Returning to SHIII....what are the "must-haves"?

[Paajtor]

After not having touched the game in months (last patrol was on 1.2, with 1.3 ready to install at back-to-base), I decided to return to this beautiful subsim. :D

I kinda miss it.

Since I uninstalled the game, I want to do a fresh install without the backups I made of my ongoing campaign, and start from scratch at the Academy.
This gives me the chance to first apply all patches (incl. 1.4b), and get every mod that I find interesting, before I even enter the bridge.

But I've been doing a little research, and I must say that the amount of mods and tweaks available by now is a bit overwhelming! :oops:

Before, I was only using a couple of small graphical mods:



- better readable compass mod
- flag & recognition manual mod 1.0
- skymod 1.0
- Silent Hunter III High Resolution Hydrophone and Radar textures
- 360 degree bearing plotter for Navigation Map
- All new Hi-res flag textures for Silent Hunter III.
- making sidebar disappearing alltogether (an ini-change)
- YASM-smoke mod

I was playing the sim with German voices.


I would like to know, if someone can make a small list of what's absolutely a must-have, to give me the WW2 subsim I always wanted.
For example, I've read somewhere about a mod called RUB1.45....is it a good start?

Best would be, if there's one particular mod, that has all the tiny tweaks that I had before, plus a whole lot more.
I'm also planning to return to SHII-multiplayer, if that's still enjoyable (I have no idea, actually...on 1.2, it was buggy and frustrating imo).

Can someone point me into the right direction? :)


*edit* I just found my 1st tip: I only need 1.4b, as it has all the fixes from the previous patches (link (http://www.subsim.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=45741))

[Wolfram]

Welcome back Herr Kaleun. for me my personal favorite has been SH3Cmdr mod to manipulate things + IuB 1.02.

But before you load any mods after your install and 1.4b patch install the Jones manager (jsgme.zip)

Then have some fun modding your game!

:lurk:

[Wolfram]

http://u-boot.realsimulation.com/

[ReM]

Then have some fun modding your game!

:lurk:

Yeah, modding your game is sorta like tweaking your car!
It's fun

[Paajtor]

Ok, I love tweaking, but I wanna get playing asap. :smug:

Thanks for your recommendations, Wolfram.
I dl'ed the jsgme-zip - I now remember reading about it.

The link u posted, gives me all that I need for now, thx.:)


U know, the thing is I'm getting a Saitek Eclipse keyboard (http://www.moddershq.net/reviews.asp?reviewid=96&pagenumber=1) this week, and I was thinking of a game that would fit nicely to it...and so SHIII came up. ;)

[Paajtor]

This oRGy mod (http://www.subsim.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=43531) looks interesting, right?

Does it work together with the Jones-tool?

and I guess this (http://www.simhq.com/simhq3/sims/boards/bbs/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=129;t=001385) is the SH3Cmdr-mod.

[Spaxspore]

This oRGy mod (http://www.subsim.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=43531) looks interesting, right?

Does it work together with the Jones-tool?

and I guess this (http://www.simhq.com/simhq3/sims/boards/bbs/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=129;t=001385) is the SH3Cmdr-mod.

All am using is IUB 1.02, seems to have everything i want in it

And yes that link is SH3 Commander

[Ducimus]

The two leading mods are
Real U Boat (RUB) and
Improved Uboat (IUB)

Personnlly i prefer to mod my game with several submods to mix and match the game to my taste. Theres usually some minor detail about large mods that i dislike, so i make my own.

If i were to bare bone mod the game i think id grab:

-DC_20 (real depth charge). Although as of late, id just use the depth charge mod portion of it, and not use the AI_sensor.dat file taht comes with it. Escorts are really dumb in the vanilla game, they dont need any help being dumber.

- Hollywood damage 2.0
Makes for more realistic repairs in your boat so your not instakilled. You can recover from things you woudlnt otherwise recover from. That and it adds cool effects.

-Time travllers Depth moding tool.
here id change all my subs depth from stock and edit the cfg files so i can run decks awash. Along with this, id grab the 400 meter depth guage mod located on subsims d/l section

-IMPROVED CONVOYS!
This is a biggie, Using this mod has signficantly improved my gameplay. Stock convoys are a joke.


Those are the core gameplay changes id make

The rest are just graphical ones.
-Pascals foam, smoke and splash
- FUBAR's sub skins (their the best, get em)
- sea floor and sky mods, light houses, etc etc

[Paajtor]

All great news...thx for your tips, guys. :)

[Paajtor]

2 more questions, if I may:

- can you have certain conflicting mods?

- has anyone successfully improved the sound of the Hurricane-aircraft? The default-sound is a laugh, lol.
I remember having done a search for it "back then", and indeed someone came up with a solution, but I've lost the file (and the link to the post).
I found this mini-mod (http://www.beerymod.com/sh3_007.htm), but who can tell me, if it also changes the sound?


