New: SH3 Commander Improvements - Beta Testers Needed

[Observer]

Updated to v4.2.7.

SH3 Companion v4.2.7

v4.2.7
-Major update to Captain's log user interface. Included keyboard shortcuts for each action on the Captain's log. Alt + the first letter of each action will activate the action, with the exception being Exit activated by Alt+x.
-Corrected a potential save bug in the Captain's Log where the user could have made changes, failed to save and not been notified therefore loosing any changes to the Captain's Log.
-Corrected user interface bug where selecting a new career did not update the completed patrols
-Corrected routine to show correct number of log entries when editing the Captain's Log.
-Interal code changes, simplification and misc minor bug fixes

[Observer]

Originally Posted by DeePsix U-48

Do we have an ETA for this mod? It looks great!

~DeePsix
Commander U-48

Hehe. See one post up.

[DeePsix U-48]

I tried viewing a captains log for another patrol and it came up with a message about all ship names being used and would have to use generic. Any way to fix this?

~DeePsix
Commander U-48

[Observer]

Originally Posted by DeePsix U-48

I tried viewing a captains log for another patrol and it came up with a message about all ship names being used and would have to use generic. Any way to fix this?

~DeePsix
Commander U-48

Is this the message you are referring to?

"All names for generic merchants in the [Your Career Name] career have been used once. Ship names will now be duplicated."


In theory you should not get this message for merchants, unless you've sunk over 3500 merchants in a career. You might get this message for warships, especially if you have sunk a large number of warships during a career. For example, the Nelson class battleship only has two names assigned, so it wouldn't be unusual to get it for this class. The same is true for some of the other warship classes, but it will have the name of the class of ships in the message instead of the [generic merchants] name.

If you're getting it for merchants, then there is a problem. If you navigate to your SH3 Companion folder, you will see a file called Used Names.cfg. Look in this file for the header of the career name you are getting this message for (i.e. look for this text [My Career Name]) and then look for the key "generic merchants=" The text after this will list all of the merchant names used in that Captain's career. In order for this to be a valid message there must be 3559 entries. If you see anything less than this, the message is received in error.

I would also suggest looking for the Ship Names.cfg file just to make sure it's present, and then look under the [generic merchants] header. You should see 3559 entires before getting to the next header [generic tankers].

If all that's too complex to follow, email your Used Names.cfg, Ship Names.cfg, and the log file causing problems to:

observer [at] ec.rr.com

[DeePsix U-48]

Originally Posted by Observer

If you're getting it for merchants, then there is a problem. If you navigate to your SH3 Companion folder, you will see a file called Used Names.cfg. Look in this file for the header of the career name you are getting this message for (i.e. look for this text [My Career Name]) and then look for the key "generic merchants=" The text after this will list all of the merchant names used in that Captain's career. In order for this to be a valid message there must be 3559 entries. If you see anything less than this, the message is received in error.

That's it! All my career names are set = to -1. Should I set them equal to 3559?

~DeePsix
Commander U-48

[HEMISENT]

Observer,
I think this is a great idea. the devs dropped the ball badly on this function.
I'm looking forward to seeing how this all works out. I like the hot key idea.
I recall some long ago posts regarding the repeated use of alt-tab will screw up the game somehow. I may be wrong on this tho.
Keep up the good work!

[AlanSmithee]

Observer - nicely done. Definately like the interface improvements. I was able to briefly try out the new In-Progress log, but my hard drive is in hospice so it may be another week before I get to test it again. Looking good, though.

[Observer]

Originally Posted by DeePsix U-48

That's it! All my career names are set = to -1. Should I set them equal to 3559?

~DeePsix
Commander U-48

No. The -1 is an error code. I means something didn't work right. You shouldn't be seeing that in the header. In order to trouble shoot this further I need you to email your Used Names.cfg, Ship Names.cfg, and the log file causing problems to:

observer [at] ec.rr.com

I'll look into it and see if I can find the problem. I think it's something abnormal with the log file.

Also check your SH3 Companion.cfg file (it's xml, but you can open it in Internet explorer or firefox). Look for a key called:

<add key="selected_career" value=

(it's the 16th one down). You should see the name of the selected career you're trying to read the log file for.

If you need any further guidance, send me a PM.

