Silent Hunter III

Mission Editor
Users Guide DRAFT COPY ONLY !
v0.6, 25 September 2006 Dietrich@34thflotilla.com

Table of Contents

Table of Contents....Introduction...5 1.1 Important sections...Acknowledgements...Updates....Creating a Single-player mission...7 4.1 Building the mission...7 4.1.1 Setting up....7 4.1.2 Navigating about the map...7 4.1.3 Placing a target ship...8 4.1.4 Placing additional ships...11 4.1.5 Placing the U-Boat...13 4.1.6 Setting the mission parameters..14 4.2 Installing the mission...16 4.3 Playing the mission...Creating a Multi-player mission...Mission editor concepts....20 6.1 Distance and speed....20 6.2 The Simulator....20 6.3 Files....How to implement....22 7.1 Removal of ships...22 7.2 Ships that patrol in loops...22 7.3 Ships that can take different routes..22 7.4 How to spawn a Random Generated Group..23 7.5 Aeroplanes....25 7.5.1 How to ensure that aeroplanes attack...25 7.6 Capital ship battles....26 7.7 Docked and stationary ships..26 7.8 Icebergs....27 7.9 Missions in different languages..27 7.10 Placing minefields...28 7.11 Adding radio messages...29 7.12 German characters....30 7.13 Different background loading screens..30 7.14 Different types of victory conditions...30 7.15 Changing victory conditions during the game..Troubleshooting....33 8.1.1 Vanishing units in the editor...33 8.1.2 Convoys breaking formation...Tips on creating good missions...34 9.1 Prevailing conditions...34 9.2 The right start....34 9.3 Historically feasible...34 9.4 Balanced game-play...34 9.5 Timing considerations....35
Dont overdo it!....35 Test it!....35 Professional finish...Mission ideas....Mission Editor Reference...39 11.1.1 SH3 Mission Editor Window...39 11.2 Menu bar....39 11.2.1 File...40 11.2.2 Edit...41 11.2.3 Mission....41 11.2.4 Tools....48 11.2.5 View....48 11.2.6 Performance....49 11.2.7 Help....50 11.3 Controls tool bar...50 11.3.1 File controls....50 11.3.2 Mode controls...51 11.3.3 Simulator controls...51 11.4 Tools Panel....52 11.5 The map interface...52 11.5.1 Add Map Note...53 11.5.2 Add Map Zone...53 11.5.3 Add Random Generated Group...54 11.5.4 Centre View....54 11.6 Individual unit icons...55 11.6.1 Add Waypoint...55 11.6.2 Unit Properties...55 11.6.3 Create Group from Unit...58 11.6.4 Join Group....58 11.6.5 Head to Waypoint...58 11.6.6 Centre View....58 11.7 Group leader icons....58 11.7.1 Add Waypoint...58 11.7.2 Group Properties....58 11.7.3 Unit Properties...60 11.7.4 Head to Waypoint...60 11.7.5 Pivot to Heading....60 11.7.6 Centre View....60 11.7.7 Arrange Group...60 11.8 Group member icons...62 11.8.1 Properties...63 11.8.2 Detach from Group...63 11.8.3 Centre View....63 11.9 Random Group icons...63 11.9.1 Add Waypoint...63 11.9.2 Head To Waypoint...63 11.9.3 Group Properties....63 11.9.4 Define Group Contents..65 11.9.5 Centre View....66 11.10 Waypoint icons...66

9.6 9.7 9.8

11.10.1 Add Waypoint....66 11.10.2 Properties....67 11.10.3 Centre View...68 11.11 Status Bar....68 11.12 Keyboard shortcuts....Further reading....70

1 Introduction

This manual describes how to create missions for the U-Boat game/simulator called Silent Hunter III (SH3). It assumes that you have this game, patched to version 1.4b, and the mission editor that comes with it. One of the great things about SH3 is that the publisher shipped the game editor, allowing players to create their own missions. Thus the playability of the game is greatly increased, and the community can share ideas, scenarios and even campaigns with each other. What you are now reading is my attempt at a Users Guide to help you get started with creating your own missions with this tool. It acts as both a tutorial and a reference manual. This guide deals only with creating missions, not campaigns. It has been written so that it is readable when printed it is often easier to have a printed version, than to constantly be switching between windows while actually trying to create a mission. (I have no intention of creating a cross-linked hypertext version, so dont bother asking.) It also collates as much information as possible into a single document. While all of this material is available on the Internet, it is widely scattered, making it difficult to use for general work.

Important sections

The manual is split into several sections, and I will not go through them all here check the Table of Contents for the full list. However, the important sections if you are new to the editor are these ones: Creating a Single-player mission If you are new to the mission editor, this chapter will explain how to create a simple mission. It assumes no prior knowledge. The idea of this section is to get you making missions as quickly and simply as possible. Creating a Multi-player mission This chapter describes how to create a multi-player mission for LAN or online play. It builds on the single player version, and tells you what extra things you need to do to make a multi-player mission. Mission editor concepts Here, the basic concepts used in the editor are explained. How to implement This section gives step-by-step instructions on how to put certain mission features into your game.
Mission Editor Reference This section goes through all the menus, buttons and icons that you will find in the Mission Editor. If you are wondering what something means or how to use it, this is the place to look. The SH3 Mission Editor is a bit rough in places, and there are a few quirks which can easily catch the novice unawares. If there is something important to note, it will be marked with a warning sign like the one shown here.

2 Acknowledgements

This manual was created in response to the needs of the online mission design workshops given for members of www.34thflotilla.com. It has been created by drawing on the experience of the community and various pieces of documentation. In particular, the author has used some material from RedDevil, Drebbel, edpet23, Gizzmoe, Neal Stevens, and other contributors to www.subsim.com and www.silenthunteriii.co.uk. He is also grateful to members of www.34thflotilla.com, members of www.sturmgruppewulf.co.uk and everyone on the Silent Hunter III Community Manual project. Silent Hunter III is 2005 Ubisoft Entertainment. Silent Hunter, Ubisoft and ubi.com are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the U.S. and/or other countries. This manual is provided for free as a service to the community. Feel free to distribute it, copy it, host it, print it, or whatever, as you wish. I do not ask for any money, credit or thanks, but if you would like to offer me a job as a technical writer, then let me know!

Then set your difficulty level, press start and your (hopefully!) loading. If all has gone well, youll soon be playing your newly created mission. Of course, when you do so, it is wise to have a piece of paper and a pencil to hand, in case you notice any minor problems in your creation. Jot them down and go back to fix them later.

Have a lot of fun!

5 Creating a Multi-player mission
Making a multi-player mission is as easy as creating a single player mission. The only difference is that you need to add more human-playable U-Boats! When playing a multiplayer mission, the player is often allowed to choose the U-Boat type that he or she plays. That means that the U-Boat type that you put into the mission may be over-ruled when the mission is played. Multiplayer missions may have up to eight players. Therefore, unless you wish to limit the number of players to an exact number, you must put in a total of eight UBoats, even if all of them are not necessarily going to be used. Each U-Boat should have its own waypoint and starting direction. These need to be set so that U-Boats dont easily collide (so try not to make the U-Boat routes cross each other). The U-Boats should also be arranged such that no one U-Boat has a major advantage in position over the others (unless you are specifically trying to do such a thing). Bear in mind that mission objectives are shared between the players. This means that what works for a single player mission may not be suitable for a multi-player mission and vice versa.
6 Mission editor concepts
This section discusses how a mission is put together and what the basic concepts are. It is not a how-to, but rather a look at the overall structure, which will help you get a feel for how the system works.

Units and waypoints

All ships, U-Boats, aeroplanes, subnets, minefields, aerodromes, and so on are units. Every unit must have at least one waypoint, regardless as to whether it can move or not (yes, even a shore-emplacement needs a waypoint!) Waypoints for moving units may be specified as circular areas, thus randomising the paths somewhat. Speeds can also be changed at the waypoint. Waypoints must be separated from each other by at least 1000 metres.

