell been modified although it has been removed?

Good luck in finding this out. But I guess you're a bit too late with this issue, if you would came here a year ago or so and would say: "Hey who told you guys u-boats didn't carried SS on board" with the facts you provided, maybe some things would be left untouched. ISN'T IT RIGHT STEVE ? :)

Now there's obviously a lack of interest from GWX team to analyse this again, just because the case is closed on this :dead:

[SeaWolf U-57]

Its all about freedom of choice playing the game the way you want is that the point you are trying to get over to us.
Some players understand this and change things to the way they like to play the game.
The basic file holds the answer to your questions do you not understand how to go about changing the files if this is the case try this small mod….http://www.silenthuntermods.com/forum/index.php?topic=163.0

Now you can do what you want with your sub please enjoy playing the game after all isn’t that the whole point of playing it.
If you continue to look for faults you will find many and what is right or wrong differ from person to person what is right or wrong will never be decided without bloodshed I fear.


Good Hunting :salute:

[SeaWolf U-57]

So in 2007 you said this all then strange.

[Sailor Steve]

http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/1689.html

"About 04.15 hours on 21 May 1942, U-103 fired from about 400 yards a star shell across the bow of the unescorted Elizabeth"

If I understood it correctly it's: U-103 fired a star shell right ? :hmmm:

If not I don't know english anymore :)
No, I missed that one, and I apologize. It still doesn't change the problem that SH3 allows you one or the other, but not both. As for SH4, if it allows options for ammo loadouts, then anyone can make a simple mod that lets that happen, even if GWX4 doesn't. If not, then the same problem exists, and the same solution applies, as with SH3.

So the basic answer is, there doesn't seem to be such a mod, at least as known by the people responding to this thread. Do research, experiment, learn how to do it. Then share your findings with others here. I'm sure many would thank you for it.

As for me, my fourth attempt to install the 'Keil Canal Bridges' mod completely scragged my installation, so I currently don't have SH3 on my computer at all, and I'm looking at about 20 hours to get it reinstalled and modded back to the way I like it.

[dcb]

John O, check your PM please.

[dcb]

John O, check your PM please.

[John O]

Dan, please check your PM.

[audessy]

I fixed this. I'll show you how and anyone else who may need these shells. Yes I need these shells because I play the game for Chinese U-47's Warship mod but I enjoy the content of GWX. Since I can't have spotlights on my Deutschland, Scharnhorst, or Bismarck then I must at least have SS's.

1. Give yourself the amount of ammo you require in silenthunterIII/data/cfg/Basic.cfg. For your 88 or 105mm deck gun of course.

2. Open silenthunterIII/data/menu/menu_1024_768.ini. Use CTRL+F to use "Find". Type in [G38 I3]. This is the area that needs to be edited. They have ";" in some of the lines to exclude them. Just compare yours to mine. Should be simple.

[G38 I3]
Name=SS_shell
Type=1031;Stat bmp array
ItemID=0x38000004
ParentID=0x38000000
Pos=904,320,21,128
Color=0xFFFFFFFF
Materials=3
Display=2;Linear
Mat 0=data/menu/gui/Shells/SS_shell.tga
Crop 0=0,0,0.33,1
Mat 1=data/menu/gui/Shells/SS_shell.tga
Crop 1=0.33,0,0.33,1
Mat 2=data/menu/gui/Shells/SS_shell.tga
Crop 2=0.66,0,0.33,1
MatFlags=0x1
TexFmt=0x5
Drag=false
BmpState=1
NeedFocus=true
SelOne=true
IdGroup=0
StatesColors=0xFFFFFFFF, 0xFFFFFFFF, 0xFFFFFFFF, 0xFFFFFFFF
ToolTipText=2233


BTW it's really fun using 280mm star shells in a triple turret :rock:

I get to fire each barrel individually :DL


Edit: There may be more lines you have to find for the other guns. But they're in the vicinity of this one. You get the idea.