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Old 06-25-10, 02:17 PM   #211
Stiebler
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I have been experimenting with NYGM, with both the MSM 3.2 full version and the MSM-Interim-Beta pack. Both load and run in the Museum and in career mode without crashes (CTDs). However, it is clear that neither is fully stable.

Examination of both versions showed that the MSM-Interim-Beta version contains more recent files. In one case, for example, the .zon file for one of the MxyA ships in the 3.2 full version dates to 2005, while the Interim version for the same ship has the .zon file dated to 2009. The Interim pack is also smaller, so it is where I have done all the work and testing.

The distinctive features of the NYGM super-mod mean that it has been necessary to change:
i) the .zon files, with changes to zones and hit_points to suit the slow-sinking model for NYGM (thus, the ships have had their zone values adjusted, but they have not been rezoned);
ii) the .sns files, with changes to the AI_Sensor to M_Sensor;
iii) the .cfg files, with changes to the Renown awarded (= tonnage of ship);
iv) the .eqp files, to throw in Racerboy's starshell mod.

In addition, examination of these files showed that the Interim-Beta pack contains some unwanted junk in the data\sea folders, as follows:
M01B ship contains an unwanted folder called 'New Folder' - it and all its contents can be removed.
M23B, M24B, M25A, M25B ships contain unwanted .psd files.
M31B ship has cfg files for M32B, as well as its own .cfg file.
Both O01B and T02B have the same T03B_en.log, as well as their own correct files.
T10A has an unwanted file called 'Copy of T10A.zon'.
T16B has four files derived from the T17B ship, which is not present in the Interim-Beta pack.
The above unwanted files can all be removed safely.

What I have done is to create an overlay pack of NYGM modifications for use with the Interim-Beta pack for NYGM users, together with a mostly generic campaign_RND.mis file and other additions, such as RacerBoy's starshells mod. I've tested this in career mode, and in the museum, and the IABL ships seem to be stable when viewed, and they sink nicely when struck by torpedoes and gunfire. There is a problem in that user commands (such as change course) are sometimes slow to execute, but it always gets there in the end.

It was my intention to release this overlay pack for any interested users of NYGM, solely for experimental purposes, but two events have discouraged me from doing this.
1. All my testing has been done on a nearly-new, Windows-7 64-bit computer with 8 GBytes RAM and associated hardware. Not with any imagination can this be called a typical 'recommended' setup for SH3, and I doubt very much whether the Interim-Beta pack will function with the 'recommended' hardware (1 GB RAM, appropriate graphics card and processor) for SH3.
2. Although games can be saved in mid-patrol, it has proved impossible ever to reload a saved game (from 3.2 unmodified or from the Interim-Beta with NYGM-overlay). This is a very serious difficulty. I believe that the problem lies with the huge size of the saved files, which vary from 0.25-1.5 MBytes - becoming larger after each save - when examined in the My Documents\SH3\data\cfg\Careers folder, and that the SH3 devs never thought it likely that such huge files would be created from individual game saves. If I am right, then the whole concept of a very large merchant fleet is undermined (for SH3), since there will be some practical maximum limit on the number of ships that can be accommodated in the game. In one patrol, I made six saves during the patrol before abandoning the patrol and trying to restore the last save. Well, any save actually. Not one of the saved games appeared in the career menu, although all existed in the My Documents\SH3\data\cfg\Careers folder. The huge size of the saved game files (1.5 Mbytes for the sixth) apparently prevents them from even appearing in the careers menu system.

IABL should definitely check any future ship packs with a full patrol in career mode, to see whether periodic saves can be restored. Would anyone else like to try checking whether saved games can be reloaded with the unmodified MSM versions (not necessarily using NYGM)? Make sure you attack some convoys first, before making the saves.

Stiebler.
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Old 06-25-10, 03:10 PM   #212
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Those things are good to know, Stiebler. Thanks for the info. I've stopped playing SH3 until my new memory upgrade arrives (from 2GB to the max for my old machine of 4GB). Then I'll be trying again.

