New member and question about the FAIL "save game" feature...

[cawimmer430]

Hi guys,


Just a question. I'm pretty enraged about this one too.

DOES THE SAVE MISSION / GAME FUNCTION IN THIS SIMULATION EVEN WORK PROPERLY?

Everytime I start a saved mission I am placed in the control room, my boat is rocking like crazy (as if I am being depth charged), there is some sort of alarm sound (but not the crash dive alarm sound) and then I get the message that the mission is over. My crew isn't dead and my boat isn't sunk according to the little stat sheet that comes up but the mission just ends.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!? Seriously.

I've recently started this playing this game and I used the tutorial and single missions to practice. Now, in my first career mission I sink a destroyer on my first patrol and to preserve this moment I SAVE the career mission.

Later, when I load it, the same crap I described earlier occurs. Hell, I saved the damn mission when I was comfortably cruising on the surface at 1/3 speed in my Type IIA with no enemy in sight for miles. So why does the damn save game feature do this crap!?

Sorry for the offensive language but this I suppose enrages people. Is this a bug? Is there a patch I can download to fix this? Thanks for the help and advice.


Also, is there even a bearing feature inside the command center? When my crew calls out a contact I have trouble locating them. I quickly ascertained that the attack periscope with its 360-0 values is a poor substitute for a bearing system.

[Pisces]

Originally Posted by cawimmer430

Also, is there even a bearing feature inside the command center? When my crew calls out a contact I have trouble locating them. I quickly ascertained that the attack periscope with its 360-0 values is a poor substitute for a bearing system.

Hi Welcome.

But what else did you have in mind as a bearing system. That's just what is supposed to do. Not to mention, historically correct. The bearings are in relations to your bow. If you want the bearings in relation to north, just add your course to it. If the result is bigger than 360, then subtract 360 degrees. Or build one of the various angle solver disks and learn how to use it. If there is one I should advise to you, then it's Hitman's Attackdisk. It is so versatile. (But maybe a bit daunting for a beginner.) I don't really understand your problem with bearings.

Savegames are notorious for being buggy. Ubisoft never gave it a thurough testing, or so is the concensus. In regards to your experiences, the rocking sub at savegame start is familiar. It's as if all the important events earlier in the patrol happen again. However, the patrol ending in death should not normally happening. But it sometimes does. The following is from the GWX 3.0 manual. It has a good list of the most important bugs in stock SH3, usually with a workaround. Lucky for you, there is one for you aswel.

Players will occasionally experience the ―Crash Dive of Doom,‖ a known Silent Hunter III bug
where your game is saved normally, but when you restart the game, your U-boat starts at the bottom
of the ocean and sinks because it is far below crush depth. The workaround is to open the
Campaign.LND, Campaign.SCR, and Campaign.RND files in "Notepad" or "Wordpad", change the
―Windspeed=0.000000‖ to ―Windspeed=4‖, and then restart the same save game again.

[cawimmer430]

Originally Posted by Pisces

Hi Welcome.

But what else did you have in mind as a bearing system. That's just what is supposed to do. Not to mention, historically correct. The bearings are in relations to your bow. If you want the bearings in relation to north, just add your course to it. If the result is bigger than 360, then subtract 360 degrees. Or build one of the various angle solver disks and learn how to use it. If there is one I should advise to you, then it's Hitman's Attackdisk. It is so versatile. (But maybe a bit daunting for a beginner.) I don't really understand your problem with bearings.

Savegames are notorious for being buggy. Ubisoft never gave it a thurough testing, or so is the concensus. In regards to your experiences, the rocking sub at savegame start is familiar. It's as if all the important events earlier in the patrol happen again. However, the patrol ending in death should not normally happening. But it sometimes does. The following is from the GWX 3.0 manual. It has a good list of the most important bugs in stock SH3, usually with a workaround. Lucky for you, there is one for you aswel.

Hi Pisces,

Thanks for the info. I've been trying to edit the Campaign files but I have two problems that keep popping up.

The first problem is that my weather isn't all zeros but "5.000000". Is that good or bad? Should I still continue to change it to "4ll"?

Also, what exactly are the two bars behind the 4 in "4‖". Are those two small "L's"? (ll)?


And here's my second problem. I cannot save the edited mission file in either WordPad or Text Editor. I am running Windows Vista and I have set SH3 to run in simulated Windows XP format with administrator control. I have removed the administrator control but I still cannot save the mission files. The computer keeps asking me to specify the correct path and I even manually save the edited file in its Ubisoft-Data-Campaign... folder and I still get the same message.

This stuff is really frustrating. You'd think that they'd test this game better before releasing it. A working save game function in this simulation is a much. Imagine having to start out in France or Germany over and over again after saving your mission in the middle of the Atlantic or something.

[Pisces]

Originally Posted by cawimmer430

Hi Pisces,

Thanks for the info. I've been trying to edit the Campaign files but I have two problems that keep popping up.

The first problem is that my weather isn't all zeros but "5.000000". Is that good or bad? Should I still continue to change it to "4ll"?

Also, what exactly are the two bars behind the 4 in "4‖". Are those two small "L's"? (ll)?

You can ignore that "ll" (and also the dash before Windspeed) character in the quoted text. They seem to be a starting- and ending-quotation mark that was transformed wrongly into those characters when I copy/pasted the text out of the GWX 3 pdf-manual. If you read it in the original pdf file you se only the quotation marks. To be honest, I don't know what are normal windspeed settings in those files. You'll have to investigate, try or ask others about it. I just knew where this crashdive of doom bug was described. I never experienced it myself.

And here's my second problem. I cannot save the edited mission file in either WordPad or Text Editor. I am running Windows Vista and I have set SH3 to run in simulated Windows XP format with administrator control. I have removed the administrator control but I still cannot save the mission files. The computer keeps asking me to specify the correct path and I even manually save the edited file in its Ubisoft-Data-Campaign... folder and I still get the same message.

This stuff is really frustrating. You'd think that they'd test this game better before releasing it. A working save game function in this simulation is a much. Imagine having to start out in France or Germany over and over again after saving your mission in the middle of the Atlantic or something.

You probably installed the game into the default location in the 'c:\Program Files' folder, right? Yeah Vista doesn't like it if you modify files in those folders. (with good reason, like preventing malware mayhem) Next time, when you want to install games that you intent to mod, keep them out of there. Vista checking for account priveleges, and restricting those rights, is a good thing, but for deliberate modding it's a nuisance. Allready being aware of this issue I therefore I installed SH3 and SH3Commander in a seperate folder named c:\games. No problems whatsoever.

You should be able to edit those campaign files when you are logged on into a profile with administrator priveleges. Then Vista just wants you to acknowledge your intent when you open/save the file. If you want to do it when logged on as ordinary user you should start notepad or wordpad with the 'run as administrator' option. Don't modify the properties of the notepad.exe (c:\windows) or wordpad.exe (c:\Program Files\WindowsNT\Accessories). Just rightclick on notepad.exe (for example) and choose 'run as admin' when the context menu shows up. Then locate the campaign files and change and save as neccesary. Then you just have to provide an administrator password.

[cawimmer430]

Originally Posted by Pisces

You can ignore that "ll" (and also the dash before Windspeed) character in the quoted text. They seem to be a starting- and ending-quotation mark that was transformed wrongly into those characters when I copy/pasted the text out of the GWX 3 pdf-manual. If you read it in the original pdf file you se only the quotation marks. To be honest, I don't know what are normal windspeed settings in those files. You'll have to investigate, try or ask others about it. I just knew where this crashdive of doom bug was described. I never experienced it myself.

Man, I am really wishing someone at Ubisoft Romania got their act together and tested the save game feature properly. Distancing yourself after every kill for a reliable save isn't possible on some occasions. And escorts sometimes seem to know where you are even when you are creeping away at extremely low speed in silent run mode.

Originally Posted by Pisces

You probably installed the game into the default location in the 'c:\Program Files' folder, right? Yeah Vista doesn't like it if you modify files in those folders. (with good reason, like preventing malware mayhem) Next time, when you want to install games that you intent to mod, keep them out of there. Vista checking for account priveleges, and restricting those rights, is a good thing, but for deliberate modding it's a nuisance. Allready being aware of this issue I therefore I installed SH3 and SH3Commander in a seperate folder named c:\games. No problems whatsoever.

You should be able to edit those campaign files when you are logged on into a profile with administrator priveleges. Then Vista just wants you to acknowledge your intent when you open/save the file. If you want to do it when logged on as ordinary user you should start notepad or wordpad with the 'run as administrator' option. Don't modify the properties of the notepad.exe (c:\windows) or wordpad.exe (c:\Program Files\WindowsNT\Accessories). Just rightclick on notepad.exe (for example) and choose 'run as admin' when the context menu shows up. Then locate the campaign files and change and save as neccesary. Then you just have to provide an administrator password.

It seems to work for other games. I also am an avid player of IL-2 Sturmovik 1946 which is also made by Ubisoft and I regularly edit mission files in order to give me a desired plane or role in a mission. No problems whatsoever.

The problem only pops up with Silent Hunter III where I can edit the mission files but not save them.

Also, IL-2 and SH3 are both saved on my C-Drive. Weird...

[sharkbit]

Don't overstress yourself on the save game stuff. I've broken every rule in the book and never had a problem <knock on wood> in a year and a half of playing.
I've saved with a convoy only a few km away, near land, under attack from destroyers, submerged, surfaced, damaged, and in the middle of the Atlantic thousands of km from land and ships.

I'm sure it will happen to me eventually but I don't lay awake at night worrying about it.

Welcome aboard!

[Alien1099]

Every time I load a game, the boat always looks like it rocks momentarily in the control room. Not really a bit deal it's only for 2 seconds. My main problem with the save game feature is that a lot of the time the file crashes the game and you have to reload an even earlier save sometimes repeatedly, causing you to lose a lot of progress.

[karamazovnew]

This has been stated many times:

- Don't save when there's an enemy ship in your proximity. Safest "proximity" is 30 km.
- Don't save then there's a sunk enemy ship in your proximity. The smallest proximity for that is again 30 km.
- Don't save when close to large bodies of land. (I almost said "bodies of water" there )

One corrupt save, once made, even if it's not loaded, will corrupt any future saves, including the seamingly "safe" ones. Best aproach to saving the game is this:
- from time to time backup your Save folder
- make a save as you start the mission (you don't want to replace all your torpedoes AGAIN)
- when you make contact with the enemy, save asap. Not if there's a DD already firing at you, of course. Contact means sonar contacts, visual contacts and even high Time Compression large drops in framerate (there's a convoy near you).
- save again as you approach safely in a different spot. They might spot you immediately when you load this save, or maybe not.
- after a kill, resist the urge to save again as the DD's come rushing to you. Escape, get 30km between you and the nearest wreck, then save again in another spot.

That rocking thing is normal. Just imagine that you just came down the steps in a hurry and tripped over Bernard. The sound is also normal. It was made by Bernard as his face scrapped the floor.

[Hanomag]

Welcome Aboard Herr Kaluen!!!

[mookiemookie]

I think you're overreacting just a tad. Calm down. Picture a sunny day and birds chirping in the trees. Go to your happy place.

First off, when you save and exit and the game gives you the "mission failed - user exit" message, don't take it to heart. Your save game is just fine. The next time you load your game, you'll be at the exact position that you were at when you saved the game. It's just the way the game is when you exit after saving. It means nothing.

Secondly, when you load up your save, you may see the lights flicker and hear broken glass. That's due to the way the game loads up the state of your submarine. First it loads your sub, then it applies any damage you may have suffered previously. Again, this is nothing to be concerned about. It's just the way the game loads.

Is it the most elegant system in the world? No, obviously not. Does it work? Sure, for the most part. I've had very few save game bugs crop up in my 4 years of playing this game.

[cawimmer430]

Thank you all for the welcomes and responses.

And thanks very much for the information, tips and hints regarding the save feature. I really appreciate it. I'm going to try and increase my tonnage now! One destroyer sunk by pure chance is too little for me - I am hungry for more!

Thanks again.