SWAT: Elite Force

The ultimate way to play SWAT 4.

Unique in that it provides a realistic Rules of Engagement system and an authentic tactical experience, SWAT 4 has gone on to inspire later games such as Cruelty Squad, Ready or Not, Rainbow Six: Siege and Doorkickers. Although overshadowed by Irrational's next big release - Bioshock - SWAT 4 has remained popular within its niche over the years due to its immersive cooperative multiplayer and compelling environmental storytelling.

BECOME ELITE

SWAT: Elite Force fixes many of the game's original bugs and consolidates the vanilla and expansion campaigns into one coherent experience, while restoring cut content and adding many important modernization and Quality of Life features. The additions and changes are designed to augment the vanilla game's experience without feeling out of place. The mod is entirely open-source and has been spun off into many other community mods, and is often considered the de-facto way to play the game.

NEW GAMEPLAY

SWAT: Elite Force offers the following changes to the gameplay:

• A consolidated base game + The Stetchkov Syndicate campaign, presented in a coherent manner with a smooth progression of equipment unlocks.
• Over 30 pieces of new equipment and twice as many ammo types as the original game. Equipment is grouped into categories (Assault Rifles, Submachine Guns, ...) in the menu to make them easier to select.
• More realistic equipment and interactions. Tasers can be lethal to the elderly. Bullets ricochet off of hard surfaces. Ceramic armor breaks over time with each hit. You can now throw lightsticks at a distance or hand your teammates a grenade to use. You can check to see if a door is locked without opening it. These are just a few of the many, many changes made to make the game more immersive and realistic.
• A weight and bulk system that allows you to pick your gear more carefully. You can now choose the number of magazines or shells to bring with you - too much gear, and you'll move and interact with the environment more slowly.
• New game modes: Campaign CO-OP, Permadeath, and AI Permadeath.
• Immersive Speech command interface, cut from the original game. Using your voice, you can now issue commands to your AI-controlled teammates.
• Traps and other side objectives.
• A new Extra Missions campaign with two new missions.
• Many extra levers and buttons to use in the Quick Mission Maker, including the ability to assign unlockable equipment and progression, or disable pieces of equipment.

THE MODERN WAY TO PLAY

SWAT: Elite Force provides the following modernization and Quality of Life features, which have cemented its place in online cooperative gaming circles:

• Widescreen support, including ultrawide and 16:10 and 16:9 resolution support
• Hundreds, if not thousands of bugfixes
• Huge improvements to civilian, SWAT and suspect AI
• An FOV slider, mouse smoothing disable checkbox and numerous other added options
• The ability to aim down the sights, with many of the original weapons remodeled to support this.
• Broader support for custom maps, including their availability in the Quick Mission Maker and an 'All Missions' campaign.

DOCUMENTATION OVERVIEW

• ALLCHANGES.md (lists all changes made by the mod)
• CHANGELOG.md (the full changelog of the mod)
• CONTRIBUTING.md (documents best contribution practices)
• CREDITS.md (all of the credits for the mod)
• FAQ.md (read this if you have questions!, after you have read this!)
• LICENSE.md (the GNU General Public License, the license for this mod)
• MULTIPLAYER.md (everything about multiplayer)
• README.md (you are here)
• SpeechCommands.md (documents how to customize the Speech Command Interface)

HOW TO INSTALL

NOTE: If you are using the GOG version of the game, the GOG storefront has the most up-to-date version of the mod available for easy download. This URL contains the source code and should not be used for general installation.

Copy the folder containing this folder (SEF) into your SWAT 4 directory (the one containing Content and ContentExpansion). For the CD copy of the game, this folder is located in C:/Program Files (x86)/SWAT 4 or C:/Program Files (x86)/Sierra/SWAT 4 For the GOG version of the game, it's usually located in C:/GOG Games/SWAT 4.

CAUTION: Do not extract the SEF folder into your Content or ContentExpansion folders (and therefore overwrite things), otherwise the mod will not work correctly.

To run the game, use the "Launch SEFMod.bat" file. To run SWATEd, use the "Launch SwatEd.bat" file. You can make a shortcut to these .bat files for more convenience.

The mod can be removed by deleting the SEF folder from your hard drive.

