BigWalleye, I must thank you again. First, I installed HSGUI, got the AOBdial and the Attack Dial and the circular sliderule, they were at the bottom just as you said. In addition it has those nice marks on the periscope for getting range and I am pretty sure this is the GUI I will be using for awhile, at least until I read enough to know how to use the ACM stuff.

And "Wassail" is a drinking toast! I use it because I like to buy my friends drinks! I think the original word is Old Anglo Saxon or something, that's why I am not exactly sure of the meaning. :)

I must go on patrol now for awhile, but tomorrow I will explore Hitman's optics and then after that, the speech stuff. Things are actually happening fast, I thought it would take a couple of weeks to find all the good mods, and it has only been a couple of days!

Thanks man, for the information! It would have taken me weeks to find those links on my own. Much appreciated. :)

Wassail!

I am beginning to remember why I love playing Silent Hunter 3 so much! :yeah:

Atm I am doing the first milk run mission, so the sub is not in any danger. For the past couple of hours I have been on the bridge, just enjoying the sounds of the sea with a little music in the background. Is it just me, or is that not one of the most relaxing sounds in the world, just like those relaxation tapes that some people buy? I don't know why but I find listening to the sea and watching the waves really relaxing. :up:

I've been gaming for a lot of years, so I have a little network set up here. I don't use the Linux boxes while I am gaming, but an old E8500 is on the network, and while I am on the bridge I can use that machine to visit forums, run programs and stuff like that while Silent Hunter 3 is running on the main machine.

I like the setup though it is not necessary. When I was into SH3 last time, I just ran it in a window so that other programs were accessible. But I like this setup because I can run SH3 in full screen on the main machine, just a touch more immersion.

Last time I was into the game, I used Mobo, a lot, and believe it or not that is more or less the reason for the current setup. As well, while I am sailing, there is a lot of time to read the stuff that I need to know to get back up to speed.

I've kind of decided that I am going to keep the mods to a minimum this time and add them slowly.

Basically all I need now is Setkeys, Hitman's Optics, then the programs to get that voice command thing working. Maybe a few more after that, but I have learned to be careful when adding mods. I just read a thread where a guy (Telemon, I think) had a 4 hour real-time successful sortie but ended up losing his savegames. I feel sorry for him but I've had things like that happen myself. :(

In any event, I would just like to say "Thank you" for the warm welcome and the hints and tips I have received. Thank you. It feels great to be back! :salute:

Wassail!

Wassail is from the old Saxon legal code which among other things originated the jury of one's peers as we know it today. Under 'wassail', when drunk, one could be excused of killing someone, providing of course practical blood-payment was made for the loss. This was a practical anti-feud solution when every shield was needed in the shield wall and every spear at the ready, especially against those heathens from the north " God defend us from the fury of the Northman" who didn't have such a defence, nor needed one. Eric the Red had to flee twice, eventually to Greenland, and if you died sword in hand ... NO problem, Valhalla awaited-ACH: der Valkyrie and...more wassailing-this time in a proper meadhall! Reread your 'Beowulf' for proper grounding and don't judge harshly: they didn't have TV and the water would kill you. On a smaller footnote, a great many weapons, especially swords, are found in rivers and lakes; part of the Saxon code entailed the surrender of the murder or killing implement to the god, often the water, as the 'deodand'. Since this is rather common, the death rate might have been brutish-Wassail mein arsen!!. OOPS "Ful oft gebotedon befe druncne ofer ealo-waege oret-mecgas", ie "Time and again, when the goblets passed and seasond fighters got flushed with beer..." Of course if you are inebriated at the periscope... have a Sober mod list; it helps.

Roger Aktungbby! Actually, a lot of my ancestors were those heathens from the north, at least on my father's side, and I myself am a little bit into that heathen thing. :arrgh!:

Last time I read Beowulf was more years ago than I care to remember, back in the '70's when I was taking an English course. I will take your advice and read it again, just as soon as I finish the Poetic Edda. :up:

I have a sinking feeling that there are a lot of extremely intelligent people on the Subsim forums - no doubt I am going to have to be using google a lot - but that is fine with me, I got a lot of practice doing that on the War of the Roses forums. :)

Wassail!

In which case: why, when they dug up the crookback (Dick III) recently, did they not compare to the two young Boys of The Tower for a DNA or at least skull resemblance analysis. Sherlock would be pissed! I know they're in Westminster, thanks to Charles II, but it would clear up several mysteries.:arrgh!:

Aktungbby, are you teasing me? No problem. I did have to use google and I think I found a reference to what you said:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princes_in_the_Tower

As to why they did not use DNA testing to verify things, I have no idea; that is not surprising, considering I usually have no idea why Royals do the things they do, anyway. Life is mostly a mystery for me at the best of times.

