Going to try LSH2015 when my new PC arrives

[K-61]

I have ordered a new gaming desktop system to play SH3. When it arrives, I hope this week, I intend to run LSH2015.

At present, I am plowing the through the 90 pages or so of comments in the thread in the mod section. I am only a couple of pages in, so I hope I am not getting worried needlessly, but I am seeing some bug reports and recommended fixes.

So, yes, I am going to RTM [read the manual] and I have already downloaded the massive one piece install file [thank you high speed internet!] so my simple question is, will I be good to go out of the box with LSH2015 or shall I have to install a few fixes and tweaks?

Alright, back to the 90+ page thread...:wah:

[Leoz]

I'm in the same boat.

New PC...at some time will try out LSH.

[Anvar1061]

I have ordered a new gaming desktop system to play SH3.

Why not WAC v 5 .2?
https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/images/smilies/Kaleun_Los.gif

[K-61]

Why not WAC v 5 .2?
https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/images/smilies/Kaleun_Los.gif

Good morning, Anvar.

The only reason I have not considered WAC is because I am rather abysmally ignorant about it.

My primary reason for opting for LSH2015 is the promised eye candy and the massive inclusion of various other bits like S.hie that are integrated into the installer routine.

However, I am a customer who has walked into the car dealership with a pocketful of money looking to get a new car. How would you sell me on the merits of WAC?

Up until now I favoured GWX Gold, mainly because I found its damage model to be superior to all others. For those not familiar with it, ships were sunk in that mod mainly by destroying their buoyancy, which was mostly accomplished by putting holes in the ship to flood compartments. Stock damage model, as I would guess with just about all other mods, relies on the hit points system.

A ship has X amount of hit points, which can be killed by hitting the ship anywhere, even repeatedly until the number of hit points was reduced to zero. This could be accomplished in some unrealistic manner, such as repeatedly hitting the bridge structure with your deck gun. You could do the same with the hull above the water line. Realistically, this would not sink a ship. It would certainly batter it to bits, but since no water gets in, the ship cannot sink. The other method in stock damage model is by means of one or more catastrophic hits. Imagine an ammo ship or fuel tanker getting its cargo ignited. The consequent explosion[s] could sink the ship "indirectly." Think of the Japanese carriers at Midway. They were destroyed by dive bombers, not torpedo bombers. The ships were destroyed by internal detonations in vital areas of bombs, fuel. Granted, at least one of them was not sunk directly but were scuttled, but I am sure at least one of them sank from the explosions compromising hull integrity.

I also used to enjoy watching the various ways in which "flooded" ships in GWX sank. Very few of my destroyed targets went down in the usual SH3 way: big boom and snap in half. Some would go down quickly by the bow, as the engines drove them underwater, some sank by the stern, some listed to one side or the other and some rolled over and went down "butt up." It was a very enjoyable aspect of GWX, Sometimes a ship lingered for more than 24 hours and I would wait and wait and wait and then have to give her a final shot. At least once I fired the kill shot just to see her start to go under while the fish was still on the way. Wasted eel! The damage model of GWX added pucker factor to the game, as you were never quite sure if you had inflicted fatal damage. All adding enjoyment to the game for those who are more into realistic simulation than Hollywood booms and bangs.

In another post I had stated that I was going to wait until the new system arrives and use it as my only gaming rig, as my notebook is overheating again. I think instead of sending it out again to the shop for another costly disassembly, cleaning and CPU thermal paste reapplication that I should do it myself.

In the meanwhile, I will have a poke around and see if I can find a thread that details WAC in depth.

[Anvar1061]

I will have a poke around and see if I can find a thread that details WAC in depth.
https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/images/smilies/Kaleun_Wink.gif
Many letters
https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=233626
https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/images/smilies/Kaleun_Binocular.gif
http://www.mediafire.com/file/q2xfh9majbr3a4z/Handbuch_manual_WAC5
Firstly, this is the newest. Secondly, it is also SH3.
https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/images/smilies/Kaleun_Rolf.gif

[K-61]

Thank you for the link to the manual. i have downloaded it and am now reading it.

I did go through the first link, with the download link to WAC, but I did not wish to read through over a hundred pages. I am sure the manual will tell me all I wish to know, just like a new car brochure.

[John Pancoast]

Good morning, Anvar.

The only reason I have not considered WAC is because I am rather abysmally ignorant about it.

My primary reason for opting for LSH2015 is the promised eye candy and the massive inclusion of various other bits like S.hie that are integrated into the installer routine.

However, I am a customer who has walked into the car dealership with a pocketful of money looking to get a new car. How would you sell me on the merits of WAC?

Up until now I favoured GWX Gold, mainly because I found its damage model to be superior to all others. For those not familiar with it, ships were sunk in that mod mainly by destroying their buoyancy, which was mostly accomplished by putting holes in the ship to flood compartments. Stock damage model, as I would guess with just about all other mods, relies on the hit points system.

A ship has X amount of hit points, which can be killed by hitting the ship anywhere, even repeatedly until the number of hit points was reduced to zero. This could be accomplished in some unrealistic manner, such as repeatedly hitting the bridge structure with your deck gun. You could do the same with the hull above the water line. Realistically, this would not sink a ship. It would certainly batter it to bits, but since no water gets in, the ship cannot sink. The other method in stock damage model is by means of one or more catastrophic hits. Imagine an ammo ship or fuel tanker getting its cargo ignited. The consequent explosion[s] could sink the ship "indirectly." Think of the Japanese carriers at Midway. They were destroyed by dive bombers, not torpedo bombers. The ships were destroyed by internal detonations in vital areas of bombs, fuel. Granted, at least one of them was not sunk directly but were scuttled, but I am sure at least one of them sank from the explosions compromising hull integrity.

