I noticed this problem too and have been playing with a "fix" of sorts on my own. I'm no modder though, so I'll see if I can explain what I have done. I use GWX2.1 and SH3C3.1
A Real range of possible crew ranks (Types VII and II) looks like this:
Officers:
KptLt
OLtzS
LtzS
Warrant Officers:
StabsOberBootsmann(<-- Very senior enlisted guy)/Oberfähnrich (<--Pretty young officer candidate)
OberBootsmann
Bootsmann
Petty Officers:
OberMaat
Maat
Sailors:
Matrose
Matrosengefreiter
Matrosenobergefreiter
Matrosenhauptgefreiter
Obviously, SH3 can only handle 9 ranks on the sub. To get there, I have tweaked the en_menu file, another file called "grade.tga" and have also modified the daylights out of the crew ranks and decorations tga and ini.
First,
I have modified part of the file en_menu.txt to look like this:
160=Matrosengefreiter
161=Matrosenobergefreiter
162=Matrosenhauptgefreiter
163=Bootsmaat/Oberbootsmaat
164=Bootsmann
165=Oberbootsmann
166=Oberfähnrich/Oberbootsmann
167=Leutnant z. S.
168=Oberleutnant z. S.
169=Oberleutnant z. S.
170=Leutnant z. S.; Oberleutnant z. S.
171=Oberleutnant z. S.; Kapitänleutnant
172=Kapitänleutnant; Korvettenkapitän
173=Korvettenkapitän; Fregattenkapitän
174=;Kapitän z. S.
I have nine ranks in my personal crew:
The Skipper (Player, can be LtzS, OLtzS or KptLt) doesn't need to show up, so...
My crew "officers" are:
166=Oberfähnrich/OberSteurmann [<-- this rank slot is a warrant rank reflected in slot #166 above and can represent either an Oberfähnrich (ie- a midshipman) or a senior warrant officer like the Navigator/Quartermaster. On Type II's, I have my warrant bosun IIIWO in this "officer" slot. On Type VII's, I do not. I don't play Type IX's yet.]
167=Leutnant z. S.
168=Oberleutnant z. S.
These three "officer" ranks allow me to have warrant officers occupy the navigator and bosun slots on the boat and to lead watches. On my Type VII, I have nominally have an OLtzS as IWO, a LtzS as IIWO and an OStrm or StOStrm (<-both chief warrant ranks) as IIIWO. I also have another Lt or OLt asthe LI/Chief Engineer. They show in my game as "officers." On my Type II, I have a LtzS as IWO, an OStrmn as IIWO, and an OBtsmn as IIIWO, plus another officer as LI (Engineer).
For the "Petty Officers", I have tweaked things as well. In my personal game, the three "Petty Officer" ranks actually are 2 warrant ranks and one combined petty officer/chief petty officer rank:
163=Bootsmaat/Oberbootsmaat
164=Bootsmann
165=Oberbootsmann
All three of these ranks show up as "Petty Officers" in the game. The difference between a "Maat" and an "Obermaat" in my game is the experience point level. I have tweaked the rank tga so that neither maats nor obermaats display shoulderboards. They only display trade badges on their left sleeve. I have not found a way to display true maat or obermaat rank/trade badges due to limitations of the 3d engine and the way the ranks.ini and the file Rank_deco_ND.tga interact. I'm a trial and error guy and I got tired of trying. :-)
The ranks of Bootsmann and Oberbootsmann display shoulderboards which have been modified to reflect the correct amount of "pips." Unfortunately, they also display sleeve trade badges. Again, I am sure I could correct this through trial and error with the ranks.ini file, but I never got around to it.
The above three "Petty Officer" ranks occupy PO slots on my boats.
For Sailors, I have eliminated the rank "Matrose" from history and stuck with
160=Matrosengefreiter
161=Matrosenobergefreiter
162=Matrosenhauptgefreiter
I hope this helps. I am not very good at explaining, and I may have missed a step in telling you what to mod. I used to mod the SH3C config file too in reference to the ranks, but with SH3 Commander 3.1.3 it isn't necessary.
In reference to the rank decorations, I also used a personal file for a long time which replaced the Oberfähnrich z. S. shoulderboard with one for a StabsOberSteurmann (ie- I painted up a Blue/Gold shoulderboard with crossed anchors). However, me not being savvy to the 3d stuff in the ranks.ini file, the modifed shoulderboard was always skinny like the default Oberfähnrich z. S. boards.
I can try to explain better if you'd like. My current Type VIIB Crew consists of 44 men including me the skipper, so without me, 43 men display in game. 4 Officers, 15 PO's and 24 Sailors. I gotta run but I'll try to post a complete crew break-down in another thread.
Warm regards,
Gumby
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