Q. What is this place? What is S4MAX?

S4MAX is a heavily modded s4 league private server. We try our best to stick to the original style & design of S4 League. We create our own content such as weapons, clothing and maps but try to keep close to the original style. We've also been known to create things based on un-used concept art. That being said S4MAX is it's own entity, as result we aren't quite a direct mirror of official and do not wish to be. This is a passion project run by long time fans of the game. We work on it when we want to and are able, which is quite frequent. We have been live since october 2016.


Q. Where is the server located?
Atlanta, GA. Game is p2p though so latency is entirely dependent on the kind of players you're up against.


Q. Is there custom content in this server?
Yes. Most of our work is typically client side and we often rely on blub's project for server-side updates. We work a good 60% of the time, with the game itself. There's almost no limit to what kinds of content we can create, as well. We put in the work and develop new content for S4MAX as much as we can, which gets released in each update. So keep your eyes open to see what's next

Q. Do people only play Sword only Station-2 here? / What's the community like?
People play sword only station 2 everywhere. Regardless of whether its on a private server or not. Let's just get that out of the way now. The staff and regulars don't really care for it, but when we do hop on we encourage rotation rooms for the sake of variety. The community is pretty relaxed for the most part with veterns and newer players alike. 

Q. I downloaded the launcher, but I get errors when trying to run the launcher, install or update, what do I do?
Whitelist your folder in your antivirus or disable it while you update, in order to prevent a corrupted installation. Also make sure you are NOT running the launcher inside the zip file, please extract first, then run the program. Make sure that the zip file contains 2 DLL's with the launcher too. Should the launcher start acting weird, redownload it from the site.


Q. The launcher is not working for me, what do I do?
Two things to know right away: The launcher does not support windows XP currently & the dot NET 4.5 framework may be needed to run it, you can find that here: (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30653). If problems continue, redownload from the website here or come to the discord and go to #techsupport

However you should, if nothing else works, simply redownload the launcher alone. It's currently available in the #client-download channel on discord.

Q. How do I make an account?
When you launch the game and get to the login screen, just put in a desired name and password and your account will be generated. Keep track of your login information though as we do not offer account recoveries at this time.


Q. Where are items in the shop?
The blank tabs have nothing, Check the centered ones with icons for weapons, clothing and skills. Don't worry this is just something temporary and will be changed when we switch to a newer season.

Q. Why are people's clothes not showing up right away in lobby/when they change characters in half-time?
Patch 26 and onwards do not load the clothes of people unless you are in the lobby with them,  or you die, then it will load.

Q. I'm having technical difficulties/have questions/would like to contact you, where do I go?
That's what the discord is for. We have a dedicated tech-support channel.


Q. I wanted to play a match in the Lobby map and i spawned out of it and i'm falling into oblivion!
We are aware of this, sometimes it happens, we'll have to do additional collision to prevent it, for now just rejoin the game.

Q. What's wrong with chaser? / How do I play a stable match of it?
This implementation is very early and very rough. There's numerous bugs we are still trying to fix. But the mode is "playable"


Q. What's wrong with Practice mode?
The game mode works, however, everytime you kill a sentry it shows that you killed yourself, and it also has half-time. Other than that, it works fine if you want to shoot turrets until we nail the game mode.

Q. Is the server dead? / Are you guys still alive? / Why is there so few on?
No, we're still very much alive and our population just spikes depending on the time of day.


Q. Who made all this? How did you guys do this?
The server source code be use as a base for our work here is Wtfblub's Season 1 server emulator, with some modifications. It's thanks to his hard work this project is possible in the first place. For the most part though, everything  is handled by our team here development & management wise. There is also the occasional submission of community content, to add in with our own. Most with a GM or ADMIN role work on the game.


Q. What modes are currently available in S4MAX?
Deathmatch, Touchdown, Practice, Battle royale & a WIP chaser

Q. The sound seems off, some things have a higher volume than others, why is this?
This is due to the fact that the volume slider does not handle ALL sounds, making some of the sounds at MAX volume at all times. The way to fix this is to set the effect volume slider to the maximum to have all the sounds behave properly.

Q. When should I private message/DM Admin/GMs?

Only do so in absolute emergency or anything very important. Do not spam our private messages with demands for things to be put in game. Also do not ask in private for name-changes or other small special favors. Also do not @ us in the discord server unless you really need us. Always read the FAQ before asking anything, always ask something in tech support if you're truly stuck. We're busy too. ***Do not bother us for menial things, thank you***

Q. I played a game and got 0 EXP, what happened?
Friendly mode gives zero exp.


Q. Friendly mode?

Our friendly mode works a little different from official. On official it allows you to play games without tracking stats. Our friendly mode allows you to start games with only a single player. So think of it like a practice room without the sentries.

18. How do I play alone or practice?

Answer: Tick the "Friendly" tab in room creation in order to play alone and practice maps.

Frequently Asked Questions

**This updated more frequently on the Discord**