I also used to enjoy watching the various ways in which "flooded" ships in GWX sank. Very few of my destroyed targets went down in the usual SH3 way: big boom and snap in half. Some would go down quickly by the bow, as the engines drove them underwater, some sank by the stern, some listed to one side or the other and some rolled over and went down "butt up." It was a very enjoyable aspect of GWX, Sometimes a ship lingered for more than 24 hours and I would wait and wait and wait and then have to give her a final shot. At least once I fired the kill shot just to see her start to go under while the fish was still on the way. Wasted eel! The damage model of GWX added pucker factor to the game, as you were never quite sure if you had inflicted fatal damage. All adding enjoyment to the game for those who are more into realistic simulation than Hollywood booms and bangs.

In another post I had stated that I was going to wait until the new system arrives and use it as my only gaming rig, as my notebook is overheating again. I think instead of sending it out again to the shop for another costly disassembly, cleaning and CPU thermal paste reapplication that I should do it myself.

In the meanwhile, I will have a poke around and see if I can find a thread that details WAC in depth.




Not wanting to derail the thread, but I'm not a fan of the NYGM or GWX sinking model.
I think the idea behind it is sound, but the implementation leans to the "overdone" side of things.
I.e., realism, immersion, what have you goes out the window when one hits a ship..............and it's engine(s) keep it sailing merrily along including to the instant it finally does sink hours later.

Or one hits a tramp steamer with more than one torpedo and it takes hours to sink.
Or having to wait around for hours and hours for to see if a hard hit ship finally sinks; I don't believe that would have been a sound decision by any U-boat commander in terms of the ship possibly having radioed a distress signal and bringing help to the scene either via ship or aircraft or both.
I realize that depending on the location that may have been a non-issue.


I've had plenty of slow sinkings with the stock damage model, so it's not an "every time is a big boom" with it in my experience.



Anyway, not a big deal just my thoughts on the subject. I do use the NYGM and GWX models as is.

[K-61]

JP, thanks for your comments and observations.

I've had similar experiences as yours. I recall one time I hit a fat T-3 tanker and she listed over until her railings were just about touching the water, part of the stern underwater. She seemed to take forever to settle and stubbornly clung to the surface. I can't remember what I did in the end, but I did take some screenshots of her.

So, perhaps they did take it a bit too far. On balance, I still tend to favour the GWX damage model, but the beauty of this game is you can play it your way. It's been years since I last played so perhaps I am skewing things in my memory.

Still no word yet on the new system. I've been off a few days; today is my last day at home. I guess the systems will arrive any day now, now that I have to go back to work.

[John Pancoast]

JP, thanks for your comments and observations.

I've had similar experiences as yours. I recall one time I hit a fat T-3 tanker and she listed over until her railings were just about touching the water, part of the stern underwater. She seemed to take forever to settle and stubbornly clung to the surface. I can't remember what I did in the end, but I did take some screenshots of her.

So, perhaps they did take it a bit too far. On balance, I still tend to favour the GWX damage model, but the beauty of this game is you can play it your way. It's been years since I last played so perhaps I am skewing things in my memory.

Still no word yet on the new system. I've been off a few days; today is my last day at home. I guess the systems will arrive any day now, now that I have to go back to work.


Yeah, and with the game engine limitations the model was probably done the best it could have been.
Definately a great idea and effort.


Good luck with your new rig !

[K-61]

Heard from my techie today. The new computer should arrive on Monday, he takes a day to test it out and make sure all is well. Should be able to pick it up Tuesday. Crossing my fingers that all goes well...

[K-61]

New system finally arrived, then I had to let it sit in the box for most of a week due to work commitments. Anyhow, finally have it set up and configured with my productivity, security software and such. Having technical difficulties setting up my email. All of my server settings are correct and I had an ISP tech do a remote assistance session, so everything is good on their end. Now waiting to hear from Outlook support. Not holding my breath; I find these big companies ignore you as the peasant you are to them.

Next step is installing SH3 and a supermod or two, or three! Will keep you posted.

[K-61]

Today I have set aside a block of time for installing and configuring the game. I had a very discouraging start; got the game installed under W10 but could not get it to run no matter what I did. Installed it on a folder in C:\Games\SHIII and running as admin under W7 compatibility mode. No-disc installed but would not run.:timeout:

Then I figured it out: I was only copying over the SH3.exe alone, not the other .dll files in the no-disc folder.:oops: Once I corrected that, she loads and runs fine. takes less than ten seconds to load a naval academy exercise. SSD sure makes the loading faster.

Next steps: Make an archive copy of the game "as is" in "vanilla" state, patched to 1.4b, then get to installing a supermod, tweaking and then run through the academy so as to get my sea legs under me again.

[K-61]

Just completed my first career patrol in LSH201, with all of the HSIE settings turned on except those for NYGM and GWX. All effects seem to be working fine. I wrecked a diesel when running at high speed under time compression.:oops:

Sank four ships for a total tonnage of about 20.7 K tons. Got the IK2 upon return to base. Getting ready for second war patrol but stopping here first to make observations.

