Hello - from a returning player

[werwulf]

Hi, I just wanted to say hello by making a post in the Forums as instructed in the downloads section. I made a small donation but I guess I will have to wait a day or two before being able to download the proggies that I want.

I am a gamer and I was really into SH3 a couple of years ago and have more or less decided to play again. I have SH4 and SH5 but my plan is to start with SH3 and then work up to the other games.

If I remember correctly, I had the Grey Wolves mod and a few others last time I played. SH3 is a lot of fun! I have a pretty good gaming machine set up and didn't have to tweak much to get the mods I was using to work correctly together.

I don't really have much to say at the moment, after I play for awhile maybe I will make another post. In the meantime, I hope all of you have as much fun playing SH3 as I do.

Wassail.
Snjarulfr.
werwulf.

[Aktungbby]

Welcome back; good hunting herr kleun

[VONHARRIS]

Welcome to Subsim!

The Bdu needs you out there in the Atlantik.

[werwulf]

Hmm, I didn't realize I had downloaded so many things. Most of them were just repeats of programs or mods that I had already used - up until I had Win7 I used to pretty much re-install my system every three months or so and at the time, I didn't have a way to store stuff that I had already downloaded.

I've got Win7 64bit on my machine now and it is the most stable operating system I have seen from Microsoft so far. This incarnation has been up and running for awhile now, no problems, and I do have storage now for things that I download.

I guess I might be feeling a little guilty for downloading before this and not donating, but I shall make up for that this time, until I feel it is fair. I don't yet know what that amount should be, maybe $50.00? That seems about right to me, but I have a lot of draws on my Paypal account so it may take a little while to get up to speed.

No worries, everything works out properly in the end, that is what I think.

Wassail.
Snjarulfr.
werwulf.

---

Gentlemen, I salute you. Believe it or not, I am actually looking forward to evading the Brit destroyers!

[Aktungbby]

Do not evade...sink one! Or mail a ($5.00 or +) bill to Neal Stevens- Subsim; 5108 Woodville Ln; Pearland TX 77584. Write werwulf on the bill. works for me and assuages der guilt!.

[werwulf]

You have probably already seen it, but it was this movie that inspired me to play again.

For your viewing enjoyment, Das Boot:



Wassail.
Snjaruflr.
werwulf.

[Delta Wolf]

Originally Posted by werwulf

You have probably already seen it, but it was this movie that inspired me to play again.

For your viewing enjoyment, Das Boot:



Wassail.
Snjaruflr.
werwulf.

Yeah i may have seen that film........once or twice
Probably the best war movie ever made
And welcome back.

[Jimbuna]

Welcome back Matey

[werwulf]

I will tell you the truth, I am getting very pleasantly drunk today, though I prefer to call it "taking off the edge".

Tomorrow I take delivery of my Linux box and it should be installed on the network by about 4:00 pm if all goes well. This time when I play SH3 I will have a separate machine to run all the mathematical stuff - go ahead, shoot me - but I really like to make things as realistic as possible (but not for the first couple of hours, I need to be able to see where I miss with torpedoes for the first few hours).

I have actually played SH4 and SH5 for a few minutes, the graphics are nice, but somehow, the "immediacy?" of SH3 keeps drawing me back. I don't know how to explain it, but what I think I do know is that SH3 is an exceptionally good game, and I am very glad that I can play at this, rather than having to actually be a German submariner circa 1943.

I think if there are people in this world that I respect, it is them.

When I can survive a full game on 100% realism (it has not happened yet), I think I will feel that I have accomplished something.

Wassail.
Snjarulfr.
werwulf.

[Aktungbby]

U may drive your uboat drunk... just make sure the mod list iss sober!

[werwulf]

Slowly, slowly, everything is coming back into focus! I got GWX installed and guess what? I spent a little time checking out Sh4 and Sh5.

I guess I will play Sh4 if I ever want to experience being an Ami sub commander, but I think Sh3 is better for the German side of things.

I like the great graphics of Sh5, but I read somewhere that it is not possible to mod the Steam version to turn it back into a "sub" simulation instead of a "Captain"" simulation. I guess I will have to start looking around for a boxed version of that game.

That is Ok I guess, Sh3 has enough going for it to keep me interested for a long time, even after everything is set up perfectly and all the mods are installed.

