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SWAT 4

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
SWAT 4
SWAT 4 cover
Developers
Irrational Games
Publishers
Vivendi Universal Games
Sierra Entertainment
Engines
Unreal Engine 2
Release dates
Windows April 5, 2005
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SWAT 4 guide on StrategyWiki
SWAT 4 on Wikipedia
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Warnings

GameSpy online services have been shut down (see Network for solutions).
Police Quest
Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel 1987
Police Quest II: The Vengeance 1988
Police Quest III: The Kindred 1991
Police Quest: Open Season 1993
Police Quest: SWAT 1995
Police Quest: SWAT 2 1998
SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle 1999
SWAT 4 2005

Key points

Small but active community.
GameSpy online server browser has been shut down. See GameSpy Alternative below for a fix.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
 SecuROM DRM disc check.[1]
Windows
GOG.com
DRM-free
 Includes The Stetchkov Syndicate expansion
Windows

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
The Stetchkov Syndicate
Windows

Essential improvements

Patches

Patch 1.1

Skip intro videos

Launch the game with -nointro parameter[citation needed]

GameSpy Alternative

Due to GameSpy Server shutting down, it is highly recommended to use SWAT 4 Stats Master server patch or Swat 4 Server Browser Alternative[2]

SWAT: Elite Force

Improves SWAT 4 experience by adding cut content, better AI, more equipment, multiplayer features, general bugfixes, QOL improvements and much more.
Install SWAT: Elite Forces[3]
  1. Download and extract the newest full version of SWAT: Elite Force inside SWAT 4 directory.
  2. Download and extract the newest patch for your version of the mod and extract it inside SWAT 4 directory.
  3. Launch the mod using <path-to-game>\SEF\LaunchSEF.bat

Notes

User should extract the SEF folder itself and not its content. Root folder should look like this after successful installation.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\Content\System\Swat4.ini[Note 1]
<path-to-game>\ContentExpansion\System\Swat4X.ini[Note 1]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\Content\System\Campaign.ini[Note 1]
<path-to-game>\ContentExpansion\System\Campaign.ini[Note 1]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy

Video settings

Make sure game is running with admin rights[citation needed]
300px
Video settings.

Template:Video settings

Widescreen resolution

Can cause text chat to have hidden/invisible text.
Edit INI files[4]
  1. Open your configuration file with a text editor (make sure you have run the game at least once)
  2. Adjust the following lines accordingly to your resolution
WindowedViewportX=
WindowedViewportY=
FullscreenViewportX=
FullscreenViewportY=
The following prevents resolution being reset. No need to make your configuration file read-only.
Edit INI files[5]
Base game
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open SwatGUIState.ini.
  3. Add or Adjust the following lines accordingly to your resolution
ScreenResolutionChoices=800x600
ScreenResolutionChoices=1024x576
ScreenResolutionChoices=1024x768
ScreenResolutionChoices=1280x720
ScreenResolutionChoices=1280x1024
ScreenResolutionChoices=1366x768
ScreenResolutionChoices=1600x1200
ScreenResolutionChoices=1920x1080
ScreenResolutionChoices=2560x1440
ScreenResolutionChoices=3840x2160
The Stetchkov Syndicate
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open SwatGame.int.
  3. Add or Adjust the following lines accordingly to your resolution
ScreenResolutionChoices=("800x600","1024x576","1024x768","1280x720","1280x1024","1366x768","1600x1200","1920x1080","2560x1440","3840x2160")

Field of view (FOV)

Only affects weapon viewmodel.
Editing SWATPawn.ini may not allow people to join your server.
Edit ini file[citation needed]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open SWATPawn.ini (make sure you have run the game at least once).
  3. Go to class [SwatGame.SwatPawn].
  4. In this section adjust line FirstPersonFOV=.
  5. Change from 85.0 to desired value

Notes

Not recommended to edit as this will cause sensitivity issues when using gadgets like the optiwand.

Windowed

Edit Swat4.ini file[citation needed]
  1. Open your configuration file with a text editor (make sure you have run the game at least once)
  2. Find Suppress=WindowedMode and comment it (put a ; at beginning of the line)

Notes

You can toggle between fullscreen and windowed mode with Alt+↵ Enter now

Anisotropic filtering (AF)

Edit ini file[citation needed]
  1. Open Swat4.ini within Configuration file(s) location with a text editor (make sure you have run the game at least once)
  2. Go to class [D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice].
  3. In this section adjust line LevelOfAnisotropy=1 (maximum is 16).

