[Jimbuna]

Just to add a little more detail.....the SH3 world as far as your U-boat is concerned is approx 50km around you and only those items within that area will spawn ingame eg: a convoy leaving Halifax say 2000 km from you will only spawn when it 'crosses your path' if you are in its line of travel.

The SH3 game engine loads all the information worldwide during its loading operation and is continuously calculating tens of thousands of options as you play, hence the lengthy loading times.