New: SH3 Commander Improvements - Beta Testers Needed

[Observer]

This application provides some of the added improvements to SH3 Commander mentioned in this thread:

http://www.subsim.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=42005

Today it exists as a separate application. Before integrating this functionality into SH3 Commander, I'd like to test the core logic and ensure there aren't any bugs.

Functionality:

-Randomizes merchant tonnage. At this time tonnage randomization has not been implemented for Sergbuto's added merchants or Passenger Liner class of ships
-Allows user selected patrol start date. This date also has a random element.
-Allows the user to view previous patrols outside of the game (similar to SH3 Commander)
-Captain's Log module. Here you may enter dates and times for comments during the course of the patrol. The comments will be collected and written to a text file. After the patrol, the results of your actions will be added to the patrol log, and it will be formatted in KTB fashion. You may view the Captain's log in text or html.
-Names ships sunk during the course of a patrol for both merchant ships and warships. SH3 does not have a way to check for a ships nationality, so some names may appear odd. This is true for warship classes used by multiple countries (such as Clemson destroyers) during the course of the war. Ship names will appear in the Captain's Log, and are chosen at random. Merchant names reflect actual merchants sunk during WWII. Warships names use actual names of ships assigned to the class.



You can download the application here: SH3 Companion v4.2.6

This application require the v2.0 .net framework in order to work. You can get it here (23 MB D/L):
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

If you use this application please post feedback in this thread, either suggestions for improvement or bugs you encounter in use.



This is a sample output from the Captain's Log:

Sample Captain's Log


Application screenshots:












Readme:

SH3 Companion

This is a beta version of this program.  Use at your own risk!
Currently this version only supports English SH3 patrol log files.  I would need the assistance from a person using the German version of SH3 in order to support this functionality.

Version 4.2.6 (see change log below for detailed list of changes).  

THIS PROGRAM REQUIRES MICROSOFT .NET V2.0 FRAMEWORK!  USE THIS DOWNLOAD LINK FOR THE NECESSARY FILES:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=7ABD8C8F-287E-4C7E-9A4A-A4ECFF40FC8E&displaylang=en

As the name implies, SH3 Companion, is a companion to WWII submarine simulation Silent Hunter 3 and the career management application SH3 Commander by Jaesen Jones.  This application currently does just a few things:
-Randomizes merchant tonnage.  At this time tonnage randomization has not been implemented for Sergbuto's added merchants or Passenger Liner class of ships
-Allows user selected patrol start date.  This date also has a random element.
-Allows the user to view previous patrols outside of the game (similar to SH3 Commander)
-Captain's Log module.  Here you may enter dates and times for comments during the course of the patrol.  The comments will be collected and written to a text file.  After the patrol, the results of your actions will be added to the patrol log, and it will be formatted in KTB fashion.  You may view the Captain's log in text or html.
-Names ships sunk during the course of a patrol for both merchant ships and warships.  SH3 does not have a way to check for a ships nationality, so some names may appear odd.  This is true for warship classes used by multiple countries (such as Clemson destroyers) during the course of the war.  Ship names will appear in the Captain's Log, and are chosen at random.  Merchant names reflect actual merchants sunk during WWII.    Warships names use actual names of ships assigned to the class.


Installation:
Please completely uninstall previous versions of SH3 Companion before installing the latest build.  You can do this through the add/remove programs option in Windows2K/XP.  If you wish to remove all traces of the software from your system, you will also need to delete the SH3 Companion folder created in your X:\Program Files\Ubisoft\Silent Hunter III directory.  This is not necessary for an upgrade to the latest build.  Run the provided installation package.  This program will be installed to the X:\Program Files\Ubisoft\Silent Hunter III\SH3 Companion directory.  I also suggest making a desktop icon for ease of use.  If you are using SH3 Commander, DELETE the following folders from the Commander directories:  data folder from \Flotilla\902, \Flotilla\903, and \Flotilla\904.  SH3 Companion now copies the correct flotilla file to the proper location in SH3.  It provides the exact same functionality as SH3 Commander and addresses some of the sequencing issues between SH3 Companion and SH3 Commander.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  If you are using a version of SH3 Companion prior to 4.2.5 please change the extensions for saved text patrol files in the X:\Program Files\Ubisoft\Silent Hunter III\SH3 Companion\Patrol Reports directory from *.rtf to *.txt.  Text logs without this change will not be recognized in the Captain's Log.  


Using SH3 Companion:
If you are currently using SH3 Commander, in order for several of the included features to work properly, follow the procedure below when starting a NEW patrol:  

When starting your NEXT patrol:
1.  Run SH3 Companion.  Update Patrol Start date.
2.  Run SH3 Commander and update options as necessary and launch SH3 from SH3 Commander.

If you save and exit during the course of the patrol:
1.  Run SH3 Companion and launch SH3 from SH3 Companion.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  Just like SH3 Commander, you cannot use the features of SH3 Companion until you have completed at least one patrol.


Uninstallation:
This program may be removed using the uninstall option in the Start->Programs->SH3 Tonnage Randomizer directory.  I also suggest manual removal of the folder in the X:\Program Files\Ubisoft\Silent Hunter III directory if you wish to remove every trace (including previous patrol Captain's Logs!).

Good Luck!  If you have any problems, let me know.


Change Log:
v4.2.6
-Update to html and text files to show total, merchant, and warship tonnages and numbers of ships sunk during a patrol

v4.2.5
-Internal code changes

v4.2.4
-Removed improper names from the available list of merchant names (Spreewald and Doggerbank)
-Added report feature to show if the ship was lost at sea during a patrol
-Changed the number of lines allocated to ship sinkings from 4 lines to two lines.  Output will now look like:
    Ship Sunk!, Grid BE96
    Small merchant, S.S. Younameit, 1500 tons
-Corrected html encoding error (UTF-8)
-Changed default html report font to courier for readability (Hanshand front no longer required or packaged in zip).
-Added pop up window allowing user to view text file (copy and paste purposes) after the Captain's log has been saved.

v4.2.3
-Corrected error incorrectly reporting tonnages less than 1000 tons
-Corrected html and text sequencing issues.  Previously if the user edited a completed patrol log, then opened the text file and html file at the same time, ship names would be lost.
-Corrected error preventing two log entries occurring at the same time from being handled properly.  For events in the patrol log occurring at the same time, they will now be given a unique number (date and time including seconds).  The event seconds can be seen in the text files, but will not show on the html output.

v4.2.2
-Internal code changes

v4.2.1
-Corrected a zero tonnage error
-Corrected date format parsing error

v4.2
-Major build.  Added several new features and output formats (see above).