Attaining optimum realism & immersion in SH III & SH IV
 

I am well aware that starting this new thread in August 2008 will inevitably duplicate many discussions and a theme in many threads elsewhere but feel that there will be many who come to our virtual sub sea realm with the following question which I address primarily to the most experienced, most technically knowledgeable and longest-standing members of this redoubtable SubSim Forum.

Question. Given a more or less state-of-the-art PC [the spec of mine is at the foot of this post], 8 MB broadband, good technical knowledge and starting from clean installations of both SH III patched to V1.4 and SH IV patched to current spec, what gentlemen, in your personal opinion, is the optimum combination of currently available MODs to attain maximum realism, maximum historical authenticity and maximum immersion in SH III and SH IV?

I am well aware that this is at least to some degree a matter of personal tastes and choices but there will be common constants in your replies and those are what interest me. My situation is this, after a reformat, re-installation of VISTA Ultimate Edition which currently works perfectly so far without disabling EAC and making clean installations of both SH III and SH IV, as a major fan of both sims for their coverage of their respective theatres of war, I seek to create the optimal installation of both.

I seek maximum possible realism in sea state, surface and storm wave height, weather, crew faces, uniforms, insignia, sub interiors, number of subs, historically accurate skins, correctly time-synchronised historically accurate radio broadcasts and stations etc. Probably the same shopping list that any other WW2 sub sea combat enthusiast seeks. So I envisage this thread as a kind of "updateable ultimate tested MOD combination recommendation" list. I am prepared to run multiple installs of both games if there are dual contenders for "best combo" from our best MOD Gurus. I am thoroughly used to using JSGME 2.0 and always install my MODs by that method in SH and several other simulators.

I can run FSX, which is currently the most hardware demanding simulator out there I think, with all sliders maxed out. My PC spec is as follows: -

OS - Windows Vista Ultimate Edition Service Pack 1 (build 6001)
CPU - Intel 2.40 gigahertz Intel Core2 Quad-Core
MOBO - ASUS TeK Computer INC. P5N32-E SLI 1.XX
RAM - 4 GB (DIMM_A1' 2048 MB + DIMM_A1' 2048 MB)
GPU - NVIDIA 8800 GTX
SPU - Soundblaster Xi-Fi Fatal1ty Platinum 8.1
HD - 2 x 500 GB
Left monitor -Taxan 735 TC099 17" CRT
Centre monitor - Mirai 22" Digital
Right monitor - Dell 19"
MATROX TripleHead2Go Digital Edition - running surround gaming across 3 screens.
+ Track IR 4 Pro
+ state of the art force feedback pedals and sticks for flying
+ state of the art force feedback pedals and wheel for racing
+ SAITEK Pro Gamer Command Unit
+ SAITEK P8000 Programmable Command Unit

As you see, with my MATROX box, I can and do run surround gaming across a mixture of three CRT & digital screens giving a combined display of 3850 x 780 (I think) so I am also anxious to hear from anyone who knows how to get SH III and SH IV running across the whole display without distortion. Using Track IR 4 Pro in all cases this "heavy" rig runs the excellent Sailors of the Sky gliding simulator, Microsoft's FSX civilian flight simulator, Call of Duty 4 FPS and rFactor racing simulators magnificently and I would dearly love to see major stormy weather in SH III and SH IV running across three screens! I would also love to get Track IR Pro 4 running in the sub interiors again, the way I had it running before my reformat. The only think I really hate about SH III are the ghastly badly drawn crew faces and clunky avtars, so I am looking to maximally improve the faces, uniforms, hats and medals and I'm after realism rather than artwork.

The provisional MOD combo I have in mind for SH III is that favoured by Einsman -
[JSGME2 used to apply GWX2.1 + SH3 Commander + OLC Ubermod 2.42+100% realism.] I was also thinking of adding to that the optimum wave & weather MODS including the hurricane MOD, plus the best radio manager, and gramaphone collection. I have already downloaded a plethora of MODs ready to do this.

Just YOUR OWN PERSONAL ideal list that you KNOW will run perfectly in concert in SHIII and ditto for SH IV.

Three other questions.

1. I have the commercial DVD SH III add-on "U-Boat Battle in the Mediterranean" can I use JSGME 2.0 to install or de-install this like any other MOD?

2. Does anyone happen know if this is a commercial incarnation of the U-Boat uberMOD?

3. Does anybody know if this Add-On is compatible with GWX2.1 etc?

Over to you gentlemen . . . . .

Throw away "U-Boat Battle in the Mediterranean".

The community mods such as GWX far outclass it. You will gain nothing by using it or even keeping it IMHO.

Unusual things you should have just for historical immersion:

Any or all of the three main supermods (GWX, NYGM and WAC)
Kiel Canal Locks mod
The new Combined Water Streams and Exhaust Smoke mod (though Racerboy is working on improving WS as we write)
Lifeboats mod
U-Jagd Tools or OLC-GUI, both of which use historic tools to aid manual targetting, and just look cool if you don't

There are so many out there that do nothing but immerse, it's hard to think of them all while I sit here typing.

