Survival to war's end, and the Mods needed.

[Stiebler]

I've completed three full campaigns of SH3 now at fairly high accuracy with no "god's-eye view" (87%), but my main aim (like that of the original U-boat skippers) has been to survive the war rather than to sink shipping. This has turned up some interesting problems with SH3, of which some have already been reported (and forgotten), while some have not.

Using Silent Hunter European DVD version, with patch 1.4 installed. No other patches applied, except where listed under "fixes" below.

When you plan to survive the whole war, you need to follow orders (like going to the allocated grid patrol zone, or you'll be shot on return to base); you need to avoid undue risks; but mainly you need your equipment to be working properly.

There follows below a list of *unexpected* "survival-problems" that I encountered. The fixes are listed underneath the list of problems, for easier readability.

SURVIVAL PROBLEMS:
I soon found that your watch-crew never tells you when you're sailing on the surface in fog so thick that they can't actually see anything. So you have to keep checking the weather. Maybe one day Ubisoft will supply a little weather indicator on the screen, like the Detection Indicator; green when visibility is good, red when it isn't and all shades inbetween.

I soon found that, when you surface and send your WO to the conning tower, he won't report a visible ship even if it is less than 1000 metres away. Embarassing, if the ship is an armed enemy.

I found only recently that, if you turn radar off when not in use, reloading a saved game turns it back on again. The consequence was my boat was twice sunk in late 1944 by surprise attack by a destroyer. The really interesting thing was that although the destroyer could home-in on my radar emissions, without using its own radar (so no radar detection received), my radar never actually detected it as it got close. I'd spotted this error in earlier patrols. It must be a program bug - has anyone else seen it?

I found out that time compression of 1024 often dumps the U-boat into the same square as an enemy before the crew can detect it. So now surfaced travel proceeds at 512x.

I found out that night attacks by aircraft are unrealistically over-accurate, and must be avoided, but:
i) the radar detectors have unrealistically short range - once when surprised on the surface by aircraft in broad daylight, I noticed that the radar detector subsequently gave a warning only when it was perhaps 2000 metres from the aircraft! That is its range!;
ii) the flak won't operate except in the calmest seas. This is historically inaccurate;
iii) the schnorchel *should* mount a radar detector, but doesn't (I don't know of any work-around for this problem).

I found out that I can't send radio messages at periscope depth (which you could in "real-life"), so that I had to keep dangerously surfacing to send messages when I would have preferred to remain at schnorchel depth.

I kept accidentally pressing letter 'D' (= 'Dive') at high time compression, and promptly sinking myself. Or pressing "Enter" and accidentally firing a torpedo.

I've learned that the "detection indicator" must always be retained (as one of the realism options at the start of the campaign) as partial substitute for the failures of crew and equipment reported above. When it goes red, you know your crew should have told you something.

I discovered that the neutral Portuguese, cunningly disguised as Americans, were attacking me with bombers in early 1943 from their air-base in the Azores. (The Azores became an Allied air base from October 1943; a major air-base from 1944).

And finally I learned that you need an excuse to avoid convoys later in the war. That excuse is to go on remote missions to South Africa with the IX-D2 U-boat. But then I found all the problems with the IX-D2 boat previously reported in this forum. A fresh problem was in trying to get remote patrol areas for the IX-D2 after late 1944, when most patrols are around Britain. I haven't seen it reported before, but if you get an unwanted patrol grid, return to the last "In Base after mission", reassign all the promotions that you made previously, re-equip as previously, and then click on the office map for a new patrol. This seems to re-assign the patrol grids randomly. However, asking for a new grid by clicking on "In Base before Mission" always seems to give the same patrol grid.

FIXES:
Below are the fixes that I'm using. Some have been reported in this forum before, but they're hard to find and keep reappearing as new queries, especially about the IX-D2 bugs. (In fact, they're so hard to find, that I can't attribute them to their original discoverers; sorry about that.) The others are my own discoveries (sometimes also discovered independently by other people).

1. Keyboard Commands:
Like many fans of the old 'Aces of the Deep', I still instinctively use some of their keyboard commands. For example, pressing 'Enter' was used to slow time compression to 1, and pressing 'D' brought you to schnorchel depth.
To prevent the irritating firing of a torpedo every time you accidentally press the "Enter" key, go to Data\cfg\Commands_en.cfg.
Replace:
[Cmd313]
Name=Fire_torpedo
Ctxt=1
Key0=0x0D,,"Enter"

with:
[Cmd313]
Name=Fire_torpedo
Ctxt=1
Key0=0x0D,c,"Enter"

You can still use CTRL-ENTER to fire the torpedoes.

