Unless your present install is exactly like the one used to save those games, (same mods installed in the exact same order), it will crash. Even if they are exactly alike, it is a tossup whether they will load or not. SH3 is really picky when it comes to saved games. That is why it is best to just start over with a new career when you reinstall.

Skippers.

I can report, that i managed to get my career progress back.

Using your input, and my own magnicifent intelligence ... i am now
back on sea disrupting allied supply lines.

this is the summary in a nutshell

- clean reinstall (means to remove all traces ... or "rename folders")
- GWX 3 reinstall (i had no other mods)
- rename new data/cfg folder to "sh3_new" and rename "sh3_old" back to "sh3"
(own documents, save games & career, not the installation directory)
- deletion of years of save games, reducing it to only the few latest

----- testing begins:

- start the game - with a radnom ad hock gwx mission... sucsess!
- start the game - with not the latest savegame (which i believe is guilty)
but the previous one... sucsess!

back in business.

thanks to all of you who responded to my SOS i am en route to brest
making rotations for 17 knots...

:yeah:

Well done but I'd still be deleting the original folders and performing a registry clean.

...i have done that, as stated a few posts earlier,
but since it evidently that had no influence
on the succsess of the repair i left it out of the summary list.

renaming a folder is technically equal to deleting it from point of view of a installer. But beyond that, i had erased the main installation folder
and just kept&renamed the save game part - in case that
wasnt clear yet from my previous post.

--

registry clean is always a good idea, but only if you know what youre cleaning.

Btw, I am a IT consultant (usually working on big installations,
unix heavy, Storage clusters etc and _not desktops_ therefore i would always listen to you guys whom may have 1st hand experience)

but due to my work experience i learned to be somewhat
selective enough when cleaning the registry.

An advise to someone on a lower proficiency level
to "clean the registry" without further and precise instructions as of hat keys exactly would need to be removed, is something i view a bit sceptical sometims. Please dont take that personal. My mind permanently question all things. Politics, Business, Integrated Circuits ... you name it.
Maybe thats the german in me :-)

All is good though.