Wow! I was so surprised at all the stuff I have to relearn and remember to get back up to speed in my Type VII! That is what makes Sh3 such a great game! That is my opinion.

I play on 100% realism. The payoff for re-learning and remembering everything is those nice ship explosions!

Wassail.

[werwulf]

Well, I've got SH3 set with what I figure is a pretty good mod list. I am using JSGME and SH3 Commander on a GWX base.

So far, I have TMT v2 and ACM v1.1.0 core files and dark files activated. I tried OLC Mark II first, but I could not figure out how to get the slide rule and attack wheel to show, so I switched to another CombiMod.

I have a feeling that things are going to be challenging! I'm not too worried about the plotting side of things much right now, but learning to get a proper range without the use of the stadimeter is going to be a new experience for me! I don't know exactly how it is done with this setup yet, but I am assuming that I am going to have to use the hash marks on the side of the optics.

The stuff in the TDC screen is labelled in German which I think is going to take a bit of getting used to because I don't speak that language at the present time.

I could not find the attack map with this configuration, so I guess I will have to do everything on the nav map.

You know what? I don't expect to be sinking many ships for the first few sorties, but that is Ok, eventually the kills will come.

I know I said that I like to play at 100% realism, but I have to draw the line at real navigation for the time being, there is just too much other stuff that is more important to learn right now.

Well, I am off for my first sortie, maybe I will be able to write when I get my first kill. I am going to have a lot of fun playing with my new toys!



Wassail.

[BigWalleye]

100% realism is when you have a navigator who takes the fixes, works up the data, and hands you a little ticket with the noon position on it. It just happens that, in SH3, the navigators are all preternaturally good! This is one of the cooler things that are fixed in (heavily modded) SH5, thanks to The Dark Wraith and his digital wizardry. Navigator takes the sight and does the calculation, but his positions are not always correct. That more closely simulates the prototype situation.

But the boat commander should NEVER have to determine to boat's position himself. Anyone who wants to do it for fun, that's cool. But that is NOT realism. (More precisely, that does not attempt to accurately model the prototype task.) You could make a strong case that having a REALLY GOOD navigator is more historically appropriate than not having one at all. (From what I have read, there were more really good navigators than AWOL ones.)

BTW, the slide rule and attack wheel are activated by clicking on the Navigator and Weapons Officer buttons. A small slice of the dial appears at the bottom of the screen and slides up when you mouse on it. This is subtly explained in the documentation, but it took me some searching too.

BTW, BTW, have you tried Hitman's Optics? Based on the research of Hitman (and others), it is apparently the most accurate simulation of the actual optical aids available to German U-boat commanders. Fun, too!

[werwulf]

Thank you for the information BigWalleye! Ok, I am going to reinstall the OLC mod now and see if I can find that stuff. Part of the reason is because I am not sure I could get a proper range with the ACM mod, perhaps it is best to leave that until I get more practice with everything.

What you say about 100% realism makes a lot of sense! Navigation is for navigators!

Finally, in my travels through the downloads section, I found one for voice activated commands. I have a Logitech G35 headset with a microphone that has barely been used, and I think it would be really cool to set things up so I could say "crash dive!" and actually have it happen! I guess that is for the future but maybe it will happen this incarnation.

Thanks again for the information, I have to go on patrol now! In my travels, I will look for Hitman's optics, I'm not quite sure if they are a part of the mods I am using, but I will check.

Wassail! It means something like "to your good health".

[BigWalleye]

Hitman's Optics thread is here: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=147757

The link doesn't work, so download it from Plissken's server, through this link: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=147757

Voice command is THE way (for me anyway). You'll find sh3speech here: http://knepfler.com/shSpeech/. You have to do some home cooking to adapt it to the GUI you are using, (an evening or two) but when you say "Torpedo...los!" and off she goes, it's worth it. Of course, SH5 has voice command built in, but you can't add your own favorite expressions like you can with SH3speech. ("Dive her, Max! Schnell!") SH3speech lets you use English or "German", too. The speech rec is set for American English pronunciation, so you have to "phoneticize" the written commands, and a native German-speaker might find the results a bit odd. But it does work in German.

Wassail! (I thought that was a drinking toast! Shows what I know.)

Good luck and good hunting!