[Observer]

Originally Posted by HEMISENT

Observer,
I think this is a great idea. the devs dropped the ball badly on this function.
I'm looking forward to seeing how this all works out. I like the hot key idea.
I recall some long ago posts regarding the repeated use of alt-tab will screw up the game somehow. I may be wrong on this tho.
Keep up the good work!

I've explored the hot key, but I'm not satisfied with it yet. I'm not sure it will work any different or better than the alt-tab option. I'm still looking into it though.

It's true. Some have reported difficulties with alt-tab, especially with the attack map. At this time, I don't know of any other problems, but in general SH3 is very alt-tab friendly.

I'm not crazy about not being able to see the display, but you can read the entries if you've saved it at least once. Navigate to your SH3 folder in My Docs. Then go to your career folder and select the folder with the highest number (i.e. "8"). This will be the save folder for your current patrol. If you open the *.crp files in notepad, you can see all of the reports from your crew. It's not perfect, but it does work.

For example, this is a typical report:

[Log Entry 11]
Type=0
EntryText=Clouds Clear, Precipitations None, Fog None|Wind Speed 5 meters per second, direction   0.
Date=19410908
Time=2124
Categ=1

This entry happened on 9/8/1941 at 2124, and you can see it's the Navigator's weather report.

[HEMISENT]

Downloading the net framework program now.
Will give this a shot tonight-hopefully will get some feedback for you tomorrow.

[Excalibur Bane]

I tried it for a little while, but it's hard to make it useful unless it's somehow integrated in the game itself. Swapping out to make manual notes of kills and other stufff in the log is just too game busting. If you can integrate it into the game, it'd definately be cool.

Idea, does SH3 only track ship sinkings? If so, can we change so it can track other variables that would warrant an entry into the log? It would be interesting if it tracked more then just a sinking of a ship. Like the method of sinking for example, deckgun or torepdo (or god forbid, ramming!) perhaps other things like damage sustained. It records when you take damage and maybe how much and from what, if that's doable.

Same with important things, like permanent damage or diesel levels, etc.

For example.

Patrol 1 - U-67
-------------------

Time 1:20: Ship sunk! C-2 cargo Xxxx tonnage! Ship sunk by deckgun attack.

Time 2:30: Depth charge attack! Hull integrity reduced to 73%. Starboard Diesel destroyed!

And so on and so forth.

Probably not possible to get SH3 to track this kind of stuff, but thought I would put the idea anyway. Good luck with the program Observer, and keep us updated.

[Trefoil]

I' ve, also, had problems with the map in the control room being effected by alt-tabbing out of the game. If I use a second display (Old 14" monitor, gathering dust in attic) to display windows desktop and the log entries, will this work OK?

Also, there has been, recently, on Subsim forums, a copy of a genuine KTB posted -

http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-516logGerman.htm

Is it possible for your log entries to look more authentic, perhaps incorporating similar fonts or formatting? This would be great for immersion value.

Many thanks for all the great work you've done on SH3.

I'm running SH3 v1.4b. I upgraded to NET framework v2 (which is still BETA!!!!), and installed SH3 Companion.

I use Shoot extensively for voice commands, and I believe that it is based on NET framwork v1.x. I quickly discovered that I couldn't load Shoot under NET framework v2, so I didn't hesitate to deinstall it to get Shoot up and running again.

It would be a good idea to get SH3 companion running backwards compatible with NET framwork v1.x. Until then, I can't (won't) use it at the expense of losing voice control (which rocks!)

Cheers,
7Infanterie19

[Reece]

I've been fiddling with .NET of late as my XP Pro SP1 had no .NET Framework installed, I put v2.0b in and when I ran Norton WinDoctor found 18 shared dll errors, 9 were missing from:
C:\WINDOWS\MICROSOFT.NET\FRAMEWORK\V1.0.3705
& 9 from:
C:\WINDOWS\MICROSOFT.NET\FRAMEWORK\V1.1.4322
so I uninstalled v2.0b,installed version 1.1 then version2.0b and only had 9 errors for 1.0.
So it seems to get .NET running properly you may have to install all versions, what a pain!
If someone has any suggestions please advise.

[JScones]

I refuse to have .NET framework v2 on my machine (even v1.1 is now gone). However, the positive thing is that the ship name randomiser and tonnage randomiser that Observer has developed have been re-engineered and will form part of the next release of SH3 Commander.