Swat 3 help and new information

[DosMan007]

So I purchased the Swat 3 game from GOG.com, and have had some problems with the game running. The game installs perfectly. When I go to run it, I get a black screen with some sounds, like an intro is playing, and I stay at a black screen until I start Task Manager and end the Not Responding application, Swat 3. I'm running Windows 7 Pro (SP1). So I tried various things to get it to run such as, run as administrator, I tried changing the Compatibility mode to Windows 98/Windows ME, and I would see Error loading strings.dat, but could still not get into the game. After their second email to me, one of their suggestions, was to go into the properties, and add the line -nointro after the ". I did that, and now the game runs 100% perfectly. I do own the original CD version, but I was hopeful the version from GOG would have ran without a hitch.

I've seen other help suggestions online about the Error loading strings.dat, and those help suggestions did nothing for me. Adding the -nointro in the properties is what made me able to finally play the game. Just thought I would bring this information to light, in case anyone else runs into this problem, or has had this issue, and gave up on it, this solution seems to be the only best solution.

I would love to be able to run it with the intro, I even installed the Indeo codecs, and that still did nothing for me. GOG gave me a link to DirectX 10 installation from the Microsoft webite, and the installer basically tells me that I already have a better DirectX installation, and that no install is necessary.

[Collector]

Sounds like you are missing the codec that the game uses for the cut scenes.

[Tawmis]

If you want to see it, the intro is here.

Here's a list of Swat 3 Commands. Which you may have already tried. However, this site claims the codec you used is the right one - but you may need to force it:

Okay its installed but now cant see the movies and it gives an error when trying to get into a mission..

Solution:

Thats Beacuse of old video codecs that are not on vista and 7.

To fix it install the indeo codec (the old version) u can download it here-
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Indeo_Codec.htm

it might not register with windows so U need to manually register it
1.open a command window -
2.press start button and write in the search box "cmd" a cmd.exe will show, right click it and open as administrator.
3. write regsvr32 ir50_32.dll it will register the codec with windows
4. play

It was posted here originaly-
http://www.leanerminds.com/swat3/swat3_vistafix.html

This site seems to have the same info about forcing it to make it recognize.

If that fixes it, please reply and let us know.

[DosMan007]

If you want to see it, the intro is here.

Here's a list of Swat 3 Commands. Which you may have already tried. However, this site claims the codec you used is the right one - but you may need to force it:

Okay its installed but now cant see the movies and it gives an error when trying to get into a mission..

Solution:

Thats Beacuse of old video codecs that are not on vista and 7.

To fix it install the indeo codec (the old version) u can download it here-
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Indeo_Codec.htm

it might not register with windows so U need to manually register it
1.open a command window -
2.press start button and write in the search box "cmd" a cmd.exe will show, right click it and open as administrator.
3. write regsvr32 ir50_32.dll it will register the codec with windows
4. play

It was posted here originaly-
http://www.leanerminds.com/swat3/swat3_vistafix.html

This site seems to have the same info about forcing it to make it recognize.

If that fixes it, please reply and let us know.

When I went to run regsvr32 ir50_32.dll, I received an error message.

The module "Regsvr32 ir50_32.dll" failed to load.
Make sure the binary is stored at the specified
path or debug it to check for problems with the
binary or dependent .DLL files.

The specified module could not be found.

This was after installing the Indeo 5 codecs, and trying to manually register them on Windows 7 Pro (SP1) 64 bit. However, after installation of the Indeo Codecs, there are no prompts to register anything, and I am installing the codecs using the default install location.

[Collector]

There can be problems registering older DLLs on a Win7 64 system. Also, there are problems with Indeo 5 on modern Windows, including security issues. One thing you could try is to encode the video files with a different format that your system can view to replace the GOG versions. Just be sure that it remains an AVI and has the same name as the original. If you can view it in Media Player, it might work in the game. Here is the Sierra logo video from the game encoded in DivX/Xvid. Replace sierra.avi in the game's folder with the one in the zip. If you see it when you launch the game, DivX/Xvid should work.

[Tawmis]

When I went to run regsvr32 ir50_32.dll, I received an error message.

The module "Regsvr32 ir50_32.dll" failed to load.
Make sure the binary is stored at the specified
path or debug it to check for problems with the
binary or dependent .DLL files.

The specified module could not be found.

This was after installing the Indeo 5 codecs, and trying to manually register them on Windows 7 Pro (SP1) 64 bit. However, after installation of the Indeo Codecs, there are no prompts to register anything, and I am installing the codecs using the default install location.

If you search the HD - are you able to locate the ir50_32.dll file?

If so, you may need to specify where it is when doing the regsvr32 command.

[DosMan007]

There can be problems registering older DLLs on a Win7 64 system. Also, there are problems with Indeo 5 on modern Windows, including security issues. One thing you could try is to encode the video files with a different format that your system can view to replace the GOG versions. Just be sure that it remains an AVI and has the same name as the original. If you can view it in Media Player, it might work in the game. Here is the Sierra logo video from the game encoded in DivX/Xvid. Replace sierra.avi in the game's folder with the one in the zip. If you see it when you launch the game, DivX/Xvid should work.

Okay. I tried the sierra.avi file from the link provided. The GOG Sierra logo intro is different from this one. This one is the original from the CD, but I replaced it anyway. The original Sierra intro did come up, but it was not centered on the screen, it was offset to the right, so the A in Sierra was cut off, and you could see the black border to the left of the Sierra logo picture.

After that, it played the cut scene you'd see next, where its the guy talking, Officer during your next days in Swat yadda yadda, the sound played fine, but there wasn't any video, and the offset Sierra logo was still on the screen.

