Using Commander 3.1 for the first time
 

I am at this moment dling the Commander 3.1 pack,as I feel its time I finally discarded the old way of playing,and really got into the 'meat' of this game.This is my first step anyway,and if everything goes ok then I will go for the other major add-ons.But for now I will tinker around with Comm for a while.What I need to know is this:

1: I am currently in mid campaign and would like to continue with my current campaign,this I understand is fine with Commander?.
2: It can be installed with no problems over the stock game,with no other add-ons/patches etc?.
3: What else do I need to know?.

Finally,I would like to thank a few individuals in here who have helped me so far in understanding the intricate installation process for all the mods for this game,and this is just a final verification on my part,before I finally install it into my game.

:up:

Not too sure about #1. #2 - Yes no problems. It's a stand alone add-on that needs no other mods installed. #3. Check my reply to your thread here: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=140859 . Page 2.

Thanks for that murr.
I think my best bet is to just make a backup of my current campaign profile,and install Comm. straight over the current game version i'm using,and if I run into any noticeable problems I still have my old backup.
Lastly,regarding problems during mid campaign,1 or 2 people in here have said that it shouldnt cause any problems,but with the other major add-ons I would need to start a new campaign.
As I say,i'll give comm. a go in about 30mins (dl time remaining) thats bleedin dial up for you :nope:

Cheers anyway pal :up:

Tell me about it!:roll: I've had dial up for 6 years now & I'm thoroughly sick of it.:down: :down: The only reason that I haven't switched to Hi-Speed is my current pricing plan: unlimited access for less than $20 Cdn per month.

That sounds similar to my setup too.I pay about £10 for 120hrs a month internet access with my current account with BT.That is about $20 also.
I'm fed up of it too,seriously thinking of upgrading to Broadband asap,which is about £20/mth ($40).
Say,I have noticed dial up has degraded quite bad recently,have you?.Seems to be getting slower and slower.When I first signed up about 10yrs ago I was getting 56kbps,now I am averaging at 46-48kbps,very rarely managing 56 anymore.Could also be due to a massive influx of new users globally,putting even more stress on us dialers! :nope:

Good job I am patient though ;)

Well murr,the dl has just finished,after just over 1 hr!

*rubs hands excitedly*
I'll let you know how things go,later on.

:up:

Well I'm not that patient. My ISP recently deleted 2 of their access numbers for my area; which is a large city. So now I only have 2 access numbers left to use when signing on.:nope: If I'm d'ling add-ons/mods for SH 3, etc. I always burn them to cds. One of these days I'm going to call my cable TV company & see if I can get a bundle package. Then I'll tell my current ISP that they can take their crappy service & shove it up their collective rectal cavities!

A couple of people here were kind enough to send me GWX on dvd, otherwise I'd never have gotten it. When you think that you're ready for that you should ask around, explaining your situation & I'm sure someone will do the same for you.

For now I think that you'll be prety pleased with SH3 Cmdr. You will probably wonder how/why you played the game without it.:D

Good hunting...:up:

Well,I finally managed to dl Commander,and everything seems fine,no conflicts or anything,and more importantly my current campaign is fine.I really didnt want to have to start again.The version I got was 1.3,is that the latest one out there?.
I like it,there are some nice tweaks in that add-on.
What I like most I think is the career building and editing.All I need to edit my log/s is the log editor program?,just that straight over the Commander install?,no other patches/fixes etc?.

Thanks a lot :up:

Sorry I didn't get here sooner. I would have told you that Commander is completely external, and though it overrides in-game commands, it doesn't really work like a mod and is pretty much safe. I would have recommended waiting until the current patrol was finished anyway, just because I'm a worry-wart.

No, it just cuts out the intro movie - the one that plays before the game loads - the one you always click on after the first five times watching it, just to make it go away.

JScones used to pull his hair out every time someone had a problem with Commander: "Did you roll back before installing the mod?" I use the 'Auto-Rollback' function just because it's so much easier, and I don't really do a lot of modding, so I don't ever need to not 'Roll Back'.

I was using a nice period typewriter font for awhile, but when I saw that the Log Editor actually affects the in-game report I went back to the original. Hand-written for the log, typed for the SH3 report.

I don't. With GWX and the Holtenau and Brunsbuttel locks mods installed, I like to spend my time cruising out of the harbor and watching all the ships come and go. Of course I did it for real once upon a time, and still miss it.

I played a lot of SH1 back in the day, and I've always like the idea that sooner or later I would be promoted to command the training school or some such. Of course you can always 'Un-Retire', or, with the newest version, continue the same boat with a new kaleun.

With the earlier versions you would find that someone had transferred out, or...(don't want to spoil any surprises here), and you needed to replace him. With this newest version (the one you have) he is replaced automatically. Also cool is the new feature that randomizes the crew. Your starting crew has a chance of having some experienced hands already in place.

:yep:

I use the Randomizer, because I like the variety. Even a captain is at the mercy of his superiors and the harbormaster. Sometimes something will need replacing and they don't have the part etc. I've spent 40 days in base, and one time after an empty patrol and my type II coming home with all its eels, they had me turned around and back at sea in just five days. I like that part. The stock setting is 28 days because, on average, that was the amount of time spent in base refitting and refurbishing.

My absolute favorite part; so much so that I've had some complaints about it from the beginning which I've been working on for ages to fix. Coming soon.