P.s. I am first gathering some more information, before I install SHIII, and so obviously I can't test a mod yet. :)
IUB1.02 is downloading right now....initially, in the post I was reading about it, I saw a few less fortunate bugs and issues, but then I noticed I was reading about IUB1.0beta... :oops:

[Wolfram]

Certainly it can happen - conflicting mods, that is why I strongly advise after clean re-install and 1.4b patch installing Jones patch/mod manager.

Not sure would have to ask Beery about Hurricane or others here if his mod changes sound but maybe check the audio files and then unzip on desktop the mod from Beery to compare the file type, size dates...

Everyone of the mods listed by other people also great stuff :up:

- it really is a matter of personal choice - btw IuB plug here is that several extra things added like harbor traffic and mines or not to have those things are some of the extra choices offered by IuB....

Have Fun!

:lurk:

[Paajtor]

I certainly will!


I just watched a SH3-movie called The blind man's tale...it really encourages me to get back into the sim.

If there's no Hurri-sound fix around, then I'll try to make my own.
I have tons of aircraft-related links (from flightsims).


The extra harbor-traffic is something I really want...and I hope the mod has (friendly) harbor-maps, with the mine-fields on it.

[Paajtor]

Hey, good news I found the Hurri-file! :rock:

It's called Private_Ryan's improved Hurricane-sound for SilentHunterIII (http://www.61shap.org/pilots/Paajtor/SHIII/files/Hurricane_airplane.zip), 57kB.

I also have the original Merlin-sound (http://www.61shap.org/pilots/Paajtor/SHIII/files/merlin.wav) 138kB, from which the sample was taken.

If you think you need it, then grab it :D my squad's CO is hosting.

[Marhkimov]

Paajtor,

I have a Hurricane sound that you can try. It's similar to the sound that you linked, but IMHO mine are in higher quality.

http://rapidshare.de/files/8408178/Marhk_Hurri.7z.html



Don't ask me where I got them, because even I cannot tell you. My version of SH3 is sooooo convoluted with mods, that I seriously cannot remember where everything came from.

I must've started modding SH3 from the day that I bought it. No, scratch that... I downloaded the official patch 1.3 before I even went to the store... :dead:

[Paajtor]

Hey, great! :) I'm curious.

...can you compress to zip or rar? I don't have 7z installed (I like to keep my file-handlers simple).
Btw, IUB1.02 came in a zip. :D

[Marhkimov]

Sure. Here is the regular .rar archive:

http://rapidshare.de/files/8410820/Marhk_Hurri.rar.html

[Paajtor]

k, thx :up:

[Paajtor]

I found this mini-mod (http://www.beerymod.com/sh3_007.htm), but who can tell me, if it also changes the sound?



Actually, that was a stupid question, allright :oops:
I just dl'ed the mod, and found only textures in it, lol.

[Paajtor]

:up: Up and running, IUB1.02 with Pascal's Dials and Gauges enabled.

I had to wait a few days (RL stuff), but this evening I installed SHIII, patch 1.4b, the JoneSoft Mod Enabler, IUB1.02, and tried a single-mission, to play-test...this is just awesome! :huh: :D

I had sound-stutters, just like when I played the sim before, but I managed to fix it for 98%, by setting HW-accelleration to Basic.


Great FPS, stunning interiors, and the new high-res skins looks beautiful.


Thx all, for your kind help.


P.

[Kalach]

I'm using Commander and (slightly modified) RuB.
RuB contains lots of great things, with a comprehensive change list so you can easily mod/remove the bits you don't like.

Most graphical mods don't conflict with each other, and theres a few good moon/sky/smoke/water mods you can try to make things look how you want them to :D

[Paajtor]

Yeah, allot is still on my things-to-do list, like SH3Commander. :D (not sure whether I want it).

I already like the IUB-smoke effects...having an ATI surely helps.

But I'm going to start up a fresh career first, to see the true value of the modding-work.


Cheers.

[VegaBond]

Main difference in RUB or IUB?


I have both downloaded but will they interfere with my career? SH3 commander career i meant

[The Avon Lady]

Main difference in RUB or IUB?


I have both downloaded but will they interfere with my career? SH3 commander career i meant
If you're docked back at base, you should be able to install these mods in mid-career.

Rollback SH3 using SH3 Commander before installing either one of these mods.

You shouldn't need both mods. Chose one or the other. I'm sure there are consequential conflicts between them.

[GUNTHERPOPE]

I'm pretty new at this SHIII job but I gotta say that the speech mod which takes a little time to set up is AWESOME. I purchased a twenty quid microphone, set the crew speech to German, and to be able to sit there and just issue commands is a) quicker and b) really realistic. Modded graphics are one thing but speech command I think is a must have. :)