Vanilla game and the expansion pack are fully playable without mods, just tweaks. It is an iteration of 'Unreal' engine, which is not perfect, but not bad. I saw that the 'Elite Force' mod introduces a lot of concepts and mechanics, which can overwhelm a newcomer. All 'PCgamingWIKI' info is relevant for this game. Make sure to run the game with "-nointro" parameter, especially if you have crashes on start. If you also have crashes while trying to change the screen resolution in game menu, edit the game config for target fullscreen display. Apparently there could be a problem on some systems with window rescaling. Therefore, intro movies may cause an issue, because they run at lower screen resolution and also different display ratio than your choice probably.

EDIT: on modern systems, remember to patch all relevant EXE files of the game with 'NTcore' memory utility, as it is a 32-bit game likely to need more RAM due to enhanced setup.

Thanks for bringing 'NTcore' memory utility to our attention.

I wonder if this is useful for Swat 3.

Interesting discussion about this app on Steam:

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/12/1643167006272654926/

What I understand about the 'NTcore' utility is that it "flags" an \.EXE of a 32-bit program, allowing that program to use 4GB of RAM instead of only 2GB, with the latter option being a default limit for all 32-bit programs. Understandably that limit dates back to when computers had little RAM installed per usual. Nonetheless, do not go all in blind and only use the program if you are sure to have sufficient RAM to both supply the game and the OS with enough resources.

EDIT: the fix should work with any popular piece of software, although not every software necessarily needs it.

CRITICAL ERROR
No Label

Crash Time: 06/24/25 17:49:09

OS: Windows NT 6.2 (Build: 9200)
CPU: AuthenticAMD Unknown processor @ 3803 MHz with 2047MB RAM
Video: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER (7628)

UserName: Taco
ComputerName: xxxxxxxxx
Application location: E:\Games\SWAT 4\Content\System\

SWAT Build Number: 34688

Error setting display mode: CreateDevice failed (D3DERR_INVALIDCALL). Please delete your Swat4.ini file if this error prevents you from starting the game.

History: UD3DRenderDevice::UnSetRes <- CreateDevice <- UD3DRenderDevice::SetRes <- HandleBigChange <- UD3DRenderDevice::Lock <- UViewport::Lock <- UWindowsViewport::Lock <- PrecacheRenderData <- Precaching <- UGameEngine::Draw <- UWindowsViewport::Repaint <- UWindowsClient::Tick <- ClientTick <- UGameEngine::Tick <- UpdateWorld <- MainLoop->GenerateExtraCrashInfo [(GLevel: 'myLevel' PendingLevel: '(NULL)' NetMode: 'NM_Standalone'] <- MainLoop

I don't know what's happening. The visual keeps glitching out and crashes