The version offered is v.37 kps
As GWX was designed for single-player campaigns, Grey Wolves Multiplayer (GWM) gives improved multiplayer performance to the game (such as a substantial decrease in mission loading times).
Meet us on TeamSpeak! And installation-instructions are at hand, too:
Multiple Installs with GWMIf you want to play with us, i.e. have your U-Boot registered so you get a personal signature with your awards and your results counted in our score-tables, you must
[JOiN DEF & REGiSTER AN ACCOUNT].
Development work on Grey-Wolves Multiplayer has been halted indefinitely. The final stable version is "GWM Multiplayer v53 b-qrh.zip" and is still available to "members" (?) via MediaFire. Included human-playable units are: IIA, IIB, IID, VIIA, VIIB, VIIC, VIIC (U-Flak), VIIC/41, VIID, IXA, IXB, IXC, IXC/40, IXD2, XXIII, Serie-600, V&W-class (two variants*). The human-playable B&V 138 (GWMv35) and Short Sunderland (GWMv48) have been removed due to instability issues (AI variants of both are still included though). Note, the Type VIIC/42 and XXI are not available in GWM. Two variants of the human-playable V&W-class are included: one with amidship torpedoes and the other with Y-gun depth-charge launchers. Both variants have aft depth-charge racks, A- and Y- gun turrets and one AA-gun installation.
So Dietrich states on the remains of the old XVII-website that the newest GWM is available to MEMBERS via Mediafire. I can only consider that as a joke, after he kicked all members out (despite himself and Keller). There is no working download-link to GWM V38 or later because Dietrich has deleted 90% of the XVII-forum. And after he dismissed all members, to whom would that version be available then? This is what he wrote when he dismissed all members:
The Future of the 17. Unterseebootsflottille
Achtung Männer!
As many of you will know, over the past few years, there has been a decline in the activity of the 17. Unterseebootsflottille. This is understandable as Silent Hunter III is now an old title (dating from 2005) and the player base has since dwindled with members moving on to later titles (SH4, SH5) and other genres (flight sims, strategy games, etc.). We have made numerous appeals to revitalise the unit, but these have not proved successful. In particular, the following events proved decisive in the current situation and present situation.
EndGame
On 04-Apr-2011, we put together the concept for a new competition type. This was in response to a strong call for a campaign that would provide a solo environment for those who cannot play at regular mission times. Although we are a multiplayer unit, we decided to entertain this idea and thus development started. The competition went live on 08-Jun-2013 after an extensive major production effort. However, the uptake on the missions was minimal and, for the most part, the competition has languished. The lack of participation after so much work has been a major morale killer for the development team and has been a huge disappointment for the ongoing involvement of solo-players within the SH3/GWX/GWM game.
Campaign Development
On 03-Dec-2013, development began on the Ostsee campaign. This requires historical research, planning and CMG development work. Repeated calls for assistance were made for this but, apart from brief moments of interest, no concrete progress was made. Development of any campaign requires a certain amout of commitment and participation from the user base and the regular Dev-Team and administrators can only do so much (already 8 other campaigns had been created). This situation applies to various other campaign initiatives: Antarctic, Atlantik, Weserübung, etc.. Simply put, there has been no interest in the history or progress of these projects to warrant their continued activity.
Participation
Apart from the EndGame example cited above, all competitions have seen a marked decline in participation. This has meant that there are no longer regular multiplayer missions, which is the reason for the unit's existence. We appreciate that some players want to still continue with SH3, and for them we can recommend the single-player campaign that is provided as part of the base game and GWX. Our GWM project (Grey Wolves Multiplayer) is not really suited for that, of course. Because the provision of the ZugSys maintenance, development and servers requires time and money, these will be left to run their cause without further support.
Recruiting
We have always been pressured by members to recruit more players. This is, of course, a team effort. On 23-Aug-2015 there was a call for all members to assist in a recruiting drive. There had been a great deal of interest shown by the IL-2:CloD community which led to a call for everyone to participate in the promotion of the unit and the encouragement of the new members. Without the support of our existing members, such a process would be futile. With the exception of Hardegen and myself, no-one replied or got involved. We have thus concluded that interest in the unit, and in sustaining it, is dead.
Cessation of activities
On the 07-Oct-2015 we decided to formally terminate 17. Unterseebootsflottille activities and this was announced on the forums. As there was no response or appeal to the contrary this has been implemented. Thus unit SH3 activities have ceased as of 14-Oct-2015. This results in the following situation.
Actions
• All non-active members have been dismissed.
• Dismissed members must cease using Flottille tags ("xvii-") from Steam, forums, Tunngle, etc.
• Dismissed members must cease using the black and white logo/designs on avatars, Steam, etc.
• Dismissed members may continue using the main website if they wish.
