New member & new player

[Herr Russ]

Got SH III last week and have been playing the 'vanilla' version (with 1.4B patch) just fine on my 6 month old Dell. When I was loading it, I met all the minimum requirements and just two areas were above minimum (I don't remember which ones).. Yesterday I DL'd and installed the GW mod. When ever I'm in the control room or on the bridge, the game slows way down and the video becomes very choppy.. I remember that my video card had just been at minimum so that's probably it.. I tried to reload GW & only selected a couple of options (didn't install sea floor detail) and it was just marginally better until I got the 'blue screen of death' :damn: Flushed the entire install and re-installed the vanilla with a few gramaphone clips. I sure do miss the extra navigation tools and eye candy.. Although it was kind of hard getting close enough to identify the contact as a hostile, neutral or friendly. Any thing else I can try besides a new video card?

Another question, when I tried to use the magnetic pistols and set the depth on a coastal, how do I find the drafts of the merchants?? I looked in the book next to the scope & mine just showed combatants..

Thanks for all the advice and the help I've already gotten off the board.. By the way, I have this sailor that transferred to my boat.. I think his name is Bernard :hmm:

[AVGWarhawk]

GW is a RAM hog so you need at least 1 Gig but 512 will do. Strong video card is a must. If money is lacking to get these things attempt to lower the particle density in the options within the game. Shut off all the background things you do not need to play SH3.

The ship ID book separates all the countries warships and then the merchants have their own section. Click the right or left arrow until you find what country/merch you need. Open and inside find the ship and you will see the draft information. I stay away from the magnetic anyway. I find them unreliable.

My rig:
AMD 3200+
Nvidia 6200OC 256MB
1 Gig RAM

Game runs just fine with full particle density and I do not shutdown background programs because I do not have too!

Welcome aboard Swab! Prepare to have everyone throw in their thoughts on your issues. We won't steer you wrong........well maybe Bernard!

[Dowly]

Welcome to SubSim Herr Russ! :up:

It´s true that GW eats up your PC´s power, so I´d suggest to get atleast 1Gig of RAM and a new graphic card.

My rig is:
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice
GeForce 7800 GTX 256Mb
2 Gigs of RAM

With that I have usually 60-80 fps. Drops to ~30-40 in ports and when attacking convoys.

[mookiemookie]

Welcome to the world of SH3 addiction. :)

Did the game start getting choppy around the port area? GW includes a harbor traffic mod that adds a lot of ships to the ports, and it can be a strain on your computer. I've noticed that the game tends to run a lot smoother after I get out into the open sea.

As for your other question, the info for merchants can be found in the recognition manual under "Handelschiffe" (I'm sure I misspelled that, but it's close!). Use the left scroll arrow, and it should be just after Albania.

[Herr Russ]

Thanks for the info.. I am running a gig of ram but the video card was the lowest one Dell offered above integrated graphics.. The choppiness was horrible in the harbor and I had a heck of a time getting away from the pier.. No other background programs are running (I even shut down email). I wanted to try the magnetic torps since I had 3 torpedoes impact and explode on a coastal, but it still managed to float & pull 3 kts. The weather was bad so I couldn't use the deck gun to finish her off. After about an hour of game time, I nailed her with another eel and she went down..

I'm already hooked.. I find things to do near the computer so I can run missions.. My son hit the 'c' key for some reason and I heard the 'ALAAAARM' all the way across the house (speaks were up a tad high :rotfl: )

[kylania]

/me starts the band up and welcomes the new captain!

Welcome to SubSim and SH3! :)

[Captain Nemo]

Thanks for the info.. I am running a gig of ram but the video card was the lowest one Dell offered above integrated graphics.. The choppiness was horrible in the harbor and I had a heck of a time getting away from the pier.. No other background programs are running (I even shut down email). I wanted to try the magnetic torps since I had 3 torpedoes impact and explode on a coastal, but it still managed to float & pull 3 kts. The weather was bad so I couldn't use the deck gun to finish her off. After about an hour of game time, I nailed her with another eel and she went down..

I'm already hooked.. I find things to do near the computer so I can run missions.. My son hit the 'c' key for some reason and I heard the 'ALAAAARM' all the way across the house (speaks were up a tad high :rotfl: )

Welcome Herr Russ. I have a Dell with a 3GHz P4, 1 gig of RAM and an ATI X300se graphics card (definitely not a leading edge graphics card!), had it for about a year and a half. It runs SHIII adequately with GW1.1a. I get around 15fps in port which is a bit choppy if you pan around on the bridge, but other than that I get around 30-45 fps out at sea depending on conditions. The only real slow down is when I look through the periscope and water is running down the lens my fps drops down to about 5-10fps.

Nemo

[AVGWarhawk]

Thanks for the info.. I am running a gig of ram but the video card was the lowest one Dell offered above integrated graphics.. The choppiness was horrible in the harbor and I had a heck of a time getting away from the pier.. No other background programs are running (I even shut down email). I wanted to try the magnetic torps since I had 3 torpedoes impact and explode on a coastal, but it still managed to float & pull 3 kts. The weather was bad so I couldn't use the deck gun to finish her off. After about an hour of game time, I nailed her with another eel and she went down..

I'm already hooked.. I find things to do near the computer so I can run missions.. My son hit the 'c' key for some reason and I heard the 'ALAAAARM' all the way across the house (speaks were up a tad high :rotfl: )

Sounds to me like a new video card will cure your ills but yeah, port traffice does stress the hardware. In the open sea it is much better. Anyway, stay away from the coast/small tramp steamers. They are torpedo/cannon shell wasters. Go for the big boys.

