While I worked this out the rank system that was being used the starting slot (0) was Oberleutnant z. S. so it ended up that my mods final rank was Admiral; the original intent wasn't to make that rank acheivable; just was how it worked out.

Because of the high fatality rate for those in the U-Boat service of the Kriegsmarine, having many officers higher than a CrvtCptn still sailing was very rare. Though in other parts of the armed forces, it wasn't so. In the Luftwaffe there were several Colonel's and even General's that still flew combat sorte's; in our own Navy there was frequently 2 and 3 star admirals out on patrol (albeit in command of a fleet or task force than just 1 ship acting alone).

Even with the high ranks up there, amassing that much reknown is tough unless you never upgrade your ship. Because its hardcoded into SHIII when your reknown goes below the specified level you loose your rank, it doesn't hit you such that your a sub-leutnant and all you're officers are actually your superiors. Thus the high reknown rates for the flag ranks.

Starting out as a Lt. is reasonable, having 8 ranks available instead of 4 gives much more room to grow and make upgrading not so harsh. Imo if the same amount of reknown that is set to get up to Korvettenkapitän is retained that's a fair start. Then start using the fibbonacci sequence for the higher ranks makes it tough to get much higher than Kapitän z. S.

Thanks :D though the answer ended up being something rather simple, it was lots of nights banging my head against the wall :damn:

I'll be sure and speak with Jaesun about SHC changes to be sure that we're able to use all the slots now available.

With regards to the en_menu file, it doesn't matter which one you use as long as its the one that the game pulls its info from. When I post it in the SHIII Mod forum I'll make that clear.

It is possible to adjust it such that you could become a Gross Admiral; just would start at a higher rank. The only rank that I think would possibly make Goering jealous is Reichmarshall of the SS (more like scare the crap outta him), he was so self infatuated that he would create new decorations (like the Grand Cross of the Knights Cross) just for him that would never be awarded to anyone else.

I just put the German rank names in the en_menu file as I have everything else in English but prefer the ranks to be in German. Translatting them to the corresponding English ranks will work fine. I'll post those too along with all the other info relating to this mod in the SHIII Mod section (probably tomorrow) so that you can use english or german ranks and all the other main permutations (to indulge those that want Gross Admiral to be available as well as the more traditional as Jaesun points out as having the starting be a Lt.).

I truly do hope you get this ironed out, Tessa. This seems like an excellent mod for those who want to attempt making rank above Kapitanleutnant.

I find it's a rather dubious choice that the devs decided you only got promoted according to the renown you've saved up ( instead of spending it on new u-boats and upgrades ) rather than the career total renown you've earned. I believe medals awarded are tied to this rule as well.

If rank earned was truly reflective of renown accrued, then sinking massive amounts if tonnage would surely lead to promotion. I've got over 280,000 tons to my credit, yet I'm still just an Obltn. z.S. while real-life "u-boat aces" made ranks of Korvettenkapitan and Fregattenkapitan with far less, albeit their task was far more difficult than our virtual careers.

I also hope Jaesen can be of help to you in making this work with SH3 Cmdr as smoothly as possible. I know I'd like a shot at Korvkpt. but not if it means throwing SH3 Cmdr out of kilter.

Keep at it, Tessa! :up:

Guys, please understand that to fully support this mod I will be breaking compatibility with practically every other mod out there. I will not allow that to occur.

I have already posted that I will remove any modifications that SH3Cmdr makes to the rank labels in *_menu.txt. As it is, this will require the removal of existing functionality from SH3Cmdr that non-users of this mod may not appreciate.

From R3.1, SH3Cmdr will blindly read whatever text if finds at labels 170 through 179 (sans 175). Call yourself "The Grand Poobah", SH3Cmdr won't care. It will also use this text in all generated Personnel Files.

HOWEVER, SH3Cmdr WILL continue to use the rank of Leutnant as its seed for calculating Commander histories. It is just not possible for it to interpret free-form text and even if so, it is just not practical for me to build logic to cover every possible starting rank variation. Anyone who understands relational databases will understand my reasoning here.

So, if Tessa wants to release a mod that starts at ObLt or higher, then she needs to ensure that her readme advises users that it is not compatible with SH3Cmdr, at least without SH3Cmdr file editing (as per my post #17).

However, if Tessa wants to meet half way and release a mod that maintains a start of Lt (with renown for ObLt of 1500 or less to force a post first patrol promotion, as is the common approach), then SH3Cmdr users will have the benefit of both a possible rank of VAdm AND Personnel Files that don't have gaps.

It's about compromise, and considering my user base, I've gone as far as I can go.

Sorry everyone, but frankly, if you want to be an Admiral, you prolly won't be using SH3Cmdr anyway.

