Sorry Steve, I guess I should have kept my $0.02 to myself now that I have totally messed you up.:oops: It will not happen again.:/\\!!

Well, I forgot to merge the campaign layers. The mod is set up for St Naz & Schleuse v.5. I did that, but still have problems. That said, I'm thinking the problem is a simple one.

When I open the Mission Editor I get more than 60 ships with the notice 'Engine Message: The unit class XXShipname from country Xxxxx not found in the platforms library. That sounds like a clue to me. I just don't know what to do about it yet.

We'll see how it goes. If all else fails I have my mods dialed in well enough that reloading the whole thing shouldn't take more than a day.

Hmm...

I did a little looking and it seems I didn't install Part 2, which holds the Sea folder. I installed that and started a new career, and it worked! Everything looks fine so far. Then I tried to start the 'Happy Times' single mission and it took forever to load and then crashed right when it said "Not so long ago..."

I'm curious to find out what went wrong there.

A further investigation that kept me up until 0200 this morning revealed that, while the USAM mod seems to include the Merchant Fleet Mod, the folders are all empty except for the silhouette files for the rec manual. I installed the complete MFM and it loads! Wonder of wonders, I can apparently run it now. I say "apparently" because while a career loaded just fine, when I tried to start the 'Happy Times' mission it sat there loading for twenty minutes and never did actually start.

This makes me worried that something might crash when I actually encounter one of those ships. The only way to find out is to start a career and see what happens.

Steve, my version of USAM, v69.61.1, does not include any folders for MFM ship types. I re-downloaded USAM just to be sure, and nada! Odd. Is v69,61.1 the one you are using?

BTW, I could not get USAM to work with NYGM, so I don't use it.

I looked again, and you're right. So where did those folders come from? :-?

I made the mistake of (and avoided my own advice) not using JSGME to test it first, so now I'm thinking the fastest route might be to just dump it all and start over again. We'll see how I feel about that tomorrow.

I spent three hours reloading everything again. It went that fast because I now have my main text files (Menu.ini, Dials.cfg etc) set up the way I want them, so all I had to do was reload all the mods in the same order and then install the text files.

Everything works alright, even when loading a career, but when I tried to load the 'Happy Times' single mission it sat there trying to load for a good ten minutes, then crashed. I'm wondering if I bit off more than even this cracker-jack new computer can handle. I'm wondering what I'm going to dump if that's the case, because I can't live without the MFM.

I'll keep fiddling with it and see what I come up with.

Steve, I have been unable to get USAM and MFM together to work with NYGM. I just tried that combiunation with GWX, and Happy Times loaded fine - although with about a 10-minute load time. This was my mod list:

Generic Mod Enabler - v2.6.0.157
[C:\SH3-GWX\MODS]
GWX 3 Wilhemshafen,St Naz,Schluese and xtra ships V7
GWX - Enhanced Damage Effects
GWX - No Medals on Crew
GWX Turm Lights fix
TMTv2+ThomsensShips v4.4 for GWX3+Xtra ships
OLC's Modified Searchlight Beams for GWX3
Pascal_Port_People
Waterstream+Exhaust Combi V2.3 for GWX3
Waterstream+Exhaust Combi - Single Exhaust for TypeII
Sober's Darker Smoke
Torpedo damage Final ver2.0
Scirè-Tikigod- repeated order
TorpedoTubesFfireFinal vGW
Capt. Teach's SH3 Color Icons for GWX 3.0 (Standard)
NeuUZO&PeriV.2
Carotio_SH3_ClothesHatsFacesSkilledCrew
DD_OH_V3.09_20091209162038
FM_NewInterior v2.1D
BritishAsdicMkIFinal
SHIII Internal Life Mod v1.2
SH-5 Water for SH-3 20 Km V84
sobers waves mod V12 27032013
1.4b Assisted Plotting Mod
No continuous 'Ship spotted' V1.2 for GWX3
New _hydrophone _layers for SH3 v2.0_GWX
Spirit of machines
StNazWhvV6 RND Campaign Layer with Zigzag
Supplement to V16B1 - GWX
Stiebler4B_Addon_for_V16B1 - GWX
O2-Gauges v2
Bearded faces
Hitman Optics for GWX3 v.1
WB's USAM v69.61.1 Part 1
WB's USAM 1a GWX St Naz Campaign
WB's USAM 3 Aces' SH3.SDL v4
WB's USAM v69.61.1 Part 2
Merchant_Fleet_Mod_3.2
BW On-Top Mod GWX3-Hitman's Optics v1.0.10

My rig is about comparable to yours, I think. Maybe a bit better CPU than yours but definitely a weaker graphics card. I don't know what your mod list looks like, but if you change any of the campaign files after activating USAM and MFM, I believe that might cause you trouble.

