Command Squad

Game: Galactic Contention

Command Squad Field Manual

How to Play Galactic Contention (Star Wars Squad Mod)

Install Galactic Contention, find a server, and survive your first Clone Wars match — including the browser filter that hides every modded server by default.

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Galactic Contention is a free total-conversion mod that moves Squad into the Clone Wars. Version 9.0 — rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5 — releases on 31 July 2026, and Command Squad is running a dedicated server for it from launch day.

This guide covers getting it installed, finding a server that’s actually running it, and the handful of things that will otherwise catch you out in your first match.

What you need first

You need Squad on PC. Galactic Contention is a mod, not a standalone game — there is nothing to buy for the mod itself, but it won’t run without the base game.

That’s the whole list. You don’t need a Workshop account beyond your normal Steam login, you don’t need to configure anything, and you don’t need to install the mod manually.

Installing: two routes

Route A — join a server and let it download (fastest)

You don’t have to install anything in advance. Squad will fetch the mod for you when you try to join a server running it.

  1. Launch Squad and open the Servers browser.
  2. Open Filter and turn on Show Modded Servers. See the section below — this step is not optional and it’s the one everybody misses.
  3. Search for Galactic Contention and pick a server.
  4. Squad reports that the required mods are missing or out of sync. Choose Download All.
  5. Wait for the download, restart Squad if it asks, and rejoin.

This is the route we’d suggest if you just want to play tonight, because it guarantees you end up with the exact mod version the server is running.

Route B — subscribe on the Steam Workshop

If you’d rather have it ready ahead of time:

  1. Open the Galactic Contention Steam Workshop page (item ID 2428425228).
  2. Click Subscribe.
  3. Steam downloads it in the background. Launch Squad once it’s finished.

Same result, and it lets you download overnight instead of while your friends wait in the server.

How long and how much disk

Budget roughly 35–45 GB on top of Squad. Total conversions ship their own maps, models, audio and effects rather than reskinning the base game, so the download is large and it is not optional. Start it before the evening you want to play.

Why you can’t see any Galactic Contention servers

Nine times out of ten this is the answer: Squad hides modded servers by default.

In the server browser, open Filter and enable Show Modded Servers. Until you do, no Galactic Contention server exists as far as the browser is concerned — including ours — and the mod looks dead when it isn’t.

Once that’s on, search for Galactic Contention in the browser’s search field. If you’re looking for us specifically, our server is listed on the Galactic Contention page, and the standard connection routes in Finding & Connecting to Command Squad Servers all work the same way for it.

Your first match

The mod assumes you already understand Squad. Squads, squad leaders, FOBs, rally points, logistics and comms all work the way they do in the base game — if any of that is new, read the new player guide first and come back.

What’s actually different:

The factions are asymmetric. The Grand Army of the Republic fields clone troopers with the DC-15 weapon family, and its medics can revive downed troopers — a coordinated Republic squad recovers from a bad fight far better than the casualty count suggests. The Confederacy fields B1 battle droids with the E-5 family and has no revive mechanic, but droids don’t take the stamina penalties clones do. That trade shapes everything: the Republic rewards holding a position and recovering on it, the Confederacy rewards pressure and repositioning.

The vehicles handle differently from anything in vanilla. The Republic’s AT-TE walker and TX-130 repulsor tank behave nothing like a modern MBT, and the Confederacy’s AAT and SAT are heavier and slower than their Republic counterparts. Don’t take a vehicle out of main in a live match to find out how it drives — see the offline practice section below.

Some layers field additional factions. Geonosians are playable on the Confederacy side and can fly; Tusken Raiders and Gungans appear on some maps. Which ones show up depends on the layer.

Blasters are not bullets. Projectiles are visible and travel at a speed you can react to. Sustained fire from a fixed position gets you found and killed faster than it would in vanilla.

The practical advice for match one: join a squad, turn your mic on, say you’re new to the mod, and take a rifleman-equivalent role while you work out what everything does. That’s not a Galactic-Contention-specific tip, it’s just the thing that works.

Practising offline

You can load Galactic Contention maps solo with AI, which is the sane way to learn a vehicle:

  1. From the main menu, open the console and run adminchangelayer followed by a GC map name.
  2. Once the layer loads, press Shift + K — or the End key — to open the AI menu.
  3. Add bots, or don’t, and go drive the AT-TE into things at your own pace.

Map names change between versions, so check the official wiki for the current list rather than trusting an old forum post.

Troubleshooting

“Mods are missing or out of sync.” The server is running a different version than you have. Let Squad download the correct one, or unsubscribe and resubscribe on the Workshop to force a clean fetch.

The download stalls at 0 B/s or never finishes. Restart Steam first, then Squad. If it’s still stuck, unsubscribe from the Workshop item, delete any leftover mod folder, and re-subscribe. Steam Workshop downloads for items this size fail more often than small ones.

No servers appear even with the filter on. Clear the search field entirely and check your other filters — a leftover player-count or map filter will hide everything. Failing that, restart the game so the browser re-queries.

The game crashes on launch after installing. Verify Squad’s files through Steam (Properties → Installed Files → Verify integrity), then launch again. If it persists, it’s a mod issue rather than a server issue — take it to the mod team’s channels below.

You connect but the game is unplayable. Unreal Engine 5 raised the hardware floor. Turn settings down before concluding the server is at fault.

Where to get help

For anything about our server — rules, admins, seeding, whitelist — use our Discord or the player support guide.

For anything about the mod itself — bugs, crashes, release notes, balance — go to the mod team directly. They develop it; we don’t:

Galactic Contention is an unofficial, non-commercial fan mod developed by the Galactic Contention team. Command Squad is not affiliated with the Galactic Contention development team, Offworld Industries, Lucasfilm Ltd., or The Walt Disney Company. Star Wars and all related marks are trademarks of Lucasfilm Ltd.