Distance and speed

In general, distances within the Mission Editor (and the game) are in either metres or kilometres. The rule is: 1 kilometre (km) = 1000 metres (m)
For those more familiar with the old Imperial system, 1 km = = = 3280.8399 feet 1093.6133 yards 0.621371192 miles
Speeds are given in knots (kt). A knot is one nautical mile per hour, and a nautical mile is defined as being exactly 1852 m. That means: 1 kt = = = = 1.852 km/h 0.5144444 m/s 1.687810 foot/second 1.150779 mph

Aeroplanes

Air units may be placed in the game, the same as any other unit. You can drag air units from the Air section of the Tools Panel to the game map, the same as you would for a ship or U-Boat. Note however, that an aeroplane needs a reasonable height and speed, otherwise it will crash as soon as it makes any attempt at manoeuvring.
How to ensure that aeroplanes attack
If you are not careful, the aircraft will just fly right by, without doing anything. To avoid this: Make sure the aircraft are not flying too high or too wide of the target. Sometimes the flak guns will outreach the aircraft's visual sighting (well, that's what it seems like). Make the aircraft "Elite". This makes them much more aggressive. Make sure they have a "payload". If they are set to basic, they've nothing to drop, so they don't deviate from their course. Give them at least some bombs.

Capital ship battles

This has nothing to do with U-Boats, but lets face it, it is rather nice to watch when some battleships open fire on each other.
To do this in a mission, simply place two opposing units or groups, and then set some waypoints so that they pass within firing range of each other. Generally the AI for capital ships is poor, so set their Crew Rating to Elite. This will ensure that as many poor actions are avoided as possible. Destroyers act much better and will go and chase smaller targets (Schnellboote and so on).
Docked and stationary ships
Docked ships can be added to harbour quaysides; it can be done for single missions and for the campaign_SCR, the steps are the same for both. The following instructions are based on some notes that were posted by Edpet23 on the subsim boards.

Placing the ships

Open or create a mission, choose a harbour and zoom into it with mouse wheel. Then once you zoom in simply select a ship and place it between the piers of the harbour, zoom as close as you can and place the ship dead centre between the piers. Remember your icon represents where the centre of the ship will dock on the pier. Once the ship is added, then add one waypoint; 1000-2000m distance should be sufficient. However make sure the waypoint goes in the same heading as the dock. This waypoint may need to be on land in order to get the alignment correct.

Ship speed

Right click the ship icon and select properties and set the speed to 5 knots or above, say 9 knots. Just make sure it's above 5 knots; setting it any lower will make it more difficult to be precise with the ships alignment on the pier. Close properties and then right click the ship icon and select Head to waypoint. This will make the ship face in the correct direction, next open properties again and once again reset the speed to zero 0 km. check docked ship and uncheck Delete on last waypoint and accept the properties. Be sure the Docked ship is checked and Delete on last waypoint is unchecked!!

second version to the other language folder in the SingleMissions or MultiMissions folders.
7.15 Changing victory conditions during the game
Although it is not strictly possible to change a victory condition during the game, it is possible to sign off victory conditions and to display new ones. To do this, you need to generate an event that modifies the victory condition either showing it, or modifying its state. See Section 11.2.3.4 for more information about this.

8 Troubleshooting

This section is for troubleshooting any problems. As most of the potential difficulties are covered elsewhere, there is little to go in here. However, if I receive any questions, I will update this section in subsequent versions of this manual.
Vanishing units in the editor
Occasionally you will go to drag a unit from the Tools Panel onto the map, whereupon it vanishes instantly! This can then later cause problems, because if that unit doesnt have a waypoint, then it wont let you validate and save the mission. The problem comes about from the simulator filter. If it is set to a narrow range, then some units will have default entry/exit dates outside of this range. As a result, they are placed on the map, but are not shown. To fix the problem, simply set the simulator range to something large; 1938/1 to 1945/12, say. Then all units will appear, and you will be able to edit/delete those elusive vanishing ones.
Ships continue sailing past their last waypoint
Sometimes you want ships to continue sailing when they reach their last waypoint, but more often you want them to stop (because they have reached a port). To fix this, select the last waypoint, and then select properties. Make the speed that the unit takes at the last waypoint zero. Thus, when it arrives, it will stop, rather than travel onwards (adopting the waypoint speed, and maintaining the previous heading). Note that if the Delete on last waypoint box in the unit properties is selected, then the unit will simply vanish at that point (which can be most disconcerting for the player!).
Convoys breaking formation
Sometimes you will have placed a convoy and have used the arrange group facility to set it up. However, on starting the mission, the convoy seems to scramble itself, ships go everywhere and there may even be collisions! To avoid this, make sure that the group does not start at 0 knots and that the separation is large enough. Typically, 500 m or more will suffice, but for large ships (such as passenger liners), separations of 700 or 800 m might be necessary.

historically accurate, and then let the players see if they can match or beat the historical result. Spice up a harbour; put U-boats in pens and have C-3 cargo ships under those large cranes. Add a fishing ship leaving the piers and then stopping to fish in an area off to the side or have a patrol boat or "Schnellboot" prowl around the entrance to the harbour and be there upon your arrival. And then put in the airraid by the RAF. (See Section 7.7 for information about placing docked ships.)
11 Mission Editor Reference
This section works through the entire Mission Editor as the software is presented. It is not really a useful place to learn how to create missions, but if you are wondering about a particular feature or what some icon or menu means, then it should be all systematically documented here.
11.1.1 SH3 Mission Editor Window
There is only one window for the Mission Editor, although there are several smaller windows that pop-up every now and then for data entry. These will be covered later. The main interface is split into the window border itself, the menu bar, the controls tool bar, the Tools Panel, the map itself and the unit icons that are placed on it. The title bar of the window will show the name of the current mission and, in square brackets after it, will be the working mode. This indicates the types of data to be written when the file is saved and the requirements needed for validating the file. Possible working modes are: [Normal mission]: The mission must have human-controlled units. The save operation saves everything in the scene and validates triggers, objectives and so on. [Random data layer] No validation is performed and only random groups are saved. [Scripted data layer] No validation is performed and everything is saved with the exception of random groups. [Land Units Layer] No validation performed and only land units are saved. [Map notes layer] No validation is performed and only map notes are saved. Normal missions are designed to be single engagements with a limited duration in time. They should focus on limited areas of the map, but there are no limits imposed to the designer. Missions are run over the campaign engine, so you do not need to cover the whole world with shipping and units. The campaign engine itself comprises three layers: The Random Layer includes all the naval traffic, from convoys to local fishing boats The Scripted Layer includes all the warship patrols, hunter-killer groups, military task forces and the mine fields. The Land Unit Layer includes the naval bases, the air bases and the coastal defenses

11.2 Menu bar

The menu bar is normally found at the top of the window, under the window title bar. It has seven menus.

