Steam Version of SHIII and GWX3

[Griphos]

Hello all,

Noob here. I searched both here and at the GWX site and couldn't find the answer to my question, so thought I'd post and ask.

I got SHIII from Steam. I want to mod it with the GWX3 Gold mod. I'm not sure how to go about that. I haven't started SHIII up yet. I wonder if I should perhaps try to move SHIII to another location and apply the mod, leaving the Steam version untouched. Is that possible? Advisable? Can the modded version be run without connecting to Steam? Or should I just apply the GWX mod to the Steam version? I am running out of space on the Steam drive, so would like to move some things to another drive. I know how to do that with Window's J link. Has anyone moved a modded version of SH to another drive in that way? Does it work?

Sorry for all the questions, but I don't want to screw this up before I even really get started. Any help is appreciated.

Luckily, I bought SH5 on dvd (it's on its way) and that will probably be easier to mod/deal with.

[Gargamel]

I know this has been answered many times here. Try searching for drunk midget wrestling.


Install sh3.

Play the tutorial missions.

Run the gwx installer. Make sure to point it to the sh3 folder where steam put it.

Install SHCommander.

Enjoy!


No idea what your rambling about with the rest though. :D. Re sh5, probably not.

[Griphos]

Try searching for drunk midget wrestling.


Install sh3.

Play the tutorial missions.

Run the gwx installer. Make sure to point it to the sh3 folder where steam put it.

Install SHCommander.



:O: See, I didn't think to search for that!

So, that I need to install SHCommander is news to me. I've just been reading about it a bit, and again, it seems like these kinds of mods would prefer to be installed on a game that isn't in the Program Files (86) folder. That's why I asked the original question. I'm curious whether installing GWX (and also, apparently, SHCommander) on the Steam version, which is under Program Files (86) keeps things from running smoothly, or if that's what others do and it's fine. Or even if there's no option for Steam purchased SH3. Steam won't allow me to install games anywhere else, but I can move it and create a J link, I think, if that would be better for modding.

[Gargamel]

Check the thread on your specific OS for details on moving the files around. Some os's it's recommended, some not.

[Griphos]

I've just read the threads I could find on Windows 7 and didn't see anything about moving the files. I'm reading all the threads I can find on the Steam version. Nothing so far.

So...why do I need to install SHCommander in addition to GWX?

[Qitbuqa]

I'm Steam user running Windows 7 64 bit OS. Aniway, here is how I did it and therefore suggest you to do the following:
1) install SH3 via Steam;
2) launch the game once then exit;
3) install GWXFullSingleInstall that you can download from the link provided in jimbuna's sig over here at subsim.com into the same place where SH3 main folder is located in Steam (for me it's D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Silent Hunter 3);
4) launch the game;
5) enjoy the game.

Oh and BTW, I went into Steam Library, went into properties of SH3, SH4 and SH4 U-boat Missions (for some reason Steam sees it as two different games) and set them all to "do not automatically update". So far both GWX and TMO work just fine for me.

About offline mode. At first I had difficulties with it, but then I managed to sort them out and both games now work in offline mode.

[Griphos]

Thanks. So, I don't necessarily need to do SH3 Commander then? I'm still not sure what that adds. I'd like to do SHIII MP through Tunngle with a friend, so it would probably be best if we were both just GWX3 and nothing else, right?

[Gargamel]

Try reading the multiple threads on commander, you'll see it's priceless. We do have this feature called 'search' that allows people to view previously published resources.

[Griphos]

Somebody's a little cranky. I'm new to this forum, but not new to sims or forums generally. I know my forum etiquette. I've searched and read a number of threads on Commander so far, without learning too much. I've been searching and reading a lot about both SHIII and SHV, since I just got both. I've learned a lot, but I've also had to do a fair bit of digging.

Seems at least one other person also thinks it takes a fair bit of digging as well:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=1894535&postcount=571

That in a stickied thread for newbies.

