Trying SH3 for the first time. Have some questions.

[sickpeople]

Hey everyone!
I'm a long time SH4 player and I really want to try SH3, since I've never played it and everyone says it's the best U-Boat sim ever. :)
Before I do, I want to know if should I play vanilla to get the hang of the game mechanics or install a megamod right away. I'm a bit of a purist and I'd like to try out the game first as it was meant to be by the developers, without overhauling it too much, if it's possible.
Also, which mod should I try out first once I get the hang of vanilla? I'm a bit of a casual player and like to have a fair challenge that's historically accurate and authentic.

[bertieck476]

Hi ya, plenty of opinions will be posted to help guide you but personally I played the standard game before installing commander and gwx.
Enjoy sh3.

Cheers Bert.

[Von Due]

If you plan on playing vanilla, read up on the bugs first and foremost.

As long as you know how to deal with the bugs or wherever possible, dodge them, vanilla is pretty good.

That said, if you decide the bugs are a bit too much, or if you want to add realism, or both.

I only have personal experience with the supermod GWX3, and I can wholeheartedly recommend it for taking the game from pretty good to darn awesome. Other players have other supermods they prefer so they will most likely chime in to recommend their favourite.

MaGui is one mod I don't want to be without.

Pato's bearing tool for 3000m is very handy. Read up on MaGui's fix for that one.

SH3Commander is super neat (although not a mod). If you plan on going GWX with Cmdr, know there are additional files needed to get those two to play nice with each other.

Those are the first that leapt to mind, there are probably others but again, others will probably have their recommendations.

Now: Welcome to the long term nervewrecking experience that is SH3.

[sickpeople]

What kind of bugs are there? I really hate the ones that break your game in some way, so I'd like to avoid that. Any mods that fix them but keep the game as close to vanilla as possible?

[Von Due]

Not sure about about bug fixing mods but there is the weatherfix (see below) Here are some nasties and headaches:

Never save the game while submerged, especially during bad storms.
Never save the game when there are other ships in sight.
If you revert to a save other than the most recent, bad things can happen.

These are good rules of thumbs although you're not guarantied disaster if you break any of these "rules". Just that many people have had issues when they broke them.

Bad storms: There is a bug in the weather routine so that once you get heavy clouds, heavy rain and 15 wind, then that weather can go on for weeks or even months without changing. This is one there are fixes for though. Not sure about them all so search the download section and ask around.

[CptGrayWolf]

I'm a bit of a purist and I'd like to try out the game first as it was meant to be by the developers, without overhauling it too much, if it's possible.

I know what you mean. I'm like that too, but remember something, the developers have a deadline to meet and when the games comes out it's not really 'finished'.
I guarantee you that if the devs had more time you would get exactly what we have with GWX; more lively harbours, more ships, aircraft etc etc etc...
These super mods are very professionally made, just look at it as an official expansion. :sunny:

[sickpeople]

Hmm, I see your point GrayWolf.
I assume it's pretty stable and bug-free right? Maybe I should play with it from the beginning. I love lots and lots of content. :rock: It means more ships to add to my patrol log. :arrgh!:

[bstanko6]

GWX is your eye candy. Very sexy. I just can't stand the crashes and the corrupt saves. There are a lot of fixes for these but when you have an incredible patrol, and lose everything, just so you can start again and have a great patrol and lose that one too... No thank you!

NYGM is what I use because I like the realism and how the physics of the u-boat are displayed. Very stable, uses a lot of GWX mods and I have not had a complaint yet!

LSH gives life to the harbors. Never tried it, I know tu need a good graphics card.

I'm a simulator nut. I like visuals, and I have modded my NYGM to be pretty darn close to GWX. So with that in mind I get the best of all worlds. The harbors are a little boring, but I would rather have realism In the fight than worrying about what a harbor looks like since I only see them going in and out.

[THEBERBSTER]

Hi SP
All SH versions of the stock games are bugged and you will find it frustrating trying to play the game when things are going wrong in it that you may not understand or think you are doing something wrong.
Highly Recommended > LIVING SILENT HUNTER III EDITION 2015 Mega Mod (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=220285)
Peter

[CoffeelinFine]

I'm curious if anyone has played it vanilla but with a bunch of stand alone mods thrown in? Mainly just ones that make it look nicer.

[Von Due]

I'm curious if anyone has played it vanilla but with a bunch of stand alone mods thrown in? Mainly just ones that make it look nicer.

That's where it started for me. Vanilla, then Pato's bearing tool, then the flag mod, iirc. This was before I knew there was such a thing as a supermod. Eye candy is nice but the first mods I used were really to add various tools for plotting more accurately than vanilla allows as well as having that flag mod for, yep, eye candy and historical accuracy.