Have mercy on a tired old man! Thank you. :salute:

Wassail!

In which case, if they were related to the Yorkist King Dick III, then he is the culprit in as much as he had control of the tower; wherein he had already executed his own brother-in-law, Lord Hastings, without trial, who would have had the greatest interest in the Woodville's continued claim to the throne through the older of the princes, with his sister Elizabeth, Edward VI's widow, as dowager Queen during the boy's minority. I also consider that, players all, there must have been a considerable amount of PTSD just watching brothers and fathers getting bumped off before one's own eyes during the dynastic conflict. At least it made ya' a hard man with yer head on a swivel...or the block.!:arrgh!:

September 2, 1939, 01:15 - U45 departs Wilhelmshaven, first war patrol, decks awash. Wish me luck! :salute:

Wassail.

Ja Herr werwulf viel gluck und keep your 'scope on a swivel!:arrgh!:

Well, today was a pretty good day. Late yesterday I got Setkeys installed before I called it a night. I think that program is going to be necessary for the voice command thing.

U-45 is somewhere NE of Helgoland, sailing north toward the trench, and it's still September 2, 1939, my first war patrol.

I read the GWX manual as a refresher and found a copy of Hitman's optics for GWX, but I'm not sure it's the best one; I'm going to check out the links that BigWalleye gave me as soon as I finish this post. I have it installed, anyway and so far my mods list for now is GWX with the 16 km vision thing, TMT and Hitman's optics.

After reading TiberiusXIV's thread, I installed the 4GB memory patch into my GWX/Steam install, no problems; I don't need it with my system, but if I ever get heavy into mods it'll probably be worthwhile to have.

I had to return to torpedo school! I'm satisfied that I can calculate range and time to impact when a torp is fired, now it is time to move onto the interesting stuff.

I'll tell you the truth, I am not that good at shooting torpedos, so I always try for as close to a 90 degree shot as possible at fairly short range. It works good enough for the happy time and when I get more experience perhaps I can try some of the more difficult shots.

I remember from before that it's possible to set things so that the moving target crosses the 0 degree mark on the periscope at impact, but you think I can remember how to do that? No way, that's why I have to go back to torpedo school for awhile, till I can remember how it's done. If I have to, I'll uninstall all the mods and use that TDC map on ezmode till I'm sure I know how to set everything.

You know what I think? I think Ubisoft really blew it with SH5. Why didn't they simply upgrade Silent Hunter 3 with modern graphics and the ability to move around the boat? Why didn't they leave the interface basically the same so that the hardcore types could do their thing?

Instead, they made a graphically pretty game that is not much fun to play, that is my opinion. Today I was thinking about downloading a non-steam version that I might be able to mod and I thought "to hell with it".

If or when the modding community can make it as good as Silent Hunter 3 I might consider doing that but I can certainly live without the hassle for the time being. Ubisoft has disappointed me, if you want to know the truth. I had really high expectations for that game that were nowhere close to being fulfilled. :( Your mileage may vary.

One of the download places I checked had "Tages" as DRM on their version and the other didn't say anything about DRM, so I decided to keep my ten bucks in my pocket. I would happily buy a copy from Amazon to help out Subsim, but Amazon, in their infinite wisdom, won't take Paypal as a form of payment, or at least they didn't last time I checked.

When I check out BigWalleye's links I'm also going to start getting ready for the voice thing. If I can get it to work, that is going to be sooooo cool. :)

Well, for me there is not that much left to talk about. I'm not doing the time compression thing while I am still getting some skills back and reading the literature, but hopefully I will have a clue how to shoot a torpedo properly within the next couple of days and then I can actually start to play!

In the next little while I think I am going to load up the sound mods. You know, not only for the gramaphone for immersion, but it seems to me that there were one or two around that actually work to identify and track the target with passive sonar. Fun fun fun!

I have only a few goals for awhile. The first of course, is to survive as long as possible. Second is to be able to get a decent solution, fast. The third is to be able to prosecute an attack using nothing but passive sonar, I think that is going to be a good skill to have later on in the war. Unlike the guys who did it for real, I have more than one chance to learn to get it right.

Wassail. :salute:

You know what else I think? I wish there was a way to reward all the modders who have put so much time and effort into making Silent Hunter 3 a better game. I know I can say "Thank you", I just wish I could buy them a beer, at the very least.

In the meantime, Silent Hunter 3 modders, Thank you.

Wassail. :salute:

Hey! Now there's an idea! Need a SubSIm con, and we could all stand the modders to a round. (Or two....) Prosit, guys!

