What the Last Resort Launcher does

This purpose of this thread is to compile information about what the Last Resort launcher does for the sake of transparency. Eventually in the future I will probably rewrite it and publish a permanent page. A sort of FAQ.


File changes done by LR launcher (read and write changes):

Swat.ini
Swat.cfg
mTemp.txt
Sierra.inf
LastResort.ini


File copy or rename files by the LR launcher (no other file changes):

CustomChat.dat
swat.exe
swat_original.exe
swat_800x600.exe
swat_1366x768.exe
swat_1920x1080.exe
swat_no_menu.exe

All files that are manipulated by the LR launcher are all contained in the Swat3 game folder with the exception of the LastResort.ini file. This is stored in the user's AppData folder. This is done so Windows users can have different saved settings and is considered proper coding practice for Windows.

Swat.ini

Used by the game executable to determine the following:

paths - file paths and filenames of all the essential Swat 3 assets needed to run the game

TakeDownStudioURL - web URL of the game's website

Mods - list of mods to be loaded by the game

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Swat.cfg

This file contains many essential settings that affect how Swat 3 plays. The specific lines that get changed by the launcher are:

res - The chosen game resolution for Swat 3

shootgoodguys - toggles friendly fire

display_mode - valid game resolutions all must be listed to be used

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mTemp.txt

This file is only used by the old Sierra made mod manager. The Last Resort launcher simulates what the old mod manager does to maintain compatibility with vanilla Swat 3.

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Sierra.inf

This is something I added with version 8.0 and may take it back out. The game doesn't even seem to use this file so changing it may be waste of time.

WebPage - web URL of the game's website

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LastResort.ini

Settings file created by the Last Resort launcher and only used to remember the choices that are made.

The following files are only copied or renamed by the LR launcher. No content changes are done to the files by the launcher itself.

CustomChat.dat - The launcher will unzip and overwrite this file from community made custom chat mods.

swat.exe - The current Swat 3 executable being used by the game as renamed by the launcher

swat_original.exe - This is the renamed original vanilla Swat 3 game executable. Used when the LR mod toggled off/on.

swat_800x600.exe - hacked game executable to give bigger textures, custom 2D menus, and NeuWon server support

swat_1366x768.exe - hacked game executable to give bigger textures, custom 2D menus, and NeuWon server support

swat_1920x1080.exe - hacked game executable to give bigger textures, custom 2D menus, and NeuWon server support

swat_no_menu.exe - hacked game executable to give bigger textures, custom 2D menus, and NeuWon server support but retain Swat 3's original 2D menus.   Only properly works for single player games

Only one game executable can be named "swat.exe" at a time obviously. The LR launcher will swap out which game executable gets used by renaming them.


Why is the Last Resort launcher renaming the game executables?

Windows 8/10 uses shims with Swat 3 to get it to run smoother (think of these shims as a software settings for Windows compatibility). Windows looks for the 'swat.exe' executable file to apply the shim. The Last Resort mod uses custom hacked .exe files to allow greater screen and texture resolutions. The Last Resort launcher is required to dynamically rename this hacked executable to swat.exe so that it uses the Windows shim to prevent frame rate drops and problems with the game movies.

Further information on shims:

DWM8And16BitMitigation is a Windows compatibility "shim" (a small piece of code used to fix software issues) designed to help legacy applications run on modern versions of Windows.

It was introduced with Windows 8 because that OS version significantly changed how the desktop was rendered, dropping native support for older 8-bit (256 colours) and 16-bit (High Colour) display modes.

What does it actually do?

Older games and professional software from the late 90s and early 2000s often try to switch your monitor to a specific 8-bit or 16-bit colour depth to save memory or maintain art style.

Modern Windows (8, 10, and 11) runs exclusively in 32-bit (True Colour). When an old program asks for 16-bit colour, the system would normally crash or display a "Video mode not supported" error. This shim acts as a middleman:

• Emulation: It tricks the application into thinking the screen has switched to 8-bit or 16-bit colour.
• Conversion: It takes the 8/16-bit graphical data from the app and converts it on-the-fly to 32-bit so the Desktop Window Manager (DWM) can display it correctly.

Common Use Cases

You will most often see this entry in your Windows Registry if you have:

1. Old Games: Games like Half-Life, Worms Armageddon, or Grand Theft Auto: Vice City often trigger this mitigation automatically.
2. Compatibility Settings: If you right-click an .exe, go to Properties > Compatibility, and check the box for "Reduced colour mode," Windows will apply this flag.
3. DirectDraw Apps: Software using older versions of DirectX (specifically DirectDraw) often requires this to prevent visual corruption or "shrunken" window issues.

Where is it stored?

If Windows detects a program needs this fix, it records it in the Registry. You can usually find these entries here:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers

Should you disable it?

Generally, no. If this flag is present for an application, it usually means the app won't start or will look broken without it. However, some users of modern wrappers (like dgVoodoo2 or DxWnd) disable it manually because those third-party tools handle the colour conversion better than Windows does.

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Typical Registry Entry:
Untested variation of Registry Entry (adds 16bit colour compatibility mode):