MULTI-PLAYER MENUS
Main Menu
Call Up Officer Screen Operations

 

CALL UP

 

The Call Up screen is where you can search for active LAN or Internet games, or create your own multi-player game.

The Call Up screen is comprised of information columns regarding the various multi-player games waiting to begin or in progress. Information per game includes game status, game name, mission map in play, current number of players, game ping, and game type.  

Games that are waiting to start, and that can be entered, have the status ‘Open’, and are displayed in blue. Games that are in play and cannot be entered have a ‘Closed’ status, and are displayed in gray. Password-locked games have a small lock icon displayed in their status box.

Game names are anything the host wishes to name them. Mission maps can be familiar single player maps, or new maps created by MOD builders. The ping of a game reflects the speed of data transfer to and from the host computer. The lower the ping number, the faster the transmission of game information from the host’s computer to a client’s computer. Use the ping number to determine if a game is “fast” enough for your taste.

Games that contain game data different from yours are displayed in red, and cannot be joined. Selecting a game of this type and clicking on the Info button will give information on how that particular game’s files differ from yours. Situations in which this may happen occur if the host is running a modification that you haven't installed, or a map that you haven't yet downloaded.

Internet Game Connection Management

SWAT3: Tactical Game Of The Year Edition uses Flipside.com for internet game lobbying, matchmaking, and connectivity.  When you connect to the SWAT3 internet game lobby, you are actually connecting to a Flipside.com server.

Having a central set of servers for SWAT3: Tactical Game Of The Year Edition to connect to provides the ability to connect and play internet games if you are behind a firewall. However, internet connections through game routing servers (such as Flipside.com) are less efficient than connections directly between two computers, regardless of how fast the servers might be. 

Consequently, when a SWAT3: Tactical Game Of The Year Edition internet game is launched, the host PC will attempt to initiate direct connections to client PCs instead of using the Flipside.com routing servers. We call this kind of connection "peer to peer", (meaning that no server is involved).  During this process you will see the message, "Going Peer-to-Peer". 

If a peer to peer connection cannot be made, you will see the message, "Failed Peer-to-Peer". This message does not mean you cannot play the game. Rather, it means that your game connection is going through the Flipside.com servers.

 

Firewall

For modem players, SWAT3: Tactical Game Of The Year Edition works best when none of the players in a game are behind a “firewall.”  So, if you or the game's host are playing from your office’s network (as firewalls are often placed on business servers for security purposes), you might find that you can't go peer-to-peer. You will still be able to play an internet game from behind the firewall, but you should keep one thing in mind: if you are on a modem, and you are playing with other players who are behind firewalls, your game might be slower than it could otherwise be. 

To find out if you’re playing behind a firewall, go to the SWAT3: Tactical Game Of The Year Edition Call-Up screen and click the "Info" tab located at the bottom of the screen. Persons who are behind a firewall will be notated with a message containing their name, followed by the words “behind firewall."

Also, when a person who is behind a firewall enters your game, you will receive a message in the game's chat window informing you that the person who has entered is behind a firewall.

If you’re playing from behind a firewall, but would prefer not to, you can contact your network firewall administrator and request the opening of UDP port 16638 and TCP port 16639 for incoming and outgoing connections. 

If your firewall administrator cannot grant your request, give internet play a try anyway, you might find that your connection is fast enough.

 

Multi-Player Game Types

There are two types of multiplayer games in SWAT3, Cooperative and Deathmatch. Both types of games support up to ten players. In Cooperative, players are part of up to two five-man SWAT entry teams. Each team is comprised of an element leader and up to four assaulters. Assaulters can be live players or AI characters. Objectives for the missions range from hostage rescue to VIP protection to warrant service. Cooperative games can be played in either stand-alone mission mode, or in career mode.

Cooperative games can be augmented with an Assumable AI feature. To learn more about this feature, see below.

In Deathmatch games, players can to battle in free for alls, or choose sides: the “good” guys or the “bad guys”. Deathmatch objectives include last man standing, team play, and most neutralized. Each objective type has special augmentations that can be added. For detailed information on these additional features, see below.

Located below the game information columns is a chat window. Type into the chat window and hit the ENTER key to send messages to other players in the Call Up screen. A list of the other players in the Call Up screen appears to the right of the chat window. Both the chat window and the players list have arrows which allow you to scroll through the contents.

Located at the bottom of the screen are five tabs: Main/HQ, Career, Join, Create, Officer and Info. Pass your cursor over to highlight, click to select a tab.

Main/HQ

This tab will return you to the Main Menu if you are searching for LAN games, and back to Headquarters if you are searching for Internet games.

Career

Clicking the Career tab will allow you to either create a new Internet/LAN career or restore a saved Internet/LAN career.

Career Selection

Upon clicking the Career tab, two lists will be displayed.

The leftmost list contains new careers that you may choose to begin. You may scroll this list of careers by clicking on the arrows located to the lower right of the list. To select a new career, click on one of these careers and then click the select tab. The rightmost list contains careers that have been saved and are available for you to restore. You may scroll this list of careers by clicking on the arrows located to the lower right of the list. To restore a career, click on one of the careers shown in the list and click the select tab.

Upon selecting and confirming a career, you will be taken to Operations to ready yourself and your team for the upcoming mission.

Join

Clicking this tab will allow you to join the game you have highlighted in the list. To highlight a game to join, move your cursor over the name of the game and click. If the game is password-protected, you will be prompted to enter the password. Once you have joined the game, you will be taken to the Operations screen.

Create  


Multiplayer Game Creation Prompt

Clicking on the Create tab allows you to create and host your own SWAT3 mission. Once the Create tab is selected, a window will appear. In the space provided, enter the name you wish the game to have, a password (optional), and choose your mission location using the arrows. 

You can also choose your game type from the list: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Last Man Standing, or Co-Operative. After you click OK, you will be taken to your game’s Operations screen.

Officer

Clicking the Officer tab allows you to edit your active multi-player character, or edit, create, or delete stored characters.

Info

To access detailed information regarding any of the multi-player games in the Call Up screen, first click on an active game, and then click the Info tab. Available information per game will include the name of the players, name of MOD builder (if applicable), and a list of which MODs, if any, are in use.

 


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