Vertical sync (Vsync)

Edit ini file[citation needed]
  1. Open Swat4.ini within Configuration file(s) location with a text editor (make sure you have run the game at least once)
  2. Go to class [D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice].
  3. In this section find UseVSync=False which can be set to true to enable v-sync

Input settings

Template:Input settings

Mouse acceleration

Edit User.ini[citation needed]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open User.ini (make sure you have run the game at least once)
  3. Add the following lines at the bottom:
[Engine.PlayerInput]
bInvertMouse=False
MouseSmoothingMode=0
MouseSmoothingStrength=0.000000
MouseSensitivity=1.00000
MouseSamplingTime=0.001
MouseAccelThreshold=0.000000
DoubleClickTime=0.200000
[Engine.PlayerInput] entries are created upon inverting mouse y-axis

Mouse sensitivity

Edit User.ini[citation needed]
  1. Set in-game sensitivity slider to 1.00
  2. Calculate your sensitivity for UT2004 on mouse-sensitivity.com
  3. Edit your User.ini with a text editor:
[Engine.Input]
MouseX=Count bXAxis | Axis aMouseX Speed=2.0
MouseY=Count bYAxis | Axis aMouseY Speed=2.0

[Engine.PlayerInput]
MouseSensitivity=1.00000
[Engine.PlayerInput] entries are created upon inverting mouse y-axis

Audio settings

Template:Audio settings

Surround sound

OpenAL Soft method by Editing ini file[citation needed]
  1. Open your configuration file with a text editor (make sure you have run the game at least once)
  2. Go to class [ALAudio.ALAudioSubsystem].
  3. In this section set Use3DSound to True.
  4. Rename DefOpenAL32.dll to DefOpenAL32.bak
  5. Download OpenAL Soft and copy soft_oal.dll (bin\Win32) into the same folder.
  6. Rename soft_oal.dll to DefOpenAL32.dll.

or

Using Direcsound 3D restoration software[citation needed]
The game use by default openAl with a Directsound 3D output.
Do not delete or replace the gamefolder DefOpenAL32.dll when using this method, using a more recent openAL32.dll will crash the game (trying to use a native hardware openAl by tweaking "AudioDevice=" too).
  1. Use creative alchemy or similar DirectSound3D restoration software.
  2. Open your configuration file with a text editor (make sure you have run the game at least once)
  3. In this section set Use3DSound to True.

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
Czech
Retail version only
English
French
Retail version only
German
Retail version only
Italian
Retail version only
Polish
Retail version only
Russian
Retail version only
Spanish
Retail version only

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Notes
LAN play
Online play
GameSpy server browser has been shut down. See GameSpy Alternative

Connection types

Type Native Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Windows dedicated server software included in the installation folder.[6]
Direct IP

Issues fixed

Screens flickering

Screens flickering[citation needed]

Some users with multiple monitors have issues with their screens flickering.

  • Unplug your second monitor's cable that goes to your graphics card (unplugging the power cable is not enough) and start the game.
  • Alternatively, press ⊞ Win+P to bring up the display switch dialog (on Windows 7 and up), and disable the secondary monitor.
  • Alternatively, run the game with the -nointro parameter, after having run the game at least once before with any additional monitors disabled.[7]
  • Alternatively, launch the game windowed (see Windowed and Widescreen resolution if you don't know how), then once on the main menu press Alt+↵ Enter to return to fullscreen.

Other information

API

Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Multiplayer GameSpy GameSpy services are offline. See GameSpy Alternative

System requirements

Windows
MinimumRecommended
Operating system (OS) 98 SE2000, XP
Processor (CPU) AMD Athlon 1.2 GHz
Intel Pentium III 1.0 GHz
Intel Celeron 1.2 GHz		AMD Athlon XP 2500+
Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz
System memory (RAM) 256 MB512 MB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD) 2 GB2.5 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce2 MX400
ATI Radeon 8500
32 MB of VRAM		Nvidia GeForce4 Ti
ATI Radeon 9500
128 MB of VRAM

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References