Special effects looks sweet; I have the most graphics intense options enabled and green water mod. Nice big explosions and smoke so thick my eyes water just looking at my monitor. Noticed a variety of sinkings, not just the usual snap in two thing. Got jumped several times by flugzeugen, once very close but I got away. Then scraped my hull as I came through the sluice at WS. The gate closed on my tail as I was entering. Got a ticking off from Doenitz just before he gave me the IK2, so all is good.

Now, I must find myself some records for the gramophone. LSH seems to have a bare records cabinet.

[John Pancoast]

Just completed my first career patrol in LSH201, with all of the HSIE settings turned on except those for NYGM and GWX. All effects seem to be working fine. I wrecked a diesel when running at high speed under time compression.:oops:

Sank four ships for a total tonnage of about 20.7 K tons. Got the IK2 upon return to base. Getting ready for second war patrol but stopping here first to make observations.

Special effects looks sweet; I have the most graphics intense options enabled and green water mod. Nice big explosions and smoke so thick my eyes water just looking at my monitor. Noticed a variety of sinkings, not just the usual snap in two thing. Got jumped several times by flugzeugen, once very close but I got away. Then scraped my hull as I came through the sluice at WS. The gate closed on my tail as I was entering. Got a ticking off from Doenitz just before he gave me the IK2, so all is good.

Now, I must find myself some records for the gramophone. LSH seems to have a bare records cabinet.

What Hsie settings are "for NYGM and GWX ?"

[K-61]

The one for NYGM is called "Crash Dive" to fix the routine related to the "C" command for crash dive. The other one is called "Night Vision" and fixes a bug related to vision distance at night in GWX. If playing LSH the player should not enable either of these, and if playing one of those, then should enable the one appropriate to that mod, and I would assume not enable the ones for LSH.

[K-61]

I went through my archives and found a ton of gramophone records and copied a pile of them into the "sounds" folder.

Does anyone know if you can display victory pennants on your sub when returning to port? I also saw somewhere somebody had crew mustered on deck. Is this possible in LSH2015 or must it be added via mods?

[John Pancoast]

The one for NYGM is called "Crash Dive" to fix the routine related to the "C" command for crash dive. The other one is called "Night Vision" and fixes a bug related to vision distance at night in GWX. If playing LSH the player should not enable either of these, and if playing one of those, then should enable the one appropriate to that mod, and I would assume not enable the ones for LSH.

Ah. Never messed with LSH (old laptop) but I figured those two fixes were for every mod and/or stock.

I guess LSH already incorporates them ?

[John Pancoast]

I went through my archives and found a ton of gramophone records and copied a pile of them into the "sounds" folder.

Does anyone know if you can display victory pennants on your sub when returning to port? I also saw somewhere somebody had crew mustered on deck. Is this possible in LSH2015 or must it be added via mods?

I know Anvart and Aces have made mods that do both.

Find them here: https://www.mediafire.com/?2h49jnyva7ncx

Anvar1061 has a nice mod too. https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=241365

[K-61]

I've not contributed much to the forum the last few weeks, as I have been devoting so many hours to playing this mod. I thought it time to contribute a few observations about LSH2015.

My first comment is with respect to the stability of the mod. I've had no crashes at all during game play, though of late I did have a few reload issues with saved games. I am not sure if they were to do with known issues, such as saving whilst near other ships. I do my best to avoid the usual pitfalls. My strategy is to play when I have enough time to do the whole patrol in one sitting, or leave the game on pause overnight. Even though my computer goes into sleep mode, I've had no trouble with the game starting up again.

My style of play is to begin a career pre-war, so I can be at sea for the start of war in September, 1939. I use SH3 commander's realistic career length and crew transfer options, so over time my crew varies as does my career length. When my captain is retired, I start a new career at that month and year. Thus, over several careers I experience the whole war. At present I am in my sixth career. 4 were retired, my 5th was killed at sea [I play Dead is Dead, so no reloads of saved games to avoid mortality] and I am now in port, January 1944 with my 6th Kaleun.

I at first found the Allied air cover pathetic and easily dealt with. I do find the aircraft rather easy to shoot down, too easy in fact. They seem rather fragile and not as deadly to crewmen on deck. Though, I have had several killed during strafing runs, so they are not totally feeble. I've also noticed they are becoming more expert and worst of all, much more numerous. It is rather demoralizing to see off a loner, then see a cloud of his buddies coming in behind him. I find the concept of whole squadrons of ASW planes patrolling together rather unrealistic. Even during the Biscay Campaign groups of planes only showed up when there was a confirmed sighting of a U-boat. However, this is an old beef of mine going back to stock SH3. Notwithstanding, I do prefer to dive and avoid combat with planes as was historically done, as all it takes is one hit and your U-boat is now an unsubmersible sub. The planes are now more professional and I never get back to port without damage. My transits to and from port are a never ending gamut of crash dives.

I thought the snorkel would give my respite, but even travelling at night on snorkel I am occasionally attacked. I am guessing the Allies are now deploying improved radar. My boat is in port so I am going to add the improved Alberich and Tarnmatte upgrades, as well as the latest available radar detector. I do find that the smaller, more nimble Type VII is much faster at diving, and the difference in diving time over a Type IX is the margin needed for survival. Even though the VII has fewer torpedoes, I prefer its handling characteristics.

I do find it ridiculous to be given patrol grids that take all of my fuel to reach and allow little leeway for patrolling. I prefer not to stop at supply ships and U-tankers for several reasons. First, I don't want to rely on one in case it becomes unavailable. Second, I don't like the in-game routine of losing patrol stats and status and having it treated as a new patrol when you depart. I also think it unrealistic to get a full tank and a complete rearming from a limited resource like a U-tanker. A diesel top up yes, but ten or more new torpedoes? Anyhow, I read last night there may be a way of dealing with this. As for ridiculous assignments.... I was told to take my VIIC to Penang to bring back valuable cargo! Nein, herr kommandant.

