Type VII C/42 Modelling
 

Ahoy. I'm just finishing my second SH3 campaign while starting SH4 & I'm concerned about the depth limit on my new Type VII C/42. Supposedly it can operate at 250m & crush at 350m but in my version (stock + LSH) the depth gauges are not marked accordingly (not a big deal) and more importantly I start getting warnings at 160m, just like the previous Type VII's. I stopped at 180m not wanting to crush my crew and lose the time spent on the mission.

I looked in all the config files and don't see a file for the C/42 that includes depth info. Is the boat actually accurately operational in SH3/LSH ?

You get the depth warnings at the same depth no matter what sub you have. you can take the XXI to 280m but you still get "we are diving to deep" at 160. The only way to realy find out is just to keep taking the boat deeper. I recomend useing a single mission that has a slow start such as Gibralter. Hope this helps.

Test completed
 

Thanks Herr Schulz.

I took my C/42 out from Lorient into deep water to test the max depth.

At 160m, the "critical depth" warning occurs.
At 180m, the "diving too deep" message pops
Between 250 & 260, gauges start popping and the hull crushes.

In the data/Submarine folder, the Type II, VII, IX, and even the XXI have MaxDepth configured at 300 meters. So unless the core code overrides this, there seems to be no difference in maximum dive depth, which is a shame. Or, my LSH mod changed things but the original stock configs are the same. Had this worked correctly, I'd still have the issue with inaccurate warning levels on the guages.

Fortunately I had the savegame escape pod on the ready. My next crew may not be so loyal though. This may be the time to move on to SH4 full time.

Test #2
 

After searching some old threads & mods I found that I had overlooked a config file -- the SH3 Commander file that sets very generous new crush depths. The c/42 is set at 450m. Under the Gameplay Settings option, you have to select "Randomise U-Boat crush depth" for those settings to take effect.

The second issue is getting the depth gauge displays to show the depth and also to be able to dive beyond 260m (other than doing it manually). I'm still looking at the old mods from Captain America & Thomsen to make sure I don't muck up something. Anyone else already been down this road?

Well I know the "Max depth" is the max the boat will dive if you just tell it to dive. It will stop at 300m.