Pressing 'D' in SH3 is disastrous at high time compression, because it forces an instant dive to critical depth (which sinks you if the hull is already damaged)!
To prevent this, Replace:
[Cmd192]
Name=Dive
Ctxt=1
Str=1030
Key0=0x44,C,"D"

with:
[Cmd192]
Name=Snorkel_depth
Ctxt=1
Str=1033
Key0=0x44,C,"D"

2. To prevent appearance of sudden merchant ships on the map, for those playing with "god's-eye view" turned off, go to Data\cfg\contacts.cfg.
Change:
Display Range To Opportunity Radio Contacts=300 ;[>0] kilometers
To:
Display Range To Opportunity Radio Contacts=10 ;[>0] kilometers

3. To fix the problem of the woefully inadequate radar detection range, go to Data\cfg\sensors.cfg.
Change:
Radar Warning range factor=1 ;[>=0]
To:
Radar Warning range factor=2 ;[>=0]
Then use Jungman's 'RF_Detect Mod' Silent Hunter III patch to modify sensors.dat (it is almost impossible to convey in text how to alter selected numbers in a data file.)

4. Use of Flak in heavy weather:
Many forum contributors have mentioned the inability to fire U-boat flak in moderate seas. Actual U-boat war diaries show that it was so rare not to be able fire flak, that it got a mention when they couldn't fire. So I've set the storm fire values much higher than default. Go to Data\submarines\NSS_Uboat2A\NSS_Uboat2A.cfg.
Change:
StormConditions=7,0.1;max wind speed [m/s], max rain intensity [0,1]
To:
StormConditions=14,0.1;max wind speed [m/s], max rain intensity [0,1]
Now you can fire flak about as often as in reality.
Repeat this for all the other U-boats in the 'submarines' folder.
[Note - you can now also fire the deck gun up to wind speed 14. Be honest; don't allow use of the deck gun above wind-speed 7, as previously.]

5. Air strikes at night are far too accurate. To provide a sort of fix (it actually reduces the number of strikes, not their accuracy), go to Data\cfg\airstrike.cfg .
Change:
Night Modifier=0.5 ;[>0] Modifier on strike probability at night

To:
Night Modifier=0.3 ;[>0] Modifier on strike probability at night

6. IX-D2 Bordeaux problem.
[Solution originally reported in this forum in August 2005.] To fix the problem of the IX-D2 U-boat being stuck in its base at Bordeaux, go to Data\Campaigns\Campaign\Campaign_LND.mis, locate the 12th Flotilla at Bordeaux, and replace:
[Unit 36]
Name=Bordeaux
...
Long=-103547.000000
Lat=5447197.000000
Heading=0.000000

with:
Long=-103695.000000
Lat=5447206.000000
Heading=0.000000

7. IX-D2 problem with flickering torpedo reload screen.
As pointed out several times in this forum, the problem derives from there being too many external torpedoes for the program engine (a program bug). The easy solution is this:
Go to Data\cfg\basic.cfg.
Locate [submarine_Ammo9] for type IXD2.
Change:
ForeResExtern=8
To:
ForeResExtern=6

Place a semi-colon ( before every occurrence of ForeResExtern?6=? and ForeResExtern?7=?, where '?' = 0,1,2 or 3.
For example:
;ForeResExtern16=3
;ForeResExtern17=3

8. IX-D2 Range problem.
This is easily fixed with the "SH3 Crush Depth V2" mod by "Timetraveller" which, despite its name, also allows the user to alter data values for submarine ranges.

9. Azores Air Base opens too early.
Go to Data\Land\Campaign_Lnd.mis
Locate "[Unit 25]"
Change:
GameEntryDate=19430101

To (at earliest):
GameEntryDate=19431001

In Conclusion:
With these fixes in place, I've found that finally I can survive the whole war at a level of high realism.

[BaronVonSchnitzel]

My understanding is that if you don't complete your assigned patrol grid (which is often ridiculous) you simply lose some renown at the conclusion of the patrol. You aren't "shot" and you can continue your career. As you may know, there is a cheat whereby you can pad your renown to any level you like.

[crazyhorse]

I'm playing with a similar configeration, SH-3 with 1.4 only. I'm in my fourth month (real time) of this career, and currently in mid-Nov.'44. I can concur with all of the situations you listed except for being shot, or even reprimanded, for not making it to a patrol area. I've failed to make the PA twice in 29 patrols, and still received the renown due for whatever tonnage I had managed to sink, and not a hint of discontent from the brass. I'm only guessing, but it may have been over-looked because on both occasions I had recieved severe battle damage,(39%-49% hull integrity), on the way to the PA.

I'm playing with the USA DVD version, could there be that much differance?

[Beery]

I think the biggest problem with the game is its insistence on letting a commander patrol for 6 straight years when real commanders were retired from front-line service after a couple of years maximum. No commander ever did more than 16 patrols, yet the game allows us to do 60+.