When I first started playing with LSH2015 I thought I would not enjoy the damage model. I enjoyed the damage model used by GWX, with its "loss of buoyancy" rules for most sinkings, other than catastrophic damage such as fuel or cargo detonation. It was also harder to sink an empty tanker in ballast. I've had some lengthy ship sinking times now, so I am noticing a variety of ship destruction experiences. It is also weird, and this seems to be over different mods, not just LSH2015, how ships of different sizes can be so tough or fragile. I have had to use three eels to sink a lousy 4,000 ton target, then see a 24,000 ton liner go down with one hit. It does make the game unpredictable, which is more enjoyable than an arcade game experience.

I am also wondering if there are scripted events in LSH2015. Twice I have noted a British ASW vessel come steaming straight at me immediately upon sinking lone merchantmen. The locations and timings were rather suspicious, so either they were scripted or very low odds encounters. On one such occasion I submerged and was setting up the vessel for a torpedo, on silent running and 50 RPM on the electric engines when he makes a beeline straight for my submerged position. Very suspicious. I ended up being killed. Just for experimentation purposes I did a reload and again he showed up and killed me. So that meant he was on that random course encounter in response to the distress call or was indeed scripted into the game. Or maybe he was using HF/DF and/or radar.

One other weird thing I notice is encountering the same mini-convoys or clusters of the same units. I sank a pair of ships, a liner behind another type ship which I forget. Then a day or two later in the same general area I encounter the same pair. I know that ships and convoys to an extent are scripted into the game's layers, but this was rather bizarre. There is enough variety in the mod, but it does seem funny to see identical compositions more than once.

Well, that is all, for now, unless I later remember something else. Oh, yes, one thing... I get the odd message that a new boat is available, but I don't see them showing up in the equipment list when I am in port. Which leads me to think I may have to do a transfer to Erprobungs to get the new boat? I shall be doing some research in Berbster's tutorials after I post this to find out how to change boat types within the same career.

[John Pancoast]

I've not contributed much to the forum the last few weeks, as I have been devoting so many hours to playing this mod. I thought it time to contribute a few observations about LSH2015.

My first comment is with respect to the stability of the mod. I've had no crashes at all during game play, though of late I did have a few reload issues with saved games. I am not sure if they were to do with known issues, such as saving whilst near other ships. I do my best to avoid the usual pitfalls. My strategy is to play when I have enough time to do the whole patrol in one sitting, or leave the game on pause overnight. Even though my computer goes into sleep mode, I've had no trouble with the game starting up again.

My style of play is to begin a career pre-war, so I can be at sea for the start of war in September, 1939. I use SH3 commander's realistic career length and crew transfer options, so over time my crew varies as does my career length. When my captain is retired, I start a new career at that month and year. Thus, over several careers I experience the whole war. At present I am in my sixth career. 4 were retired, my 5th was killed at sea [I play Dead is Dead, so no reloads of saved games to avoid mortality] and I am now in port, January 1944 with my 6th Kaleun.

I at first found the Allied air cover pathetic and easily dealt with. I do find the aircraft rather easy to shoot down, too easy in fact. They seem rather fragile and not as deadly to crewmen on deck. Though, I have had several killed during strafing runs, so they are not totally feeble. I've also noticed they are becoming more expert and worst of all, much more numerous. It is rather demoralizing to see off a loner, then see a cloud of his buddies coming in behind him. I find the concept of whole squadrons of ASW planes patrolling together rather unrealistic. Even during the Biscay Campaign groups of planes only showed up when there was a confirmed sighting of a U-boat. However, this is an old beef of mine going back to stock SH3. Notwithstanding, I do prefer to dive and avoid combat with planes as was historically done, as all it takes is one hit and your U-boat is now an unsubmersible sub. The planes are now more professional and I never get back to port without damage. My transits to and from port are a never ending gamut of crash dives.

I thought the snorkel would give my respite, but even travelling at night on snorkel I am occasionally attacked. I am guessing the Allies are now deploying improved radar. My boat is in port so I am going to add the improved Alberich and Tarnmatte upgrades, as well as the latest available radar detector. I do find that the smaller, more nimble Type VII is much faster at diving, and the difference in diving time over a Type IX is the margin needed for survival. Even though the VII has fewer torpedoes, I prefer its handling characteristics.

I do find it ridiculous to be given patrol grids that take all of my fuel to reach and allow little leeway for patrolling. I prefer not to stop at supply ships and U-tankers for several reasons. First, I don't want to rely on one in case it becomes unavailable. Second, I don't like the in-game routine of losing patrol stats and status and having it treated as a new patrol when you depart. I also think it unrealistic to get a full tank and a complete rearming from a limited resource like a U-tanker. A diesel top up yes, but ten or more new torpedoes? Anyhow, I read last night there may be a way of dealing with this. As for ridiculous assignments.... I was told to take my VIIC to Penang to bring back valuable cargo! Nein, herr kommandant.

When I first started playing with LSH2015 I thought I would not enjoy the damage model. I enjoyed the damage model used by GWX, with its "loss of buoyancy" rules for most sinkings, other than catastrophic damage such as fuel or cargo detonation. It was also harder to sink an empty tanker in ballast. I've had some lengthy ship sinking times now, so I am noticing a variety of ship destruction experiences. It is also weird, and this seems to be over different mods, not just LSH2015, how ships of different sizes can be so tough or fragile. I have had to use three eels to sink a lousy 4,000 ton target, then see a 24,000 ton liner go down with one hit. It does make the game unpredictable, which is more enjoyable than an arcade game experience.

