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Stiebler · 10-25-05, 03:57 AM

Many thanks to those who responded to my original post, confirming the problem with Rub 1.44 of Crash-to-Desktop when patrolling off Hull, on the east coast of Britain.

Thus encouraged, I've been looking closer at the problem. Originally, it seemed to be due to the excessive mine density (100) of MineField#8 lying between Hull and Hartlepool. However, altering the value from 100 to 1 (as originally intended) did not prevent the CTD. Removing giant minefields #7, #8 and #9 altogether from the same area also did not resolve the problem, but I found that the CTDs always occurred after the lookouts had reported a ship and I tried to go to UZO view. On another occasion there was a CTD as soon as I surfaced next to a ship in view. But the problem can never be precisely repeated, even when following exactly the same pre-plotted path going round and round in elongated circles, always 100-120 km from the eastern coast between Hartlepool and Hull. Sometimes you get the crash, sometimes not. Most frustrating.

Probably minefield#8 should still have its mine density reduced to 1 instead of 100, since Sailor Steve has stated that this was what was intended. Since the CTD is intermittent, I tried again to provoke it from the un-modded SH3 with patch 1.4 installed, with long patrols in May 1940 100 km out between Hartlepool and Hull, but no CTD ever occurred.

So what to conclude?
1. Since the CTD only occurs when the U-boat is off Hull, the U-boat itself is involved.
2. Since the CTD does *not* keep repeating in exactly the same time and place, some other moving factor is probably involved. However, modder Der Teddy Bar attributes the crash to the “Hartlepool minefield”, although it occurs for me even when #7 and #8 (and #9) are removed altogether. Did Der Teddy Bar mean a different minefield?
3. Since Rub 1.44 uses different ship/convoy routes from the un-modded SH3, there may be a 3-way interaction between U-boat, a ship (probably a destroyer, the only ship commonly encountered), and a minefield not yet removed.

Suggestion:
This CTD could probably be cleared up if the modders of the ship movements and the modders of the minefields separately test their patches (without any other modifications) by patrolling for one game month (some time between June-August 1940) 100 km offshore between Hartlepool and Hull.

Probably Rub 1.44 has uncovered a hitherto unsuspected bug in the code of SH3, not seen previously because the circumstances needed to create it were never present. But a change to the ship routes and/or the minefields might fix it. Presumably they were never tested together by their modders.

To answer Keelbuster's question: how best to travel between a German home port and the Atlantic via the North Sea?
Pass between the Faeroes and Iceland, and pray that you don't hit a random mine. And accept a Biscay base as soon as possible. The U-boat sailors used to call the dangerous Faeroes-Iceland gap the “Rose-Garden” after a popular German song to the effect that “we shall meet again as lovers in the rose garden”. At least one attempt was made with a U-cruiser (type IX-D2) to avoid the Rose Garden by entering the Atlantic between Iceland and Greenland. Despite sailing in late summer, the U-cruiser hit an iceberg and had to return for repairs.

Stiebler.

10-25-05, 03:57 AM	#12
Stiebler Fuel Supplier Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: London, UK Posts: 1,237 Downloads: 29 Uploads: 4	Many thanks to those who responded to my original post, confirming the problem with Rub 1.44 of Crash-to-Desktop when patrolling off Hull, on the east coast of Britain. Thus encouraged, I've been looking closer at the problem. Originally, it seemed to be due to the excessive mine density (100) of MineField#8 lying between Hull and Hartlepool. However, altering the value from 100 to 1 (as originally intended) did not prevent the CTD. Removing giant minefields #7, #8 and #9 altogether from the same area also did not resolve the problem, but I found that the CTDs always occurred after the lookouts had reported a ship and I tried to go to UZO view. On another occasion there was a CTD as soon as I surfaced next to a ship in view. But the problem can never be precisely repeated, even when following exactly the same pre-plotted path going round and round in elongated circles, always 100-120 km from the eastern coast between Hartlepool and Hull. Sometimes you get the crash, sometimes not. Most frustrating. Probably minefield#8 should still have its mine density reduced to 1 instead of 100, since Sailor Steve has stated that this was what was intended. Since the CTD is intermittent, I tried again to provoke it from the un-modded SH3 with patch 1.4 installed, with long patrols in May 1940 100 km out between Hartlepool and Hull, but no CTD ever occurred. So what to conclude? 1. Since the CTD only occurs when the U-boat is off Hull, the U-boat itself is involved. 2. Since the CTD does not keep repeating in exactly the same time and place, some other moving factor is probably involved. However, modder Der Teddy Bar attributes the crash to the “Hartlepool minefield”, although it occurs for me even when #7 and #8 (and #9) are removed altogether. Did Der Teddy Bar mean a different minefield? 3. Since Rub 1.44 uses different ship/convoy routes from the un-modded SH3, there may be a 3-way interaction between U-boat, a ship (probably a destroyer, the only ship commonly encountered), and a minefield not yet removed. Suggestion: This CTD could probably be cleared up if the modders of the ship movements and the modders of the minefields separately test their patches (without any other modifications) by patrolling for one game month (some time between June-August 1940) 100 km offshore between Hartlepool and Hull. Probably Rub 1.44 has uncovered a hitherto unsuspected bug in the code of SH3, not seen previously because the circumstances needed to create it were never present. But a change to the ship routes and/or the minefields might fix it. Presumably they were never tested together by their modders. To answer Keelbuster's question: how best to travel between a German home port and the Atlantic via the North Sea? Pass between the Faeroes and Iceland, and pray that you don't hit a random mine. And accept a Biscay base as soon as possible. The U-boat sailors used to call the dangerous Faeroes-Iceland gap the “Rose-Garden” after a popular German song to the effect that “we shall meet again as lovers in the rose garden”. At least one attempt was made with a U-cruiser (type IX-D2) to avoid the Rose Garden by entering the Atlantic between Iceland and Greenland. Despite sailing in late summer, the U-cruiser hit an iceberg and had to return for repairs. Stiebler.