I have no quarrels about using Lt as the starting rank, the only reason mine was different than the stock one in SHC was that when I started testing this out I used a modified version that was proposed in an older thread and kept it as my starting point during the testing. It is definitely more appropriate and reasonable to keep the starting rank as Lt as it always has been in SHC than something higher. I must apologize for that oversite on my part, my goal wasn't to force upon everyone higher ranks with my original posting.

Sorry Jaesun for any heartaches/headaches my oversite has caused you :cry:. My intent was summed up by Graf with finally opening the path to progress past Kapitänleutnant. Once I'd finally figured it out and all my QA tests checked out I reverted to the giddy little schoolgirl and forgot that my configuration files were already altered to begin with and posted the mod.

So this whole brouhaha has been over a simple misunderstanding? :roll:

I thought this mod started with the usual ranks and simply opened the door to higher ranks as your career progressed! That's the view I've been taking in all my statements, Jaesen and Tessa.

It turns out that is what Tessa had intended as well...a slight error in posting not withstanding. :rotfl:

So can we all shake hands and be friends now? :p

Tessa, to validate my assumption, please confirm that the game maintains the following data relationship:

Basic.cfg -> Careers.cfg -> *_menu.txt
RankLevel0 -> PlayerRank=10 -> 170=whatever (current behaviour)
RankLevel1 -> PlayerRank=11 -> 171=whatever (current behaviour)
RankLevel2 -> PlayerRank=12 -> 172=whatever (current behaviour)
RankLevel3 -> PlayerRank=13 -> 173=whatever (current behaviour)
RankLevel4 -> PlayerRank=14 -> 174=whatever
RankLevel6 -> PlayerRank=16 -> 176=whatever
RankLevel7 -> PlayerRank=17 -> 177=whatever
RankLevel8 -> PlayerRank=18 -> 178=whatever
RankLevel9 -> PlayerRank=19 -> 179=whatever

Of critical importance is the PlayerRank assumption. I need to know with 100% certainty that the game will write PlayerRank values > 13, and especially whether 15 is used or not.

Your assumptions are correct (I'm assuming your using the current behaviour baseline as the defaults in SHC? ) with regards to the variables you've laid out.

RankLevel15/line 175 will not be modified, it is already in use by the game as another command. So it will skip from 14->16.

My last career everything went fine from 10->16 (my most frequent career). At this moment though I can't say that it is 100% fullproof. I was testing it out today and kept running into a roadbloack that shouldn't be there, it wouldn't even recognize rank12 without manually changing it despite having more than enough renown. After hours of fiddling with it I've writen it off as another probable casualty of a recenty nasty virus I got. Though I've gotten rid of all traces its left its mark in other programs resulting in some odd behaviours.

To be sure am gonna format and reload everything which shouldn't take too long. Afterwards will be able to accurately test it for you and give a definitive answer.

Not quite sure what you mean here. All I'll be doing in SH3Cmdr is mapping the PlayerRank value in the career file back to the *_menu.txt value and displaying whatever text label is returned. That is, if the PlayerRank is 17, then SH3Cmdr will display the text from *_menu.txt entry 177.

The history calculations will still be based on a starting rank of Lt, regardless of what text SH3Cmdr finds.

I wouldn't put it down to the virus, that is just how SH3 goes sometimes. I was waaay over the renown required to get KptLt once...never got it.

As long as your tests prove the relationship above, I'll be happy. Whether a promotion always occurs exactly at renown whatever, I'll let you enjoy investigating.

Sorry that wasn't as clear as I'd hoped, but yes that is what happens. If PlayerRank17=75000, your renown is 77000 and your playerrank=17 SHC will display the correcet rank for Rank17, as it does ingame as well.

I believe this fits your correct starting rank and structure, with the additional xxx_menu slots filled in. You'll notice why rank15 can't be used as its already a system command.

170=Leutnant z. S.; Oberleutnant z. S.
171=Oberleutnant z. S.; Kapitänleutnant
172=Kapitänleutnant; Korvettenkapitän
173=Korvettenkapitän; Fregattenkapitän
174=Fregattenkapitän; Kapitän z. S.

175=Exit To Menu

176=Kapitän z. S.; Kommodore
177=Kommodore; Konteradmiral
178=Konteradmiral; Vizeadmiral
179=Vizeadmiral; Admiral

This is what I've been using since you brought the OberLt./Lt as Rank10 to my attention.

I wouldn't put it down to the virus, that is just how SH3 goes sometimes. I was waaay over the renown required to get KptLt once...never got it.

Hehehe, its become a nuisance to the point that I've got to figure it out on principle! :damn:

Thanks to the answer Tessa.