All the video's in the C:\Sierra\Swat 3 directory play perfectly fine in Windows Media Player.

[DosMan007]

When I went to run regsvr32 ir50_32.dll, I received an error message.

The module "Regsvr32 ir50_32.dll" failed to load.
Make sure the binary is stored at the specified
path or debug it to check for problems with the
binary or dependent .DLL files.

The specified module could not be found.

This was after installing the Indeo 5 codecs, and trying to manually register them on Windows 7 Pro (SP1) 64 bit. However, after installation of the Indeo Codecs, there are no prompts to register anything, and I am installing the codecs using the default install location.

If you search the HD - are you able to locate the ir50_32.dll file?

If so, you may need to specify where it is when doing the regsvr32 command.

I haven't tried that. Should I be in the main directory where the installation is located to register?

EDIT: So in CMD from the C:\> prompt, I did a dir/s ir50_32.dll and it found it in C:\Windows\SysWOW64 directory. Obviously codecs are working if I'm seeing the avi files in Media Player.

[Tawmis]

Usually the SYSWOW64 is in the PATH of Windows to auto recognize files located there...

But I'd try this anyway - go to:

START, RUN - regsvr32 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ir50_32.dll

Just to see if that works. It's weird that it said it failed to initialize.

[Collector]

This is common when trying to register older DLLs on Win x64 systems. Windows actually includes the codec, but it is not registered. This has to be done as an administrator. Open a command prompt (not the runbox) as an administrator and type:

Code: Select all

regsvr32 "%windir%\sysWOW64\ir50_32.dll"

and press enter.

[DosMan007]

This is common when trying to register older DLLs on Win x64 systems. Windows actually includes the codec, but it is not registered. This has to be done as an administrator. Open a command prompt (not the runbox) as an administrator and type:

Code: Select all

regsvr32 "%windir%\sysWOW64\ir50_32.dll"

and press enter.

So I got back into the command prompt, and I typed in exactly what you have shown here. Regsvr32 %windir%\sysWOW64\ir50_32.dll. I heard a ding and a message popped up saying "DllRegisterServer in C:\Windows\sysWOW64\ir50_32.dll succeeded.

I edited the properties file for Swat 3, and took out the -nointro command. The intro still does not display on the screen, and I am still left with Swat 3 Not responding under the Application tab in the Task Manager.

EDIT: Okay so after doing it in the Cmd runbox, I've never heard of that terminology so I didn't exactly know what you were talking about, typing it in at the DOS prompt did seem to work, as it said succeeded.

[Tawmis]

Make sure you're running DOS as an admin when you register the file.

So do START -> type "CMD" - but don't press enter. Actually right click it on the search result (from the start bar) and select "Run As Administrator"

[Tawmis]

Error loading strings.dat, but could still not get into the game.
I've seen other help suggestions online about the Error loading strings.dat, and those help suggestions did nothing for me.

Because I'd rather not work on my work certification that's needs to be done this weekend, I did some more digging around - since you mentioned doing some things to fix this error, but not what you did - here's some info I found (that you may or may not have tried)...

"ERROR OPENING STRINGS DAT"
This error occurs when the path of your Sierra folder is NOT in your C: drive, if you use a different drive,
you have to edit the path of swat.ini file (Using NOTEPAD) to point to your drive.(all 5 paths need to be
updated)

paths=C:\Sierra\SWAT3\;C:\Sierra\SWAT3\campaigns;C:\Sierra\SWAT3\swatdata.res;C:\Sierra\SWAT3\sound.r
es;C:\Sierra\SWAT3\scenes.res

In some cases, it may be necessary to place the sierra folder into the compatibility folder for win32
applications, in this case you have to edit the path of swat.ini file (Using NOTEPAD) to point to exact
path of the Sierra folder.

============================

[DosMan007]

Make sure you're running DOS as an admin when you register the file.

So do START -> type "CMD" - but don't press enter. Actually right click it on the search result (from the start bar) and select "Run As Administrator"

Image2.png

Well I am the administrator, I'm the only one who uses this computer, and there's only one account on it, administrator, but I'll do that.

Because I'd rather not work on my work certification that's needs to be done this weekend, I did some more digging around - since you mentioned doing some things to fix this error, but not what you did - here's some info I found (that you may or may not have tried)...

"ERROR OPENING STRINGS DAT"
This error occurs when the path of your Sierra folder is NOT in your C: drive, if you use a different drive,
you have to edit the path of swat.ini file (Using NOTEPAD) to point to your drive.(all 5 paths need to be
updated)

paths=C:\Sierra\SWAT3\;C:\Sierra\SWAT3\campaigns;C:\Sierra\SWAT3\swatdata.res;C:\Sierra\SWAT3\sound.r
es;C:\Sierra\SWAT3\scenes.res

In some cases, it may be necessary to place the sierra folder into the compatibility folder for win32
applications, in this case you have to edit the path of swat.ini file (Using NOTEPAD) to point to exact
path of the Sierra folder.

============================

I seen that fix as well. I initally had the game in D:\GAMES\Swat 3, then I read about the C: drive, so ever since then, it's been in C:\Sierra\Swat 3.

[Tawmis]

Make sure you're running DOS as an admin when you register the file.
So do START -> type "CMD" - but don't press enter. Actually right click it on the search result (from the start bar) and select "Run As Administrator"
Well I am the administrator, I'm the only one who uses this computer, and there's only one account on it, administrator, but I'll do that.

Yeah, it's a quirk in Windows 7, where even if you're an admin on the machine, you need to right click and select "Run As Admin"

When you do it, do the quotes as well, from DOS:

Code: Select all

regsvr32 "%windir%\sysWOW64\ir50_32.dll"