Attaining optimum realism & immersion in SH III & SH IV

[Lionman]

I am well aware that starting this new thread in August 2008 will inevitably duplicate many discussions and a theme in many threads elsewhere but feel that there will be many who come to our virtual sub sea realm with the following question which I address primarily to the most experienced, most technically knowledgeable and longest-standing members of this redoubtable SubSim Forum.

Question. Given a more or less state-of-the-art PC [the spec of mine is at the foot of this post], 8 MB broadband, good technical knowledge and starting from clean installations of both SH III patched to V1.4 and SH IV patched to current spec, what gentlemen, in your personal opinion, is the optimum combination of currently available MODs to attain maximum realism, maximum historical authenticity and maximum immersion in SH III and SH IV?

I am well aware that this is at least to some degree a matter of personal tastes and choices but there will be common constants in your replies and those are what interest me. My situation is this, after a reformat, re-installation of VISTA Ultimate Edition which currently works perfectly so far without disabling EAC and making clean installations of both SH III and SH IV, as a major fan of both sims for their coverage of their respective theatres of war, I seek to create the optimal installation of both.

I seek maximum possible realism in sea state, surface and storm wave height, weather, crew faces, uniforms, insignia, sub interiors, number of subs, historically accurate skins, correctly time-synchronised historically accurate radio broadcasts and stations etc. Probably the same shopping list that any other WW2 sub sea combat enthusiast seeks. So I envisage this thread as a kind of "updateable ultimate tested MOD combination recommendation" list. I am prepared to run multiple installs of both games if there are dual contenders for "best combo" from our best MOD Gurus. I am thoroughly used to using JSGME 2.0 and always install my MODs by that method in SH and several other simulators.

I can run FSX, which is currently the most hardware demanding simulator out there I think, with all sliders maxed out. My PC spec is as follows: -

OS - Windows Vista Ultimate Edition Service Pack 1 (build 6001)
CPU - Intel 2.40 gigahertz Intel Core2 Quad-Core
MOBO - ASUS TeK Computer INC. P5N32-E SLI 1.XX
RAM - 4 GB (DIMM_A1' 2048 MB + DIMM_A1' 2048 MB)
GPU - NVIDIA 8800 GTX
SPU - Soundblaster Xi-Fi Fatal1ty Platinum 8.1
HD - 2 x 500 GB
Left monitor -Taxan 735 TC099 17" CRT
Centre monitor - Mirai 22" Digital
Right monitor - Dell 19"
MATROX TripleHead2Go Digital Edition - running surround gaming across 3 screens.
+ Track IR 4 Pro
+ state of the art force feedback pedals and sticks for flying
+ state of the art force feedback pedals and wheel for racing
+ SAITEK Pro Gamer Command Unit
+ SAITEK P8000 Programmable Command Unit

As you see, with my MATROX box, I can and do run surround gaming across a mixture of three CRT & digital screens giving a combined display of 3850 x 780 (I think) so I am also anxious to hear from anyone who knows how to get SH III and SH IV running across the whole display without distortion. Using Track IR 4 Pro in all cases this "heavy" rig runs the excellent Sailors of the Sky gliding simulator, Microsoft's FSX civilian flight simulator, Call of Duty 4 FPS and rFactor racing simulators magnificently and I would dearly love to see major stormy weather in SH III and SH IV running across three screens! I would also love to get Track IR Pro 4 running in the sub interiors again, the way I had it running before my reformat. The only think I really hate about SH III are the ghastly badly drawn crew faces and clunky avtars, so I am looking to maximally improve the faces, uniforms, hats and medals and I'm after realism rather than artwork.

The provisional MOD combo I have in mind for SH III is that favoured by Einsman -
[JSGME2 used to apply GWX2.1 + SH3 Commander + OLC Ubermod 2.42+100% realism.] I was also thinking of adding to that the optimum wave & weather MODS including the hurricane MOD, plus the best radio manager, and gramaphone collection. I have already downloaded a plethora of MODs ready to do this.

Just YOUR OWN PERSONAL ideal list that you KNOW will run perfectly in concert in SHIII and ditto for SH IV.

Three other questions.

1. I have the commercial DVD SH III add-on "U-Boat Battle in the Mediterranean" can I use JSGME 2.0 to install or de-install this like any other MOD?

2. Does anyone happen know if this is a commercial incarnation of the U-Boat uberMOD?

3. Does anybody know if this Add-On is compatible with GWX2.1 etc?

Over to you gentlemen . . . . .