I modified as you suggested and like you watch on the pic, all seems ok.

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/1387/178tr3.jpg

But that's only when loading the game by SH3.

I took the risk of change also in SH3 Commander (latest version), and when I start the game through SH3Cdr, I have no grade that appear in the game(just a blank in the main screen or ":Otto Chisum" up the windows, no more)...

Moreover, in the "personal files" of SH3Cdr, grade seems fixed on "FregattenKapitän."
Unfortunately, bad memory, I can not remember what file I changed...
I had put some value similar to those files in SH3.
Maybe they were obliterated them self when lauching the game ?
I don't know.

The easy solution is to download SHC 3.1; Jaesen and I worked out a solution that would have otherwise required you to modify the cfg files in SHC. Here's the corrected ranks and their renown for the higher ones.

German Names
170=Leutnant z. S.; Oberleutnant z. S.
171=Oberleutnant z. S.; Kapitänleutnant
172=Kapitänleutnant; Korvettenkapitän
173=Korvettenkapitän; Fregattenkapitän
174=Fregattenkapitän; Kapitän z. S.
176=Kapitän z. S.; Kommodore
177=Kommodore; Konteradmiral
178=Konteradmiral; Vizeadmiral
179=Vizeadmiral; Admiral

English Names
170=Lieutenant Jr.;Lieutenant Sr.
171=Lieutenant Sr.;Lieutenant Commander
172=Lieutenant Commander;Commander
173=Commander; Captain
174=Captain; Rear Admiral Lower
176=Rear Admiral Lower; Rear Admiral Higher
177=Rear Admiral Higher; Vice Admiral
178=Vice Admiral; Admiral
179=Admiral; Admiral of the Navy

French Names
170=Enseigne de vaisseau de première classe; Lieutenant de vaisseau
171=Lieutenant de vaisseau; Capitaine de corvette
172=Capitaine de corvette; Capitaine de frégate
173=Capitaine de frégate; Capitaine de vaisseau
176=Capitaine de vaisseau; Contre-Amiral Counter-Admiral
177=Contre-Amiral Counter-Admiral; Vice-Amiral
178=Vice-Amiral;Vice-Amiral d'escadre Squadron Vice-Admiral
179=Vice-Amiral d'escadre Squadron Vice-Admiral; Amiral

[PLAYER_RENOWN]
AcademyBonus=1000
RankLevel0=0; SCORE
RankLevel1=1499; SCORE
RankLevel2=7999; SCORE
RankLevel3=14999; SCORE
RankLevel4=22999; SCORE
RankLevel6=36999; SCORE
RankLevel7=58999; SCORE
RankLevel8=94999; SCORE
RankLevel9=152999; SCORE

Hi,

When I get a higher rank and after I buy an other submarine, the rank decrease !
It's possible to change it without add some renown manually ?

Damned !
I only understand that I did not have version 3.1 !
When you wrote that, I just load the previous version and I thought it was the last !

Now everything is working, I'm Kommodore on the personal files of SH3Com.

Thank you !

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/7412/carnet02rb1.jpg

I realizing I am recalling a 2-year-old thread, but it seems the most thorough on the subject.

My question: now that I am running GWX 3.0 Gold and SH CDr 3.2, what files would need to be altered to arrive at Tessa's solution of adding additional ranks?

I ask only because I cannot see a direct correlation between what's discussed here and what I see in my present .cfg and menu.txt files.

Any ideas?

If you receive no response by the time I get home this evening I'll post the information.

Much obliged!

Changing rank and rank level:

Go to en_menu.cfg in C\Ubisoft|SH3\Data\Menu

Make the changes necessary to match the details below:

160=Matrosengefreiter
161=Matrosenobergefreiter
162=Matrosenhauptgefreiter
163=Bootsmann
164=Stabsbootsmann
165=Stabsoberbootsmann
166=Oberfähnrich z. S.
167=Leutnant z. S.
168=Oberleutnant z. S.
169=Oberleutnant z. S.
170=Leutnant z. S.; Oberleutnant z. S.
171=Oberleutnant z. S.; Kapitänleutnant
172=Kapitänleutnant; Korvettenkapitän
173=Korvettenkapitän; Fregattenkapitän
174=Fregattenkapitän; Kapitän z. S.

Now go to the Basic CFG:

[PLAYER_RENOWN]
AcademyBonus=1000
RankLevel0=0; SCORE
RankLevel1=1499; SCORE
RankLevel2=7999; SCORE
RankLevel3=14999; SCORE

To add the 4th rank it'd look like:

RankLevel4=29999; SCORE

Wow.... that was easy!

You meant en_menu.txt, though!

Thanks for the help!