NOTE: You may run into an issue with the game not saving your settings, or throwing an assertion failure at times in the Settings menu. This is mostly a problem with Windows Vista and up; try giving the folder write permissions or "Total Control". Alternatively you can make your SWAT4x.exe run in administrator mode.

BUILDING FROM SOURCE

ATTENTION! You cannot run the game without having the content. You can find the content for the mod here.

If you are instead trying to build the source code, it is fairly straightforward.

• Clone the source code into your SWAT 4 folder. Your folder structure ought to look very similar to the installed mod, with SWATEliteForce within your SWAT 4 folder.
• Download the assets from the link above. Unzip the contents into your SWATEliteForce/Content folder. Do not commit these files if you are using Git.
• Edit the source code within /Source/ and any ini files within /System/.
• From here, you can compile the source code with the CompileSource.bat and run the game with the LaunchSEF.bat. The source code will compile to .ufiles in theSystem` folder.
• When you're ready to distribute your mod, run the GenerateMD5.bat, which will output checksums for your mod. This is required for multiplayer to work properly with your mod.

The mod's code is primarily written in UnrealScript. You can find a good resource about UnrealScript here. (Note, if you can't access this page, try using the Wayback Machine to access it.)

CHANGES, SUMMARIZED

The Stetchkov Syndicate and base game missions are compressed into one campaign. As in The Stetchkov Syndicate, some equipment will need to be unlocked.

New campaign options! Now you will have a good reason to create more than one campaign...

• A new EXTRA MISSIONS campaign. These are curated missions which have voice acting, full maps, and scripting, and they are designed to feel like part of the original game.
• Now you can create an ALL MISSIONS campaign. This pulls all of the installed maps from your hard drive and makes them into a campaign, albeit without briefings. Great for use with an installed custom map pack, such as the Mega Map Pack!
• ..and of course, the original SWAT 4 + TSS missions are a third campaign option.
• PERMADEATH. There are two Permadeath options, for the extra challenge. AI Permadeath makes slain SWAT officers never come back, and Player Permadeath ends your campaign once you die.
• HARDCORE MODE. Unlocked when the SWAT 4 + TSS campaign has been completed at least once. If a mission is failed once, your campaign is over. You cannot exit a mission prematurely or restart, so keep that in mind!
• CAMPAIGN CO-OP. This feature allows you to play any (non All Missions, non Permadeath, non Hardcore) campaign in multiplayer. Help your friends complete their campaigns!

Suspects employ a greater variety of tactics. "Insane" suspects will shoot without hesitation at hostages. "Polite" ones on the other hand, won't make this a priority. Civilians behave more realistically.

• Suspects will also try to shoot at you as they're fleeing.
• Suspects will try to escape, if they are compliant and the player is not watching.
• Suspects may now employ a "random patrol", "wander" strategy and don't stick to their assigned rooms as often.
• Suspects have new equipment and may equip heavy armor.
• Civilians may give up easier if they spot a suspect or a civilian being pepper sprayed, hit with beanbags, etc.
• Suspects who have no visible weapons will be treated like civilians to SWAT (including in mirror results)

Smarter Officer AI!

• Upon restraining a target, SWAT officers will now report it to TOC automatically!
• SWAT officers are much more efficient at clearing rooms and don't form "death funnels" at doors as often
• SWAT officers will smartly avoid looking in the same direction as their teammates while moving if possible to mitigate threat exposure.
• SWAT officers don't become distracted by civilians and suspects while moving. They will continue following you or going towards their destination (even possibly attacking)
• SWAT officers will automatically fire beanbags or pepperballs at fleeing suspects, and will keep them equipped as a primary weapon.
• SWAT officers can now take cover like suspects do (including leaning around corners)
• SWAT officers won't shoot through civilians to hit their target and are better at aiming with less lethal items in general.
• SWAT officers can now use grenade launchers, and will use them if a GAS AND CLEAR, OPEN BANG AND CLEAR, etc action is commanded.
• SWAT officers will drop a lightstick after clearing a room.
• SWAT officers can now be affected by CS gas, flashbangs, tasers, pepper spray, etc.
• SWAT officers will use pathfinding distance (instead of Euclidean distance) to determine the closest officer for things such as closing doors, etc, so it correctly picks the closest one.

Traps. This is a huge cut feature from the game. Some doors may be trapped with bombs or alarms, and you'll need to adjust your approach to deal with it.