I still wish all the new great mods were being equally applied to SH4. I think they would work there.
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Old 06-25-10, 09:06 PM   #213
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Quote:
Originally Posted by iambecomelife View Post
Try increasing the damage values in data\library\torpedo.zon using S3ditor (I highly recommend it - very easy to use even if you've never modded before). Setting the minimum effect to 250 and the max effect to 450/500 should result in faster sinkings.
There are 11 identical nodes, all with varying MinEF and MaxEF, do you know which ones, I must assume that they are for various torpedo types but there are no identifiers!
Edit: All of mine had the MaxEF set to around 230, so I changed all by +100.
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Old 06-25-10, 10:35 PM   #214
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Reece View Post
There are 11 identical nodes, all with varying MinEF and MaxEF, do you know which ones, I must assume that they are for various torpedo types but there are no identifiers!
Edit: All of mine had the MaxEF set to around 230, so I changed all by +100.
Let me know what the results are.

I wish that you could adjust average impact effects, so that for instance 60% of torpedoes had a value between 200 and 250. Something for Silent Hunter 6 to offer, I think.
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Old 06-25-10, 11:26 PM   #215
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Quote:
Originally Posted by iambecomelife View Post
Let me know what the results are.

I wish that you could adjust average impact effects, so that for instance 60% of torpedoes had a value between 200 and 250. Something for Silent Hunter 6 to offer, I think.
I tested with a M31B, took 4 torpedoes to slowly sink it before, this time 2 torpedoes between the bow and engine room, took about 10 mins for crew to report ship destroyed and 15 minutes overall to take the plunge!.

EDIT: I have just discovered though that all the other ships sink too easily compared to yours by half as much again, a C3 takes around 3 to 3 torpedoes your large cargo's around 4, I can adjust the torpedo.zon file to be somewhere in the middle but really would be better if your ships were adjusted! Is this easy enough to do?
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Last edited by Reece; 07-01-10 at 09:24 AM.
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Old 06-26-10, 02:59 AM   #216
iambecomelife
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stiebler View Post
I have been experimenting with NYGM, with both the MSM 3.2 full version and the MSM-Interim-Beta pack. Both load and run in the Museum and in career mode without crashes (CTDs). However, it is clear that neither is fully stable.

Examination of both versions showed that the MSM-Interim-Beta version contains more recent files. In one case, for example, the .zon file for one of the MxyA ships in the 3.2 full version dates to 2005, while the Interim version for the same ship has the .zon file dated to 2009. The Interim pack is also smaller, so it is where I have done all the work and testing.

The distinctive features of the NYGM super-mod mean that it has been necessary to change:
i) the .zon files, with changes to zones and hit_points to suit the slow-sinking model for NYGM (thus, the ships have had their zone values adjusted, but they have not been rezoned);
ii) the .sns files, with changes to the AI_Sensor to M_Sensor;
iii) the .cfg files, with changes to the Renown awarded (= tonnage of ship);
iv) the .eqp files, to throw in Racerboy's starshell mod.

In addition, examination of these files showed that the Interim-Beta pack contains some unwanted junk in the data\sea folders, as follows:
M01B ship contains an unwanted folder called 'New Folder' - it and all its contents can be removed.
M23B, M24B, M25A, M25B ships contain unwanted .psd files.
M31B ship has cfg files for M32B, as well as its own .cfg file.
Both O01B and T02B have the same T03B_en.log, as well as their own correct files.
T10A has an unwanted file called 'Copy of T10A.zon'.
T16B has four files derived from the T17B ship, which is not present in the Interim-Beta pack.
The above unwanted files can all be removed safely.

What I have done is to create an overlay pack of NYGM modifications for use with the Interim-Beta pack for NYGM users, together with a mostly generic campaign_RND.mis file and other additions, such as RacerBoy's starshells mod. I've tested this in career mode, and in the museum, and the IABL ships seem to be stable when viewed, and they sink nicely when struck by torpedoes and gunfire. There is a problem in that user commands (such as change course) are sometimes slow to execute, but it always gets there in the end.

