SILENT HUNTER III STEAM FAQ

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After chatting with some users it turned out that some of us here may be a bit exhausted with answering the same questions over and over again, because newbies mostly don't see that their question has been asked (and answered) before. Very often a one-minute-look through the first ten threads on the GENERAL DISCUSSIONS would have helped already.

Maybe this FAQ can save a lot of time and energy.

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These are the ones I've got so far, let me know if anything's missing!

Q: Can I talk to somebody and discuss my questions?

A: Yes! HERE[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]'s a Teamspeak-place where active players meet and talk.

Q: Does SH3 from Steam require the 1.4b patch by Ubisoft?

A: No. It already is updated to that.

Q: Does SH3 from Steam require the 4GB-Patch?

A: Yes, but you can't use the common 4GBPatch.exe to patch Steam's SH3! SH3 from Steam requires to take some extra steps. Only the Steam-Fix actually takes these extra steps! I'm not too much into the tech background, but you can read details here: Why you can NOT use the old 4GB-Patch.exe on a STEAM-version[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]

Q: For what do I need to run the STEAM-FIX?

A: You must remember that with an original STEAM-version you can only play the unmodded game flawlessly. So before you can engage in the wide wild world of mods and game patches you must first apply the Steam-Fix using SFSF[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]. The Steam-Fix activates the 4GB-Tuning specifically for SH3 from Steam, configures it to run in necessary compatibility-mode etc. and thereby solves all of the constantly recurring issues that users post here (regularly, almost on a weekly basis). It helped me to get going, too, because I've had the very same issues. I found the fix only very coincidentally myself when having a read of this thread and following the links therein: [TEC] Installation of SH3 on anything later than WinXP (Vista, 7 / 8 / 10...)[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]

Q: Error "Can not initialize 3D engine"?

A: Read: [HOWTO] solve the error "Can not initialize 3D Engine"[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]

Q: Error "Game starts PAUSED"?

A: Read: [HOWTO] Fix error "game stuck on pause"[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]

Q: How can I get Silent Hunter to run in 1920x1080 resolution?

A: Simple. Install a Widescreen-Mod. Here you can find them:
[SH3RES]_Widescreen-Resolution-Fixes[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com].

Q: Where can I find mods?

A: Read: [S3G] The Silent Hunter III Guide - Not Only For Beginners of [SH3][www.donitzeliteflotilla.com],
there section 02 - Resources - What You Really Need!

Q: Which mods do you recommend? Is ABC the best mega-mod for SH3?

A: Everybody's got his own prefs and favs. Here are some lists you can choose from:
List of Mega-Mods:
[S3G] The Silent Hunter III Guide - Not Only For Beginners of [SH3][www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]
Look what others run as mods in the list of 'mod-soups':
[HOWTO] Your JSGME-MOD-List For SH3[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]

Q: Does the mod xyz work with Steam?

A: All mods do! But you must remember that with an original STEAM-version you can only play the unmodded game flawlessly. So before you can engage in the wide wild world of mods and game patches you must first apply the Steam-Fix using SFSF[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com].

Q: How do you install a mod?

A: Download and unpack the mod. Every good mod has instructions included.

Q: SH3, SH4 or SH5? Is SH3 the best submarine simulation?

A: Definitely yes, and here's why:
Silent Hunter III - and how it compares to SH4 & SH5[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]
Why We Choose to Play SH3 Instead of SH4 and/or SH5[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]

Q: Does STEAM's SH3 run on Windows version xyz?

A: Yes. It runs on all versions of Windows. All you must do is apply the Steam-Fix: SFSF[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com].

Q: How can I properly install GWX?

A: How to run STEAM-SH3-V1.6b-GWX-WIDESCREEN on Win10

Q: GWX can't be installed. Says it finds modded files.

A: You've overlooked an important detail that is explained in How to run STEAM-SH3-V1.6b-GWX-WIDESCREEN on Win10

Q: Game crashes on load at 90% or freezes seemingly".

A: Consider that in 99% of the times players say the game has crashed when it hasn't only because they're not patient enough to have it load properly, i.e.the loading bar stops moving for some moments. That is normal! The game has mostly not crashed! Leave it running! Especially savegames take ages to load. Be patient!

Q: Game crashes on load like "Black Screen after intro movie".

A: This is a compatibility-problem. You can have this repaired quite easily by applying the Steam-Fix: SFSF[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]

Q: Game crashes on load of a previously created savegame

A: Never change your mod setup when your Uboot is still out at sea! Also keep the few basic rules to avoid CTDs And Savegame Crashes[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]

Q: How can I avoid SAVEGAME-crashes?

A: Keep some basic rules: [HOWTO] Avoid CTDs And Savegame Crashes[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]

Q: LSH3 install problem ! [no valid SH3.exe]

A: You can have this repaired quite simply by applying the Steam-Fix: SFSF[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com].

Q: Application Load Error

A: This is an error given by the Steam-Launcher that indicates you haven't run the Steam-Fix: SFSF[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com].

Q: Bad weather in SH3

A: There seems to be new knowledge about SH3 WEATHER, it causes crashes and there're obviously better alternatives available. See: [HOWTO] Fix the "Always-Bad-Weather-Bug" in SH3[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]. You don't have this issue if you followed the instruction provided in How to run STEAM-SH3-V1.6b-GWX-WIDESCREEN on Win10.

Q: How do I backup my saved career (to another computer)?

A: Run the windows command: %UserProfile% and navigate to the folder: Documents
Here, locate the directories that are 3 letters short.
SH3 is your game data for the stock-game, GWX is for GWX and so on.
Copy these folders and paste them to same location on new computer.

Q: Silent Hunter 3

A: Please! Find a better suiting subject of your topic! Will ya! Many others will not even read a question when it's obvious that the OP hasn't even spent the time to find a better, suitable subject.

Q: Is multiplayer/coop still possible with SH3?

A: Yes. The Death of Evolve is not the End of Multiplayer[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]Read what you need to play SH3 - MultiPlayer-Wolfpack-missions here[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com].

Q: Where can I download mission files to play?

A: Here: [S3MA] - THE SILENT HUNTER III - MISSION ARCHIVE[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]

Q: Can I somehow write own mission files?

A: Yes. Use the mission editor that's included with the game. An updated version that also functions in widescreen-resolutions (the original doesn't) can be downloaded here: [S3MT] - The Silent Hunter III-Mission Toolkit[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]. You can also write your own missions if you dislike the available ones and have them archived and hosted.

Q: How to make screenshots

A: In all standard game resolutions you can make a screenshot by using CTRL+F11 - but only as long as you're using the standard resolution!
As soon as you change your mind and run any Widescreen-Mod, this very often ceases to function, i.e. you'll need a different way then, because many widescreen-mods disable the CTRL+F11 function. [S3G] The Silent Hunter III Guide - Not Only For Beginners of [SH3][www.donitzeliteflotilla.com] > Recommended Tools And Addons For Players... is where you can find screenshot tools that circumvent that limitation.

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GENERAL HELP:

[HOWTO] - Collected Actual Help[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]

SPECIFIC SH3 INSTALLATION HELP:

[S3G] The Silent Hunter III Guide - Not Only For Beginners of [SH3][www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]
(includes overview on all the major mega mods and many links)

SPECIFIC SH3 & WINDOWS HELP:

[TEC] Installation of SH3 on anything later than WinXP (Vista, 7 / 8 / 10...)[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]

SPECIFIC SH3 PATCHES HELP:

[TEC] PATCHES FOR SiLENT HUNTER III [SH3][www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]

OVERVIEW ON SH3 ADDONS AND TOOLS:

Current Projects - An Introduction[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]

The world's largest SH3-archive with all mods FOR FREE

[S3A] - The Silent Hunter III Archive[www.donitzeliteflotilla.com]


You should consider making a donation to those individual modders! Those individual modders have spent their time, not Subsim or Ubisoft!

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I've added some more...

[Anderson]

Great job!

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Added a new link with some very interesting tech info