I think setting the time compression to 0 in the SHIII-C options might pause it when something is spotted. From 100 Km out I always finish off the remainder in real time.

That was my first thought, haven't tried it though. Do you think you can run this change on a running patrol?

I do not think what comes after this section is a good way to comment on someone attempting to play the game in a new and unordinary way. :) I have never attempted it (God knows I have better things to do with my time), but I am sure that many would find it a unique experience, if nothing else. It may not be better, but maybe to some it won't compare.

As for the art link, I feel this is where I have anything resembling competence to comment on your approach in dismissing 1xTC. Having studied a few epoches of art, its history, and feeling all tingly when I read about (and saw!) Monet's paintings from the impressionism, I think there is something to art that goes beyond the eye. It just so happens that we live in modernistic times, and in many forms of art, there are many expressions.
As a result of the many artists, of the many emotions and feelings, reactions against the world and what happens in it, we have lately given birth to a new line of abstract art. Abstract expressionism is the term coined for it (de Kooning, eg). Individuals, with individual expressions, performed and made in such ways that they matter more to the human that does it.

Look to the impressionism (Claude Monet), where paintings were, indeed, paintings. Trees looked like trees, ocean like ocean, so what set it apart? The IDEA of art. The idea that we should be out here, in God's free nature, and finish this piece awfully fast so we can get the light JUST right. Like nobody else has ever done before us. That's impressionism. The strokes were hard, thick at times, and rapid. You see the individual strokes. Before this, paintings were meticulous in their details, artists spent months on single paintings. An impressionist painting was done in a matter of hours, not even that.

What is my point now? It is to draw the focus towards just how reactions and emotions do weird things to art. Let us skip ahead a few decades. Look to Mexican monumentalism. The term is coined so well. We have trees that look like trees, and the ocean is ocean, but that's not painted at ALL. What is painted are the political realities, the humans that struggle against the state, and about the individual that is experiencing agony as he goes through life. Diego Rivera comes to mind, and his... what's the term? Souse? Frida, anyway. Art is a MONUMENT! To the PEOPLE! Who, in the midst of a rousing revolution akin to that of the Mexicans, could toss away these thoughts? And when Lenin gave you a visitas? It's... it's beyond comprehension just how forceful this art is. But humans look like ****. It's not a depiction! It's a deeper mirror into the world, the soul, the humans that surround us, and revolution.

Hardly decades later, we encounter the abstraction that has become so confusing to so many. A lot would dismiss Diego as clueless (he obviously didn't know anatomy, right?), but what came now, just before WWII, and thriving today, is an artform called abstract expressionism. It envelops many, many, many lines of thought. I could write you a book on this issue, no doubt, and I think you too would feel the magic if just from reading, if not also seeing examples that are embodiments of what artists felt and wanted to do! As I said, you can write a lot about the different forms of art that take shape during this long period, and which follow an abstract and confusing line. Some of it is simple, political anti-socialism, and arguably the USA may have brought this upon the public, as many forms of it was funded directly. But you know what I mean by abstract. The crap makes no sense! And, it doesn't have to.
At first it was all about... striking emotions, the fluxes of human thought and mind. It was about a lot. Some said "Hey, I'll make a painting that's just red, with some black stripes on it. Pure colour. That'll look nice on a wall." - and it did look nice on a wall. Indeed so nice, there was no reason not to serial produce it. Somewhere, it is no longer art, it transcends (or descends) into a commodity. Trivial stuff we don't have any relationship to. This doesn't go for all modern art - far from it - but some actually desire only to make it look nice.

My approach to modern, abstract art is to put it all into one box, and wonder about the perplexity of it all. It looks wonderful, and there're obviously something about the epoche, if not the actual piece, that makes it worth looking at. That way I avoid turning my skull over the question "Did the artist spend more than five minutes on this? Was this an accident? It doesn't fit in my head, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it. How many people painted good pictures, with perfect anatomy, yet it never struck the art critic as good enough? Indeed, trash? Like I can enjoy that some praise 1xTC, I can enjoy a good, modern piece. And, by the way, I enjoy NONE more than Piet Mondrian (see the two last paintings). Why? I don't know. But it's genious. I love how it tingles in the back of my head. Look at the design! What did he mean? I have jack all clue, but if he did it just to please someone, he managed to. He humoured many - by intent or not - and angered those that suddenly felt that art was elitist.
Monumentalism belonged to the people. Modern art belongs to the individual.

I would like to write more, actually, but I am already a bit too excited for a Tuesday night (00:30 now!), and I have school in seven hours! I hope I have made a good impression, and that you may see my reasons for feeling you are misunderstanding and being wrong about '1xTC'ers'. :D

Yes it works, yes you can (IIRC I changed the TC settings many times midpatrol).

But leaving the port is just a horror. :rotfl:

Ah good news. You mean, because ships dont remember their routes? Well, I left port far behind (sim running 12 hours \o/) -- will they remember their stuff if -- no WHEN I come back at least? Not that it would matter much, though. As I heard it's only "cosmetical", the ships will respawn anyway.

OH! And another question: Is it possible (via SHC for instance) to "sync" the ingame time with the real time (windows clock) Or maybe just set the time for the patrol specifically? That would rock :)

No, I mean your game pauses every ten seconds. :) And on the very beginning when you try to just run your engine, you can't do it, because after unpausing the game you have too little time to press '2' before it pauses again. :rotfl:

First: I strongly doubt.
Second: I don't know, but I remember seing the exact "mission start" info when browsing my campaign files. I'd say there is chance that changing any value will break your save, but again I just don;t know, as I never do it. :-?

Letum: After thinking about your post for a while, I think I have to rather disagree -- not on your point but on your reasons. At least on three fo four, which were:

Generally 1xTC makes SH3 a worse game. This should be obvious!

1xTC does not make SH3 more realistic.

1xTC does not reveal hidden beautys in the game.

Using higher TC does not mess up the game.

I disagree with all but the last one -- definitely TC is a feature that *should* be used, and the game would be dead if there wasn't TC implemented. And it should be used (even by me) for the sake of ... everything).

BUT, (big But) it's still a choice. you can run the game in the speed of your choice. It does not mess up the game if you are running it on 1TC either. It willl mess up *your* game if you are bored by it, though. It is the same as, let's say, some people like to patrol on 64x while others do it on 128x (or whatever). We can argue here, but fact is that everybody will chose the TC he feels comfortable with. If it's TCx1, why not?

That's why I disagree with point 1 -- Generally TCx1 does NOT make SH3 a worse game. It only makes it a worse game if you don't like it. One might argue that GWX or OLC makes SH3 a worse game -- let them think so, it's fine. They can use stock SH3. People who can't live with TCx1 don't need to either, they can fast forward.

Second point, realism. You claim it doesnt enhance realism in any way. Yet you give no reasons why not. Obviously it doesnt harm realism either. So, please ask yourself, what is closer?`A version where the captain can click his magic watch and let those desolate moments where nothing happens fly away in a whimp? or a version where he can't? Of course, it's nothing close to the real thing (someone posted http://www.trolinger.com/david/simulate.html before, it fits here), but it at least get you really grasp the vast stretches of time where you would be bored. I say *would* because I luckily am not -- I am busy with other things, I'm just simulating this, but yes, running more or less as a screensaver.

But it get's very different from a screensaver once you encounter action. It *will* happen, sooner or later, even if you must go on 2 boring patrols before. And this brings me to the third point where I disagree: When you played a campaign for 6 month in more o less real time and after no big events you finally contact an enemy task force with a British carrier... wouldn't you cherish that moment even more than if you used 1024 TC to get there?

Kaleun Bosch out. Err snwcrsh. Alas, I'm drunk. Must be the Grog!

I tend to mix the two, depending on how I feel. I have TC set to 256 maximum but that is just for the large empty areas like the early war mid atlantic and such like. Otherwise I tend to stick to 128. I spread that out with a few hours X1 as time and mood suit.

I enjoyed the 2 1x patrols I did (Of course I had to save game every once in a while when I had to leave my "Sub Room"). I didn't spend all this time stareing blankly at the screen. I usually sit at my workbench in here and work on the building of experimental musical/non-musical instruments. I also have a comfy reading nook where I like to sit and read. I would just set my course and let the crew handle stuff. If someone called out a contact, I would check it out.

This is a nice game to run and play 1x if you're doing other stuff in the same room where it won't kill you to jump up and run to the computer once in a while.

The experience isn't for everyone and I can honestly say, I rarely do 1x, but I DO have two careers set up. One is always 1x and the other I use time compression on. Which career I run depends on what I feel like doing that day.:up:

ARGH! I haven't thought about that. Hehe, yeah that's evil Okay, well the plan would be If running out of port i use normal SHC settings. Once clear of standard traffic, ill reload the game with SHC settings to pause on contanct. That should work?

As for the time synchronization... I thought so... was worth to ask, but I guess I can live with desynced time. Not worth the effort to meddle with the files and risk some unknown CTD.

Thanks for the help!

No need to do that, just set your desired TC and run your patrol. It will make your departure only a few minutes longer, compared to reloading game which will make your departure at least (I suppose) 15 minutes or more longer and much less enjoyable. :up:

*looks at command bar*

HELLLOOOO....

Link to download it?