I am also wondering if there are scripted events in LSH2015. Twice I have noted a British ASW vessel come steaming straight at me immediately upon sinking lone merchantmen. The locations and timings were rather suspicious, so either they were scripted or very low odds encounters. On one such occasion I submerged and was setting up the vessel for a torpedo, on silent running and 50 RPM on the electric engines when he makes a beeline straight for my submerged position. Very suspicious. I ended up being killed. Just for experimentation purposes I did a reload and again he showed up and killed me. So that meant he was on that random course encounter in response to the distress call or was indeed scripted into the game. Or maybe he was using HF/DF and/or radar.

One other weird thing I notice is encountering the same mini-convoys or clusters of the same units. I sank a pair of ships, a liner behind another type ship which I forget. Then a day or two later in the same general area I encounter the same pair. I know that ships and convoys to an extent are scripted into the game's layers, but this was rather bizarre. There is enough variety in the mod, but it does seem funny to see identical compositions more than once.

Well, that is all, for now, unless I later remember something else. Oh, yes, one thing... I get the odd message that a new boat is available, but I don't see them showing up in the equipment list when I am in port. Which leads me to think I may have to do a transfer to Erprobungs to get the new boat? I shall be doing some research in Berbster's tutorials after I post this to find out how to change boat types within the same career.




If you're using Hsie's patch, you shouldn't be getting more than four torpedoes max from a u-tanker and that is only if you have four slots available nor a full tank of fuel.


You should also not be losing patrol info. with it either.


Regarding ships re-appearing, many like to think SH3 has a dynamic campaign. It doesn't.
Falcon 4 has a dynamic campaign, i.e,; you destroy something (and vice versa) it is gone for good, etc. Your side does enough of the "right" things, and it affects the campaign.


That isn't the case in SH3.

[K-61]

Hmmm. I thought I had hsie installed and activated. I will have to delve in and see what is going on.

Thanks, John.

[John Pancoast]

Hmmm. I thought I had hsie installed and activated. I will have to delve in and see what is going on.

Thanks, John.

With the u-tankers, make sure you choose the "continue mission" option NOT the "dock at <u-tanker #>" option.

To get the same function from the supply boats, rename them from say, "Vessel" to "U-Vessel", etc.

These are found in the campaign.scr file.

[K-61]

Ah, thank you, John!

I just loaded my in-port career, in Lorient, and transferred to Erprobungs at Danzig. I then selected the new U-boat, the VIIC'42 and took her out for a couple of days. Then I transferred back to Lorient.

Just to make sure, I manually navigated to the H.sie selector in my LSH2015 game folder and checked my H.sie options. I shall give your ideas a whirl with this new patrol.

Thanks again.:salute:

[John Pancoast]

Ah, thank you, John!

I just loaded my in-port career, in Lorient, and transferred to Erprobungs at Danzig. I then selected the new U-boat, the VIIC'42 and took her out for a couple of days. Then I transferred back to Lorient.

Just to make sure, I manually navigated to the H.sie selector in my LSH2015 game folder and checked my H.sie options. I shall give your ideas a whirl with this new patrol.

Thanks again.:salute:

Have fun !

[K-61]

I'm going through the campaign.scr file now; that thing is as big as the state of Texas! As I have no clue where it is I am going through it from top to bottom, line by line. My eyes are burning and I'm not even one quarter the way through yet. As I do not know the exact search terms to use this will be a long and tedious chore. I've tried looking for "u-tanker" but no luck.

[John Pancoast]

I'm going through the campaign.scr file now; that thing is as big as the state of Texas! As I have no clue where it is I am going through it from top to bottom, line by line. My eyes are burning and I'm not even one quarter the way through yet. As I do not know the exact search terms to use this will be a long and tedious chore. I've tried looking for "u-tanker" but no luck.

You have to use the u-tanker's # or the supply ship name in the search.

1. Just double click on the file and it should open with notepad, etc.

2. Choose the "edit" function.

3. Choose the "find" function. Type in boat name desired here; i.e., u-461 or Vessel, etc.
The find function will take you right to it then.

[K-61]

My problem is I don't know the names of the ships or the U-tankers, without loading up the game at various times and making notes of all the names.

If/when I find them I will write them all down and post them so others don't have to go through the same slog.

[John Pancoast]

My problem is I don't know the names of the ships or the U-tankers, without loading up the game at various times and making notes of all the names.

If/when I find them I will write them all down and post them so others don't have to go through the same slog.

Go to your game's main install folder.

There, go to data/menu folder. In there is a file called en_help.txt or similar.
Open it up and you'll see the supply section with all the ship names. This is what the F1 key shows in the game.

[K-61]

Thanks.:up:

[K-61]

Had a look, twice, in the menu folder at the two files. No mention there of supply ships or tankers.:timeout:

[K-61]

I'm going to load my game, check the F1 file and then make notes, come back and try again. Thanks for your assistance, John.

[John Pancoast]

Had a look, twice, in the menu folder at the two files. No mention there of supply ships or tankers.:timeout:

Do you recall seeing them listed with the F1 key in game ? Oops, you posted before I did. Anytime ! Let me know how it goes.

