Soul Crushing Saved Mission Bug. Any way to fix?

[Stargazer]

The moment I got home from work last night, roughly 18:05hrs, I booted up my PC and launched SH3.

I departed for patrol #16, a short run down to CF89. I searched the grid for two and half days and found nothing so I went looking for trouble in the busy areas between Britain and America.

After sinking a lone tanker with a single torpedo, I do a mid-mission save and continue.

I encounter a convoy and make a pigs ear of my approach. I spend an hour evading an escort ship before I surface and fight it old the old fashioned way.

I sink the escort, repair my damage and then save over my previous entry. I then realise I've saved with another Escort coming at me like a bat out of hell so I dive and resume evasive tactics (as best you can at 2knots).

I then get the luckiest shot EVER with two torpedo's out my aft tubes and sink the bitch. I save again.

Thinking I've now got an easy time of picking target out of the convoy I go back after them. A previously unseen 3rd Escort ship detects me and I go evasive yet again.

This time however I'm not so lucky, I take a lot of damge when a charge decides to park itself on the deck so I have to blow all ballast and go topside, noisy.

The silly sods then slam into my boat tip me over ont my side and then I'm told I'm dead.

Never fear... I saved frequently... I'll pick it up again and do it right this time.

I spend ages waiting for it to load, then I get the message "Not so Long ago...", then just as the command room is trying to fade in... BLAM! SH3 has encountered an error and needs to close.

This I got three times.

Is that it? Did five hours, FIVE HOURS of my live just go corrupt? All those evasive manoevres, all that time and effort, Five Hours!!! Are they just gone? Can I get them back? Is there a reason why this has happened? Is there a way to avoid it happening again?

If this is going to be my continuing experience, I can easily learn to unlove the sim. I don't want that to happen, but I'm not going to let something waste time like this. Any assistance answering anything in this thread that ended with a "?" would be most appreciated.

Cheers,

Rob.

SH3 + GWX3 & SH3C

[Gargamel]

No hope. All you can do is keep trying each save until one loads.

This bug is caused by having spawned enemies within a certain range, I think 50 km was one I heard. The bug persists through any subsequent saves on that patrol.

So just save often, and early. I will often end up with 20+ separate saves for each patrol. I usually don't even close sh3, I just pause it. This game is to prone to CTD, and the loading takes to long.


And you didn't lose those five hours, consider it well spent training, usable fir next time so you don't get in such sticky situations.

Couple other thoughts: You can start playing DiD now. Start a new career. Makes you appreciate your actions an your boat a little more

Evasion should be done at <1 knot. Not at 2.

Only missing name fights it out on the surface. Either hit him with an eel, or go silent and deep.

[Stargazer]

Fudge!

Okey doke. I've got a new policy now...

1) Save regularly
2) Don't overwrite the previous save
3) Don't bother saving if the external cam flips to any vessel other than my own.
4) Save regularly
5) Save regularly
6) Don't overwrite the previous save
7) Save regularly
8) Don't overwrite the previous save

You're right, last night was good practise and I now know I can use the magnetic trigger under a ship with great success (having been inspired to try it after reading some ancient threads right here at Subsim).

This has been asked before but I've not seen a definitive answer. Maybe in the months, years (hours?) since it was last asked, someone may have discovered the answer...

I've read that the 3D engine only renders a small circle/sphere of the world around you so that it never has to process more than is necessary. I'm down with that. That bit I'm okay with.

The external cam will show any vehicle in that 'bubble' of the world. But how big is the bubble? Sometimes, I've got ships on the camera but a scan of the horizon reveals nothing. The rest fo the time the weather is too manky to know where the hell anything is.

I've also noticed that the cam cycles through ships in order of how close they are to my boat. I can see one ship in a convoy but can't cam to the others despite when I cam to the light freighter I can see the big ones behind it.

So what is the rule on the external cam? What is the range on it and how big is the bubble of world that is loaded into the 3D Engine.

If I could have it in Km's then I peronally won't have a clue what you're on about (since I'm a philistine and only understand miles) but I'll know what it means in terms of my nav map when next I look at it.

[Tinman764]

The external cam will only go to units that you have visual/sound contact with. If you can see a ship through your bino's but can't get it on external cam use the uzo or periscope. and lock it, you will be able to see it on the external cam then.

