[K-61]

I can't say how many, but I would venture to guess that most serious SH3 players do not long stick with the original out-of-the-box experience. If you play the original game with no modifications, you will soon see and experience things that will make you shake your head. Nonetheless, the out-of-the-box game is still a heck of a lot of fun, but modding [modifying] your game takes it way beyond "vanilla." Much more content is added, including graphics [widescreen resolution to make the game look good on modern screens] new ships, harbours brought to life as compared to the original game, more planes, different planes and ships, updates to game routines [how the enemy behaves] and much, much more.

Might I suggest that you play the unmodded game for a bit? That way, you can learn and have fun with a less intelligent enemy. Then, when you are ready, you can upgrade to a supermod with greater game challenges. I did not long play with the original game before going up to a supermod, but I am glad I had that original experience; it makes me appreciate the work of the modding community that much more.

The advantage of supermods is that there are many packed into one compatible package. You can also cherry pick individual mods, but a supermod is probably best for a new player. Some of the supermods I can recall off the top of my head are: Real U-boat, GWX Gold, which was originally know as Grey Wolves, and the latest one is Living Silent Hunter 2015, or LSH2015 for short.

GWX Gold is the most challenging of the supermods that I have played. I am currently enjoying LSH2015, but I will be going back to playing GWX Gold again. There are things in it that I miss in LSH2015, but they are both good.

How you mod your game will depend on your objectives: Do you want to make the game as challenging and historically accurate as you can, or do you want a bang, bang, shootem up experience? Both are possible. There is also music that you can add to your supermod, for your boat's gramophone. This does not break any features of a supermod. What you don't want to do is mix supermods, unless you really, really know what you are doing. Not recommended for a rookie. Because mods change the original game files, you can't really mix supermods, because each one modifies the same file sets. It has to be one or the other, not both at the same time. If you are really good at file operations, you can take pieces from various mods and stitch them together.

There are also add-ons that you can install alongside your game. The main one is called SH3 Commander. This great utility lets you customize even further how you play your game. You can more easily manage your crew and careers and customize features such as time compression, where your boat starts its patrol [in the port or outside the base, so you don't have to manually navigate the channels out from base, environmental factors, how the guns work, etc. Much, much more than the original game allows you to.

There are also utilities which make it easy for you to install multiple copies of the game on the same computer, so you can have differently customized games instead of constantly switching back and forth. As well, you can use a utility to customize your keyboard shortcuts. There are other utilities that I have not mentioned, but I believe these are the main ones. One other to mention: JSGME. This is an indispensable tool for installing and uninstalling mods. LSH2015 includes in its installation a special version of JSGME, for use with LSH2015 only.

Check out the sticky threads at the top of the forum. Most questions are already answered there and there are also guides and tips available. When all else fails, just ask a question in the forum.

If you are like most of us, you have a learning curve ahead of you, but it is not impossible to master. You are also in for a lot of fun. I kind of envy new players in way, because they are getting to fall in love for the first time with this game.

Welcome aboard!