[Hebe Vollmaus]

One other weird thing I notice is encountering the same mini-convoys or clusters of the same units. I sank a pair of ships, a liner behind another type ship which I forget. Then a day or two later in the same general area I encounter the same pair. I know that ships and convoys to an extent are scripted into the game's layers, but this was rather bizarre. There is enough variety in the mod, but it does seem funny to see identical compositions more than once.

Please let me comment this paragraph, it sticks painfully into my eyes.

This is not weird. It is how the game works.
Yes, you can have a different collection per every Convoy if you want. As long as you have enough different ships. This can be scripted into the Campain-files without problems. But think about it. This Game do you not like to play, since it will dramatically increase the Load-time. i think about half an hour or more to Load the game for an today actual PC. Nobody like long Load-times. From time to time we all can see here on Subsim post that people blame the game hangs, not aware that the game is still loading.
This gets more worse by increasing the number of ships additional injected into the game. For short: more ships - longer Load-time. So what we get then by doing both, increasing Ships and increasing Lines in Campain-file is something like longer longer, or better, ultra-long Load-time.

Please keep in mind, when the SH3-game was released. At that time no PC was able to display smoothly a comlete round view in harbor populated with some ships without stuttering. Keep in mind, that the game is computing every single Unit-position continusly around the whole game-world. I am shure, by an heavy excessive increasing of the Ships and Campain-files the result will be an unplayable game.

Every Developer-team from what is called Big-Mods, not only LSH, has made a unbelievable good job done extending this game.

Greetings.

[K-61]

No worries. I'm not griping, just making an observation. I am well aware of how much better the modded version is over the original release version and I am tremendously grateful for the hard work of modders, generously shared with others.

I'm playing on a new system with the game installed on my SSD. It makes for much faster loading times. I typically load the game in under three minutes, even with a huge mod like LSH2015. My graphics card is 6 GB; even when things are going boom, whiz, bang I get frame rates that are well over 100-200 fps.

[K-61]

Do you recall seeing them listed with the F1 key in game ? Oops, you posted before I did. Anytime ! Let me know how it goes.

I am now in the spring of 1944, ashore in Lorient. At this stage of the war the Allies have either destroyed at sea most of resupply subs and ships or convinced the neutrals to kick them out. I saw one active U-supply at sea but he was too far away to make the trip worth it. On my way to my grid I had a running battle with a convoy and expended almost all torpedoes. On the way back to port I fired off my penultimate eel and brought one home.

So, I shall do that editing at some future date when I am going through the war once again in the early days. I intend for now to see this out to 1945, either through survival or cycling through multiple careers via SH3 Commander, as I detail elsewhere.

[K-61]

I foolishly tried to stand off a B-24 in my most recent patrol. It cost me my experienced watch officer and four trained flak gunners, as well as some non-repairable-at-sea damage to my tower. Won't do that again, especially as Onkel Karl chewed my butt for losing good men like that. He said he was thinking of sending me to the Russian front, but that since a U-boat command is more hazardous, he is sending me back to sea.

[K-61]

I got killed in my previous career when a PBY that was shot down by our flak crashed right into our boat in its death dive. Real bummer, that one.

I've also noticed a lot of Allied planes are crashing when attacking me. They get caught in the bomb blasts, collide with each other or maneuver too close to the sea and crash into it. I once had a whole section of four Mosquitos wipe themselves out. Once in a while I see larger planes, like a Halifax or Sunderland collide with another and both go down.

[John Pancoast]

I got killed in my previous career when a PBY that was shot down by our flak crashed right into our boat in its death dive. Real bummer, that one.

I've also noticed a lot of Allied planes are crashing when attacking me. They get caught in the bomb blasts, collide with each other or maneuver too close to the sea and crash into it. I once had a whole section of four Mosquitos wipe themselves out. Once in a while I see larger planes, like a Halifax or Sunderland collide with another and both go down.




Wow, some real messed up AI routines sounds like.

[propbeanie]

Airplanes use a "ship" controller to fly with... :har: - Seriously, look at their dat and sim files. That said, if they are set to "Elite", they fly much better. Of course, there are other side effects to doing that :roll: :salute:

[Kal_Maximus_U669]

yes indeed I noticed the same disorder with the planes !!!:ping:
Is LsH2020 still up to date?:hmmm:

[John Pancoast]

Airplanes use a "ship" controller to fly with... :har: - Seriously, look at their dat and sim files. That said, if they are set to "Elite", they fly much better. Of course, there are other side effects to doing that :roll: :salute:

Wow. That's "interesting" to say the least.

[propbeanie]

One must remember, this is a subsim, and airplanes were an after-thought... :doh: :O: :salute:

[John Pancoast]

One must remember, this is a subsim, and airplanes were an after-thought... :doh: :O: :salute:

That's discouraging, seeing as aircraft should be a vital part of anything that calls itself a sub sim.

