I would like to try Commander...

[mj3437]

Will I be able to continue my career? I have just finished my latest mission at Lorient on April 18 1941. I started this career on Aug. 1 1939. I am running SH3 w/ GWX 3.0 and no mods. Can I continue this career after installing Commander?
Can you point me to the preferred download and instructions for install for Commander?
Thanks for the help
MJ

[Sailor Steve]

SH3 Commander is not a mod. It is a tool which controls aspects of the game from outside. The parts of the game it does control - wave height, gun reload speed, randomizing gramophone tracks and many others - are done in such a manner that you should be in base between patrols when you activate it, but you shouldn't need to start a new career. Its other functions - ship names and the like - take place after the patrol is over and outside the game itself.

As to where to get it? Right here at Subsim Downloads.

Installation instructions can be found here.

[BigWalleye]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

SH3 Commander is not a mod. It is a tool which controls aspects of the game from outside. The parts of the game it does control - wave height, gun reload speed, randomizing gramophone tracks and many others - are done in such a manner that you should be in base between patrols when you activate it, but you shouldn't need to start a new career. Its other functions - ship names and the like - take place after the patrol is over and outside the game itself.

Steve, I must say that's a new one for me. SH3C unloads all its changes when you Rollback, and then re-applies them the next time you load SH3 from SH3C. So it's possible to change all your settings in between, and in the process, change a lot of SH3 files. I've done this, and I've added and changed things that SH3C loads, all while in the middle of a saved patrol.

I certainly can see the possibility of creating a corrupt save in that way. SH3C can, and does, change hex files as well as text files. So, as you say, it is safest to start using SH3C between missions and to not make any changes to SH3C settings during a patrol.

But the fact is that I have never, ever, encountered any problems that might be traced to changes SH3C has made. I had come to regard SH3C as pretty much bulletproof and felt that I could do absolutely anything with SH3C and not risk a CTDed save. Maybe I have just been very lucky.

[Sailor Steve]

Any observations I make are based on memory of games played long ago. I'm just getting back to the experimental stage. You are probably right.

[BigWalleye]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Any observations I make are based on memory of games played long ago. I'm just getting back to the experimental stage. You are probably right.

I didn't intend to make it a question of being right. I have had a certain amount of experience and that experience has led me to take a very trusting attitude toward SH3C: "I can do anything with it, and SH3C will never mess up my game." That attitude may not be entirely justifiable. You are quite right that SH3C does have the potential to mess with saved games. I started using SH3C very cavalierly before I looked into what it actually does. And it hasn't bitten me. That's not to say that it can't bite! The potential is certainly there.

[mj3437]

Thanks for the help! I'm off to Free Town and I don't have to babysit my crew the entire time. (no fatigue!!) Thanks again sirs, I followed all the links and read all the instructions, and was continuing my career with a trip to the South in no time. No babysitting! I may have more ? in the future, but for now I need to be more aggressive!
MJ
After rereading the above posts I'm a bit confused about rollback. Is it different when I start SH3 with the GWX3 shortcut and the Commander shortcut? Thanks again, I'll catch up after my watch is over!
MJ

[Sailor Steve]

Yes, it is different. If you start the game with the GWX shortcut Commander will not function for that patrol. It won't hurt anything; you might experience some incorrect settings. It's always a good idea to start with Commander.