Like the Triggers window, the Events window is partitioned so that on the left is the list of existing events, and some buttons to create new ones or to remove existing ones. To create a new Event, click on the Add Event button. This will bring up a small window, asking you for the name of the Event. When creating a new event, you are required to give it a unique name. Choose this name carefully not only should it be descriptive, but you are unable to change it once youve chosen it. On the right are the parameters associated with the given event. The first one decides what type the event is. These are as follows: Message The simplest event is to send a message to the player. When the event occurs this message will be sent to the player. There are two types of messages: critical and non-critical. A critical message will appear on the screen as a darkened box. There is no choice the player must react to it. Generally, critical messages are only suitable for tutorials or for messages to say there is no point continuing. For better immersion, use just the normal messages. A normal message will be a radio message; the radio officer will announce its arrival, but it is up to the player to deal with it in their own time via the radio messages screen (in-game shortcut M).
The radio transmitter in Germany for broadcasting to U-Boats was so powerful, that U-Boats could receive messages even when submerged to a depth of 15 metres. However, if deeper than that, the message would be missed. However, for important messages, there is the option of repeating them at semi-regular intervals until they have been received. Finally, there is the content of the message itself. This will appear on the next line after the header (so you can extend the header if you want). If you wish to start with normal text, leave a blank line. Note that the text is automatically line-wrapped by the game, thus each paragraph will look like a single line, separated by blank lines. Update Objective This event allows you to display objectives or to render them completed or not. If an objective starts hidden, you can use this mechanism to show them to the player. Dont forget to send them a radio message, if you think that this change of objectives should be noted! If the Update Objective option is selected, you should then use the drop down menu to select which objective is affected. There are three commands that can be then performed: o Show This is used to display an objective that was hitherto hidden. See Section 11.2.3.2 for information about how to create a hidden objective. o Fail This will force the status of the objective to be changed to Failed. For example, this can be useful if there was a time-limit associated with the objective. o Complete This will force the status of the objective to be changed to Complete. Sometimes this can be useful if the objective requirements are too complicated for the objective mechanics, but can be determined by other factors that can result in a trigger (see below). An example of this might be surviving until a certain time. Update Instant This can be used to spawn or delete individual units. This can be useful for calling in reinforcements that come into the game at an appropriate time thus not turning up to late or early!

Triggers for Events For each event, there is a box with the triggers that are used to cause the event to happen. Use the Add and Delete buttons to manage the list of all the triggers that will result in that event occurring. Note that is it possible to hang multiple events off a single trigger. For example, you could spawn a new unit, display the objective to sink it and send the player a radio message, all off a single trigger. For more information about triggers, see Section 11.2.3.3.
11.2.3.5 Validate Mission The last menu item in the Mission menu is Validate Mission. This handy function will check whether or not your mission is ready for use. Select the menu item, and a blank window will appear with a couple of buttons at the bottom of it. Select Validate Mission and the Mission Editor will check your mission for you. If the mission is ready to go, then the only message that will appear in the top message box is Mission Title: followed by the title of the mission that you gave in the mission parameters (Section 11.2.3.1). If there are any errors, they will be listed after this. Typically these will be things like missing waypoints, the wrong number of human-controlled units, units too close together, and so on. Before you can save the mission, youll need to go back and fix them all. As a result, it is a good habit to get into to validate your mission regularly as you build it. That will make finding the problems easier.

11.2.4 Tools

These control the way the map interface behaves. See Section 11.3.2 for full details. 11.2.4.1 Radius Ruler When selected, you can measure the distances between points on the map. See Section 11.3.2.1. 11.2.4.2 Show Estimated Time of Arrival When selected, the estimated time of arrival for units will be printed above each waypoint. See Section 11.3.2.2. 11.2.4.3 Pan View When selected, you can click-hold-and-drag the map about. See Section 11.3.2.3.

11.2.5 View

The View menu has a number of options that will reduce screen clutter. 11.2.5.1 Toolbar Toggle this option to show/hide the toolbar 11.2.5.2 Status bar Toggle this option to show/hide the status bar at the bottom of the screen. 11.2.5.3 Render accurate shore line As far as I can tell, this option makes no difference.

11.2.5.4 Show minefield distribution This is used to toggle whether or not individual mines are shown in a minefield. For more on minefields, see Section 7.10.

11.2.6 Performance

The Performance menu is split into two parts: Editing and Simulation. The Editing menu has less options, but they are the same as their counterparts in the Simulation menu, so they wont be discussed separately. Basically the options toggle whether certain items are plotted on the map; just dots and labels for the most part. At first you would think that this was just to save on clutter or something, but that it wouldnt have a great impact on performance as such. Well, thats true enough for a single mission, but try loading the Campaign_RND.mis (File Open Rnd Layer), and youll see why performance is actually an issue. Actually, this is a really good thing to do. It makes you appreciate how much traffic there was during the war (and how much is modelled in the game). 11.2.6.1 Editing These are the items to be plotted when editing the mission that is, the simulation is stopped. Click on the menu items to toggle whether they are displayed. See below for a description of what each option means. 11.2.6.2 Simulation When you run the simulator, you make the editor run the units to plot their positions as time progresses. The simulator is a way of previewing the campaign before actually playing it in the game. It is described in Section 6.1. Click on the menu items to toggle whether they are displayed. See below for a description of what each option means. Note that you can turn the options on and off while the simulation is running (although the simulation will pause while you access the menu). 11.2.6.3 Show WP icons The path of each unit is shown as a dark grey line, and loopback lines are shown in light grey. At each waypoint (vertex in the path), there may be a small black plotted. This is the WP icon. 11.2.6.4 Show WP radius One of the nice things about the waypoint system implemented in SH3, is that when traveling to a waypoint, it is possible to define a circle, and the waypoint will occur randomly within it for each time it is used. This means that some paths can be defined as tight, with little variation (such as a channel or port), and others can be very open (like a convoy turning point in the open Atlantic Ocean). The WP radius is a dark grey circle that is plotted to show where the jitter in the waypoint may lie.
11.2.6.5 Show random instance parent This option only applies to random groups. It plots a dark grey line between the unit and the point from where that unit spawns. It sometimes makes it easier to trace from whence things came, rather than trying to carefully trace back along the waypoints or stopping the simulation to go back to editing mode. 11.2.6.6 Show random instance name This option only applies to random groups. This will show the name of the unit that was spawned by the random group. The name will be the parent name, plus a sequential number of two or more digits, as required. 11.2.6.7 Show random instance path This option only applies to random groups. This shows the path of individual units that have been spawned by a random group. As a new unit is spawned, its individual path is calculated (allowing for randomness at any waypoints). This path is plotted on the map, and if you are running the simulation, you will see the newly created units follow this track.

11.2.7 Help

The last of the menus is the so-called Help menu. This is a complete misnomer. The user will not find any help here. 11.2.7.1 About SH3 Editor Try it. It doesnt even tell you what the date, version number or build number of the editor is! See what I mean about the lack of help? Hence this manual

11.3 Controls tool bar

The controls tool bar is normally located directly under the menu bar. It contains various file, operating mode and simulator controls.

11.3.1 File controls

These are the typical controls for files as you would expect in most applications. There is no are you sure? question with any of these operations. If you havent saved your work, you will lose it! 11.3.1.1 New Mission This is the equivalent of opening a new mission (see Section 11.2.1.1). The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl-N. 11.3.1.2 Open Mission This is the equivalent of opening a pre-existing mission (see Section 11.2.1.2). The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl-O (the letter o, not the number 0).
11.3.1.3 Save Mission This is the equivalent of saving the current mission (see Section 11.2.1.8). The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl-S.

11.3.2 Mode controls

11.3.2.1 Radius-ruler tool When selected, you can measure the distances between points on the map. Move the mouse cursor to one position, press the left mouse button, and drag it to the other position. A black line will be shown with the distance in kilometres printed beside is. This function will override the Pan View function. The keyboard shortcut for toggling this mode on and off is R. 11.3.2.2 Times When selected, the estimated time of arrival (ETA) for units will be printed above each waypoint. This is useful to check that the mission will not require an inordinate amount of time. The ETA is based on the unit speed, time of departure and distance to travel. It can be used to synchronise the arrival of multiple units at one location, such as an assembling convoy or recreating an historic battle encounter. 11.3.2.3 Pan-View function When selected, you can click-hold-and-drag the map about. When zoomed in, this is the easiest way of moving around. You can use the spacebar as a keyboard shortcut for toggling this mode on and off. If neither theRadius-rule or Pan-View functions are selected, then the mouse can be used for selecting and deselecting units on the map (see Section 11.5).
11.3.3 Simulator controls

11.5.3 Add Random Generated Group
A random group is not just a single group, but is actually a spawning point for multiple, randomly generated groups. It can be used for generating regular, repeated shipping, without the need to create and control each individual unit. Many of the options can be randomised, allowing for a more realistic feel. When you create a random group, you are first asked for the type of group: naval, air or land, as well as a name for the group. This random group name must be unique, and cannot be altered later, so choose it carefully. After that, the group contents definition screen is displayed. This is described more fully in Section 11.9.4.

11.5.4 Centre View

This will cause the map view to shift so that the select unit is at the centre of the map. It will also work for a selected waypoint. The keyboard shortcut for it is X. Note
that if there is no unit selected, and you press X, the map will centre to where your mouse cursor was.
11.6 Individual unit icons
Once a unit has been placed, it will be white with a coloured outline (Red=Allied, Blue=Axis, Green=Neutral) which will change according to the year specified in the Time filter start, and according to the date, should the simulator be running. If you click on the icon, the colouring inverts, and the unit is regarded as Selected. Right-clicking with a single (not multiple!) unit, will bring up the individual unit icons menu. (Note, this menu is different for units that lead or are attached to groups see Sections 11.7 and 11.8).

11.6.1 Add Waypoint

This will allow you to place an additional waypoint. If the unit has no waypoints, you will get a black line between it and your mouse cursor. When you left click, you will put the first waypoint for that unit at that location, and another black line will appear. Thus, you can string way points out as much as you want to draw the path for the object. Note that the first waypoint must be at least 1000 metres from the unit itself and each subsequent waypoint must be at least 1000 metres from the previous one. If they are not, the mission validation process will warn you. Once you have finished adding waypoints, right click to stop. If you select Add Waypoint for a unit which already has one or more waypoints, a new waypoint will be inserted exactly halfway between the unit and its first waypoint.

Spawn Probability and the Repeat Interval, you can control the sporadicity of the unit generation.
11.9.4 Define Group Contents
This menu item brings up a window which allows you to control the contents of the randomly spawned groups.
Select the settings of the unit to add and then press Add Entry to add it to the list. If Add Entry is not pressed, then the settings will apply to the currently selected entry when either a different entry is selected or Accept is pressed. Country: Nationality of the unit. Depending on the date, this will affect whether the unit is Allied, Axis or neutral. Unit Class: Once the nationality is selected the Unit Class menu will contain the types of units available to that nation. Additionally, there are GENERIC units that will result in the random select of any unit of the appropriate type at run time. Units No: The number of units that will be spawned. Spawn Probability: The chance that these units will actually appear in a given random group. For example at 100%, the unit will always be there. At 50%, the unit will only appear half the time.
Crew Rating: Defines how competent the crew is. The more experienced the crew, the better they will be at repairing damage, firing the deck guns, and so on. Units Version Date: Some units come with multiple version, improving as the war went on. This allows you to control this aspect of the unit. Internal Cargo: See Section 11.6.2. External Cargo: See Section 11.6.2. Loadout: (air units only) What bombs are carried. Aeroplanes with the basic loadout will only act as reconnaissance or machine gun strafing. Position as escort: For destroyers and some other ships, there is a choice between putting the unit in the convoy proper or locating it outside the columns in the traditional escort position.
Group Settings These control the placement of the convoy units and define the group leader. The Group Leader will always spawn, regardless of its spawn probability. Game behaviour is undefined if there are not enough ships to fill all the columns. The formation spacing must be large enough to accommodate a safe distance between ships. 300 metres is not enough for larger ships like T3 Tankers or Passenger Liners. To be safe in all circumstances, use 500 metres.

11.9.5 Centre View

The last item in the waypoint menu is Centre View, which will cause the map to shift so that this waypoint is in the centre. The keyboard shortcut for this is X.

11.10 Waypoint icons

Waypoint icons, when selected will either be red (for intermediate waypoints) or black-and-white-cheques for the final waypoint. They will be numbered WP1, WP2, and so on. If you click on a waypoint and the right click, there are three options.

11.10.1 Add Waypoint

This will allow you to place an additional waypoint. If you select this for the final waypoint, you will get a black line between it and your mouse cursor. When you left click, you will put a new waypoint at that location, and another black line will appear. Thus, you can string way points out as much as you want to draw the path for the object. Note that waypoints must be at least 1000 metres apart from one another. If they are not, the mission validation process will warn you. Once you have finished adding waypoints, right click to stop.
If you select Add Waypoint for an intermediate waypoint, a new waypoint will be inserted exactly halfway between that waypoint and the next one. If you are zoomed out, and you click on a group of waypoints, then you may not get the last one. If this happens, when you select Add Waypoint, it will just add another into this cluster, rather than giving you the black line allowing to place new ones at the end. Superficially it looks like its not working but it is, and not in the way you intended!

11.10.2 Properties

If you select the waypoint Properties menu item, a window will appear which will show you the parameters that are set when the unit reaches that waypoint.
Unit Name: is the name of the unit, to whom this waypoint belongs. You cannot change this. Speed: is the new speed the unit will adopt on reaching this waypoint. This is useful for making ships speed up and slow down (for example, as they arrive and leave port). Height: is normally greyed-out for ships, but may be set for certain units such as aeroplanes (positive numbers only!) or U-Boats (negative numbers only, or zero for surfaced). Loop to Waypoint: is normally set to Do not loop. This means that the unit, on reaching this waypoint, will simply move on to the next one. However, it is possible to set this so that the unit may loop to another earlier waypoint. Loop Probability: is the percentage chance that the unit will go to the alternative waypoint, rather than the next one. A zero percent chance is the same as Do no loop, and a 100 percent chance guarantees a loop. This is useful for patrolling ships and chances of alternative routes. See Sections 7.1 and 7.3 for ideas. Radius: defines a circle around the waypoint position. When a ship is going to this waypoint, it actually heads to random point anywhere within this circle. For ships that must traverse a particular path, then this should be zero, but to randomise the courses, this Radius tool is extremely useful.

SH3 COMMANDER

Release 3

USER GUIDE
SH3 Commander User Guide Release 3

Contents

Contents.... 2 Introduction..... 3 SH3 Commander minimum requirements.... 3 Mod compatibility.... 3 Installation..... 3 Microsoft Vista Users.... 3 Rolling back SH3 Commander... 3 Running SH3 Commander.... 4 Customising SH3 Commander and Silent Hunter III.. 4 General Settings.... 5 Career Options.... 6 Text Settings.... 7 Gameplay Settings... 8 Time Compression... 9 Personnel Files.... 10 Starting A New Career.... 11 Starting A Single Mission.... 12 Playing An Existing Career.... 13 Changing your career status... 14 Changing your next patrol grid... 14 Actions.... 15 Crew Manager.... 16 The Nightclub..... 18 General Features and Inclusions... 19 Features.... 19 NewsMod/RadioMod... 19 Random Ship Tonnage Mod.... 20 General Mod Inclusions.... 20 Version History.... 21 License Agreement, Copyright and Release Information... 28 Acknowledgements.... 28 Troubleshooting.... 29

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Introduction
SH3 Commander has been developed to serve several purposes. It: provides an historically-based framework around Silent Hunter III, such as adding Commander retirements, crew inward/outward transfers, and crew medal availability based on real criteria; removes static gameplay behaviour by allowing changes to be made to game files based on the career date - ship skins, aircraft roundels, sensor settings etc etc can all be changed as the war progresses, just like they did in real life; reduces gameplay certainty by supporting randomisation of any game setting in addition to simulating real life events such as malfunctions and sabotage; extends Silent Hunter III by giving your Commander a true identity. SH3 Commander builds a full profile of your Commander, including date and place of birth, enlistment date, promotion dates, and other key attributes, which are all including in the Personnel File feature.
SH3 Commander minimum requirements
To run SH3 Commander you must have installed: Windows XP, 2000 or Vista; Silent Hunter III with patch 1.4b. Attempting to run SH3 Commander on other operating systems or with earlier versions of Silent Hunter III is not supported and will result in game instability.

Mod compatibility

SH3 Commander can be used with all known mods. However, some mods may require replacement of certain SH3 Commander files, and/or may recommend specific settings. Be sure to check the associated mod readme files. You do not need to have any specific mods installed to use SH3 Commander.

Installation

To install SH3 Commander click on the installation file and follow the instructions. SH3 Commander can be installed anywhere and is totally independent of Silent Hunter III.

Microsoft Vista Users

If you intend running SH3 Commander on Microsoft Vista and have installed Silent Hunter III in your Program Files folder, then you must run SH3 Commander as administrator. To do this, after installing SH3 Commander, right-click on SH3Cmdr.exe in Windows Explorer and select "Run as Administrator". Alternatively, right-click on SH3Cmdr.exe and select "Properties". In the properties window select the "Compatibility" tab and check "Run this program in compatibility mode" and in the box below select "Windows XP (Service Pack 2)". In some instances you may need to apply both solutions.
Rolling back SH3 Commander
Rolling back SH3 Commander, or Rollback, are terms given to removing from Silent Hunter III the modifications that SH3 Commander has made. This can be achieved by clicking the

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icon from within SH3 Commander. This icon will only be visible if there are SH3 Commander modifications present in Silent Hunter III. In order to avoid any potential file integrity problems, it is imperative that you ALWAYS perform a rollback BEFORE: enabling or disabling any mods, either via JSGME or manually; uninstalling or reinstalling Silent Hunter III; uninstalling SH3 Commander. Your Commander career history information and SH3 Commander options are stored in a file called 'SH3Cmdr.ini'. If you want to preserve this data, you must never delete this file. Uninstalling SH3 Commander through Windows Add or Remove Programs will not delete this file.

Running SH3 Commander

Prior to running SH3 Commander you must have run Silent Hunter III at least once in order to set up your Silent Hunter III data files. To run SH3 Commander, click on the icon installed on your desktop, or click on SH3Cmdr.exe located in the SH3 Commander folder.

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Use real ship names in patrol logs: Select this option to replace the generic Silent Hunter III ship names (ie C3 Cargo) in the patrol logs with real ship names and (where known) cargo and crew details. Ship names will be added whenever you generate a Personnel File. Generate a Personnel File after each patrol and you'll always be up-to-date with real ship names. These ship names will display in both the SH3 Commander Personnel Files and Silent Hunter III itself. More ship names and classes can be added to SH3 Commander - see the instructions outlined in 'Ship names.cfg', located in your SH3 Commander\Cfg folder. Note that if you've changed your Silent Hunter III language preference at any time, this will impact the insertion of ship names. Only logs created using the current selected language will be updated. Unfortunately, Silent Hunter III isn't flexible enough to record different ship names during a patrol, so the standard names will always be recorded. Randomise gramophone tracks: Select this option to randomise the playing order of your gramophone tracks. Each time you load a career your tracks will be played in a different (random) order.

Text Settings

Hull Integrity % text: Some mods remove the Hull Integrity percentage figure from the game. This option allows you to show or hide the text regardless of what mods you install.

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Gameplay Settings
Use fatigue model: SH3 Commander comes with five different type of fatigue handling models, with the ability to add your own fatigue models. To add you own fatigue model, open up 'Crew fatigue models.cfg', located in your SH3 Commander\Cfg folder. Copy one of the existing blocks of values and paste at the end of the file. Update the number of this new block (the value contained between []) to be the last number plus 1. Then change all the values accordingly or add new keys as required (keys must be valid Basic.cfg CREW_* keys). What you enter for 'Desc' will be what is displayed as an option in SH3 Commander. Adjust water clarity: Select this option to make your water more opaque or transparent. 0 is opaque, 20 is transparent. The stock Silent Hunter III setting is 18. Set wave height: Select "Seasonal" for wave height to be set based on the time of the year higher waves during winter and lower waves during summer. Seasonal wave heights can be edited through 'SH3 options.cfg' located in your SH3 Commander\Cfg folder). Min. 88mm deck gun reload time: Select this option to adjust the reload time, in seconds, of your 88mm deck gun. Note that the time you choose is the minimum reload time. The actual reload time is dependant on crew efficiency so may be slower than what you choose. Min. 105mm deck gun reload time: Select this option to adjust the reload time, in seconds, of your 105mm deck gun. Note that the time you choose is the minimum reload time. The actual reload time is dependant on crew efficiency so may be slower than what you choose. Model effects: Select this option to model the effects of equipment malfunctions and/or sabotage. With this option selected you will need to make decisions like a real Commander if you identify faulty equipment, which can include damaged lens seals, damaged clutching/transmission components, leaking fuel tanks, worn batteries, faulty valves and seals, to name a few. Can you continue the patrol, or should you abort? The choice is yours. Randomise ship tonnage: See "General Features and Inclusions" section for more detail.

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Randomise U-boat crush depth: SH3 Commander will set the theoretical crush depth, with minor randomisation, for all U-boat types and variations. Editable through 'SH3 options.cfg' located in your SH3 Commander\Cfg folder.

Time Compression

This screen allows you to adjust Silent Hunter IIIs time compression settings. Please read the Troubleshooting section first as certain settings have adverse impacts on Silent Hunter III. Press the Reset button to return the selected events time compression value back to the default Silent Hunter III value.

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Personnel Files
This screen allows you to change the fonts and background of your Personnel Files (see Actions section). Press the Reset button to return all fonts and images back to the default SH3 Commander settings.

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Starting A New Career
By selecting 'New career' from the list presented on the left hand side of the main SH3 Commander screen, you can enter details in preparation for the commencement of a new career in Silent Hunter III. Enter a new Commander name or click the RN button to have SH3 Commander generate one from over 1.7+ billion possible combinations based on the names of actual U-boat crewmen and Commanders. Select your preferred start month and year, which can be any time during the war (this is dependant on what mods you have installed). Select a Flotilla and a U-boat type/variant, which can be any one that was available in your selected flotilla up to the selected career start date. Enter a U-boat number or leave blank to use one generated by Silent Hunter III. Select a crew configuration model to use, and click the check box if you wish to use unique (random) German crew names plus randomised crew experience. Enter a patrol grid or leave blank to use one generated by Silent Hunter III.
When finished setting up your new career, click and Silent Hunter III will load. When you start your new career in Silent Hunter III, your new career name should already be highlighted. Simply select it and then select the same year and Flotilla as you did in SH3 Commander and you're away! Your career will start on the first day of the same month as selected in SH3 Commander.

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you needing to manually change via the SH3 Options screen. You can click on the label to toggle status. *Note that extra days will be added if damage needs to be repaired; this is a limitation imposed by Silent Hunter III. 4. SH3 Commander allows you to change the next patrol grid within an existing career, including auto-selection based on your Flotilla and date. Note: NULL patrols grids are given by Silent Hunter III whenever you dock at a milk cow or other friendly base. These grids can only be changed during a patrol, not when you are in base. Accordingly, SH3 Commander will only allow NULL grids to be changed with mid-patrol save games. 5. You can replace the current Commander image with another by double-clicking on it. To use your own image, save it to your SH3 Commander\Images folder in jpg format. The image size should be 100 x 150 pixels to avoid stretch distortion. 6. If you want to return Silent Hunter III to its pre-SH3 Commander state, just click the icon. This will uninstall all the SH3 Commander-based mods. 7. Limit the changes you make in SH3 Commander to when you are in base between patrols. Making changes mid-patrol is not recommended and may cause game instability. 8. New careers will appear in SH3 Commander at either the completion of, or saving during, the first patrol, whichever occurs first. 9. With SH3 Commander you no longer need to load Silent Hunter III directly. You can load Silent Hunter III via SH3 Commander on all new, existing, in base, or mid-patrol careers. SH3 Commander recognises the status of each career and disables or enables your realistic settings based on "where you are" at that point in time. You will not be retired nor will you lose crewmen if you start a mid-patrol career (assuming those two realistic options are set).
Changing your career status
As Silent Hunter III does not support surrendering within careers, SH3 Commander gives you the ability to mark Lost at sea careers as Surrendered at sea if you were surfaced with crew on the bridge when your U-boat was destroyed. If your career is Retired, you can return to active duty and continue from where you left off. Note that due to Silent Hunter III limitations, the ability to return on a later date, with new crew etc, is not possible. To change your career status, simply click on the status text.
Changing your next patrol grid
If you click on your next patrol grid, the following screen will be displayed:
Here you can manually enter a preferred patrol grid, or, by pressing the R button, you can generate a random patrol grid based on your Flotilla and career date. The grid generated is sourced from the same files that Silent Hunter III uses.

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Pressing the M button will display the Silent Hunter III grid map. Should you wish to view a more detailed grid map, simply replace SH3_MAP.jpg, located in your Silent Hunter III\documentation\ folder, with a map of your choice.

Actions

When playing an existing career you have numerous actions that you can perform. The actions that are available at any given time are based on the status of your career. Update your Personnel File: You have the ability to create a Personnel File for viewing (html format) and printing. The Personnel File includes a full Commander profile, including details of the Commander's career prior to commencement of his first U-boat patrol. Where a Commander has been retired by SH3 Commander, details of his post campaign and post war career are also included. SH3 Commander uses the language preference stored in Silent Hunter III, meaning that the summary will print in English, German or French depending on the text language selected in Silent Hunter III. Like with Silent Hunter III, users can modify the language files (SH3Cmdr_*.txt) to allow for the summary to be generated in any language required. A Personnel File can be generated for active, deceased/surrendered and retired careers. The Personnel File also includes links to each individual patrol summary, U-boat Aces List (which includes both real Commanders and other player Commanders) and U-boat Crew Lists (provided that U-boat Crew Lists have been created prior to creating the Personnel File). If printing, it is recommended that you change the page orientation for the Personnel File and Crew List pages to landscape. Personnel Files are saved in your "My Documents" folder, ready for easy moving or uploading to the internet. Re-generate whenever you want to update one for your selected career. The default fonts and background image can be changed through the Personnel Files option screen. SH3 Commander will recognise user-added patrol log text and will include it in your Personnel Files. Refer to Review Patrol Logs below for more information on adding unique patrol log entries. Continue career with new Commander: This action allows you to continue a retired career with a new Commander. The New Career screen will be populated with the necessary details and any equipment upgrades will be applied once you launch Silent Hunter III (due to Silent Hunter III constraints, specials such as your emblem and sonar/radar coatings cannot be transferred). Note that if you change any element other than the Commander name or patrol grid you will "break" the continuity and SH3 Commander will no longer treat the new career as a continuation. Also remember that tonnage and renown is linked to a Commander, so these elements are not transferred to your new career. Review patrol logs: This action allows you to review your patrol logs and provides the ability to add, edit and remove patrol log entries. Please refer to the SH3 Patrol Log Editor on-line help for more information. Any changes you make will be reflected in your Personnel Files and within Silent Hunter III. Manage your crew: See Crew Manager section. Go to Nightclub: See The Nightclub section. Delete this career: The action allows you to delete the current career game files from your hard drive.

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Crew Manager
By selecting the 'Manage your crew' action, players can: alter the displayed head image of their officers. Doing so also determines the body image and whether the officer wears a hat; promote and demote within type (ie Officers, Petty Officers and Sailors); dismiss or replace crewmen (replacing crew costs renown); change crewmen names; give and remove medals based on historic criteria; give and remove badges based on historic criteria; give, adjust and remove qualifications (3 for officers and senior petty officers, 1 for petty officers and 1 for sailors); create a crew list for viewing (html format) and printing. Another feature of the Crew Manager is that it will automatically find and return lost officers, such as those left in the Repair compartment when a patrol ends. The Crew Manager warns if certain conditions are met, such as a crewman receiving medals before they are historically available, or if a crewman might be entitled to specific medals or badges and allows a "one click" auto fix.

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To use the Crew Manager, select a crewman. Then: to award medals, badges or qualifications, click an image in the "Available Medals, Badges and Qualifications" panel and drag and drop into the corresponding "Medals", "Badges" or "Qualifications" panels; to promote or demote, choose a rank from the scroll list; to change an officers head image, click the < or > buttons. The in-game 3D representation will reflect the image selected; to change the Commander's name, overtype the current name or click the 'RN' button to create a random Germanic name. Click 'Apply' to save the changes. You can also build a crew list, saving the details of your crew and their accomplishments to an html file. Note that if you award medals using Crew Manager some medals may accumulate in the game that can't be awarded. Either ignore these, or award medals in the game before doing so in Crew Manager. A common question raised through forums has been "will my Crew Manager changes be recognised within Silent Hunter III?". To answer this question: awarding *any* qualifications to officers impacts compartment efficiency as if they were awarded via Silent Hunter III; awarding the *first* qualification to a Chief Warrant Officer impacts compartment efficiency as if awarded via Silent Hunter III; awarding subsequent qualifications to a Chief Warrant Officer, whilst being recognised in Silent Hunter III, has no effect in Silent Hunter III; awarding a qualification to a Petty Officer impacts compartment efficiency as if awarded via Silent Hunter III; awarding a qualification to a seamen, whilst being recognised in Silent Hunter III, has no effect in Silent Hunter III; awarding any medal or badge has the same effect as if awarded via Silent Hunter III; promoting/demoting has the same effect as if awarded via Silent Hunter III (although there is no demotion via Silent Hunter III); So, only qualifications awarded to seamen or extra qualifications awarded to Chief Warrant Officers are, despite being recognised in the game, not effective in the game. Now, whilst these qualifications are not effective in Silent Hunter III, they are still handy "markers". Also, some people believe that despite not being recognised towards compartment efficiency, Silent Hunter III tends to align these qualified seamen to their respective compartments.

NewsMod/RadioMod

This mod works via SH3 Commander to give the player: Monthly news reports that appear when loading a patrol, and during the patrol. A map of Europe and the Mediterranean which updates based on the progress of the war. Historical radio broadcasts that appear at their correct dates. These play via the gramophone. NewsMod maps and text by Beery. German translations by Nico71. U-boat losses source: 'Iron Coffins' by Herbert Werner.

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Random Ship Tonnage Mod
This mod is based on an analysis of merchant ships sunk, damaged or totalled from 3 September 1939 through to the end of the war. The results are randomised to provide a variation in ship tonnage during each patrol. The variations are limited in order to keep the tonnage as close to historical accuracy as possible, within the limitations of the Silent Hunter III engine. Not all current tanker, cargo ship, passenger liner and transport tonnage is randomised. New ships can be added as required - see instructions outlined in 'Ship displacements.cfg', located in your SH3 Commander\Cfg folder. When using the Museum feature in Silent Hunter III you can get an idea of the new tonnage values for the different types of ships, but keep in mind the tonnage values will vary from month-to-month and year-to-year. Random Tonnage Mod by Observer. Re-developed for SH3 Commander by Jaesen Jones with tweaks by Beery.

General Mod Inclusions

Correct 1939 Flotilla names (1st Flotilla is named 'Weddigen', 2nd is 'Saltzwedel' and 7th is 'Wegener') by Beery. Correct available U-boat numbers for all U-boat types by Beery. Correct availability dates for U-boats based on the historical date each Flotilla (1st, 2nd, 7th or 11th) received the boats by Beery. U-boat availability dates by Flotilla are outlined in the table below. Should you not wish to observe historic U-boat availability, ensure that the "Use historic U-boat availability dates" option is not selected and that you've performed a rollback to remove any residual dates from Silent Hunter III. You can edit 'U-boat availability.cfg', located in your SH3 Commander\Cfg folder. Follow the instructions outlined in the header of the file. This feature is turned OFF by default.
Flotilla 1st 2nd 7th 11th 1939 IIASep VIIBSep IXBOct VIIBSep 1940 IIDSep 1941 VIICMar VIIBJun IXCJan VIICAug VIICJun 1944 VIIC/41Jun IXC/40Jul VIIC/41Jun VIIC/41Jun XXIJul 1945
Adjusted medal award criteria for improved historical accuracy by Beery. Adjustments to allow selection of U-boat emblem at start of career by Rubini. Fix which forces correct Mediterranean water textures when playing career in 29 Flotilla concept by Marhkimov. When undertaking careers in 29 Flotilla it is recommended that you disable the 'Adjust water density' option, or initially change the setting to 8 and adjust *up* from there to your liking. This is to cater for the lighter Mediterranean water textures. Fix which forces correct Arctic water textures when playing career in 11 Flotilla. Randomisation of the time Escorts and Destroyers spend looking for U-boats after losing contact. Simulated thermal layers by Hemisent. Randomly adjusts active/passive listening device values to simulate the impact of thermal layers. Editable through 'Randomised events.cfg' located in your SH3 Commander\Cfg folder. Simulated equipment malfunctions plus damage caused by sabotage by Hemisent. Simulates the effect of equipment malfunctions plus damage caused by sabotage by randomly reducing default equipment specifications. Editable through 'Randomised

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events.cfg' located in your SH3 Commander\Cfg folder. Should you not wish to experience equipment malfunctions or sabotage, ensure that the "Model effects" option is not selected. This feature is turned OFF by default. Adjustments that allow patrols to be started at sea concept by Rubini With the Start patrols at sea option selected you will start your patrols just out to sea, away from the port itself. The locations have been chosen so that you can still dock in port if you choose. Silent Hunter III imposed limitations: 1) changes will not be made when loading mid-patrol careers. In such cases, when returning to port, simply dock once you get within 25kms of the port as you normally would; 2) when you start a patrol, your crew will just stand (as they do in the dock) until after you pass 450m from the start point, when they will start to scan the horizon; 3) if you start a patrol from a base that is not your home base, Silent Hunter III may revert you back to the port location. The coordinates are editable through 'Start at sea.cfg' located in your SH3 Commander\Cfg folder.

Version History

3.2.0 Added Tip screen Added ability to dismiss or replace crewmen through the Crew Manager Crew Manager now "finds" and returns missing officers Now records more detail--such as cargo, crew and crew lost--when real ship names option is selected - thanks to "Sailor Steve", "bigboywooly" and "iambecomelife" Updated real ship names list - thanks to "Sailor Steve" Now includes the latest version of the SH3 Patrol Log Editor plug-in Personnel Files now display as intended in non-IE browsers Other minor enhancements 3.1.3 Improved handling of old, dead careers (no more "List index" error) Now correctly sets the U-boat type when continuing a career with a new commander Now correctly randomises crewmen names and experience for all U-boat types Minor improvements to "Start patrols at sea" feature 3.1.2 Reverted back to using "N/a" as the current date with lost or surrendered careers Posting dates in Personnel Files now more accurate Personnel Files now report U-boat as lost in all instances where the U-boat is lost at sea 3.1.1 HTML file names for Personnel Files now conform to UNIX standards Crew Manager screen now lists the compartment each crewman is in Internal code modifications to better support third party added playable boats Medal images now only display in the Crew Manager when they were historically available 3.1.0 New option: "Start patrols at sea" Removed options to set preferred rank or medal language. SH3 Commander will now reference whatever rank labels are in the game (refer to User Guide for potential compatibility problems) Now prompts to save outstanding changes if another crewman is selected in the Crew Manager screen

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Added ability to change the Patrol Log "Grid" column title through SH3 Commander, in the same manner as the other two column titles (via SH3Cmdr_*.txt file) Added ability to modify date format used in Patrol Log (via SH3Cmdr_*.txt file) Demotions now recorded in Personnel File
3.0.0 New graphical interface New user guide Added ability to continue career with new commander Now transfers crew IN to u-boat as well as out (when realistic crew transfers option is selected) Added ability to recognise user-added patrol log text and include in Personnel Files Added link to the FAQ on the TC adjust screen reminding users to read the FAQ first Added ability to start careers anytime during 1939. For this feature to be available, players must have installed a mod that adds pre-September 1939 start dates Improved handling of SH3's NULL patrol grid problem. When in port, users will not be able to adjust NULL grids because SH3 will just overwrite it again with NULL. However, if saved in-patrol SH3 Commander will support NULL grid changes in exactly the same way as it supports any other grid change Personnel File fonts and background image can now be changed through SH3 Commander Options Replaced hard-coded absolute offsets to binary files with dynamic searching. Note however that offsets will still be required for the randomised and static events files (less chance of ambiguity and confusion) Removed SS## patrol grid masking providing compatibility with non-gridded theatres Submarines now included in "Use real ship names" feature New option: "SH3 Path". Previous /l: switch no longer supported New option: "Skip intro movies" New option: "Rollback automatically after exiting SH3" New option: "Randomise ship tonnage" New option: "Randomise U-boat crush depth" Randomised renown linked to randomised tonnage Personnel File Postings now list each back-and-forth Flotilla transfer Added rank, medals, badges and qualification graphics to Crew List Many internal code enhancements 2.7.0 (9 Dec 2006) Now reminds player after exiting SH3 to rollback SH3 Commander Modelling the effects of malfunctions or malfunctions+sabotage are now Gameplay settings under SH3 Options Enhanced crew fatigue model functionality to include other related Basic.cfg file settings Now groups Personnel Files by save data folder name Added new ship classes and names to Ship names.cfg Removed fatigue model - Grey Wolves 24 Hour Removed UpdtCars.exe (no longer required) Minor adjustments to main interface Minor adjustments to most Cfg files 2.6.1 (18 Sep 2006) Read-only attribute now automatically removed from any file that SH3 Commander modifies Number of days spent in base can now be between 0 and 2075 (ie the length of the war in Europe)

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Improved HTML code
2.2.0 (18 Oct 2005) Improved insertion of date based variable menu text. No more need to include *_menu.txt files in the Date folder structure Now recognises when a career is "mid-patrol" and ignores realistic career length and realistic crew transfer options accordingly "U-Boat Aces" listing now includes other player Commanders (marked with single asterisk) Added "Use real ship names" option which if selected replaces standard SH3 ship labels in patrol logs with real ship names Improved random tonnage calculations Now randomises the time Escorts spend looking for U-Boats after losing contact "Randomise crew names" renamed to "Use realistic crew configurations". Functionality is unchanged Moving the mouse cursor over text "hidden" under the Commander's image now shows the text Improved the robustness of recording a Commander's pre-career history Improved the insertion method of Basic.cfg modifications Modders can now use a /nolaunch switch to stop SH3 loading (ie for mod testing purposes) 2.1.0 (2 Oct 2005) Now allows for the Silent Hunter III installation path to be forced via a /l switch, or manually entered if SH3 Commander cannot find it To accommodate future growth, career options are now contained in a pop-up menu, retitled "Actions" Now recognises and supports French text language setting in Silent Hunter III Added realistic crew transfers option; you may lose up to one crewman per patrol Added ability to force (corrected) ranks, medals and badges to display in Silent Hunter III in English (with American or British ranks) or German, regardless of in-game language setting Added ability to adjust deck gun reload times Added ability to adjust water density Now displays last patrol end date on existing career screen to allow for easier "specific days in base" calculations when wanting a specific next patrol start date Added new fatigue model based on RUb's 1x TC model Added new background image for generated HTML files Added new banner image 2.0.0 (20 Sep 2005) New interface Now provides better integration with Silent Hunter III by linking Date/Flotilla/U-Boat selection to that allowed by Silent Hunter III when starting a new career (no more selecting XXI U-Boat in 33 Flotilla in 1939) Added ability to start new careers in any month between 9/39 and 5/45 Added ability to randomise or set specific days spent in base Added ability to include (or remove) the "Hull Integrity %" text Added ability to use any one of three different types of fatigue handling models, with ability to add your own fatigue models Added ability to change next patrol grid Added ability to delete selected career from the hard drive Added ability to return Commanders from retirement

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Career Summary now retitled to Personnel File Now generates Personnel Files and Crew Lists in HTML format Now specifically advises if required information can not be found in career files when generating Commander history Added ability to check the internet for updates Many (interface) tweaks and code improvements
1.1.3 (6 Aug 2005) Improved Career Summary to be compatible with commander histories generated by earlier versions of SH3 Commander Minor tweaks to interface 1.1.2 (31 Jul 2005) Added random feature - up to 5 similar sets of files can be included with one different set randomly copied across to Silent Hunter III every time a career is loaded. Useful for randomising skins etc Added ability to generate Commander name for new careers Now sets career (new and existing) in Silent Hunter III prior to loading, thus providing more integration with Silent Hunter III "Realistic Length" preference now saved between uses Now correctly inserts tonnage information in Career Summary regardless of user's country Now removes empty folders from \BACKUP! folder after Rollback Incorporated further enhancements to the Career Summary Added ability to print Career Summaries and Crew Lists for dead and retired commanders Removed IC2 and Front Clasp from the Auto Fix routine (suggestions are still provided) Incorporated the appropriate en_menu/de_menu text labels for ranks, medals, qualifications and dates (based on user's game settings) Added realistic U-boat number selection by type and flotilla Provided a German language version of the Crew List and Career Summary (based on user's game settings and customisable to any language) 1.1.1 Corrected Silent Hunter III promotion dates in the Career Summary Added number of days to the Patrol History in the Career Summary 1.1.0 (1 Jul 2005) Added "Crew Manager" component, which allows user to: promote and demote within type (ie Officers, Petty Officers and Sailors); change crewmen names (including auto generation of typical Germanic names - 46,000+ different combinations); give and remove medals and badges based on historic criteria; give, adjust and remove qualifications (3 for Officers and Chief Petty Officers, 1 for Petty Officers and 1 for Sailors); create a crew list for viewing (txt file) and printing; auto-fix identified problems with medals, badges and experience. Improved rollback performance. Now much quicker - original Silent Hunter III files are backed up under the SH3 Commander structure Added ability to change sub number Added "realistic career length" option (based on Beery's "roll of the dice" logic) Excluded completed or "dead" careers from the career selection box Added ability to create a career summary for viewing (txt file) and printing

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Added ability to replace default crew configuration files with historically accurate crew including realistic ranks, qualifications and unique names (ie no more "Adolf Carlewitz" in your new careers) Added unique commander images and other personal details, such as date, place of birth and full commander life history General code improvement New icon
1.0.0 (3 Jun 2005) Added ability for user to select date, U-Boat type and Flotilla 0.0.0.13 (24 May 2005) Initial Release (no prior version was released)

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License Agreement, Copyright and Release Information
The following files are included in the SH3 Commander License Agreement and copyright, outlined in the accompanying JoneSoft.txt file. All files in the SH3 Commander root folder All files in the \Cfg sub-folder, excluding the three names lists All files in the \Gui sub-folder All text files in the \Nightclub sub-folder
Any questions relating to these files can be sent by email to JoneSoft at jonesoft@internode.on.net or jonesoft@jaennahre.com. All other files and included mods remain the copyright of their respective developers. More information on SH3 Commander and included mods can be found by searching the Subsim Silent Hunter III forums. Try out other JoneSoft products, including the JoneSoft Generic Mod Enabler, at http://www.users.on.net/~jscones/software or www.jonesoft.jaennahre.com.

Acknowledgements

Thanks and credit to: Ian "Beery" Cooper for original concept and development input. Boris for R3.0 interface graphics www.ubootwaffe.net for allowing the use of their U-boat crew lists and Gizzmoe for reviewing. Observer for ship tonnage randomiser input as well as the initial exhaustive list of real ship names. Bigboywooly, Sailor Steve and AG124 for more real ship names. BladeHeart for collating the list of U-boat numbers by type and flotilla. Nico71 and Thomas Penz for German translations. Martin and Perdu for French translations. Columbia Pictures for "Das Boot" images. Kalach for selected Nightclub entries. Beery, jcwolf, JonZ, Tikigod, iblitz for the main screen banners added to R2.6. irish1958, ToySoldier, rod_oil, Mil_tera, NealT, Gouldjg, Hemisent, lurker_hlb3 and UBones for pre-release testing. The many Subsim forum members that have provided continued feedback and suggestions.

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Troubleshooting
When I open SH3 Commander I get a screen full of "Error!" labels and/or error messages saying that SH3 Commander cannot write to, or access, certain game files. This usually occurs if: you attempt to run SH3 Commander on an unsupported operating system; you attempt to run SH3 Commander on Microsoft Vista, but have not elevated file permissions - to do this right-click SH3Cmdr.exe in Windows Explorer and select "Run as Administrator". Alternatively, right-click SH3Cmdr.exe and select "Properties". In the properties window select the "Compatibility" tab and check "Run this program in compatibility mode" and in the box below select "Windows XP (Service Pack 2)". In some instances you may need to apply both solutions. you are not logged in under your Computer administrator account - ensure you have logged in as the Computer administrator (check under Control Panel|User Accounts); you have a firewall, antivirus or other system monitoring software that intercepts attempts to modify files - turn off all such applications and test again. If all is then fine, switch each application back on individually, noting the one which is causing the conflict. You may be able to adjust settings to allow compatibility. in an attempt to create a shortcut to SH3 Commander on your desktop, you actually moved the SH3Cmdr.exe file - in this case you will receive at some point a "file not found" error message which will include your desktop folder location. you have any game configuration files open - ensure that all game files are closed prior to running SH3 Commander. I've just installed a new mod and since running SH3 Commander again my game is crashing/not working/acting strange. In order to avoid any potential file integrity problems, ALWAYS perform a rollback in SH3 Commander BEFORE enabling or disabling any mods either via JSGME or manually - this includes uninstalling and installing SH3. If you do not rollback before installing new mods, SH3 Commander may simply overwrite the updated files with the backup files it created the last time that you used SH3 Commander, thus potentially causing game instability. When I press the "Launch SH3!" icon SH3 Commander seems to hang or take a while to integrate the changes I want before loading SH3. Slowness usually occurs if you have a firewall, antivirus or other system monitoring software that intercepts attempts to modify files - turn off all such applications and test again. If all is fine, switch each one back on individually, noting the application which is causing the conflict. You may be able to adjust settings to allow compatibility. Since using SH3 Commander I can no longer hear speech or most sound effects. This problem will occur if you set the "Character animations", "Sound effects" and/or "Particle rendering" Time Compression events to 1. Reset each event back to the default value and try again (a Rollback is not sufficient to reset these settings). If your problem persists, scrutinise any new mods that you have installed since you last had full sound. I've modified some of my game files like Basic.cfg and en_menu.txt. Will SH3 Commander overwrite them with its own versions? Does it back up files first before modifying them? SH3 Commander only modifies specific sections of files based on your selected SH3 Options and Cfg file settings. If, for example, you choose a fatigue model, only the relevant fatigue values are written to Basic.cfg. All other values remain unchanged. Every file that SH3 Commander modifies is backed up first and can be restored by pressing the "Rollback SH3" icon. What is a 'Weddigen'? Prior to 1 January 1940, the 1st Flotilla was known as U-Flotilla 'Weddigen', the 2nd Flotilla as UFlotilla 'Saltzwedel' and the 7th Flotilla as U-Flotilla 'Wegener'. SH3 Commander includes a mod which ensures that these correct names are used prior to 1 January 1940.