Don't forget my skins push the system and SH3. Standard SH3 rez aka low res is 512 where high rez is 1024 and uber high is 2048.

I try to keep it authentic but there are limits.

goodluck dude.:up:

Thanks for the advice. I will. I had a feeling that U-Boat Battle in the Mediterranean was just "a mission exploitation" pack. There were lots of such "add-on" programs for IL2 FB & 1946 which, when you actually looked through their contents proved to be just mission gen files that one could have created for nothing.

Thanks for that list Steve and can you please edit and add any others as they occur to you.

Is there any particular order that the Big Uber MODs need to be installed in?
Or will JSGME handle all that?

As for skins wolfehunter - you see my rig spec - if it can run FSX with evrything maxed out at a reasonable frame rate for flying I think it willhandle your uber skins but thank you for the warning and advice.

I am hoping that this threat will be come a primary reference for maximum immersion and realism.

Thanks to anyone and everyone who replies to my question with their recommendations.

Sound is important. Try Philipp Thomsen's sound mod, or Das Boot. It's DBSM in my sig link.

For comprehensive installation instructions re; GWX2.1 go to the GWX website (below my sig).

The MED addon IS NOT compatable with GWX2.1

Good Hunting http://www.psionguild.org/forums/ima...ies/pirate.gif

Thanks! But which MED add-on exactly? The DVD add-on I mentioned or a free online MED MOD?

Well, the majority of mods work with a GWX installation, but will remove GWX features.

Any large modification like both med mods may not stop the game working or break anything vital when installed with GWX, but they will remove a lot of features.
GWX contains everything you will need to do battle in the med anyway. I would be suprised to find a major mod that covers the med better than GWX.

Installing either of the med mods will probably mean the loss of GWXs convoy, shipping and aircraft routes, will likely kill of GWXs AI sensors and weapon settings and ship textures amongst many other things.

Thank you for your excellent and comprehensive answer.

It really isn't the case of the more mods the better, especially if you not have a
good understanding of what features another mod installed will change/break.

Most people have one of some of the following:

A mega mod (GX, NYGM, etc)
A sound mod (if they don't like mega-mod sounds)
A skin mod (if they don't like mega-mod skins)
OLC's GUI or environment
Extra ships
Res fix if a different res is wanted
Some effects mod (life boats, damage effects etc (if they don't like mega-mod effects))

Full stops are your friends! :rotfl: ;)

There are three main supermods. All are aimed at "realism" although of course the different developers have different ideas about what that means and about how to simulate it in the game.

GWX is perhaps the most comprehensive supermod and certainly the most popular. I use it, and recommend it. In my mind GWX offers four main things:
1) Improved gameplay mechanics, with completely overhauled sensors, damage modelling, surface physics, and gunnery.
2) A superb dynamic campaign...
3) ...which also includes many scripted RL events and battles (if you happen to be in the right place at the right time).
4) More "stuff" i.e. more ships, more planes, bigger and more active ports... that sort of thing.

WAC is another big supermod which focuses in particular on historic campaigns and battles which actually took place during the war... so basically, a lot of attention to (3) in the above list.

NYGM is another supermod. I've not tried it yet but my impression is that it's less flashy and more "gritty" than the other two.

Then there are lots of smaller mods you can add on top of those, although compatibility is always a potential problem so be careful. I can't help recommending my own mod, the "OLC Ubermod" (stickied in this forum) which is designed to install over GWX 2.1, and is very much aimed at "realism" as I see it.

My advice: be prepared to spend a long time finding the mod combination that suits you! There's a lot of choice here.

I'd add the Waterstream mod, the Exhaust Smoke mod, the Lifeboat mod, a Torpedo Damage mod and Longer Repair Times mod to your collection, the first four are graphical additions but increase "immersion". The last will increase your stress :-)

And when Tomi hs finished his VII/C model then, well, i'll let you hunt out the thread and have a look.....i'm really looking forward to that one. :sunny:

Your grammatical observation is absolutely correct of course.
I was in a hurry and simply forgot to edit before posting DOH!

Many thanks for your excellent further reply. (Full stop LOL) To contextualise this, I have been using SH since SH II, so am fully familiar with how MODs work, what one needs to avoid and what they are. (Full stop and no comma before 'and' LOL) I also always use JSGME to avoid clashes.

Just wanted to hear subsim's old seadogs' preferred choices!
The answers I have had so far are just what I sought.

:D

The other thing I am seeking help or advice about is getting SH III & SH IV to operate with my MATROX TripleHead2Go Digital Edition to give me a three screen surround gaming display. Has anyone in SubSim ever managed this?

Another question re GWX2

Having never installed it before I directed it to a sub directory that I called GWX inside JSGME's MOD directory - should that do it? I have also updated to the latest version of JSGME which has a new yellow and white starter icon but when I look inside the MOD folder it generates I don't see a !Backup folder any more. Any ideas?

:ping:

Finally - I think all the answers to the question with which I opened this thread have so far been about SH III - what about some recommendations for SH IV gentlemen?