every time i start the game it crashes and says DDERR_GENERIC. ive tried everything and nothing has worked. gog support says to install cccp codecs. i had them installed already but i reinstalled them just to make sure. still dont work.

Have you tried replacing the movies with re-encoded movies in XVID format?

http://www.swat3lastresort.info/mod/index.php/swat-3-video-directx-fix

yes. i tried replacing the video files. i tried installing directx 9.0c. i tried reinstalling it to different places on the hard drive. tried every compatibility mode setting. tried with and without 256 colors and forced 640x480 mode. tried installing xvid codec, cccp codec and one other one i cant even remember. i never found a way to get this game to work. cant even get to the main menu.

Have you tried to run the game with the -nointro flag just to see if the problems are the movies?

my brother slippery jim. thank you. i didnt know about the nointro flag. i knew for sure the movies were the problem though. i was actually able to get in the game this time for the first time. i havent tested it for that long though. assuming that nointro flag just relates to the intro then it might crash if theres campaign cutscenes like in RS3 or something like that (idk if there is). the only problem playing now is that its super laggy for some reason. on the main menu my mouse moves at less than 1 fps making it very hard to click stuff. i tried the first mission of the campaign, where you're at the tv station, and it was really rough. like i was in bullet time in the matrix. do you know any way that it might run quicker? i'm using windows 7 64 bit btw.

cutscenes during the campaign will indeed crash the game again, never been a problem on my end since I only ever boot up a mission via the Multiplayer/LAN.

As for the FPS issues you will want to look into using dgVoodoo and if that proves not to work WineD3D

Now for a shameless plug...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ew4iZOkK7c

Video Tutorial on setting up dgVoodoo.

DomeShot is too kind.

If you already have frame rate issues then using the Last Resort mod with a higher resolution will make your frame rate suck even more, lol.

DarkSynopsis' suggestions for improving framerate are great.