This unreality also makes us get far more tonnage than a real commander ever could. It always made me feel a bit lame when I know I'm getting more chances to score compared to the real commanders.

[crazyhorse]

One of the great things about the dynamic campaign is that it lets us as players set our own goals. Getting through the war is mine this time out. Next it maybe tonnage accrued during a set number of patrols.

I don't think going through the entire war would be that rewarding for a tonnage hound. For me it's meant hundreds of crash dives, trying to get to the PA, sinking whatever tonnage comes within range, and getting back to port. It's often very boring and work-like, by the way. But, it's a goal this time out, and with months invested it's become something worth seeing through.

I'm sailing a VII-C/4, with just about every option except radar and sonar. The heavy flak guns have more than payed for themselves when they were needed to fight off aircraft while charging batteries. Six flak-gunners were killed in a fight early in '44, and fortunately there haven't been casualties since.

[kiwi_2005]

Well i find annoying the when around 1943, in the stock game theres just to many planes attacking all at once sometimes 7 or 8 at a time and its fairly calm seas yet we can't use the flak guns!!! Anyways ive never gotten past 1943 cos i always end up starting a new career. But one day i hope to complete this game, so thanks for the tips

[benetofski]

Stiebler,

Thanks for posting these 'observations' and minor-flaw changes.
Perhaps more crews will survive the war now!

[Skubber]

Thanks for for identifying these issues/fixes.

I had been wondering about surviving to the end of the war, or if sub-command retired you, say, after reaching a certain level of renown/tonnage. (I seem to recall that some of the early U-boat aces were promoted to desk jobs higher up.)

Sounds like even if you start on the first day of the war, you are supposed to survive right up to the last day – from the game's point of view.

A nice challenge, I guess, but not too realistic. Unless anyone knows of a U-boat commander who was remained at the helm the entire war?

As to the problem of crew seeing things in the fog, I don't have the answer but I sure wish they had followed the examples of AOD and SHI. In both of those sims you have times when you can go on the bridge and litterally not be able to see the front of the boat!

[Beery]

Originally Posted by Skubber

I had been wondering about surviving to the end of the war, or if sub-command retired you, say, after reaching a certain level of renown/tonnage. (I seem to recall that some of the early U-boat aces were promoted to desk jobs higher up.)

The game sometimes retires commanders, but I have no idea what the criteria are. It may just be a bug, or a poorly-implemented feature.

Anyway, for those of us who want more realism in this regard, there's SH3 Commander, which comes pre-configured with a realistic length career option. It gives a random career length of between 4 and 16 patrols. Technically it can be more than 16, but the odds are against it.

[ftc]

Hi Guys, This is my first post so please bare with me. My question is directed to Stiebler or anyone else that could help me. Where can i download "Jugmans RF_Detector Mod"?

[Gizzmoe]

Originally Posted by ftc

Where can i download "Jugmans RF_Detector Mod"?

Jungman has made a new version (RF_Detect2.zip) two month ago and uploaded it to Rapidshare, unfortunately it´s gone because Rapidshare deletes all files that were not downloaded for 30 days. It´s also not available on u-boot.realsimulation.com. You should write him a PM.

[silent_otto]

Stiebler, i admit right now that it is a little too late so i have not read your whole post, but i got your mood, and believe me, download IUB and you'll have a new game. Maybe not perfect yet, but much close to perfection than the vanilla shiii you bought.

I had never had before a "new" subsim for free as good as this, I think I would have paid for it as much as I paid for the original shiii.

But after all this is just my opinion, as i said i did not really read your whole post, and i am pissed drunk.

regards,
Silent_Otto

from the forgotten corner in europe

[Stiebler]

ftc wrote:

Where can i download "Jugmans RF_Detector Mod"?

It seems to be contained now within Jungman's SensorPak, available stilll at:

http://rapidshare.de/files/3448595/SensorPak.zip.html

This is, I think, the most useful of all the mods for SH3. It enables evasion of aircraft from 1943-5; very difficult without it.

Concerning retirement of commanders:
Yes, they could be promoted out of their sea jobs, and nearly all took the option. But you could insist on staying at sea (just as a soldier could insist on the right to fight on the Russian front). Naturally, not many took the option on sea or land. In late 1944 a very senior officer of BdU, Kpt zS Dobratz, demanded the right to quit BdU and conduct one cruise in a Type IX. He wanted the sea experience for career reasons, survived the patrol, and returned to BdU. There remains a photograph of an exhausted Dobratz on the conning tower of his battered and rusty boat when it returned to port. (Can't show the photo for copyright reasons.)

[ftc]

Thank you Stiebler.
ftc