L.A. Noire

L.A. Noire

Developers
	Team Bondi
	Rockstar North
	Rockstar San Diego
	Rockstar New England
Windows	Rockstar Leeds
Publishers
	Rockstar Games
Russia	1C-SoftClub
Release dates
Windows	November 8, 2011
Reception
Metacritic	83
IGDB	89
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, DLC
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, Adventure, Shooter, TPS
Vehicles	Automobile, Truck
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Detective/mystery, Contemporary, North America
Series	L.A. Noire

L.A. Noire
L.A. Noire	2011
L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files	2017

L.A. Noire is a singleplayer third-person action, adventure, shooter and TPS game in the L.A. Noire series.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Can be activated in the Rockstar Games Launcher. Launch build requires now-obsolete Rockstar Games Social Club, but a patch removes this requirement.
Publisher website
Amazon.com
Humble Store
Steam		Not purchasable in the Middle East, Cuba, North Korea, Somalia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Venezuela.
Amazon.com (unavailable)
Green Man Gaming (unavailable)		The Complete Edition.

All digital versions require Rockstar Games Launcher for activation and online features.

All non-Rockstar Games Launcher DRM versions use GameShield IronWrap DRM. Rockstar has not disclosed details of how many machine activations are allowed nor any other restrictions.

Version differences

The Complete Edition includes the base game and the DLC Bundle. As of update v2663.1.0.0 (April 19, 2021), this is the default digital version of the game and was granted to both new and previous owners.

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
DLC Bundle	Unlike the original console releases, individual DLC was never available separately for the PC.

Essential improvements

Patches

Patch v2617.0.0.0 is the latest version for the retail release. Unlike the launch version on the disc, this build can be run without the now-obsolete Rockstar Social Club client.

V-Patch

Allows using variable framerate (without cars braking much slower than intended) and custom FOV.

Unlocks aspect ratios, adds custom resolution support, borderless windowed mode and option to skip intro videos.

The patch has to be temporarily disabled in order to complete some puzzles. Like in "The Quarter Moon Murders", you might not be able to swing on the chandelier.

L.A. Noire Unlocker

Unlocks the frame rate to 60 FPS, and removes black bars in non-16:9 aspect ratios

Skips intro videos

Unlocks exclusive DLC outfits (including the Chicago Lightning outfit) and allows early access to detective outfits

Skip intro videos

Skip logos with V-Patch
Install V-Patch. Launch the game once. Open <path-to-game>\lanvp.ini. Change skip_logos=0 to skip_logos=1.

Use L.A. Noire Unlocker

Game data

External settings.

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Rockstar Games\L.A. Noire\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/110800/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Rockstar Games\L.A. Noire\Profiles\<user-id>\L.A.Noire\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/110800/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
OneDrive		Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud

Uses Rockstar Games Launcher's savegame cloud sync function.

Video

Display settings

In-game graphics settings

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			Use L.A. Noire Unlocker or V-Patch to remove black bars at certain resolutions.
Multi-monitor			See the WSGF entry or use V-Patch.
Ultra-widescreen			See the WSGF entry or use V-Patch.
4K Ultra HD			Certain UI elements don't scale correctly with the resolution, resulting much smaller at higher resolutions. Full screen map and minimap visibility are both compromised at 4k.
Field of view (FOV)		Use V-Patch or Widescreen Fixer.
Windowed		See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Use V-Patch.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Up to 4x FXAA. In DX9 mode only, users with an Nvidia graphics card can force high quality SGSSAA and MSAA with the 0x004010C1 AA flag in the Nvidia Profile Inspector. Post-processing forms of AA like SMAA and TAA can be added with ReShade.
High-fidelity upscaling		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Can be forced off in GPU control panel
60 FPS		Frame rate is capped at 30 FPS. See High frame rate.
120+ FPS		See High frame rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Windowed

Enable windowed
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open settings.ini. Change Fullscreen:YES to Fullscreen:NO.

Use the -windowed command line argument

High frame rate

Use V-Patch
Place the .dll file into the location of the game's exe. Allows for variable refresh rate (not just 60 FPS) and does not suffer from the braking speed bug.

Run the game at screen refresh rate

When using the DirectX 11 renderer, fullscreen mode always runs at 60 Hz, even if the screen refresh rate is set higher than that.

Override refresh rate with 3Dmigoto
Download the latest release of 3Dmigoto. Extract the files from the x32 folder to <path-to-game>. Open <path-to-game>\d3dx.ini. Change ;refresh_rate=60 to desired hertz, and remove the semicolon (e.g. refresh_rate=120). Change hunting=1 to ;hunting=1 by adding a semicolon.

Download and launch Widescreen Fixer
Select L.A. Noire from the games list. Click the gear icon. Check Enable FPS Cap Fix and 59.940 FPS. Save the settings and launch the game. Press * to unlock the frame rate while in-game. Negatively affects cars' handling: Acceleration is too fast, steering is too sensitive, and braking is too slow.

Use L.A. Noire Unlocker
Open Unlocker.ini. Change lock at 60 fps = 0 to lock at 60 fps = 1.

Use L.A Noire FPS Unlocker
Open the tool. Start the game. Press F10 to activate the fix.

Use Cheat Engine
Works without restarting the game. Open LANoire.exe with Cheat Engine and scan for 59.94000 Float value. Edit the found value proportionally to your desired FPS. 119.88 for 60 FPS 239.76 for 120 FPS 287.712 for 144 FPS 479.52 for 240 FPS

Input

Controls settings

Remap settings

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration		Disabled by default. Can be enabled in the options menu.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support		Full in-game support. Launcher does not support controller input.
Controller remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers

Generic/other controllers

Audio

Audio settings

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music, effects and dialogue
Surround sound		Auto configures up to 7.1 output
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		Game pauses itself and pause menu has no audio.
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Czech				Fan translation, download.
French
German
Italian
Polish				Fan translation, download.
Brazilian Portuguese				Fan translation, download.
Russian
Spanish
Turkish				Fan translation, download.

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
vorpX		G3D, DirectVR Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.

Issues unresolved

Map markers are very hard to see at higher resolutions

The map and some other UI elements do not scale up correctly with higher resolutions, starting from 720p.

Massive pop-in and poor LOD quality, even on highest available graphics settings

L.A. Noire is plagued by very noticeable pop-in and poor level of detail at all times. This appears to be hardcoded.

Shadows appear as blocky artifacts

On some systems some shadows (e.g. while investigating bodies) can have a glitchy appearance.

Issues fixed

Freezing on title screen

L.A. Noire for Windows is known to freeze at the title screen during the synchronization process, or immediately after, when the camera moves away from the L.A. Noire neon sign. There are several possible reasons for this. Some of the most common are:

• Anti-virus related issues where game files are misrecognized as malware.
• .NET Framework 3.5 or C++ runtime libraries are not properly installed or configured.
• Firewall prevents game from making a connection to the Internet.

Updating Microsoft Components[citation needed]
Download and install the latest version of .NET Framework (4.5) here Download and install the latest version of Microsoft Visual C++ (2010) here Choose from this page which version of DirectX you will be using and then download and install it Notes This may fix issues whereby the game fails to install or the Rockstar Games Social Club launcher (and therefore the game) fail to launch

Fix the .NET Framework on 64-bit Windows 7[citation needed]

Open the Start menu. Type optionalfeatures.exe and press ↵ Enter. Uncheck Microsoft Framework 3.5.1. Click OK. Reboot the computer. On next boot, go back and check Microsoft Framework 3.5.1. This will re-install .NET 3.5 and correct the issue. If this does not work, run the .NET Framework clean-up tool, and then repeat the above steps. If the problem persists after following the above, delete ypatcher.exe from <path-to-game>. The game should start up.

Game crashes after launcher with no error message

Run the game as administrator

Crash to desktop on Windows 8

Apply patches for Windows 8 compatibility[citation needed]
It is recommended to first follow Rockstar's official instructions, and if this does not work then to follow the instructions below. Download this file containing fixed cases.big.pc and out.wad.pc files. Extract the .rar file to <path-to-game>, overwrite if asked. Update the game (if using the retail version, see Patches) Launch the game.

Slowdown, lag, or frame-rate issues

Tweaking game via command line arguments[citation needed]
Run the game with the -str and/or -npd and/or +jobs_numThreads 0 command line arguments to enable a single-threaded renderer, which may improve performance or compatibility on some systems. If the problem persists, switching the Renderer field to DirectX 11 in the same options menu can also improve performance.

Disable the Steam Overlay[citation needed]

Missing main menu

Verify integrity of game cache[citation needed]

Rockstar Social Club / Launcher UI issues at main menu

After logging into the Social Club account, the game does not advance to the main menu (neon lights screen).

Two Social Club processes are present in the task manager.

Create offline profile
Go to the Create Account menu. Click on the "Offline profile" gray link.

