Please help - SH3 1.4b + GWX + v16b1 + Stiebler 4b
 

I have been running SH3 1.4b + GWX + v16b1 in Windows 8.1 and all is fine - now on my 22nd patrol. Last time I was in my home port, I added Stiebler's patch and it would appear that I may need to do some tweaking next time I am in port - nevertheless, there is one change that I don't understand:

Where my 'stealth meter' used to be, I now have a yellow cloud and if I click on it, it produces a label that says 'Weather Meter' but what does it do? Or what should it do? It doesn't seem to change even when the weather changes from zero wind and unlimited visibility to 15 Metres per second and poor visibility with heavy rain.

I think you have added Stiebler4A_V16B1_Addon Patch for H.sie's hardcoded fixes. One of the features of the mod is it replaces Stealth Meter with Weather Meter.

From Stieblers' Post about the mod :
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=196674

Additions: for Patch4A:
Null Grid Mod (Depart with an assigned grid from ports that are not home bases
Weather Meter (See the current fog-visibility on screen, instead of the Stealth Meter)
Ship Speed Fix (As requested by Hitman - ships slow in strong winds/heavy seas)

Thank you 'Aras' - you are quite correct the mod that I have just added is Stiebler's latest patch 'GWX3_Stiebler4B_Addon_for_V16B1' which I downloaded from the thread in your link. I posted my query using my cell phone whilst 'in-game' - so did not have full access to my mods list.

What seems to have occurred is that the 'Weather Meter' is actually behaving as a 'Stealth Meter' because during a surfaced gunfire battle with an armed Passenger/Cargo ship - it changed rapidly until the target sank. I think I will have to re-arrange my mods to get it to work as it should.

I currently have the following mods activated:

Generic Mod Enabler - v2.6.0.157
[C:\Games\SilentHunterIII\MODS]

GWX - 16km Atmosphere
GWX - Enhanced Damage Effects
GWX - No Medals on Crew
LITE RADIO TRAFIC V1
Spirit of machines
Torpedo damage Final ver2.0
Waterstream+Exhaust Combi V2.3 for GWX3
WB's Renown Replacement
Wooden_Lifeboats_Mod_1.1
GWX_DFa-Flag&Pens_2010
V16B1 (JSGME)
GWX3_Stiebler4B_Addon_for_V16B1

I don't know much about the mods and their conflicts but your mod list seems fine to me. You have activated H.sie's and Stiebler's Add-on last as you should.

I have installed Stiebler's add-on once and seeing it has many restrictions while using I uninstalled it. I didn't went for Weather Meter thinking I have to enable Stealth Meter from realism option. As far as I remember you had to change some files in order to activate Weather Meter. Maybe you should recheck each step in Stiebler's the manual.

OK! I have disabled the 'Stealth Meter' to increase my level of realism to 74% and that has got rid of the 'Yellow cloud' - which I didn't need because my Watch Crew are more than capable of providing perfectly adequate weather reports. I have also added 'GWX Integrated Orders' as a final mod (as recommended by 'BigWalleye' here and that works nicely. I have also edited the Data/Menu/en_menu.txt to substitute the various English language labelling with authentic German terminology - there was a mod for this but it gets overwritten by the 'V16B1' patch and the'GWX3_Stiebler4B_Addon_for_V16B' so I have edited it manually - it never seemed quite right to have English labelling in a German boat.And now for my next patrol . . .

what to buy???
 

hi friends.........I have old dvd sh3 version...wont run on wind 8.....what version and where should I buy so I can run gw3, commander r3.2.....says I should buy for 10$ and donate.....yes???

total newbie to posting and moding...took me 2hrs to get this far.....lol....p.s.......I saw in some post where mods cannot be used with steam....is that true???.......I use steam but will buy from amazon where subsim will get credit if necessary.....also willing to give donation for mod pack too

If h.sie's and Stiebler's patches are overwriting en_menu.txt, then you have not installed either of the patchers properly. If you follow the instructions, the additional entries for the patchers are added to the en_menu.txt file after all other mods have been activated with JSGME. Then the V16B1 and Stiebler patch mods are enabled LAST. So the en_menu.txt file is just the version of that file which was written in by the last mod activated, plus the additions made for V16B1 and Stiebler, which won't affect anything else. Follow the instructions provided and there will be no need for additional editing.

GWX Integrated Orders overwrites menu_1024_768.ini. If you install it literally "as a final mod" - after Stiebler's patch, it will overwrite the Stiebler version of menu_1024_768.ini and "break" the mod. As with en_menu.txt, you should make the additions to menu_1024_768,ini required by the Stiebler patch after all other mods have been activated. Otherwise, things will not work as they should.

The Weather Meter is supposed to tell you the weather conditions before you surface. IIRC, you don't get weather reports when there is no watch crew topside (like when you are submerged). The Weather Meter is not for everyone. I personally find it too God-like. YMMV.

WAEFRTD

Thank you BigWalleye for those explanations. When I started playing SH3 I downloaded a mod which IIRC was called English to German names or something similar but it caused my system to crash - I did find out that this particular mod had omitted one of the U-Boat ports '765 Koenigsberg' which would have been the problem but, since that time, I have found it just as easy to manually edit in the German terminology that makes the game feel more authentic for me.

I do like the GWX Integrated Orders and hope that the mod will work with the 'GWX3_Stiebler4B_Addon_for_V16B' as suggested in another thread here . . .

For the benefit of tpalmer, I downloaded my SH3 game from the Ubisoft website (there was a modest price to pay) but you can also get an up to date DVD from Amazon by clicking their link on this page - this also helps the SubSim. Only the up-to-date versions complete with the 1.4 patch and without the copy protection (Starforce) program will work with Windows 8 - straight out of the box. I installed my game in a new folder/directory on the hard drive which I have named 'Games' and, so far, it works fine.

GWX Integrated Orders will work just fine with h.sie's and Stiebler's patches - PROVIDED you set up the patcher mod folders (Supplement to V16B1 and Stiebler4B_Addon_for_V16B1) AFTER you have activated all other mods. That includes any hand-editing of files as well - it must be done first. All other modding must be complete before you do the setup for Supplement to V16B1 and Stiebler4B_Addon_for_V16B1 or you will get unsatisfactory results. Maybe CTDs....

BTW, I have a bunch of small tweaks I like to make, a custom keyboard layout, some sound files I add and delete, and so on. To keep from having to re-edit files and folders, I just have a mod (I call it BigWalleye's Mod) that contains all the changes. I activate that with JSGME. Just follow the folder structure of any other working mod and put your edited files into that. Then you can ,make other changes without having to redo anything. I put my mod on top, just before I activate Supplement to V16B1 and Stiebler4B_Addon_for_V16B1. Makes life easier.

thanks
 

Many thanks, GJO

Yes that was what I did except that I could not get GWX Integrated Orders to work. Somehow, I have managed to get it all working fine now by changing the load order of the other mods - I still have the V16b1 patch and Stiebler's add on properly configured.

That all sounds like very good advice and huge time saver . . .