Help with mods. Need some advice.

[Corinthas]

Next to just plain old bug fixes, I am really only looking to jazz up the look and feel of the game and maybe ad a few more boats to sink? No much more.
I will also readily admit to being a save scummer and in the past have suffered massive loading times (cent remember which mod i had tried think it was GMX) which put me off.
I am currently reading the documentation behind LSH3-2020 which warns: DON'T SAVE MANUALLY IT CAN KILL YOUR CAREER. Never had an issue with the vanilla game :/
Anyway with all that in mind, what can you advise?
Should I bother at all with a mod? Which mod is best for what?

[ZeroFuqsGiven]

I think this is what you are looking for. Can be a PITA to install though but once it is it's totally worth it.

https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=232178

[33lima]

GWX3 Gold loading times are fine. IIRC it's LSH that is known for long load times, presumably due to loading lots of content. Also it needs a separate installs for single missions and campaigns, so the user guide says as you've probably seen.

I've played vanilla SH3 for a while and think it's great. Then I used DEF's SH3 Front End tool to apply the 'Steam fix' and create a second install so I could try a mega-mod as well. I chose GWX3 Gold for ease of installation partly, and it adds a huge amount to the whole experience. Heck, I'm even enjoying following my minesweeper escorts out of port, as well as being able to top up from U-tankers or covert supply ships. There is a lot more variety of shipping. It's also more difficult in some respects (locating reported ships or convoys) so even if (like me) not using manual TDC, less suitable if not wanting that.

Other mega-mods I can't comment on, each no doubt has its adherents.

[⚓ 🅵🅸🅴🅳🅻🅴🆁]

This question is so frequently asked that I put it into
FIEDLER'S SH3 STEAM FAQ[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]

My opinion is that everybody shall play his favourite mod as preferred.

My TOP 3 are;

• GWM (MultiPlayer only)
  
• CCOM
  
• GWR

And for GWX, a very old but the most widely used megamod ever, I've even written detailed instructions:
How to run STEAM-SH3-V1.6b-GWX-WIDESCREEN on Win10

You'll see there's a pattern how to use mods with Steam-SH3, so if you replace GWX with your favourite one, you'll see you'll be fine.

If you decide you don't need to keep that pattern, you'll find that you're going to run into issues like this or this sooner or later. Your choice.

BTW: If you dislike that unnecessary eye-candy that's called port traffic, then LSH is your worst choice really.

But not save at all? Must be some LSH issue then. I don't play LSH.

Like I wrote somewhere here before, I can no longer recommend what the LSH-guys wrote or write. They've proved themselves incompetent more than once. For example they've insisted to mislead the SH3-community for several years by stating that LSH doesn't work with STEAM. Only because THEY were unable to get that done, they continuously bad-mouthed existing solutions! So I'll never again believe them a word!

As you can see in my "Kommandant-thread"
(here: www.donitzeliteflotilla.com/forum/index.php?topic=2829)
I've saved a number of times with GWX. ZERO crashes.

I simply kept the savegame rules that I collected from the net and put into the FAQ[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]. My conclusion (I may be wrong) is that my TOP 3 mods are more stable than others. You can notice that's one major advantage of GWX.

[33lima]

Fiedler's guide is what I used. First reaction was 'This looks a bit complicated for me.' Second reaction was 'Actually this is less complicated than it looks and just needs followed carefully.' Third reaction was 'Am I glad I took the time to do it (and that Fiedler wrote it)!!!'

[ZeroFuqsGiven]

The arbwidegui mod transforms sh3. You get high resolution plus a ton of other things. I can't play vanilla without it. I haven't bothered with the other mods yet. If you watch wolfpack345 on YouTube and you'll see what the mod does.

[Corinthas]

Originally posted by 33lima:

Fiedler's guide is what I used. First reaction was 'This looks a bit complicated for me.' Second reaction was 'Actually this is less complicated than it looks and just needs followed carefully.' Third reaction was 'Am I glad I took the time to do it (and that Fiedler wrote it)!!!'

Problem is my question is NOT about how to install anything.
It was about:
1. Pros and cons of different mods. While fielders guide doeS not directly address this is does link to a second page where pros and cons are discussed.
Here:
http://www.donitzeliteflotilla.com/forum/index.php?topic=54.msg58#msg58

2. Questions regarding performance impact and the effects of save game corruption and career loss.

[Corinthas]

Also this:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=315056037
Which i found via google and not when I was looking though the guides sections here on steam :/

[Corinthas]

Yeah none of them look to great people detailing lots of port traffic.. yeah great detailing the place I will be spending the least amount of time and preventing time acceleration :D
Also can't understand why anyone would even bother trying to follow a 250 step guide written by some angry nerd when the manual warns you that saving the game at any time will cause a fiery and painful death to you and your career :D
So yeah while there is a lot of information out there they are not really addressing my concerns and questions.

[Corinthas]

Originally posted by 🅵🅸🅴🅳🅻🅴🆁:

Originally posted by Corinthas:

LSH3-2020 which warns: DON'T SAVE MANUALLY IT CAN KILL YOUR CAREER.

What does this want to say? What does "SAVE MANUALLY" mean?
BTW: If you dislike that unnecessary eye-candy that's called port traffic, then LSH is your worst choice really.

Here copy paste from the manual https://www.lsh3.com/v20/dl/LSH3-EDITION-2020-INSTALLATION_EN.pdf

Save game "manually":
Before and after each patrol, your commander's progress is automatically saved.
These automatic save points set by SH3 are quite reliable and can usually be reloaded without errors.
Caution should be taken when changing the type of submarine, when upgrading the equipment of the boat and / or also when transferring to another flotilla!
If this is the case, the game should be ended completely after the completion of the next enemy journey.
If after restarting the game, the CAREER can be loaded from the last save point, all changes have probably been applied correctly.
Unfortunately, SH3 is still very error-prone when "manually saving the game at sea"!
During a patrol, the game situation can be saved manually at any time, but you can not be sure whether this manual save can be reloaded later, or will work again later.
Many years of experience have shown that "manual saving" can often lead to the loss of the entire CAREER.
For the safety of a valuable "CAREER 1939 to 1945" we therefore recommend not to use manual saving at sea at all!
If you still want to create manual save points at sea, you should follow these rules:
1. your boat must have at least 25 km distance to land
2. your boat must have at least 25 km distance to other entities
3. there must not be any interactions, for example no sensing messages or even fighting actions etc.
4. after each manual save point, the game should be exited completely!
If errors still occur (after restarting the game) when loading the last enemy run (or the last manual save point), this last patrol is faulty and thus permanently lost. In this case, you
can only try to load previous save games (before/after patrols).
At best, you lose only one or more patrols, all the way back to the boat or even flotilla change.
In the worst case, the entire CAREER can no longer be loaded, caused by manual save points at sea!

[Corinthas]

@Fiedler
So I don't need the destroyers to be able to kill me from the opposite hemisphere, i dont need more planes either :D Alot of mods seem to be tweaking enemy AI etc.

Like I said just some basic graphics tweaks and some new and good looking things to sink maybe, not much more. Possibly the crew management fixed, as clicking surface cruise etc leads to crashing?
The one Mod I did try in the past has nice charts and info on the map screen, which was super useful. The arbwidegui looks like something maybe but put off my the complex installation procedure.
Also given that you seem to need like 3 or four additional things besides the mod you opt for (like SHcommander.. the front end etc.) has the community not though of bundeling all that up in a simple installer?

[Corinthas]

Well there you go:
NEVER SAVE IN A BATTLE
How the hell am I going to save scum like that :D
Yeah thanks for the efforts, but basically it's all to sweaty and toxic from what I read on the forums, even the how-to guides are written in a way that just rolls eye at you :D
Ill just stick to vanilla thanks.

[ZeroFuqsGiven]

Originally posted by Corinthas:

Well there you go:
NEVER SAVE IN A BATTLE
How the hell am I going to save scum like that :D
Yeah thanks for the efforts, but basically it's all to sweaty and toxic from what I read on the forums, even the how-to guides are written in a way that just rolls eye at you :D
Ill just stick to vanilla thanks.

Hey. Did you even bother looking at the mod I posted??? There are no save issues with this one.

You are SERIOUSLY missing out if you don't get the mod. I could never go back to vanilla

[Corinthas]

Originally posted by ZeroFuqsGiven:

Originally posted by Corinthas:

Well there you go:
NEVER SAVE IN A BATTLE
How the hell am I going to save scum like that :D
Yeah thanks for the efforts, but basically it's all to sweaty and toxic from what I read on the forums, even the how-to guides are written in a way that just rolls eye at you :D
Ill just stick to vanilla thanks.

Hey. Did you even bother looking at the mod I posted??? There are no save issues with this one.

You are SERIOUSLY missing out if you don't get the mod. I could never go back to vanilla

Yes I did see the mod you suggested.. the wudeigui one.. and yes it did look like something i was looking for,. but was put off by the post itself.. that wall of awful yellow text.
but now having read it again the installation looks simple.

OK you convinced me to try this :D

EDIT: Immediately confused by the 3 step instructions!!
Is TychoSh3Patch_v3 the same as hotfix 3.1?!?!
No seems not. Link is else where..
Why advertise two download links 0.3 and 0.3.1 hotfix.. I assume I just need the hotfix?!
See what I mean :D

EDIT EDIT: THE HOTFIX ZIP CONTAINS THE TYCHO PATCH,, GIVE ME STRENGTH :D

[Corinthas]

@ZeroFuqsGiven
Yep that was painless.. testing it now..

[Corinthas]

@ZeroFuqsGiven
Fail.
The map is bugged seems to be split in two?
googled and found somene sayin a reinstall solved it for him... problem is I has just reinstalled :D
Now.. the tycho patch does say i need the H.Sie patch for the exe however the exe works..
Jesus H on jetski!

As you can see the modding scene for SH3 is a omnishamble ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.
And while every single one of them is a better coder than me, they are a bunch of sweaty angry nerds that could not organise a pissup in a brewery *rolls eyes and pushed glasses up his nose, sighing * :D

I just hope with the current remake trend in the gaming industry I hope someone thinks of a SH3 remake :D