Unfortunately you still won't be able to "pick and choose", since all it does is...randomize them. Still, it's better than having to listen to the same ones over and over as the stock system always starts at the top.

I have it turned on. Sure, there was nothing like that in real life, but in the game you don't get reports from the Chief, recommending that you do this or don't do that, so I see it as a guideline on how to behave.

SH4's fatigue is completely revised, with rotating watch bills and all. As I recently reported elsewhere, I use 'GWX 8-hour' fatigue. No, it's not realistic to have to babysit the crew 24/7, but I always have this nagging feeling that I'm cheating somehow if I don't use it. Silly me.

Mine is set for 3, though I was using 2 for awhile and am thinking of going back. I've seen water that was clear for hundreds of feet, and I've seen extremely clear underwater photos, but I'm mostly used to not being able to see more than a few yards underwater, and I like the opening seen of Das Boot where the sub comes swimming out of the murk. Sure, you lose the standard 'movie' view in which you can see the destroyer's keel and the sub and the depth charges, but it feel more real to me.

I was a user and fan of the original 'Big Waves' mod. The theory is that the game only goes to 15 m/s winds, or about 30 knots, which is a moderately choppy sea. Since it couldn't be made to go higher, the creator just doubled the wave size, so you could pretend it was full-blown gale, and the result was pretty cool. This also let me set the deck-and-flak gun use higher (which GWX already does), and just not man the deck gun when I could see waves washing over it.

I kept my Commander setting to '2x' for a long time, as during the summer months it wasn't a problem anyway, but these days I use 'Seasonal'. This changes the wave heights: 2x in the winter, 1.25x in the spring and fall and 1x in the summer.

10 seconds for the 8.8cm and 12 seconds for the 10.5cm for me.

What is the weather like? Are you using GWX? It slows the boat down in bad weather? Did you just surface? The batteries use one of the engines to recharge.

I use Malfunctions, but not Sabotage. Why? I don't know. I like the idea of things going wrong, but not too often. Silly me.

Yes, the Gross Registered Tonnage did vary from ship to ship, even within the same class. With merchants this was because the owner was the one who did the registering, and his calculations depended on whether he had any guns, how many crew he carried, and things like that. I've found in my research that the same ship shows up in several sources, many times with each source showing a different GRT. Barring having the actual GRT of each ship, randomization is the way to go. The game already randomizes by a few tons either way; Commander does it a little more.

These days I wish there was a function that allowed specific tonnage to be applied to each ship - I have the GRTs of most every ship that sailed in a convoy now.

Again there used to be a 'Randomized Crush Depth' mod, which I no longer use because Commander does it for me. I like the idea of not knowing exactly how deep is safe; it heightens the pucker factor.

I used to have mine set for 4096x, just because I could. These days I keep the max set for 256, and never go beyond 128 anyway, as it screws up the chance of encounters. I also have the 'When Near Land' and 'Crew Animations' set for that. 'CA' lets you run at those TCs while on the bridge. It looks funny, but it helps a lot.

I even let it choose my kaleun's name these days. It's a wonderful addition; especially the 42,000-name database.

The log editor? Read this thread http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...+patrol+editor and start typing. Any specific questions I'll be glad to answer, but it's actually fairly straight-forward. If I can do it...

'Those that made Commander' are one man: Jaesen Jones, known here as JScones. He did it, and he deserves all the praise we can give him. Am I a fan or what?

[edit]:rotfl: Your edit came too late: I got it all on tape! And you're post wasn't all that long.

I really appreciate your support,and indeed patience here Steve,as no doubt you have gone through all this many times before me.
Right,i'm off to bed mate,all I can hear in my head is the constant banging of the diesels.
One last thing,all my game version details are in my sig.as you asked me what version/and or mods I am running.This will hopefully help if ever I need advice in the future from you or anyone else.

Your'e the man! :up:

The speed issue is what SS alluded to. Sea state, wind, checking to see if standard propulsion is engaged. Wind speed above 7mps and up will affect your cruising speed, charging the batteries etc will do it, and welcome aboard! :up:

One thing what is not mentioned here is refueling/rearming outside ure homebase. Its very unlikly that a crew will spend weeks in a pub or with the family. If i dock somewhere else like a tanker, milkcow or just refueling outside any subbase i set time at base to 1 or 2 days before i go back on patrol. U need to quit the game make the change in sh3com and resume the autosaved game being in the office before u left to any new patrol.

Commander has done that automatically for more than two years, which is why I didn't mention it.

From the User Guide:

RTFM :lol:

No,if I remember the wind was about 5 and was behind us as we were travelling south towards Africa.I may have forgot to engage both engines just for that moment so that may have been it.Anyway,speed is back at 11-12kts now.As this is only our 2nd patrol the chief engineer and helm crew are quite inexperienced at the moment,so this may also affect the speed the engines are properly engaged,and also being able to maintain that speed?.
Just one thing,about the malfunctions tweak in Comm.,can these random events take place at any time and for any reason?,and are not neccessarily generated before you leave port?.And let me get this right,concerning the others,like broken lenses for example,I expect you wont be able to see out of the scopes very well? due to fogging or some other effect?,valves would affect the amount and speed of compressed air being fired into the tanks?,and the most serious of all I would think would be an oil leak!,for obvious reasons.Is this rendered in game?,and what is the speed of the leak?,is it immediately noticeable?.
Having said all this,I think the malfunctions tweak really is interesting and a great inclusion.

Good work Jonesy my lad! :up: