I'm done.
 

Played stock for a couple of months no problems, played GWX for a few weeks no problems, played GWX+SH3Cmdr and two fledgling careers finished before they got off the ground.

In both instances I had sunk a ship and saved after it had gone down. When I come to load the game I get CTD after the message "Not so long ago" Earlier saves load but I'm not prepared to invest anymore time when I know this will happen again (It's happened twice in similar circumstances.)

I don't mean to apportion blame and it could be a coincidence but I didn't have this problem until I started to use SH3Cmdr. Problem for me now is this - I can't go back to playing without it because I like the features it gives, So for me the war is over.

Just to make it clear before I go - I am not having a go at modders. I think their intentions are most noble, it's just a pity the devs don't give us the game we pay for in the first place.

Well, what works for me is, I wait until I'm 50 miles away from anything: land, ships, whatever.

Try it once more, just wait to save, (and you know you can't save while submerged). Give it one more shot. You'll be rewarded nicely.

^ This. Although 25km is usually enough.

The issue is certainly Stock Bugs causing corruption. In this instance it's the ship you just sunk is causing the problem. It's not unloaded from the games memory even though it's technically a destroyed item. When you try to reload your save, the game engine attempts to reload the 'sunk' vessel as a AI controlled unit. Then spits it's dummy when it fails. This is why you need to leave the rendering radius of this vessel, only then will the game stop tracking and unload the sunk vessel.

The general rules to follow with any version of SH3 (modded or otherwise) are:

Do not save submerged.
Do not save within visual or rendering (+25km) range of ANY vessel (sunk or otherwise) or Harbour.

I can't do that bud. Saving isn't part of being a u-boat commander and if I have to make decisions and perform actions based on game bugs and not on what submariners did then it kinda destroys the immersion factor for me.

The immersion is the thing for me and if I can't get the amount I want then the game goes to live in the cupboard. SH2 will keep it company, that game didn't even last this long before I decided the linear campaign was ludicrous.

I've saved submerged and within 25km of harbours on numerous occasions without encountering any problems of this sort.

The only time I've had problems is these two occasions in almost identical situations.

I appreciate you guys trying to help with the problem but for me it's a game killer. Which is a pity because it could have been one of my all time favourites.

I have, too saved while submerged on many occasion without problems, except that one time when it caused my savegame to get corrupted and I had to restart the patrol. Ever since that time I only save when fully surfaced. No problems this far.

You are pissed off right now, but you will eventually come back at playing again, in the future.

How many times I got pissed to the limits of human mind, due to incidents just like yours. And I had many, more then I can remember.

But we always come back, and this is because this is the best game ever.

Now, I found out a way to get myself out of CTDs, and its working 100% so far.

The trick is, finish a patrol in one go, dont save. Use high TC if thats necessary, but dont save for later. If you have to go, or to use the computer for something else, just ALT+TAB out of it and continue later.

After all, "saving" a game is a big immersion killer itself, if not THE biggest.

Nah, I'm sunk!

There are around 70 games resting in peace in my cupboard and I can only recall 3 of them living fulfilling lives. Those three were Civ2, Railroad Tycoon 2, and Medieval Total War. Those games were the only ones whose sum total of bugs wasn't enough to prematurely kill them.

Love games, hate developers.

The satisfaction of playing SH3 with all the mods added certainly outweigh a quirk or two. The save bug sucks for sure. I agree with you there but it can be handled by saving while not having ships in your vicinity.

Hold on, I'm sure you were complaining about not being able to load saves a minute ago, yet now you're saying that you don't want to save....??

I'm confused, you post with a problem and are given the well known solution but you are determined that despite that, you no longer want to play the game, even though you could easily enjoy it (and the ones in your cupboard most probably), if you were just prepared to follow some simple guidelines and workarounds.

What is it with these recent posts from people who obviously don't want to fix stuff, instead choosing to make pointless threads to rant about it. This place really isn't the place for you guys, I for one would rather read posts from people willing to accept help than just read constant whingeing.

The fix is there, use it, or don't, but don't paint the game in a bad light just because you refuse to compromise.

/rant.

Look sonny I didn't post a rant and I tried to make my post good humoured and went out of my way not to take a pop at modders who I believe are great guys, so don't accuse me of whinging.

The game shipped unfinished and that's a fact, if it hadn't then there wouldn't be a thriving modding community here, if it wasn't for their efforts then this game would probably be collecting dust on a lot more shelves.

I don't have time to sail 50 miles on my way and maybe get involved in another hunt when it's already early in the morning. The save game function should work.

Perhaps its time this thread ends. "Look sonny" is hardly friendly considering all the terrific suggestions you received.:salute:. As you said, for you its just time to shelve it and move on.

Quote from the great alll seeing Oddball:

"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?" :yeah:

Agreed, however TC will get you 50 miles away in a few seconds. :up: I cannot say when I played SH3 with all the mods that TC to a clear spot ever presented a problem for me.

Look bud that guy accused me of whinging, when I wasn't doing anything of the sort.

I think the problem lies with SH3Cmdr and that's not a criticism of the program or the guy who made it it's an observation based on my own experience. I've also noticed other threads on here from people who have experienced the same thing but have been brow beaten into accepting it's something else.

I am now going to reload SH3 and GWX and play it without SH3Cmdr. If I get the same problem again then I'll hold my hand up and say that my assumption is wrong.