• Dismissed members may continue to submit missions, as long as the server remains up.
The future
The following is the new status of the unit until further notice.
I will continue to use and reserve the 17. Unterseebootsflottille name, tags and design for my own personal use.
I will also continue to monitor the WWII U-Boot simulator scene. In the event that a new simulator becomes available, it will be assessed and, if suitable, we will revive our activities. However, for now, the 17. Unterseebootsflottille is official dormant until announced otherwise.
The XVII. Fliegerkorps has also undergone transformation. This is dealt with separately.
Conclusion
From the start of SH3 (16-Mar-2005) to the 17.Flottille concept (10-Oct-2006) the official commencement of our activities (28-Aug-2007) and the cessation of activities (14-Oct-2015), it has been a momentous journey. Little did I know when I pre-ordered SH3 that it would consume over ten and a half years of activity, and that the unit would last eight years itself.
To all those who have participated along the way, thank you.
Ende.
KKpt Dietrich, Kommandant
17. Unterseebootsflottille
NOTE!
I also got v.33, v.35 chl and v.37 v-snh and yet some older ones. They stem from the time before Fiedler made me join XVII.
Also interesting versions (anybody have them?) are:
- V.36: with human-playable B&V 138!!!
- V.39/40: with human-playable V&W-class destroyer (!)
- V.48: with human-playable Short SunderlandIf anyone has GWM V38 or later just share it with those who love to play it!
...though I believe nobody besides Dietrich has seen all versions later than v37! And he does not want to share anything.
GWM v38 was officially adopted for use by 17. Flottille mebers on 12-Apr-2016 and it is now implemented in missions and campaigns.
Fully-working early Type-IXA (human-playable)
New merchant ship class
Fixed the bugs with the Type-VIIB
Improved damage model for ships (addressing the split-ship=no-credit problem)
New game mechanism for U-Boot batteries
Updated recognition manual (fixing earlier problems)
Slight tweaks to the interface.
GWM v39
This version is in beta testing with the development team. It is due for use with XVII campaigns sometime in late 2016, depending on the outcome of the testing. Work on GWM v40 has already begun, but we will be using small patches, rather than trying to take on too much at once, and thus get bogged down in lengthy development schedules.
Upcoming versions
The development team are currently working on several versions (GWM v39 to v40), which are in various stages of development.
As of April 2016, work is still being carried out on the GWM mod and it is being actively developed. New weapons are currently being devised for v39 (e.g. air-dropped mines, squid ASW lanchers) along with new merchant ship targets. We have also worked out how to add additional U-Boote to the multiplayer selection, and we intend to fully exploit this in the upcoming version. The GWM human-playable destroyer project has been revived and is planned for release in GWM v40.
Unit aims
The objectives of the 17. Flottille are quite straight forward. In particular we want to:
Raise standards to provide a suitable challenge and a professional environment.
Diversify in the types of missions played and engender an interest in U-Boot history.
Make the SH3 multi-player game better by continually developing and enhancing the GWM mod.
Provide an automated way of recording game results and player statistics.
Provide an environment that encourages teamwork, self-improvement and cameraderie, but without becoming overly competitive.
Game play
When we sail, we have three guiding principles, which are followed in this order.
Stay alive. Do what you need to do to keep your U-Boot alive. It is better to survive the mission by retreating, possibly not even firing, than to lose your U-Boot and crew.
Keep your comrades alive. Do not jeopardise your fellow players by rash actions (surfacing, going ahead-flank, firing torpedoes with a risk of hitting others, and so on).
Sink the enemy. Only once you have secured your own safety and that of your comrades should you proceed with wrecking havoc on the enemy shipping.
Our members are expected to have a mature mindset and a desire to get things right. We operate in a professional and disciplined manner and expect everyone to respect that. Our principles of game-play have since been adopted by other units and we take pride in the fact that we have established a standard for online multiplayer gaming.
During the Second World War, Germany deployed numerous ships and U-Boote which were, roughly speaking, divided into fleets and flotillas, some of which were "front line" combat units and others of which were for training. Different flotillas were based in different ports, in both the home and occupied nations and covered different operational theatres of the war. The
flotillas were distinguished from each other by numbers, although a few had names as well: The 1. Flottille was "Weddigen", the 2. Flottille was "Saltzwedel", and there were others. The 17. Flottille was called "Nordfront".
Although the flotillas were numbered, the numbering was not always sequential. 17. Flottille's number has been chosen specifically because there was no historical U-Boot, Schnellboot or high-sea fleet/flotilla counterpart to confuse matters, and the number was chosen to fit in nicely with the numbers of other flotillas in similar war zones - namely Norway, the North, Norwegian and Barentsz seas and the Arctic Ocean. As that is the operational area chosen for this online gaming flotilla, something similar has been chosen by way of a number.