[propbeanie]

Oh, the controller for the AI_Ship is fine. There is really nothing restricting it from flying an airplane. I'm just making fun of the fact that a controller named for controlling an AI ship is flying airplanes also... But ships have "Height", such as "zero" for the surface, or -35 for a submarine 35 meters below the surface, or +35 for an airplane 35 meters above the surface, about to crash into your submarine :roll: ... The controller also has Headings for things like "zero" at True North, 90 for a ninety degree heading, etc. All of what controls a ship has applications in controlling airplanes. Even the waypoint system is similar. The thing with airplanes, they have "stall" speed and will fall from the sky if care isn't taken by the dev or modder who places planes on the map and configures them. You also cannot "turn" an airplane in too tight of a spot, else it will fall from the sky. They also tend to crash into each other if grouped too closely together, or turned too tightly. :salute:

[K-61]

I'm just about ready to give up playing. I believe the amount of aircraft, both in the numbers of patrols and the amount of planes sent out is ahistorical. All you need to play this game now is one of those glass birds with the red dye in it that dips back and forth. Set it over your keyboard so the beak hits the C button; because you will have do that hundreds of times in one patrol. I am not kidding. I spent six hours of real life time the other day going from the North Atlantic into the North Sea. I know the U-boats had a tough time after 1943, but this is simply unplayable. Stay down for 15 minutes or 15 hours; within a few minutes of surfacing you will have a gaggle of Sunderlands or B-24's lining up to gangbang you.

[John Pancoast]

I'm just about ready to give up playing. I believe the amount of aircraft, both in the numbers of patrols and the amount of planes sent out is ahistorical. All you need to play this game now is one of those glass birds with the red dye in it that dips back and forth. Set it over your keyboard so the beak hits the C button; because you will have do that hundreds of times in one patrol. I am not kidding. I spent six hours of real life time the other day going from the North Atlantic into the North Sea. I know the U-boats had a tough time after 1943, but this is simply unplayable. Stay down for 15 minutes or 15 hours; within a few minutes of surfacing you will have a gaggle of Sunderlands or B-24's lining up to gangbang you.


Try a different mod; both GWX and NYGM depict aircraft in a more historical/realistic fashion.

[propbeanie]

... and the key for airplanes early in the war is to not be seen by them. Once you are seen, all they have to do is draw a little circle around your location for you to travel at 3knots, and they know that you'll not be far in an hour... "Send more planes!" is what they say. The closer to Allied land, the worse it is for your U-Boat. Later in the war, there are a lot of airplanes, and the most of them have radar with which to home in on you. Not a pleasant time at all. Most of all, do NOT fight them. Crash Dive is what you want to do. :salute:

[John Pancoast]

Oh, the controller for the AI_Ship is fine. There is really nothing restricting it from flying an airplane. I'm just making fun of the fact that a controller named for controlling an AI ship is flying airplanes also... But ships have "Height", such as "zero" for the surface, or -35 for a submarine 35 meters below the surface, or +35 for an airplane 35 meters above the surface, about to crash into your submarine :roll: ... The controller also has Headings for things like "zero" at True North, 90 for a ninety degree heading, etc. All of what controls a ship has applications in controlling airplanes. Even the waypoint system is similar. The thing with airplanes, they have "stall" speed and will fall from the sky if care isn't taken by the dev or modder who places planes on the map and configures them. You also cannot "turn" an airplane in too tight of a spot, else it will fall from the sky. They also tend to crash into each other if grouped too closely together, or turned too tightly. :salute:


Good info., thanks.

[K-61]

I got so frustrated last night that I hard exited out of patrol and abandoned career. Then went to bed. It's now 4 AM in my time zone and my wife has just woken me up with her night time indigestion fidgeting. I'm not getting back to sleep so I am going to resurrect my abandoned career and try to tough it out to the end of the war.

I am thinking of reviving my GWX. Years ago I played it and it was enjoyable. I have never tried NYGM, so thanks for the suggestion. All I want to do is have as realistic a recreation of U-boat life as possible and use my brain to be a successful commander who brings his boat and crew home alive. And to do so I wish to be able to employ a super mod and have all the bells and whistles working [h.sie, etc.] To date that part has been frustratingly unsuccessful as detailed in other posts; LSH2015 was the one package that got it all working for me. I'm not being harshly critical or ungrateful, just feeling disappointed.

Are there any suggestions as to how to cope with the clouds of blackflies that swarm your boat? I am guessing along the line's of John' post, that they kind of figure out a circle around your boat and think you are in there. Can I submerge for say, 12 hours, and come up with a reasonable hiatus to beat feet? At present I am sailing out of Bergen to my grid in the BF area and I am traversing a curved path north of the Faeroes, staying as far away from the U.K. as practicable.

[John Pancoast]

I got so frustrated last night that I hard exited out of patrol and abandoned career. Then went to bed. It's now 4 AM in my time zone and my wife has just woken me up with her night time indigestion fidgeting. I'm not getting back to sleep so I am going to resurrect my abandoned career and try to tough it out to the end of the war.

I am thinking of reviving my GWX. Years ago I played it and it was enjoyable. I have never tried NYGM, so thanks for the suggestion. All I want to do is have as realistic a recreation of U-boat life as possible and use my brain to be a successful commander who brings his boat and crew home alive. And to do so I wish to be able to employ a super mod and have all the bells and whistles working [h.sie, etc.] To date that part has been frustratingly unsuccessful as detailed in other posts; LSH2015 was the one package that got it all working for me. I'm not being harshly critical or ungrateful, just feeling disappointed.

Are there any suggestions as to how to cope with the clouds of blackflies that swarm your boat? I am guessing along the line's of John' post, that they kind of figure out a circle around your boat and think you are in there. Can I submerge for say, 12 hours, and come up with a reasonable hiatus to beat feet? At present I am sailing out of Bergen to my grid in the BF area and I am traversing a curved path north of the Faeroes, staying as far away from the U.K. as practicable.

Yes, in both those mods you won't get the aircraft behavior you're experiencing.
That's not to say aircraft aren't a problem for a U-boat. But it's entirely possible to crash dive and then resurface a few (much fewer than 12) hours later and continue on.
I tend to stay under for around three hours after spotting an aircraft, i.e. Figure by that time, they'll be long gone.
I have yet to be damaged by one in either mod. I never try to attack them.
That (swarm of planes) was a stock sh3 problem; maybe LSH doesn't address it, don't know.

Unrelated but in my current NYGM career, I've just spent 48 game hours repairing the boat after damage via escorts suffered in a March 1943 convoy attack.
Hull is intact though, so onward. But not until submerging for awhile so the crew gets some rest.
I like GWX too but it's sub and other boats tend to sail a bit to "rubber ducky" like to me; bobbing all over like corks whenever the water gets any chop in it.

But I believe either mod will give you what you're looking for, especially with Hsie's and Stiebler's patches.

[K-61]

Thanks for your observations, John. Yes, a good repair crew is vital. I have four or five POs qualified for repair, as well as trying to have my officers have a repair qualification. I also add a few seamen to the repair crew as "tool haulers" to help fill out the green bar.

Yeah, taking on aircraft is suicidal. You can shoot down planes all day, but all you need is them to get lucky once and you are a goner.

I just got to Bergen after sticking it out. I tended to stay down longer after an aircraft alert. As well, it being December 1944 I had a lot of bad weather, which seems to have the effect of grounding most planes or, if the game models it, reducing their radar effectiveness.

I agree, the number of planes in one group on random searches is ridiculous. I have a hard time believing, for example, that Sunderlands were so numerous in supply that they flew them in groups of six or eight planes as is common in the game. The Allies had only 20 VLR Liberators on ASW patrol, but I routinely see them in groups of four.

Anyhow, going to try to stick it out until May 1945, then perhaps go back to GWX or try NYGM. Thanks for your help and advice.

[Randomizer]

I gave up on LSH 2015 when my Type IXD2 was swarmed by six aircraft off Freetown and I shot down five of the attackers suffering no damage in the process. Also only one of the three flak guns would fire at a time so the slaughter of the aircraft was due to either one-twin 20mm or the single 37mm. No idea why the guns failed to shoot, seems endemic to the mod. I had posted about this fiasco somewhere on this forum.

All in all an extremely unreasonable and highly improbable day for Coastal Command.

Given all of the occasions that I have been sunk by planes in GWX and NYGM, this incident caused me to abandon LSH despite its undeniable and exquisite visual appeal.

-C

[John Pancoast]

Thanks for your observations, John. Yes, a good repair crew is vital. I have four or five POs qualified for repair, as well as trying to have my officers have a repair qualification. I also add a few seamen to the repair crew as "tool haulers" to help fill out the green bar.

Yeah, taking on aircraft is suicidal. You can shoot down planes all day, but all you need is them to get lucky once and you are a goner.

I just got to Bergen after sticking it out. I tended to stay down longer after an aircraft alert. As well, it being December 1944 I had a lot of bad weather, which seems to have the effect of grounding most planes or, if the game models it, reducing their radar effectiveness.

I agree, the number of planes in one group on random searches is ridiculous. I have a hard time believing, for example, that Sunderlands were so numerous in supply that they flew them in groups of six or eight planes as is common in the game. The Allies had only 20 VLR Liberators on ASW patrol, but I routinely see them in groups of four.

Anyhow, going to try to stick it out until May 1945, then perhaps go back to GWX or try NYGM. Thanks for your help and advice.

When you get to them, just post if you need help with the Hsie/Stiebler patches.
They're not difficult to install, though the instructions can appear daunting.

Yes, multi-aircraft attacks as you're experiencing are not historical. You definitely won't find those in either GWX or NYGM.

Have fun in the meantime !

[K-61]

Just got back to Bergen in mid-January 1945. I go worked over by some angry escorts [4] after sinking their beloved Bogue carrier with a single acoustic torpedo. 79% hull integrity, destroyed flak guns. It was a chance encounter with a task force; they ran right into me and I was able to dive and set up for an attack. In spite of the escorts snooping around I was able to put one into her. So satisfying to sink one of those fat sluts. About to set out February 11, 1945 for a North Sea grid. Hope to survive to the end of the war. This will be career patrol # 5 for KL Otto Seruga; name for an Austrian I used to work with.

The scripted ambushes by Allied bombers at the same spots every time as I depart and arrive the long fjord into Bergen is getting tiresome. Especially as this time when I came home it was rough weather and I had no flak guns anyway, even if the weather were smooth. Oh, well, three more months... I heard a rumour in the night club that the Reds were only 60 miles from Berlin. Which was strange, since we Germans use the metric system.:haha:

[K-61]

Finally got through to the end of the war. On my penultimate patrol I got jumped at close range by a Sunderland. Boat damaged, 65% hull, flak guns destroyed and a bunch of other damage that I fixed. I was not far into the North Sea so I returned to base. Got my last patrol April 28th, 1945.

While at sea I got gradually developing orders. First I was told to stop all offensive action, then I got ordered to take my special cargo [not told I had such cargo or what it was] Buenos Aires. Yeah, sure, in a VIIC '42. No matter how I plotted it I did not have enough fuel to make it. I returned to Wilhelmshaven, got informed that Germany surrendered whilst at sea. Did not stop the Allied schweinhunden from trying to bomb my boat on May 9th. Upon return to base the war was over and it was all anticlimactic. Got told by SH3 Commander that my captain died in 1996. No bio write up. All rather a let down. Just before telling him to go home I awarded my juniormost crew member his U-boat badge for completing two war patrols.

Now... GWX, NYGM...?