Anyway, a lot of great cards are on sale at Best Buy. Might be worth a look and small investment for the gains you will get. Besides you will be hooked on this like crack:rotfl:

[_Seth_]

Welcome, Herr Russ! :rock:

[fredbass]

Use your F1 key and you'll find the draft of ships.

[Herr Russ]

Thanks for the info.. I am running a gig of ram but the video card was the lowest one Dell offered above integrated graphics.. The choppiness was horrible in the harbor and I had a heck of a time getting away from the pier.. No other background programs are running (I even shut down email). I wanted to try the magnetic torps since I had 3 torpedoes impact and explode on a coastal, but it still managed to float & pull 3 kts. The weather was bad so I couldn't use the deck gun to finish her off. After about an hour of game time, I nailed her with another eel and she went down..

I'm already hooked.. I find things to do near the computer so I can run missions.. My son hit the 'c' key for some reason and I heard the 'ALAAAARM' all the way across the house (speaks were up a tad high :rotfl: )

Welcome Herr Russ. I have a Dell with a 3GHz P4, 1 gig of RAM and an ATI X300se graphics card (definitely not a leading edge graphics card!), had it for about a year and a half. It runs SHIII adequately with GW1.1a. I get around 15fps in port which is a bit choppy if you pan around on the bridge, but other than that I get around 30-45 fps out at sea depending on conditions. The only real slow down is when I look through the periscope and water is running down the lens my fps drops down to about 5-10fps.

Nemo


How can you tell what the FPS rate is?? I'll try re-installing GW and turning down some of the settings. The last reload I did, I only enabled the 16KM light mod, and one or two others. I don't remember the exact list.. It was so choppy that I would move the mouse & count to 5 before it would actually move.. I'm running a 19" LCD with DTS video, I think, so I thought the video card would run the mod just fine..

Thanks for your warm welcomes and advice!!! :arrgh!:

[fredbass]

Again, use F1 key. I think it's Ctrl+F8 to see Frame rates.

[AVGWarhawk]

Oh, one other thing I ran into. How the RAM is being used by windows. If your hard drive is swapping files like it is virtural memory, that slows it down. I have windows control the RAM. I had set it myself and I kept telling me out of memory blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda. I switched it back to window controlled and no problems now.

[Herr Russ]

Thanks fredbass, I just now found it doing a search :oops:

I didn't think of it as FPS or frame rate, so I didn't know what to search for at first.. After asking, I did a search & found it in the 10th. thread..

Thanks for helping me out!! I usually do try to search for answers before asking them, but I'm not used to alot of these terms..

Thanks!!

[Herr Russ]

Oh, one other thing I ran into. How the RAM is being used by windows. If your hard drive is swapping files like it is virtural memory, that slows it down. I have windows control the RAM. I had set it myself and I kept telling me out of memory blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda. I switched it back to window controlled and no problems now.

I read that in another thread along with some other settings & suggestions.. Where did you switch the RAM to windows control?? Sounds like a CMOS setting??

Thanks!!

[Dowly]

By changing the RAM settings, do you refer to the page file thing? The virtual memory? Someone said to me once that the virtual memory should be three times the amount of RAM you have. I dont know how it is, if you have 3Gb of RAM.

[fredbass]

Thanks fredbass, I just now found it doing a search :oops:

No problem. I was new once b4, so I'm glad I could help. :up:

[NefariousKoel]

By changing the RAM settings, do you refer to the page file thing? The virtual memory? Someone said to me once that the virtual memory should be three times the amount of RAM you have. I dont know how it is, if you have 3Gb of RAM.

It's the Virtual Memory. It will be controlled by Windows as default, so if you haven't changed it, you won't need to. You might look and see how much hard drive space is alotted for it, however, as you may want to up it.

[Dowly]

@NefariousKoel:

Yea, I´ve it tweaked to my liking. :up:

[AVGWarhawk]

@NefariousKoel:

Yea, I´ve it tweaked to my liking. :up:

If it runs into a problem switch it back. I was getting memory low blah blah. I returned it to the original state and was good to go. I suspect I put in the wrong values or that movie download from the naughty site was the cause:lol:

[SteamWake]

that movie download from the naughty site was the cause:lol:

What no linkage ??? :p

[AVGWarhawk]

that movie download from the naughty site was the cause:lol:

What no linkage ??? :p

Sorry, I had over extended my credit card on the site and now I'm banned indefinitly:oops:

God I hate the navy dude picture he looks like he should be in a bar called the Blue Oyster. I going to keep posting until he disappears!

[P_Funk]

I find the default Page File size to be inadequate. I have mine at at least 1200 and put it around 2000 sometimes after a reinstall.

The other thing about the Page File is that its best to change it's size right after a fresh reformat and install. The reason for this is that constant use causes lots of drive fragmentation. After a reformat the drive is like one big hunk of unused memory so the page file will then once created and enlarged be closer together and closer to the beginning of the drive. This means it will be accessed much faster and wont be fragmented. This improves performance. And a bigger Page File makes for more headroom when running memory demanding programs like SH3. Running out of PF space is gonna make your progs crash.

[WhiteW0lf]

Update that video card my friend, then get yourself a red lightbulb, yes I have a red light lamp on my desk :oops: