New Kalun(sp?), with questions.

[TabbyHunter]

Hello all. I have had the game for a month or so, and it is the coolest game i have played in ages. I had SH4 but my comp couldnt run it, sadly.

Recently, i play at about 30% realisim, and that is about it...please, dont try to persuade me one way or another on that. I want this t obe a game for me, not a sim.

Now, my first question is, How do i install mods? I know i probably wont be able to instal GWX any time soon, so im playing Vannila. The main mod i want is ship mods, and, is there a Triton Class mod around? I know one was in Mr. Fleck's movie "Fate"... And the silver and black torpedo is another one i would like.

And second question...Were on earth are the battleships? I spent 43 patrols before sinking with out ever seeing any thing more then a Fiji cruiser, and even then, i was forced deep and kicked outa the area by the escorts. That crew had over 200 ships sunk too, and i had just got the IXD too.

Thanks for your help.

[Sailor Steve]

WELCOME ABOARD!

Don't worry about realism levels. Some like a lot, some like a little, and it's all good. You won't get too much of that here. The only ones I ever go off on are the people who brag about sinking a million tons, and are playing on the easy levels. But they're mostly at the official UBI forums.

Me, I play at fairly high/medium levels, but I don't brag (and I don't sink much).

I can't help too much with your specific problems, but there are plenty who can, and they'll be around.

[TabbyHunter]

Yea, i had about 438.xxx on the U-Boot Ace...screen.

And i remember, not 3 days before America declars war, i sunk an american ocean liner. Good for tonnage, bad for Renown.

[Sailor Steve]

It wasn't until the GWX mod that you could start before the war itself began. Every now and then we get somebody who wants to know why their own guys are shooting at them. If you attack a neutral or friendly country they declare war on YOU for 24 hours. They were attacking British ships in August 1939, and everybody's neutral at that point, so...

On the other hand, I never do anything wrong.

You'll find a huge helpful bunch here, and a fun-loving one.

[TabbyHunter]

That would have happend to me, as on my first "real" career, i sunk a small costal merchant, neut. If i haddent been lucky and not seen a german ship, i woulda been screwed, pun intended. But, lucky ol' me snuck into scapa, sunk 4-6 Tribal, V&W, and Hunt 1 destroyers before returning to base with the easy way out.

Also, here is the link to Mr. Fleck's video Fate. He had the Silver and black torpedo and the Triton class sub at the end.

[fw66]

Hi, I'm pretty sure I've seen that vid, and it looks like he was using the mod GWX as it uses that model of the T-class (as an ai sub). Similarly, I think the torpedo textures come from GWX. You could make your own torpedo textures and assign them using s3d (http://sh4.skwas.net/), which is a very useful tool for modding (always make backups though!).

Get JSGME (http://www.users.on.net/~jscones/sof...cts-jsgme.html) to install mods as it will mean that your game files have much less chance of being affected if anything goes wrong!

Once you've got jsgme, have a look in the downloads section of subsim and see what you like the look of - pretty much every mod is ready to be used with jsgme so it's all very handy.

About the battleships - you could be sneaky and open up the sh3 mission editor (it comes with the game and will be in the sh3 folder) and then open the campaign files. The scripted layer will show you where and when they definitely will be around, and the random layer will show you where they may randomly spawn and at what date this may happen.

Hope that helps!

[TabbyHunter]

That helps, but as i sometimes have the computer skills of a monkey (NOT trained by NASA), i cannot find the campaign folder in the mission editor.

[Sailor Steve]

I'm pretty computer illiterate myself, but we do learn by doing, and you'll be surprised what you pick up once you dig into it.

Once you have the mission editor open you need to find the Ubisoft folder. If you use Windows XP it should be under Program Files. If you're using Vista or Win7 I'm not sure where it will be. Someone who has those will have to tell you.

Either way, once you are in Ubisoft open Silent Hunter III, then Data. Campaigns should be the third folder down. You will then see Campaign LND, which controls all the land units, Campaign RND, which controls all the Random units such as convoys, and Campaign SCR, which controls all the scripted units, which includes the ships in the harbors and all the historical movements and battles, which of course includes the task forces with the battleships.

It will look pretty daunting at first, as there are thousands of items on the map, but you'll get used to it after awhile.

[fw66]

Yes, as said by SS, the most productive way of learning about this sort of thing is just to have a look around; try to understand how the game uses its files. You'll pick it up quickly!

Once you've got the campaign layers up, remember that you can use the time filter on the tools panel to make the map less cluttered (eg only look at the entries for the first half of 1941 or whatever).

You can then left click on a group/unit and right click to see its properties (eg date, unit type, speed), you could also make your own additions (though again, always backup the original file!).

[TabbyHunter]

And there i get lost, as its a type of folder that i do not know how to open. And, if i screw up, such as delete a folder that is critical to the game, i lose the game for good, or atleast untill i get the game again. I have it so i dont need the disk to run, but need it to reinstall.

[fw66]

Open the sh3 mission editor first, then open the file using that.

So, first of all, make a copy of the file you're going to look at.

Let's say it's going to be the scripted layer of the campaign. Go Ubisoft>Silent Hunter III>Data>Campaigns

find "CampaignSCR" copy it and paste it somewhere and rename it "OriginalCampaignSCR" (or whatever you like!) - now you've got your backup.

Then open the mission editor and press the open file button or go to the dropdown menu in which it will say "open scripted layer" (or something similar, sorry, doing this from memory)

then a window will come up and you can navigate to Ubisoft>Silent Hunter III>Data>Campaigns and there you will see "CampaignSCR" - select and open

The scripted task forces/ships will now show up on the mission editor.

Alternatively, you could navigate to your copied file and then if you did change anything, you wouldn't even have to replace the file in the Campaign folder.

Hope that's cleared it up!

[TabbyHunter]

That is helping alot, but, as SS said, there is a hude amount of do-dads and whatchmacallits going on, and worst of all, i can zoom in! I know im sounding helpless, but, im literaly a sub outa water.

Also, this is confusing as there is no Map Key...All i see is a sea of greem

[fw66]

Yup, that's true!

Take some time having a look at it and it will become clear

Edit: Change the date settings and enemies will go red and friendlies blue. Narrow down the date on the tools bar (to something like 10/1939 - 01/1940) and the sea of green should reduce to a less cluttered amount of blue and red!

[TabbyHunter]

Thats just awnsering the sea of green problem...my main problem is im like, on the moon looking at this, is there a zoom feature anywere?

[fw66]

Have you got a mousewheel? As far as I remember, that's how it works! (there may also be an option in on of the dropdown menus, but I'm not too sure about that)