Always amuses me on all the forums I participate with how at least one person will respond to a question with the assumption that the poster hasn't searched already and suggests they do so rather than just answer the question. I suspect you could have just answered the question in the same number of keystrokes.

That's okay, though, I'll keep digging.

[Qitbuqa]

SH3 Commander is a really sweet tool, I recommend you installing it. I downloaded it from the link that is in jimbuna's sig. Thats how I did it:
1) downloaded SH3Cmdr32.exe and GWX3_SH3Commander_CFGFiles.exe;
2) installed them after GWX mod was already installed;
3) launched SH3 through SH3 Commander;
4) had fun playing.

Take notice of the fact, that you need to launch SH3 via SH3 Commander if you want for the settings you chose via SH3 Commander to work in the game itself.

[Griphos]

So, if I install SH Commander, but don't start SH3 with it, will I be able to connect thru Tunngle with a buddy who just has GWX installed?

[Sailor Steve]

Thanks. So, I don't necessarily need to do SH3 Commander then? I'm still not sure what that adds. I'd like to do SHIII MP through Tunngle with a friend, so it would probably be best if we were both just GWX3 and nothing else, right?
No, you don't need Commander or any other mod for multiplay. It is a vital tool for a decent historical campaign.

SH3 Commander performs the following functions:

1. Lets you choose to start you patrol at sea, rather than at the dock.

2. Lets you simulate a realistic career length. After a certain amount of time and weighed by the number of patrols completed you will be promoted to a desk job. Of course you can always "unpromote" yourself.

3. Lets you simulate crew transfers onto and off from your boat.

4. Have the proper u-boat numbers appear at the proper times.

5. Specify or randomize the number of days spent in base.

6. Automatically assign a historical name, crew number and cargo to each ship you sink. This is my favorite.

7. Randomizes gramophone tracks.

8. Hide or show the 'Hull Integrity' meter.

With a single click you can:

9. Choose from several different fatigue models, including 'No Fatigue'.

10. Adjust the clarity of the underwater view.

11. Set wave height.

12. Set deck gun reload times.

13. Model the effects of malfunctions and sabotage.

14. Randomize the tonnage of ships sunk (SH3 already does this, but Commander expands the randomization and lets you adjust it yourself).

15. Randomize your boat's crush depth.

16. Adjust Time Compression parameters.

17. Adjust personnel files, award any and all badges and medals, adjust rank for any and all crew members.

18. Assigns crew names from a database of all u-boat personnel, allowing 1.7 billion possible name combinations.

19. Automatically gives your captain a name, date and place of birth, and prior career history.

20. Gives you a Nightclub to visit, a la Aces of the Deep, where you can hear the latest scuttlebutt.

21. Has two Randomizer functions, one of them date-based, so you can add as many random details as you can think of, as well as have your skins and gramophone songs change with the passing of time.

It has allowed me to add my Ship Names mod, which adds more than twelve thousand historic ship names to the database. It also allowed my Randomized Loading Screens mod, so every time you load the game with Commander you get one of 100 different screens, as well as three different Chart Table backgrounds and 25 different band marches, so every time you leave port the dockside band is playing a different tune.

So you see why I consider it to be at least as important as any supermod. It works with and compliments them all.

Is that enough information?

[Griphos]

Yes, thanks very much for that thorough answer. Keystroke count is very high on that one!

It does add a lot. I understand fatigue is an issue in SH5. Nice to see the ability to control it here.

[Gargamel]

You could always check the sticky on commander in the mods section, or the two other threads on the topic within the top few pages.

Not cranky , tired of repeating myself and watching others do the same.

It's a mix of people not taking the time to look, and the forum not having a good index/FAQ.

This game is not new, and there is rarely anything that hasnt been asked before.

I'm guilty too.

Welcome aboard.

