In-game advertising

Version 1.1 patch to SWAT 4 introduced in-game real advertisements (more info) which are also present in the TSS. The system was supplied by Massive Incorporated. The advertisements are downloaded transparently in the background using HTTP. No user permission is ever asked and, on some maps, previous fictional posters are replaced with new ads. The software passes back to Massive's server lots of information regarding the playing sessions, for example unique user identifiers, how long the ads were watched and even average viewing angles!

If you wish the disable this 'functionality', the server can be prevented from being contacted by modifying your computer's DNS resolving system.

Place the following lines in %WINDIR%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts on Windows:

127.0.0.1  madserver.net 127.0.0.1  ad.madserver.net 127.0.0.1  imp.madserver.net 127.0.0.1  media.madserver.net

Now the software will just attempt to connect your local computer when getting the ads - and get no response. Additionally you can take extra precautions if you have a firewall that can block application specific connections. You could block all the outgoing connections of Swat4.exe and Swat4X.exe to remote TCP port 80 (http).