S  W  A  T   3   M  O  D    H  Q    
INTRODUCTION COMMON TASKS CREATING CONTENT PROVIDED TOOLS
Welcome
Finding The Files
The Mod System
Need Help?

Finding The Files

SWAT3 has been designed to take advantage of the size reduction gained by compressing files into a single archive. Many of SWAT3's game files, including the 3D character, weapon, and item models, 2D sprites and decals, sounds, and data files, are located in one or more compressed archives in the main SWAT3 directory. 

The compressed archives are given the extension ".res".

Depending on your original SWAT3 version, the compressed files that you'll have in your directory will differ. Refer to the list below to find out what files you have.

What Version Bought What Update(s) Applied .res Files (in Chronological Order)
Original SWAT3 Elite Edition Update, TGOTY Update Swatdata1.res, Swatdata2.res, SwatUp.res, Swat20.res
  TGOTY Update Only Swatdata1.res, Swatdata2.res, Swat20.res
     
Elite Edition TGOTY Update Swatdata.res, Swat20.res
     
Tactical Game Of The Year Edition None Swatdata.res, Scenes.res, Sound.res

Note that any content in the older .res compressed archives will be overridden by any content in the newer .res compressed archives that has the same file name. For instance, if you have the original SWAT3 and update to 1.6, then to 2.0, you would have a Swatdata1.res and a SwatUp.res file. If both contain the file "Gunshot_MP5.cmp", the version of that file in SwatUp.res (since it is installed with the 1.6 update) would take precedence and actually be the "Gunshot_MP5" sound file in-game.

 

How Do I Get At This Data?

To peek inside the .res file or extract out its contents, you must have a program that can extract files from .zip archives. There are a number of popular shareware programs that can do this for you. Begin your .zip program, and simply open the .res file with the program as if it were a .zip file. If your .zip program requires that files it opens have a .zip extension, simply rename the .res file to a .zip file...just be sure to rename it back to a .res file after you're done, otherwise SWAT3 will not be able to read it!

You should now see the contents of the file. There is a directory structure that sorts the files into logical groups. If you choose to extract these files to a directory, it is recommended that you keep the directory structure intact. It is not needed by SWAT3 when the .res file is read in, but it does help keep things organized when looking through the hundreds of files included in the archive!

*WARNING*
Do not edit anything inside the .res files directly! SWAT3 uses a CRC system to detect changes within the files included in the .res files. Should you have modified files that are not mod-compatible (discussed in the following section), you will be disqualified from multiplayer play! Use the mod system instead of editing the .res files.

 

What Do I Do With This Data?

There are several types of files that control how SWAT looks, sounds, and plays. Many of the files can be edited using graphics utilities, or, in the case of the data files, a simple text editor. Using the MOD system, any of the game content files can be replaced, and many can be appended to. For information on how to do this, check out the next section!

<< Previous: Welcome To MOD HQ
>> Next:
The SWAT MOD System