[Griphos]

Well, I did take the time to look. I didn't start out asking about SH Commander. You brought that up, and then I asked a question about it. If you'll look at my OP, I'm asking about the ability/advisability of trying to move the Steam SHIII install somewhere other than the Steam folder before modding it and whether it will run that way. I couldn't find anything on that. Perhaps it has been asked and answered many times, but I still haven't found anything on that after a LOT of looking.

I didn't ask how to mod SHIII with GWX. That's what you answered, but it's not what I asked.

And you don't have to repeat yourself. You can just not respond.

As to the later question about what SH Commander adds, I could have looked at that sticky in the SHIII Mods Workshop forum if I'd thought to look in that forum, which I didn't, since I thought it was a "workshop" forum for modders. My bad. Thanks for finally mentioning that thread to me, though. Looks very helpful. But my questions were really about whether I can install Commander and still join in MP thru Tunngle with someone who hasn't installed Commander. I don't see any answers to that one in the threads I've looked at either. Do you?

As for the other threads you mention, I only find one in the first four pages on crew transfers with Commander.

[Sailor Steve]

But my questions were really about whether I can install Commander and still join in MP thru Tunngle with someone who hasn't installed Commander. I don't see any answers to that one in the threads I've looked at either. Do you?
Commander works outside the game to affect things inside it. I'm not sure, since I don't multiplay, but I suspect that if you don't use Commander to load the game then it won't have an affect.

Or you can use MultiSH3 http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=1869 to create a separate installation for different setups.

[Griphos]

Thanks, I'll give that a look. I wonder whether that will work with Steam SHIII, since the games all have to live inside the Steam folders.

I'm playing SHIII with a buddy right now, though, on Tunngle. We both have GWX installed and with the same mods enabled, and have done two missions so far. I've forgotten everything I learned in SHI apparently. But it's too enjoyable. I sank one tanker so far, at least.

[Sailor Steve]

Cool that you and your friend enjoy multiplayer. Everybody needs to do what makes them happy. :sunny:

I prefer to buy the discs, but whatever works for you is best.

[Griphos]

I bought the disk for SHV. I probably should have for SHIII as well, but I came across it in the Steam sale and couldn't resist.

We had quite a lot of fun on three separate missions. He is an ARMA buddy, and we both have a lot of patience for the hunt and appreciate realism. We don't know much about operations yet, so I doubt we accomplished much in that regard. We're both going to do some more reading and see if we can improve our tactics. But now I'm ready to start a real campaign as well.

While I'm on the subject of different versions, now that I have SHIII, modded with GWX, which seems excellent. And also have SHV, which I am going to mod with quite a few mods, many from TDW for sure, is there a reason to get SHIV? I'm thinking that in SHIII, I have the best version of SH in some ways. And in SHV, I have excellent graphics in a version that will be quite good when modded. Is there something SHIV offers that makes it worth getting? I'm thinking about it primarily because of the fact that it models US sub operations in the Pacific, which neither III or V does.

[Sailor Steve]

SH4 does a very good job with the Pacific war. Get the Gold edition with the U-Boats Add-On. Even if you don't use the Atlantic side at all it is the only way to get the 1.5 patch, which cleans up several problems.

As for SH4 in the Atlantic, the stock 1.5 only lets you play Monsun boats in the Pacific starting in 1943, but the Operation Monsun mod makes a lovely full-war Atlantic campaign. The added benefits of automated crew management and the 'Battle Stations' function make it worthwhile. My biggest complaint is that SH4 never recieved the mod treatment SH3 did, so it doesn't have the cool harbors, locks and Kiel Canal bridges that SH3 benefits from, or anything resembling SH3 Commander. If SH4 had those mods I'd never touch SH3 again. SH4 lets you adjust parameters on the fly, has a better TC system, does several other things better, is more stable and the U-Boat campaign has both latitude and longitude and KM grid squares that adjust as you zoom in until you have the full Two-Letter-and-Four-Number coordinates.

It is overall just better, except for the lack of cool mods.