Just a few questions...

[The Renegade]

Hey everyone. I'm brand new to this whole forum and this whole submarine sim business, and I have a few questions concerning the available mods for SH3 and then one question about gameplay.

I have done a lot of "researching" on the available mods, particularly the "supermods," which I understand to be the Greywolves mod, the NYGM mod, and the Improved U-boat mod. I've tried to read up on them as much as I can, but I don't have much time on my hands, so I was wondering if someone that did could help me out.

Basically, I'm wondering what are the major changes these mods make to the stock SH3 game. Like, what changes does GW make compared to the changes NYGM makes compared to the changes IuB makes. I am mostly concerned with the big changes, such as graphics changes, gameplay changes(i.e. realism), or other notable changes. I have heard a lot about the new crew managment feature and I just want to get a basic understanding of it, as I really have no clue about what it does. I'm a crew management n00b, if that makes more sense .

I also am wondering about this feature I have seen that joins the GW mod and the NYGM mod. It's by some guy named Rubini and it involves a file called "Extended Unified Campaign." I just want to know if it works and how to use it to join the mods.

Wow lots of questions. Well, I have one more, and it's just a gameplay question. Is there a way to successfully target and attack ships at night? I've encountered some on my patrols, but it's way too dark to see anything at all, even with the stars and the moon out. I usually just stalk the ship and wait for dawn, but I'm wondering if it is possible to actually engage a ship at night and if there are any techniques to doing so.

Thanks in advance for any replies, if I get any. If any links, clarification, or whatever is needed, just ask.

Thanks again.

[The Renegade]

Bump.

Come on, I need some replies here! Not to be pestering or anything, but I don't want to have this thread lost and then have to repost about the same topic. Which is I guess what I'm doing right now anyway. Ah whatever.

And if anyone has any advice at all on the different mods, I would appreciate it.

[Umfuld]

I'm new to the mods, and I've just tried GW so far, so I'm no help to you there. I do recommend it. I thought about doing the unified thing, but figured I'd start with one first.

As far as night, I use WO assistance, and it's pretty easy. So I guess I'm no help to you there either.

Anyway, now you can't say no one replied.

[The Renegade]

Very true. I do have a reply now. Christmas has come on May 28th!

As far as that GW mod goes, what changes/additions does it make? What changes impact you the most? Are there graphical changes, realism changes?

Yes many questions I know. Any info about that GW mod would be great though.

[bigboywooly]

If you look in the mods section there is a sticky for Grey Wolves with all the info you need and one for NYGM tonnage war too

Other major mods include RuB ( real uboat) and Uboat.war ace standalone 1.67

Have a look thru the mods page and see what you think

I personally prefer GW although have Uboat.war ace installed too on another SH2 installation- apart from the eye and ear candy parts to GW the map has a lot more ports and there are changes to deckgun strength to "up" realism - well too much for me to mention just pop over to the mods section and read the GW sticky and the others and make your mind up from there

http://u-boot.realsimulation.com/
Is a good download site with a section on all the major mods too

As for targeting at night that is the best time to sink merchants as you can get closer on the surface before detection and even closer underwater
Yes it is dark but you should still be able to lock on to a target with the periscope and UZO no problem
No different to day time really just better for you - less detection

[The Renegade]

Thanks for that info. I will check it out right away.

As for the GW mod, how many "realism" changes does it add? I do like realism, but I also like the external camera to play around with, and the event camera is cool too, so I never play with complete realism. So anyway, I was just wondering what kind of realism it adds to the game.

Thanks for the attacking at night advice too. I do manage to lock on to the ship, but I just can't identify it or find the range, which means I can't really find the speed, so I"m literally shooting in the dark. I do play with manual targeting though, so maybe that's why. Is there a certain technique to lining up the torpedo just right without needing to find the range and speed and all that and having a high probability of it hitting the target?

Again thanks for the info and advice, and I will check out that part of the forum and the website.

[The Renegade]

Alright I've been doing some reading up on the GW and the NYGM mods, and I have a question regarding this "Unified Campaign" thing. From what I understand, the Unified Campaign thing unifies the GW mod and the NYGM mod. If that's wrong, please correct me. What I want to know though, is if people have done that and if SH3 still runs well and how the game is with both supermods enabled.

I also want to know about this Improved U-boat mod, which I haven't seen too much info about. Does it have anything that the GW and/or NYGM mods don't, or did the NYGM/GW mods just incorporate that mod?

