changing sub availability date?

[prowler3]

I'm sure it's already posted here but after an hour of searching...I can't find it. How and where do you change a sub's availability date in SH3?

[Matador.es]

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=1357

yes, check downloads, go to the second page of the gameplay mods and there you are.

Aye

[prowler3]

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=1357

yes, check downloads, go to the second page of the gameplay mods and there you are.

Aye

That is a download...not an explanation of how to change a U-boats availability date? I'm not trying to change the XXI availability but, rather, another boat. Still no luck "searching"...I can't figure out the correct search terms, apparently.

If "change uboat availability date" doesn't work then I'm afraid I give up on the search function.

[krashkart]

I believe that if you open your Basic.cfg ( ..\SilentHunterIII\data\Cfg ) you will find some availability dates to fiddle with. I managed to make the IXD2 available from '39 on, although I'd just about bet I missed something elsewhere. Make a backup at any rate. :hmmm:

EDIT:

I'll update this a bit in case you're still wondering. Open the Basic.cfg file in a text editor and run a search for the sub you want (VIIB, IXC, etc). Using the IXD2 for example, the first result returned is the one I want, and it looks like this:


[SUBMARINE2]
NrMinOff=3
NrMaxOff=6
NrMinPO=10
NrMaxPO=19
NrMinSeamen=24
NrMaxSeamen=32
NbVersion=4; 5
Version0=0 ; IXB
Name0=IXB
Month0=1
Year0=1939
Version1=1 ; IXC
Name1=IXC
Month1=1
Year1=1939
Version2=2 ; IXC/40
Name2=IXC/40
Month2=1
Year2=1939
Version3=3 ; IXD2
Name3=IXD2
Month3=1
Year3=1939
Change the Year value to something more to your liking (the IXD2 above was set to be available in 1939), and that should work. The caveat here is that you won't have any goodies like sonar, radar and radar warning, schnorkel, so on until the years they become available. I've tried to edit values for those further on down in Basic.cfg and, although I could add that stuff to my boat, it would all break when beginning a new patrol. The download for the XXI manages to overcome that somehow, and I haven't a clue how they did it.

Consider this information tenuous at best. I made a lot of changes in that file and didn't keep track of them all. As a result my game tends to crash now if I try to select the IXD2.

[prowler3]

Thanks, Krashkart!!

[JScones]

FYI for SH3Cmdr users: if changing the game's copy of Basic.cfg, then you must ensure that the "Historic U-boat availability" option is not selected in SH3Cmdr, for if it is, your game changes may be overridden.