Bugs n Frustrations

[CptCrunch]

I've been playing SH3 for a year now with the fanstastic GWX add on but I'm a forum newbie.
I've made it to March 1945 with type 1XC and 49 missions under my belt - now I'm keen to get to the end of the war and see what happens (don't spoil it by telling me)

However bugs and frustrations abound - I seem to have them all

Watch tower death - anything above yellow damage and every one dies as they re-inhabit the conning tower.

Base changed to Kiel - press 16 time to start

Games don't save properly - you've snuck up on a convoy in prime position - you save in case (and most likely you die in the late war) - you die - you reload and the game crashes into XP with a send to microsoft error. It always seems to happen when you save with a lot of activity.

My very capable GeForce 7800 GT grinds nearly to a halt when ports suffer an air raid

Precient harbor protection - you sneak up on a port to sink ships - they can see you through the hills and open fire - you sink em all and return the next day and all the same ships are there again

You surface attack ships in raging storm in the dark of night - visibilty is nearly nil yet their deck gunners open fire - yeah ... if I can't access my deck gun why can they use theirs?

Hi res - can't find the FAQ's and stuff to tell me how to deal with these bugs and how to play in hi res.

Unfair AI - you are sitting at 13m , rigged silent, no motors running - yet destroyers find you and kill you.

You wham into a convoy rigged for silent but at full flank - you wreak havoc unopposed - you stop at 13m turn everthing off , secure from silent to reload - and all the escorts pounce despite all the convoy prop noise- not likely ... also they seem to be able to depth charge you below 200m - even though you should be (water pressure n all that) totally safe from damage at this depth.

Any help with these greatly appreciated - it would be great if all this faq & bugstuff was easy to find in one place .

Dealing with destroyers is best done at periscope depth - load all your tubes and preset all torps to pistol and 0 depth , go to flank, dodge an twist and take em out at close range- I easliy wiped out a task force 6 frigates and 3 escorts like this but your torps will often underun in heavy seas - equally they may launch off a wave crest straight into the escorts flank - in which case enjoy the fire works!

Any more bugs and frustrations please add ...

Can't wait for GWX 4 any news?

[M00nStalker]

Originally Posted by CptCrunch

My very capable GeForce 7800 GT grinds nearly to a halt when ports suffer an air raid

The load on the processor (and graphics card) during such circumstances is very high.

Originally Posted by CptCrunch

You surface attack ships in raging storm in the dark of night - visibilty is nearly nil yet their deck gunners open fire - yeah ... if I can't access my deck gun why can they use theirs?

A destroyer is MUCH more stable in the water, and they have way better optics than an u-boat. Think of it as standing in a rowboat and firing a weapon (destroyer) vs standing on a surfboard and doing the same.

Originally Posted by CptCrunch

Unfair AI - you are sitting at 13m , rigged silent, no motors running - yet destroyers find you and kill you.

Sonar, check Ducimus´s thread (stickied). (see next answer)

Originally Posted by CptCrunch

You wham into a convoy rigged for silent but at full flank - you wreak havoc unopposed - you stop at 13m turn everthing off , secure from silent to reload - and all the escorts pounce despite all the convoy prop noise- not likely ... also they seem to be able to depth charge you below 200m - even though you should be (water pressure n all that) totally safe from damage at this depth.

Safe depth is 300 m, and if you don´t have any motion at all your conning tower WILL poke out of the water.

Hope this helped abit

[Jimbuna]

Far too much to answer here matey....the GWX manual would be a good place to start though

Here;s one that hasn't been answered yet.

Watch Tower Death as you call it.....type IX right /....fixed in next version of GWX

[seafarer]

In terms of sitting shallow, still and silent running and being detected:

- silent running does not make you silent, just much quieter, but still detectable at some level. If you want to sit and reload, try 100m depth, not 13m - you'll be far, far less detectable if still, silent running, and deep, not shallow.
- there is this thing called active sonar - works like a charm after 1943 when the allies started deploying much advanced sonar/asdic. It is also much more effective the shallower you are - again, go deep, don't sit shallow.

Also note that as you go deeper, if in the blast radius of a DC, the potential damage to your sub increase, not decreases. Water pressure works against you at depth and near a DC blast (that is, water pressure at depth will enhance the damage of a DC, not protect you from it).

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by CptCrunch

(don't spoil it by telling me)

Umm...the Allies win?

There have been discussions of what happens. I've never been there, but I've heard, and I won't spoil it.

All I can help with is to say WELCOME ABOARD!




p.s. the war ends.:rotfl:

[CptCrunch]

Originally Posted by seafarer

Also note that as you go deeper, if in the blast radius of a DC, the potential damage to your sub increase, not decreases. Water pressure works against you at depth and near a DC blast (that is, water pressure at depth will enhance the damage of a DC, not protect you from it).

Thanks for all your help and useful replies.

I have since found that a clean install of GWX is the best fix for most bugs. Like many people I installed GWX halfway through my career because I wanted to finish it! Can't wait to try GWX 2 now.

I reached the end of the war. It seems to finish quite a time later than the dates reported to by Werner in 'Iron Coffins'. Donitz's message to U boat crews arrived a few days later than expected and its not safe to openly approach any port until all of the ports turn to neutral - then you can just sail in anywhere - but you won't get points unless you return to a 'home' port.
It would be really nice to have a black flag mod or mission at war's end. The allies issued orders that U-boats sailing on the surface with snorkel and both periscopes raised to which was attatched a black flag, would be allowed safe passage to selected ports ( I believe Scapa Flow was one of them). A few of the collected boats were assimilated into post war allied navies eg Uk, France,Sweeden and Norway but most were taken out to sea and scuttled or sunk for target practice. Apparently many homeward bound boats did not receive these orders or were attacked anyway by jumpy allies and sunk with all hands after the wars end.


Seafarers comments about depth runs contrary to the info that I'd heard. I read in (I think, but I'll have to check) Werners' 'Iron Coffins' that increasing water pressure also reduces the effective blast radius of depth charges (this makes sense to me) and thus, although boats could be driven below crush depth by a charge (or thrown out of the water nearer the surface) - depths below 200 metres were generally considered to be pretty safe apart from the obvious risk of hull collapse. Most boats seemed to be capable of depths well beyond their 'safe' operating limits.
Late war depth charges packed a substantially heavier charge - presumably as a result of data obtained from captured boats and crews and this contributed to the increasing success of allied depth charge attacks at all depths.
So who's right here?