Last Resort Guide to SWAT3 Command Line Arguments

This guide covers the various command line options you can pass to SWAT3 when starting the game using the Last Resort modification.

Using command line options:

Start up the Last Resort mod and go to the "Other Settings" tab. Manually type in the command line arguments as you see in the image below. Remember to use spaces between the arguments.

Available Options:

Here are the options you can pass to the game.

-console

Setting this argument allows you to pull down the Swat3 console in-game. Not sure why it is need since I never had trouble getting the console to open. The default key to the console is ˜ (the tilde key). For information on the console, see Furrycat's console guide.

-handsup

Permanently show your weapon in first person view, like in Half-Life and other games. It is very poorly executed hence why it is turned off by default. Same as typing handsup on the console.

-paintball

This puts Swat3 into paintball mode and works even in co-op games. Bullets won't be able to penetrate glass and will fire globs of paint that go splat, just like in a paintball deathmatch. Note that if you host a multiplayer game with -paintball selected your teammates will neither see the paint nor hear the splat sounds. However, you (and they) can convert a game that's in progress to a paintball game by typing paintball on the console.

-map (mapname)

Skips the menu screens and starts up a single player game on the map called mapname. To play Martin Brenner's house, for example, you would use -map missiona

-deathmatch

Makes your new game a deathmatch against AIs. For example, to run Martin Brenner's house in deathmatch you would type -deathmatch -map missiona

-window

if you don't have frame rate issues I would not recommend using this with the Last Resort mod. This starts Swat3 in a window on the centre of your desktop. For this to work, you must have your desktop set to 16-bit colour.  Swat 3 will open in a bordered window in the size that you selected on the 2D MENU SETTINGS tab of the Last Resort Launcher.   When the game switches to the 3D portion of the game it will remain in this same size.

This command can be useful to people who are having frame rate issues.

Useful for map and mod makers:

-blmaps

Useful for map makers specifically. It build the lightmaps after you have compiled your map in Worldcraft.  Can also be manually typed into the console once the map is loaded.

-noai

Turns off AI movement and reaction. The suspects, civilians, and your fellow officers just stand there not responding. This is a great feature for testing a map or a mod while in development -map missiona -noai

It should be noted that there is a bug that was introduced in the 2.0 patch that prevents you from going fully dynamic and moving quicker. While testing maps I recommend you have a speed mod activated to temporarily help you test your map or mod efficiently.

-ptfile (filename)

Useful for map makers looking for cell leaks. Load the specified pointfile and follow the lines in the room to see where it leaks out. Can also be manually typed manually into the console once the map is loaded.

Untested for LAN gameplay:

-modem [limit]

Optimise internet game for a modem connection by limiting the number of displayed decals. Default value for limit is 100. Higher number means fewer decals and hence better performance.

-nop2p

Untested feature on LAN and I am not sure it would even apply. From what I recall this was used on the WON network to force the game from going peer-2-peer. The WON server would take over the hosting bandwidth.

-wonunreliable

According to Furrycat's memory of a post made by Sierra developer in the official Swat3 forums, this makes the game distrust the WON servers and so send more data over the network. This would have the effect of reducing the risk of dropping from the game at the expense of causing lag because of the extra traffic. Apparently all players in the game must have the flag set for it to be of any use.

-udpreliable

Again, to Furrycat's memory of Dave's post, he believes that when this flag is set, Swat3 sends less data over the network, thus reducing lag but increasing the risk of dropping from the game. Like with -wonunreliable, all players must have the -udpreliable flag set. You can toggle this from the console with UDPReliable On and UDPReliable Off.

Obsolete or Non-working:

-hirestex

This is useless while using the Last Resort mod because of texture size hacks. Forces use of high resolution textures in-game.

-lowrestex

Useless while using the Last Resort mod because of texture size hacks. Forces use of low resolution textures in-game.

-nosysmsg

Obsolete since it there aren't system messages in LAN lobby. Turns off system messages in the lobbies. Like typing /sys in the chatrooms.

-software

Only works when 800x600 is chosen on the 2D menu setting in the Last Resort Launcher. Forces software rendering and turns off DirectX.  Runs the 3D part of the game in 640x480.

-primary

This is rather useless. Forces DirectX rendering with the primary display adaptor.

-noads

Obsolete since no adverts are shown in LAN. This was used to disable annoying banner ads in the multiplayer lobbies.

-nointro

Instead of manually typing this out use the "Skip Over The Opening Intro movies" tick box in the Last Resort Launcher. This option skips the introductory video at the start of the game. Some people actually have to use this because their system is incapable of playing the movie!

-script (filename)

Instead of manually typing this out use the "Console Script" tick box in the Last Resort Launcher and type in the filename. This attempts to run the console script (filename).

-nomirrors

This doesn't appear to work any more. This option would force Swat3 to not display the mirror effects.

This page was originally written by Furrycat, and modified for Last Resort.