[Pisces]

Originally Posted by Stargazer

Fudge!

Okey doke. I've got a new policy now...

1) Save regularly
2) Don't overwrite the previous save
3) Don't bother saving if the external cam flips to any vessel other than my own.
4) Save regularly
5) Save regularly
6) Don't overwrite the previous save
7) Save regularly
8) Don't overwrite the previous save

Another important one to add to the list:

NEVER save submerged!

You might be able to succesfully reload a savegame. But at re-entering the SH3 world the uboat might experience the "dive of doom" causing uncontrollable crash dives. Savegame-errors is something the developers did not take enough beta-testing time for. This makes playing Sh3 a btch sometimes. Especially if you are attacking a convoy and have to save because of real-life considerations. You really need to be alone and safe in the game, before you can actually save it and trust those savegames to work.

So what is the rule on the external cam? What is the range on it and how big is the bubble of world that is loaded into the 3D Engine.

If I could have it in Km's then I peronally won't have a clue what you're on about (since I'm a philistine and only understand miles) but I'll know what it means in terms of my nav map when next I look at it.

Think of ranges as just numbers. You do not have much of a distance reference at sea anyway. Besides, al distances in SH3 are reported in (kilo)meters. So it makes no sense giving it in miles. The visibility ranges aren't realistic anyway so 'getting the feel for it' is moot.

It depends on mods and the weather. Stock SH3 has a max visible environment of 8km. GWX and other mods can increase it to about 16km. Later it has been extended to 20km (can't remember the name of the mod). But the hydrophone bubble is 34 km if you listen yourself. (and perhaps it magically extends the bubble to 40km whenever something has come inside of the 34km. I noticed this to happen in SH4, but might allready be in SH3 too) The hydrophone crew only responds to units within 20 km or so. They seem to have bubbles in their ears.

So to be (somewhat) sure there is no unit in the vicinity you have to move away atleast 40 km from the nearest unit to be on the safe side. And then do a hydrophone check yourself to make sure nobody is around. (And not forget to surface ) Assuming you could hear them in the background noise. Then you are ready to call it a day.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Stargazer

Fudge!

Okey doke. I've got a new policy now...

1) Save regularly
2) Don't overwrite the previous save
3) Don't bother saving if the external cam flips to any vessel other than my own.
4) Save regularly
5) Save regularly
6) Don't overwrite the previous save
7) Save regularly
8) Don't overwrite the previous save

For added security against corrupted saves, add:

9) Don't save submerged
10) Don't save within contact range of land or other units (ships, planes, etc.)

It's not 100% guaranteed to prevent a buggy save, but the general consensus is that it does swing the odds a good bit further in your favor.

So to be (somewhat) sure there is no unit in the vicinity you have to move away atleast 40 km from the nearest unit to be on the safe side. And then do a hydrophone check yourself to make sure nobody is around. (And not forget to surface ) Assuming you could hear them in the background noise. Then you are ready to call it a day.

All I ever do before making a save is drop to at least periscope depth (if I'm not already submerged) and ask the sonar dude for a report on the nearest contact. If he reports no sound contacts, I'll surface, put the lazy WO on the bridge, and ask for a report on the nearest visual contact. If he also reports no contacts, I make the save. It has always worked for me.

[Stargazer]

You peeps are like goldust!

Thanks for the advice. I shall heed it and proceed. I actually removed the 16k horizon thinking it was just a needless cosmetic mod that made little difference.

I shall hereby re-instate it when I get home to help me get those ships as my tonnage is woefully low after a couple of dud missions.

But real life isn't a huge concern. I have a condition called QoLDD. That means Quality of Life Defecit Disorder. Basically, There's me, my PC, a wife I have very little in common with and a few other things that I refuse to let become a distraction.

SH3 has my full, and complete attention! Therefore, I should always be able to make sure I'm in a safe place before I save from now on.

Thanks again,

Rob.

[Jimbuna]

You have yet to encounter and I kid you not, a phenomena known as 'the missing save' bug.....this means you go into your save game page and the details of the saves are missing......

Should this happen, simply go into your SH3 folder in C\MyDocs and look up the name you have given the save you wish to play.

Now add an 'x' to the name and it will appear again in your save game page.....you can delete it later if you wish or simply leave the 'x' where it is.