BTW, Hitman's Optics optics (1.5 and 6x, 7x UZO) and graticles are modeled on surviving historical prototypes, so the view is a simulation of what was actually used in some front boats.

Many thanks BigWalleye! I got SH3Speech working ok, now I just need to learn to use the program effectively. This is my mod list at the moment, everything is working more or less, now it's a matter of learning and tweaking till everything is just so:

TMTv2
GWX - 16km atmosphere
Thomsen's sound pack V.32cg
Hitman's Optics for GWX3 v.1
GWX - Setkeys
SH3Speech_GWX

My game is built on a GWX base using JSGME and SH3 Commander and the 4Gb patch is installed into SH3.exe in the Steam directory.

I tried to figure out AOB on my own, no joy, so I fired up Mobo and got that set a little bit. I did watch some math and geometry programs on Youtube, but it is a lot easier just to let Mobo do the work.

I'm going to keep watching those math programs and researching until I can get AOB on my own, but that is probably going to take awhile. Eventually I hope to be able to do that on the nav map, using U-Jagd tools, using Mobo and by good old mark2 eyeball.

I only have one way to get range at the moment and I have to use the Obs scope to do it. I set up a little spreadsheet to get range and time to impact on all three torp speeds, it'll probably need to be tweaked a bit but it's pretty accurate at the moment.

I think I can do target speed two or three ways already, so not much need for too much work there. Slowly, I am learning to get good solutions and while I'm doing that I'm learning the procedures for doing that.

FUN! :k_confused:

There's actually quite a bit to manage here. I've got a couple of keyboards to use, a couple of mice, a couple of monitors and a CH Throttle. I suppose I could use the CH fighterstick and pedals for something, but I really think that's getting pretty close to overkill. It's already easy enough to get confused and type on the wrong keyboard, with sometimes interesting results.

For everyone, if you haven't tried Mobo yet, wow I would really strongly recommend it as a great program and it's in the Subsim downloads in utilities. The learning curve is a bit steep but it makes it pretty easy to plan things. They had maneuvering boards and slide rules in the '40's, so I don't consider using that program cheating at all. Everything you can do using that program, you can do with a maneuvering board, pencil, slide rule and map tools when you know how.

I went to torpedo school again for awhile today and practiced nailing the tramp steamer using all my toys. It's fun! If I can, tomorrow I'm going to see if I can learn to shoot a moving target from the initial position, then if I can get that going then the next step the next day is to learn to do the solution while the sub is moving.

So about three days from now I might be able to try the convoy in Torpedo school and if I can pass that one I'll be ready for the North Atlantic. So this is Wednesday, maybe by next Monday I might be a little qualified and have things set to work efficiently.

BigWalleye, I want to say "Thank you" again. Thank you! :salute: Especially for the SH3Speech links, I doubt that I would have been able to find that program on my own. It worked like a dream right from the start, a really easy install.

I am having FUN! :subsim: I realize all the Veterans here have no problem doing things but writing about things helps me stay focused, even if it might not be very interesting for the Vets.

Now, I'm going to relax on the bridge of U45, steaming 10 knots @ 345 True for an hour or so before I catch some sleep.

Wassail. :salute:

Great news, werwulf! Especially glad you're having fun! That's what it's all about.

And you are most welcome. Please pay it forward when you have the chance. That's what makes SubSim great.

Glad sh3speech worked out for you. I've been using it for over a year and wouldn't play without it. But most players seem to shun it. Don't understand why.

I cheat! I use the iMoBoard app on my tablet. Lets my plotting party do their job!:) But since I am currently playing NYGM rather than GWX, I get more plotting information anyway. Very handy with GWX though. I also have a DIY set of hand-held angriffscheibe and RAOBF. The RAOBF makes finding ranges and AOBs much faster. I made one using the .tga files from U-Jagd v1.3.1 and adjusted it for 6x optics. It will do speed, too.

Good luck and good hunting. I look forward to reading the report of your first war patrol.

Yay! I found a treasure!

In MaGuiFinal, there is a tutorials folder with all the math anyone could ever need for finding solutions! For math challenged people such as myself this is wonderful, because it points the way to the background information necessary to know, to comprehend Makman94's equations.

There is also a folder that gives step by step instructions for a straight 90 degree shot! That information alone will save me countless hours practicing at torpedo school. Slowly, slowly, it is all coming together again!

For nublets like me, learning or relearning how to make a proper manual solution, this information is priceless and will save days, or weeks, or months of time getting back up to speed.

Thank you Makman94! :salute:

Wassail! :subsim: