I have the same problem (saving during the patrol)- finally, I have found some answer in this topic. Thank You!
My Win98SE version is 4.10.2222A. Of course, I cannot save during the patrol (at least I know why....:/), but in my country (Poland) SHIII was sold in 1.2 version. And in 1.2 ver it's also impossible to save the game on sea, like in 1.4b! So... I bought the game, and - practically - I cannot play! I just cannot go back to 1.1 ver, because patch 1.2 is implemented
My question: is installation of WinXP could be an only possibility to resolve this problem? There isn't any "unofficial" patch? Nothing could be changed i career files?