It was my intention to release this overlay pack for any interested users of NYGM, solely for experimental purposes, but two events have discouraged me from doing this.
1. All my testing has been done on a nearly-new, Windows-7 64-bit computer with 8 GBytes RAM and associated hardware. Not with any imagination can this be called a typical 'recommended' setup for SH3, and I doubt very much whether the Interim-Beta pack will function with the 'recommended' hardware (1 GB RAM, appropriate graphics card and processor) for SH3.
2. Although games can be saved in mid-patrol, it has proved impossible ever to reload a saved game (from 3.2 unmodified or from the Interim-Beta with NYGM-overlay). This is a very serious difficulty. I believe that the problem lies with the huge size of the saved files, which vary from 0.25-1.5 MBytes - becoming larger after each save - when examined in the My Documents\SH3\data\cfg\Careers folder, and that the SH3 devs never thought it likely that such huge files would be created from individual game saves. If I am right, then the whole concept of a very large merchant fleet is undermined (for SH3), since there will be some practical maximum limit on the number of ships that can be accommodated in the game. In one patrol, I made six saves during the patrol before abandoning the patrol and trying to restore the last save. Well, any save actually. Not one of the saved games appeared in the career menu, although all existed in the My Documents\SH3\data\cfg\Careers folder. The huge size of the saved game files (1.5 Mbytes for the sixth) apparently prevents them from even appearing in the careers menu system.

IABL should definitely check any future ship packs with a full patrol in career mode, to see whether periodic saves can be restored. Would anyone else like to try checking whether saved games can be reloaded with the unmodified MSM versions (not necessarily using NYGM)? Make sure you attack some convoys first, before making the saves.

Stiebler.
Thank you very much for your comments. This explains why sometimes the exact same version of the mod would have unpredictable stability - sometimes a career would load up fine, while other times it would crash.

I have successfully loaded some saves, but other times I will get crashes on loading mid-patrol saved games as you described. I had been worried that this was due to some problems with hex ID's etc - it looks like that might not be the reason after all.

I noticed some of those unnecessary files and will delete them in the next release but thanks anyway for cataloguing them.

@Reece: Glad to hear that it's working better for you.
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Old 06-27-10, 08:39 AM   #217
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Originally Posted by =FI=Ghost View Post
What about XP SP2?
Only from SP 3 was this supported.

I was playing with the userva setting and found it made the computer more unstable, when I removed userva it would not boot and I had to use XP repair to restore the original boot.ini
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Old 06-27-10, 04:35 PM   #218
=FI=Ghost
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Would someone be kind enough to explain me how exactly do I install the skin packs? I've also noticed that in the pack 1 the following folder is empty: MFM-v3-US+UK_Skins19400601

Is it supposed to be like that? (I've extracted it with both WinRar and 7z).
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Old 06-28-10, 03:32 AM   #219
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Quote:
I've also noticed that in the pack 1 the following folder is empty: MFM-v3-US+UK_Skins19400601

Is it supposed to be like that? (I've extracted it with both WinRar and 7z).
Mine was empty also.

I used the date folders in SH3 Commander to install the skin packs.
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Old 06-28-10, 07:17 AM   #220
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It felt like I was downloading the entire internet but I finally got it done.

I have not played extensively yet, but with stock 1.4b I have not experienced any crashes, in any of the areas of concern, mentioned in previous posts.


The merchant fleet is now above all praise.

It only too bad I can't locate a good periscope upgrade mod that will work with 1.4b.........in order to do this mod justice.
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Old 06-28-10, 07:23 AM   #221
Seminole
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Quote:
Originally Posted by =FI=Ghost View Post
Would someone be kind enough to explain me how exactly do I install the skin packs? I've also noticed that in the pack 1 the following folder is empty: MFM-v3-US+UK_Skins19400601

Is it supposed to be like that? (I've extracted it with both WinRar and 7z).

The way I did it was to unzip into the Mod folder of JSGME and then apply the mod.

Of course I'm well known, far and wide, for getting things backwards...

But it seems to work and my understanding is that the skins are applied automatically according to the date of the war you happen to be in.
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Old 06-29-10, 03:08 AM   #222
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Originally Posted by melnibonian View Post
That's my installation and it works fine.

