Question about SH3Commander

[jaxa]

I like SH3Commander, especially included Merchant Variety Pack (I don't have to use installer for this).
I've got one question - is it possible to include to SH3Commander gramophone randomizer and use it via SH3Commander's "launch game" button?

[Beery]

You can randomize any gramophone selection by placing the tunes you want into the RANDOM folder under their usual directory structure.

[jaxa]

If I understand you right Beery, I should create this:
C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\SilentHunterIII\data\Sound\RANDOM
and copy to this folder all my MP3/OGG files and everything will be all right?

[Beery]

Inside SH3 Commander's Random folder (the Random folder should already exist if you're using the latest version) there should be 5 files numbered 0 to 4. To get a randomization of a single gramophone track (i.e. one track only playing on the gramophone, but randomized to play one of 5 random tunes) you'll need to do the following:

In the 0\Date\19390901 folder, create the following folder structure:
data\Sound\Gramophone. Inside the Gramophone folder place your first music selection. Rename it 'Tune0'

Then, in the 1\Date\19390901 folder, again create the folder structure
data\Sound\Gramophone. Inside the Gramophone folder place your second music selection. Again, rename it 'Tune0'.

Do the same for folder numbers 2, 3 and 4. Remember to use different music selections so that you get the randomization. Also, be sure that each music selection has the same file name and the same suffix (wav, mp3 etc.).

This will give you one gramophone tune, randomized to give any one of the 5 music tracks whenever you launch the game via SH3 Commander.

If you want more tracks, just add 5 more random tunes in the same folder structure as above, but this time name them all 'Tune1'. This will give you a two-song selection from one of the five numbered folders every time you play. You can have any number of tracks in this way. In other words this basically gives you a set of 5 'mix tapes' randomly selected for each patrol.

If you want tracks to change as the war progresses (e.g. if you have a song that was only recorded after 1943), use the following folder structure:

SH3 Commander\Random\0\Date\19430101\data\Sound\Gramop hone

In the Gramophone folder, place the 1943 song and rename it 'Tune0'. Do the same for all the random numbered folders (if you want the same tune to play in the Tune0 slot after 1943). With this new Tune0 placed in a 1943, a random selection of Tune0 tracks from the 19390901 folders will play from Sept. 1 1939 until Dec. 31 1942, and a non-random (because you placed the same song in all 5 random folders) 1943 song will play from Jan. 1 1943 until the war's end. If you want to randomize the 1943 Tune0 tracks, just place different Tune0 files in each of the 5 1943-dated folders, as shown above.

So basically, you have the flexibility to have any one of 5 random selections, tuned to any date you want. It is possible to place an infinite number of songs in the game, and you can have up to 10,000 different 'mix tapes' (5 variants every day for the entire war). With 5 randomly selected files to choose from, and with nearly 2000 dates to select from, you could put enough tunes in there that you'd never hear the same song twice.

[jaxa]

Beery, thanks for your exhaustive reply!

[Beery]

You can also mix random and non-random tunes by leaving a set of music in the game's Gramophone folder, and naming your random selections so that they play between the non-random ones. The game plays music in alphabetical order, so with a bit of clever naming, you can get non-random and random songs playing together, so that you always get your favourites mixed with some random tunes.