Max Payne 3

Max Payne
Max Payne	2001
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne	2003
Max Payne 3	2012
Max Payne 1&2 Remake	TBA

Key points

Scales well in performance, can be played on Intel HD 4000 at low settings

General information

Steam Users' Forums for game series

Steam Community Discussions

Payneforums for game

Availability

Rockstar has stated the following:

The Steam version of Max Payne 3 supports Steam achievements and buying DLC from in-game via Steam. Certain features normally associated with Steamworks—such as friends, cloud saves, stats, and matchmaking—are fully supported using Rockstar's own Social Club (not Steam or Games for Windows Live) as the platform for all versions. Retail key activation on Steam is not supported.

Digital Rights Management (DRM)

GameShield

All versions of Max Payne 3 utilise a form of DRM known as GameShield, also utilised in L.A. Noire. Rockstar have not disclosed on how many machine activations GameShield will permit, nor information about any other restrictions.

Retail

Does not activate in any online digital distribution stores.

Steam

Max Payne 3 bought through Steam uses Steam achievements.

All downloadable content is loaded through the Rockstar Games Social Club account.

Improvements

Patch Notes

Patch will be automatically downloaded when starting your game with steam or the rockstar launcher.

Command Lines

Max Payne 3's engine allows direct input through Command Line commands. There are two ways to implement these commands:

Instructions

Video settings

Max Payne 3 supports 3D on Nvidia cards.

Issues And Fixes

TweakGuides has created a comprehensive guide for fixing issues in this game. It can be found here.

Game Will Not Launch

The game will not launch for many users.

Instructions

Negative Mouse Acceleration and Frame Dependent Mouse Sensitivity

Even after the patch which includes a mouse acceleration toggle, some players experience negative mouse acceleration as well as FPS dependent sensitivities. There are currently no true fixes for the negative mouse acceleration, however, turning off FXAA, MSAA, and V-Sync may help to make it more tolerable. Negative mouse acceleration will still be there, but turning off these settings will help the overall feel of the mouse movement. This issue is most likely caused by the developers using a software mouse to emulate a joystick, as opposed to raw hardware mouse input.

It is also recommended that you find the lowest average fps your card can handle. Once you find a framerate that is comfortable, use a program with frame capping functionality to cap the fps. This will keep the mouse sensitivity more consistent, as the mouse sensitivity can change based on the current framerate.

Game Goes to Pause Menu Randomly

This error is usually caused by having an XBOX360 wireless adapter plugged into USB.

Game Doesn't Launch

Before the more recent patches, there was an issue where the default directory names would prevent the game from starting. If the game is updated to the most recent patch and still fails to start, try reinstalling .net and DirectX.

Error Code 1641 on launch

This error is related to .Net 3.5. Restarting the computer should fix the error, but if not try reinstalling .Net 3.5 and restarting.

Game Crashes with StackHash_XXX Error

This error is caused by Data Execution Prevantion in Windows Vista/7. Running maxpayne3.exe as an administrator may solve the problem.

Instructions

ERR_OS_VISTA

This error message can be caused on the Steam version of the game when Steam is forced by the OS into compatibility mode.

Instructions

Graphics Settings Not Saving

The game may report that video memory is 0/0. This may be caused by older graphics drivers which need updating. One fix is to edit the following file: %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\Rockstar Games\Max Payne 3\graphics.xml

Steam Version Product Key Activation Errors

For the error message "no activations remaining for this activation key" or "cannot contact activation server" when trying to activate the game over socialclub, the issue can be remedied by moving your max payne 3 installation from ..\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common to ..\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\<your-username> and right clicking on maxpayne3.exe and running it as an administrator. Once this is done, the game will activate properly.

Requires Service Pack 1

The game may show the error message 'Requires Service Pack 1 or superior'.

This can be fixed by finding the maxpayne3.exe file, right clicking and setting the compatibility mode to "Windows XP (Service Pack 3)".

Running maxpayne3.exe as an administrator may also fix the problem.

Change Language

In the main folder, open the file commandline.txt using Notepad. If the file is not there, create it. Then add one of the following lines to change the language of Max Payne 3:

-language English
-language French
-language Italian
-language German
-language Spanish
-language Russian
-language Portuguese
-language polish

If this doesn't work, create a shortcut to the Launcher (PlayMaxPayne3.exe), right-click on the shortcut, select Properties and add one of the above lines to the target field. Your target field should look something like this afterwards:

"C:\%YourGameDirectory%\Max Payne 3\PlayMaxPayne3.exe" -language English

Alternatively, if you have the Steam Version, you can rightclick on Max Payne 3 in your steam library, select Properties->set launch options and add one of the above mentioned command lines.

ASUS Cards - Game won't launch or crashes randomly

If you own an ASUS card (ATi or NV) and you installed the 'Smart Doctor' and/or 'ASUS Gamer' software then this could be what's causing crashes. All you need to do is uninstall Smart Doctor and ASUS Gamer, restart your computer and reinstall your video card drivers.