GWX 3 Wilhemshafen,St Naz,Schluese and xtra ships V5
Extras for the Wilhelmshaven campaign v2.4c
IBL Merchant Fleet Mod 3.2
GWX - Merged Campaign
Contact Lines_for GWX2.0
Conus' Historically Accurate U-boat Emblems
Colored Map
Dowly's Hurricane Skin
Foam Mod
Grass and Bottom of the Sea (Full version)
GWX - 16km Atmosphere
GWX - No Medals on Crew
GWX 3.0 Additional Ammo
GWX 3.0 Light Flags
OLC's Modified Searchlight Beams for GWX3
Pascal's Port People
NMS_1935 Fix
Rockets fix for GWX 3.0 16km Atm
SH4 Effects for GWX 3.0 v7.1
SH-5 Water for GWX 3.0 V0.8 Atlantic campaign (default)
Sub Image mod
Torpedo damage Final
U-Boat Aces Faces
WBNN Messages
Aces' Combined SH3.SDL Files v2
Yammato's Extra ships
TexSh42010
LibSh42010
Wooden Lifeboats Mod
Remove Searchlights from Merchants
Remove Searchlights from Warships (Optional)
Compatibility Remove SL from Merchants+WBs ExtraShipsV2.4
Compatibility Remove SL from Warships+WBs ExtraShipsV2.4
Wolfehunter U-82 VIIC
Melnibonian, did you have to edit/delete something when you were combining these 3 mods:

GWX 3 Wilhemshafen,St Naz,Schluese and xtra ships V5
Extras for the Wilhelmshaven campaign v2.4c
IBL Merchant Fleet Mod 3.2

I can make the MFM3.2 work on it's own, but when I try to make it work with GWX 3 Wilhemshafen,St Naz,Schluese and xtra ships V6 I get CTD..

Here's my computer specification:

Pentium Dual CPU E2200 (2.2 GHz)
3 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GSO
Win XP SP2
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Old 06-29-10, 07:33 AM   #223
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I tried to install the Merchant_Fleet_mod_3.2, but unfortunately it ctd'd just before completing loading of the museum, which might be something as simple as a ship name missing in the English names file.
I don't know yet, haven't investigated, it could be my system just can't handle it.

I did have a quick look at a few of the ships with S3D tho, and couldn't help notice that the M13A, M13B and M14B had hitpoint ratings of 2160, which is extraordinarily high for a merchant, considering ur average battleship in GWX3 has a hitpoint rating of 800 to 1000.

If the Min and Max effect in the torpedo.zon is increased to the levels suggested, you'll be sinking battleships easier than merchants.

Perhaps there might be a small fault with the hitpoint ratings of some of the ships Iambecome, considering the M13X is rated at 460, and the M14X is rated at 585 hitpoints.

Hope you get it stable in all variants, and i hope i can get my system to run it.
it looks awesome

Quote:
The only other niggle I have at the moment is the amount of punishment these single ships can take as and when I meet them - Medium Merchants are taking multiple torpedo hits to sink them, if at all. One took four torpedoes and almost all my gun ammunition and it still would`nt go down! I gave it up as a bad job in the end and just carried on with the patrol...
It was this post that caught my attention from JC1959, but i've just looked at the MFM_Interim_Beta version which contains just the M13A, M13B and M14B . . . and the hitpoints have been corrected.

Apologies if i'm late to the party iambecome, i shall duly hold my head underwater for 10 minutes.

Last edited by roadhogg; 06-29-10 at 08:13 AM.
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Old 06-29-10, 09:44 AM   #224
melnibonian
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Quote:
Originally Posted by =FI=Ghost View Post
Melnibonian, did you have to edit/delete something when you were combining these 3 mods:

GWX 3 Wilhemshafen,St Naz,Schluese and xtra ships V5
Extras for the Wilhelmshaven campaign v2.4c
IBL Merchant Fleet Mod 3.2
No I made no edits to these files. I just put them in and run the game.
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Old 06-30-10, 03:57 PM   #225
Seminole
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Just wanted to update my remarks made before. Now I have completed 4 patrols and still have not encountered not a single...repeat... not a single problem. It takes a little longer to load now but that isn't something I would count as a problem by any means.


The ships are fantastic. This sim in the end is largely about your targets and this mod provides the best(and largest variety) I have seen. I would rate this as the top all time single mod for increasing game playability and interest.
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