Reinstall Rockstar Games Launcher manually
Delete the Rockstar Games launcher installation folder (back up any saved files beforehand). Install the Rockstar Games Launcher from the official website, then launch it and log in. Run the game.

Nvidia video driver crashes

Change the renderer from DirectX 11 to DirectX 9[citation needed]

Black border around game

This is caused by the display's overscan handling.

See the Overscan entry for solutions.

Use V-Patch

Glowing aura around characters

Disable in-game SSAO from the Graphics menu.

USB controller problems

With certain controllers connected to the PC (e.g. wheel or flight pedals), a bug can occur with a controller that is set to disabled in the game menus still being accepted for input for some game controls, with keyboard input being ignored. This most notably occurs when trying to drive cars.

Use -joysticktype 1 command line argument

Unable to reposition the window using the mouse

Keyboard workaround[citation needed]
Use ⇧ Shift+right click on the game's taskbar icon. Go to "Move" with the keyboard. Use arrow keys to the move window and press ↵ Enter.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0c, 11	No visual differences; DX11 may offer better compatibility and performance.

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows			32-bit support is deprecated as of Title Update v2663.1.0.0. The game itself is still 32-bit, but the 64-bit Rockstar Games Launcher is required. The retail version still supports 32-bit systems, as it did not receive this update.

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	Havok
Audio	FMOD Ex
Cutscenes	Bink Video

Mods

Coax, Force and Accuse Mod

When in development, Interrogation prompts were titled "Coax, Force and Accuse". Shortly before the game was released, it was changed to "Truth, Doubt and Lie" which is often misleading as the dialogue was written for the former prompts. This mod restores the original prompts.

To install extract the files to the L.A. Noire\final\pc folder.

Command line arguments

In the retail version, these parameters can be applied by running LANLauncher.exe and accessing the Options menu, then typing them into the "Command Line" field.

As of the latest update on Steam and the Rockstar Games Launcher, these arguments may not be applied to LANLauncher.exe.

An alternative method is to create the commandline.txt file in <path-to-game> and type the arguments there.

Parameter	Description
-ignorefocus	Prevents the game from pausing on focus loss.
-joysticktype	Forces a specific DirectInput controller type. Can be used to try different controller button layouts if the controller is not specifically supported. See list of supported controllers.
-L	Changes the game language - use English, French, German, Italian or Spanish as options; for example -L french
-mousefree	Allows the mouse to move outside the game window while in windowed mode.
-nosound	Disables sound.
-npd	Disables the D3D_PUREDEVICE flag from device creation. May help if you have graphics compatibility issues.
-str	Enables single-threaded renderer, which may improve performance or compatibility on some systems.
-windowed	Runs the game in a window.

Undocumented parameters

The following parameters are referenced inside the game's files and were likely intended for developer usage only. There are many more that are completely unused, and therefore not listed here.

Parameter	Description
-debugburn	Prevents flaming people from dying.
-disablecrashhandler	Disables the crash handler.
-disablepost	Disables post effects
-dmtf	Disables the D3D D3DCREATE_MULTITHREADED flag; could improve performance at the cost of stability.
-dx11	Runs the game using DirectX 11.
-err	Tests out error messages at an unspecified location.
-exit	Exits the game immediately (skipping the main loop) to test clean shutdown.
-gamewells	Allows the player to use gamewells even if no conversation exists.
-noenvtextures	Does not stream any environment textures.
-nonv	Does not intialise the nVidia API; may improve performance for some users.
-res [width] [height]	Forces the game to run at a specified resolution (e.g. -res 1920 1080)
-revive	Allows the player to be revived manually. (Seems to be referenced after dying in a gun fight. Unknown if it will actually do anything.)
-TexStreamSize [memsize]	Overrides the Textures VRAM streaming pool size (possibly in kilobytes)
-timeofday [time]	Overrides the time of day from the scenario (float 24-hour time, e.g. 22.5 is 10:30 PM)
-writedefs	Outputs Attribute System definitions in an .xml file in <path-to-game>\attribute\definitions.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP SP3, Vista SP1, 7
Processor (CPU)	Intel Dual Core 2.2 GHz AMD Dual Core 2.4 GHz	Intel Quad Core 3.2 GHz AMD Quad Core 3.2 GHz
System memory (RAM)	2 GB	8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	16 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT ATI Radeon HD 3000 512 MB of VRAM	Nvidia GeForce GTX 580 AMD Radeon HD 6850 1024 MB of VRAM
Sound (audio device)	DirectX 9 compatible

This game requires a 64-bit OS as of Title Update v2663.1.0.0.