I'm just such a mod noob, and there's so much info about it all, it just makes my head hurt. Like that.

One more thing. What are the up-to-date versions of the three supermods? GW seems to be at 1.1, NYGM seems to be at 1.03, and the Improved U-boat mod seems to be at 1.03 or around there. If anyone knows for sure, please post about it.

[bigboywooly]

I think toward your night attacks you need to have auto targeting on to get range etc of target then switch to manual once you have all the details you need

The latest versions of the mods were about right although NYGM 2.0 should be released very soon

GW adds more realism without making it impossible to sink stuff
Aircraft are not so easy to blow out of the sky and ships are not floating targets compared to the stock game

What I suggest you do is add a couple of SH3 installs to your comp and install a different mod to each then play away

If you dont like just delete that install - I personally found that the best way and had 5 different SH3s on the go to start with till I found what I liked

Each mod is a matter of taste and everyone will tell you their choice is the best but no substitute for finding out yourself

[CybrSlydr]

Instead of 5 different installs, why not use JGME?

JGME (JoneSoft Generic Mod Enabler) allows you to "enable" any mod as long as it's installed correctly. If you don't like a mod, you can just unenable it and not have to worry about uninstalling, missing files, etc. Extremely handy.

[bigboywooly]

I did use JSGME as well but takes time to understand if you like a mod or not and with multiple installs could play multiple carrers on different mods at the same time

As you rightly say JSGME is a superb program for adding/removing mods and I use all the time but to start with used the muliple install as the amount of varied supermods was a bit too much to take in all at once as a noob to the game as the The Renegade is finding out

[The Renegade]

Damn that does sound handy. That's the first thing I'm downloading. And then I suppose I could get all three mods and try them all out, although it might take a while to get all three.

I still want to know about the Unified Campaign thing though. Is it better to play with the GW mod or the NYGM mod separately or is it even better to combine the two?

And thanks for that update info. I think I'll probably wait until NYGM 2.0 comes out now.

[The Renegade]

Ok I've come to a decision about what mods to get but I have just a couple more questions. I'm going to get the GW and the IuB mods, but I'm wondering if they can be run together or if I should run them separately. It seems to me that the GW is bigger, so does that mean it includes a lot of what the IuB mod has and it would be pointless to run them both together?

My last question (hopefully) goes out to the GW modders or anyone that knows a lot about it. I noticed that the 1.1 GW update adds quite a bit to the mod, but it also adds stock textures and reduces graphical improvements to help keep the FPS rate high. I have a pretty powerful computer, or so I think, so should I just get the 1.0 version and not update it so I can keep the better graphics, or can I somehow get the update and still have the better graphics?

Thanks to everyone who has put up with me. This noob stage of my life will pass, I promise.

You keep asking what changes the different mods make. I know "read the readme" sounds a little harsh, but in fact RUB, IUB, NYGM and GW all make changes to several hundred files. It's kind of hard to list all of them every time someone asks that question.

GW 1.0 has a couple of files that do require a pretty high-end computer, which you say you already have. GW 1.1 adds more, better stuff, but the ocean floor and other high-graphics mods are still there, just in the 'Optional' section. You still have them if you want them.

[HW3]

GW and IUB1.03 can not be run together. GW and NYGM TW can be run together using the Extended Unified Campaign mod by Rubini. I am running it with no problems so far. If you do mod your sim, use JSGME, it is a "simsaver".

[The Renegade]

Well that kinda sucks that you can't run GW and IuB at the same time, but now I'm thinking that GW is the right mod for me, as it adds some realism and a lot of graphical effects and immersion effects. I may get NYGM, but it sounds like it has more realism than GW, so I'll probably wait to get it until I want more realism.

Yes I know I should read the readme's. I did try to read the NYGM and the GW threads, and understood some of it, but then last night I found readme's for GW, and the mod makes a lot more sense now. I thought the links to them were just links to download the mod. But anyway, if I had read those before I probably wouldn't have asked so many questions.

And that's great news about the update, Sailor Steve. And I'm guessing that to choose what things you want in the mod is made possible by that JGSME program, which I have downloaded. Woohoo.

Thanks to everyone that offered advice or pointed me in the right direction. I'm done with questions for now . Although I am still curious about attacking at night with manual targeting only. I'm starting to think it's impossible though.