BTW, since I use NYGM, and since I try to stay away from warships and aircraft (:)), I use MFM and not USAM. Works for me. YMMV.

The whole point of this load was to leave USAM out of the equation.

As requested some time ago, my current list looks like this:

Permanently Installed:
GWX 3.0
Hardcode Fixes - h.sie
GWX 3 Wil, St Naz and Schluese and other units v7 - Bigboywooly
Remove GWX Compass - ichso
Simfeeling 6-Dials Mod - FLB-Sale_U-999
Anschütz Kompass - Leitender
New Interiors 2.1D - FlakMonkey
(replaces Diving Duck's Open Hatch mod)
Open Hatch Conning Deck Cam Fix - Diving Duck
TMTv2+ThomsensShips v4.4 for GWX3+Xtra Ships
Assisted Plotting Mod - Observer
Waterstream+Exhaust Kombimod v2.3 - Rubini/Racerboy/h.sie
Lifeboats & Debris v4 - Rubini/Privateer
SH4 Maptools for SH3 - Latemail
GWX DFa Flags and Pennants 2010 - Anvart
FM30_UpDown - Anvart
FM NI Fix for FM30 UpDown - FlakMonkey
h.sie's Colored Hull Integrity Indicator
New Lorient - Alfred Keitzer
Sound My Way - From several sound mods
Das Boot Sound Mod SH3 - Sailor Steve, based on
'Projeckt Schwertfisch', by the SH2 modders
DBSM SH3 Speech Fix - Sailor Steve
Ultimate Aircraft Sounds - AOTD_MadMax
Spirit of Machines - Einbecker
Torpedo Fire (German) v1.02 - Ktl_KUrtz
Das Boot Officers - AILantic
Small Moon - AILantic
No Rank on Crew - Dertien
Das Boot Clothes - lafeeverted
Clean Nav Map - Don't remember
English-To-German Names - Phoenix3000
Historically Accurate U-Boat Emblems - Conus
Halo Not Visible Through Body - Anvart
Port People - Pascal
Realistic Blueprint Damage Screens - Pascal
Remove Station Labels
SH3 Color Icons - Capt. Teach
Modified Searchlight Beams - OneLifeCrisis
U-Boat Bases Map with New St. Nazaire - meduza
Head 04 Fix - Anvart
SH3 Officer Faces
Aces' Modified Headphones
Aces' Crew On Deck Stand Alone GWX
Clearsky Clouds - Rubini
A-I Class Destroyers - The Frog
J-Z Class Destroyers - The Frog
SH4 Effects for SH3 - Racerboy/TheDarkWraith
Torpedo Damage Final - Ocean Blue
Tuddley's Barracks Screen
Rick's Alternate Rec Manual - Rik007
GWX Turm Lights Fix - Privateer/Jimbuna
KB's Diesel Sound Mod - kristenburnout
No Continuous 'Ship Spotted'
Torpedoraum Typ II - MCHALO12
New Freecam Mod - Asanovic7
Seabed Repair Mod - Mikhayl
Searchlights Removed - schlechter pfennig
SH4 Maptools for SH3 - Latemail
Merchant Fleet Mod - Iambecomelife

JSGME:
SH5 Water for GWX 0.9 20 Km - Rik007
Type VIIa Features - Wreford-Brown
VIIB Early War Skin - Sledgehammer427
Type IIb AI Camo - Sean (changed to IIA)

The only thing I use JSGME for is mods that need to be rotated in and out (and for testing). None of those four are activated yet.

Oh, and I haven't installed the h.sie and Stiebler optional mods yet. :sunny:

I'd suggest you try running MFM in a rockstock SH3 install. If you can't get "Happy Times" to work there, then your rig definitely can't handle it. But, if it runs, then you know to start looking for some interaction.

Steve, have you used the 4 GB patch?

Good idea. I also realized that I didn't cancel all the background programs first. Everything's been running so well it didn't occur to me to do that. Today we'll try it with EndItAll and Game Booster both doing their jobs.

Oh yeah. In fact the first thing I did after the CTD was double-check that it was activated.

Steve, if you have activated the 4GB patch contained in h.sie's V16B1-Patch-Kit, then you might not want to activate another, external 4GB patch. And, IIRC, h.sie's 4GB patch is activated by default. I think you have to unselect it in the Options Selector if you don't want it.

I activated it through Bl!tzkr!eg's SH3 Front-End. Do you think I should deactivate it there and check H.sie's version to see if it's still activated there?

As I mentioned above, I would remove h.sie's patched sh3.exe along with everything else. Do keep the 4GB patch from BK's front end for now. Otherwise, just stock SH3. Activate MFM only. Then try "Happy Time".

Good luck! Keep us posted.