RUB? IUB?

[bsalyers]

I'm sure this is much discussed elsewhere, but I never found it. Apologies if I'm wasting anyone's time.
I'm about to finish a full career in SHIII. I play mostly unmodded, except for a few small things like the German cheer mod and some gramaphone ear-candy (and recently, the Type IXD2 range correction). I play with all realism options selected, with the exception of camera views, because I love the graphics.
Next career, I'd like to start out with one of the big one-stop shopping mods like Real U-Boat or Improved U-Boat. My question is, which? I like historical accuracy and enjoy a challenge, so I was initially thinking RUB, but then I read about IUB, and it sounds great. Can anyone enlighten me with their experiences?
THANKS!

I used the pick-and-choose method. I downloaded RUB to my desktop, read the Readme and proceeded to use all the files I thought would make my gaming experience more 'real'. I recommend SHIII Commander for that added 'extra'.

You'll find in the long run that it's only as real as you imagine it to be.

[Kaptan Tommy]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

You'll find in the long run that it's only as real as you imagine it to be.

Well put...

[bsalyers]

I agree, and my imagination has yet to fail me. That said, my original question stands. I'm a computer consultant and I spend all day tweaking other people's rigs; I have zero desire to do that myself when I'm home and off work. I am highly unlikely to ever spend hours installing dozens of mods, trouble-shooting their compatibility, then tweaking config files to make them more to my liking. I played and LOVED the Pacific Aces mod for SHII. I'm looking for a one-stop mod to add eye-candy and realism to SHIII.
One of the things that is discouraging is that in order to get a sense of what most of the mods do, you have to download them and read the documentation. I'd be more apt to play with individual mods if there was a descriptive paragraph written somewhere that would give a person a little in-depth knowledge without requiring the investment in time and bandwidth to DL the whole thing. Maybe it's time for a mods review site...

[The Sweeper]

I agree with bsalyers there are to much mods to dll and test every single one of them.

I play rub 1.44 with sh3 comander and its very good in addition to this is there patch for new version of rub?

And for online play is it worth playing online?

Do mods make problems for online play?

Does jsgme is used for every mod?

And except rub (where is allmost everything covered and thx the makers of this mod great job guys) what are? (but not 20 mods only few more) that make it more reallistic?

If someone could spare 1 min of his precius time to answere these noobish questions i would be sooooo grateful!

A BIG THX in advance

[jasondef]

Originally Posted by bsalyers

One of the things that is discouraging is that in order to get a sense of what most of the mods do, you have to download them and read the documentation. I'd be more apt to play with individual mods if there was a descriptive paragraph written somewhere that would give a person a little in-depth knowledge without requiring the investment in time and bandwidth to DL the whole thing.

Originally Posted by The Sweeper

I agree with bsalyers there are to much mods to dll and test every single one of them.

U-Boot.Realsimulation.com is probably the largest database of mods around, and has mod descriptions that for some reason are somewhat "hidden". If you go to the U-Boot.Realsimulation.com home page:
http://mpgtext.net/u-boot/index.php?...id=5&Itemid=42
Then over to the left click "Articles" you will find the "SH3 Download Readme's" that describe all the mods. Use the "Filter" text field box to search for the desired mod. Its a little cumbersome to use, but they're there.

Originally Posted by The Sweeper

Does jsgme is used for every mod?

JSGME is not necessarily used for every mod. It can be used for any mod that merely replaces SH3 stock files with its own modified files, and the mod has to be packaged in the correct heirarchy of folders starting with the "data" folder, like "Data/menu/GUI/RecManual/CovGerman.tga" for example would replace the original stock SH3 game "CovGerman.tga" file, located deep inside the SH3 data folder, with the mod's own modified file. You can repackage any mod in this way with the correct data folder heirarchy of folders to make it JSMGE compatible. Then you can use JSMGE to quickly uninstall it later should you need to; it will automatically reinstall the original stock files when you uninstall a mod. This way you don't have to remember all the individual files that were replaced by the mod and manually remove them and replace them one by one with the original stock files if you need to uninstall the mod later.

Many mods don't just replace stock files, however, some of them add lines of code to files like the "menu_1024_768.ini" file, rather than replace the file completely. In these cases, you usually have to manually add those lines of code yourself to those files in addition to using the JSGME to replace other files of the mod. This is especially true when using multiple mods that alter the same file, like a couple of different mods that I use add a couple of different dials to your sub, and they both alter the "Dials.cfg" file differently. Consequently, you can't just "replace" the "Dials.cfg" file, because with each new mod installed it will replace that file with a new modified file that contains the additional codes that it needs, wiping out the old file that already has additional codes needed from previously installed other mods. Not sure if I explained that very well.

Originally Posted by bsalyers

I'm looking for a one-stop mod to add eye-candy and realism to SHIII.

I'd say at least one of the essential mods for this is Harbor Traffic mod. Adds much more life to the ports and harbors. And I must echo the recommendation of SH3Commander mod. Adds a whole new dimension to the game playing experience, and makes many more options and parameters tweakable and adjustable that you'll find should've been in the stock game!

Originally Posted by The Sweeper

And for online play is it worth playing online? Do mods make problems for online play?

Sorry, I have yet to venture into online play, can't say.

Originally Posted by The Sweeper

...is there patch for new version of rub? And except rub (where is allmost everything covered and thx the makers of this mod great job guys) what are? (but not 20 mods only few more) that make it more reallistic?

I have yet to mess with my realism that much (that will be my next career), so I can't say about that too much. But I've heard a lot of good things about "Not Your Grandmother's" (NYGM) Tonnage Mod and the NYGM Damage mod that adds more realistic values for those elements of the game. Those are surely going into my soon to be next career from all the feedback I've seen, along with of course rub/iub.

JSGME is not neccessary for any mod-it just makes it easier. I had a problem with it (probably of my own making) and don't use it at all; so no, you don't need it...but it helps.