there may be privatley hosted games but i havent tried to play latley it was about 3 years back when i last played the multiplayer and yeah it is basic tdm. Multiplayer nolonger works as the servers were shut down. also the mod helps fix a lot of bugs that were never patched so yeah they are essential and dont change the game story. if you dont use the mods there is a huge difference between the 3rd and first game. the mod adds dx10 shadows and sunbeams as well as bump textures to the older games so they look almost as good as the last.
get the complete mod for all 3 and you wont loose any gfx quality as you play. You should play them in reverse order as then you can enjoy the story as the 3rd 1 is the start of the saga.
