Call Up
At the Call Up screen, search for active LAN or Internet games, or create your own multiplayer game.

The Call Up screen lists the various multiplayer games waiting to begin and in progress, and displays each game's status, name, mission map in play, current number of players, ping and type.

Games that can be joined 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 and the smoother the game play.

Games that contain game data different from yours are displayed in red, and cannot be joined. Select one of these games and click the Info button to see how its files differ from yours. It may have a mod that you haven't installed, or be using a map that you haven't yet downloaded.

Internet Game Connection Management
SWAT 3: EE uses Flipside.com for Internet game lobbying, matchmaking and connectivity. When you connect to the SWAT 3: EE Internet game lobby, you are actually connecting to a Flipside.com server.

Having a central set of servers for SWAT 3: EE to connect to enables you to play Internet games from 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 the speed of each server.

Consequently, when a SWAT 3: EE 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 will go through the Flipside.com servers instead.

Firewall
SWAT 3: EE works best for modem players when none of the people in a game are behind a firewall. Firewalls are often placed on business servers for security purposes, so if you or the game's host are playing from your office's network, you might find that you can't go peer-to-peer.

To find out if you're playing behind a firewall, go to the SWAT 3: EE 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.

Multiplayer Game Types
There are two types of multiplayer games in SWAT 3, Cooperative and Deathmatch. Both types of games support up to five players. In Cooperative, players are part of a five-man SWAT entry team. The team comprises an element leader and 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 augmented with an Assumable AI feature. To learn more about this feature, see below.

In Deathmatch games, players can do battle in free-for-alls, or choose sides; the "good" guys or the "bad guys." Deathmatch objectives include last-man-standing and most neutralized. Both objectives can be augmented with time limits and a life-support feature. For detailed information on the life-support feature, see below.

Located below the game information columns is a chat window, to the right of which is a list of other players who are also at the Call Up screen. Type into the chat window and hit the ENTER key to send messages to other players. Both the chat window and the players' list have arrows that allow you to scroll through their contents.

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

Cancel
This returns you directly to the SWAT 3 main menu.

Join
To join a game, first click on the game's name to select. Then click on the Join tab. Clicking on the Join tab accesses the Operations screen of your game of choice.

Create
To create and host your own SWAT 3 game, click the Create tab. A small window appears. In the space provided, enter a game name and password (optional), and choose your mission location using the arrows. You can also choose your game type from the list: Deathmatch Free-for-All, Deathmatch Team Play, Deathmatch Last Man Standing or Cooperative. After you click OK, you will be taken to your game's Operations screen.

Officer
To edit your active multiplayer character, or edit, create or delete stored characters, click the Officer tab.

Info
To access detailed information regarding any of the multiplayer games in the Call Up screen, first click an active game, 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.