Key points
- Some sounds are missing on Windows Vista and later. See Missing audio.
- Unofficial startup hang patch should be applied to prevent the game from locking up during startup.
- The game does not work on AMD Zen 2/3-based processors.[3][4] See JPEG errors on AMD Zen 2/3-based CPUs.
General information
- Steam Community Discussions
Availability
- SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).
- A demo is available.
- Faithful higher quality icons for Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne can be found here.
You must be logged in to download.
Essential improvements
Patches
- The latest version is v1.05. The Steam version is up-to-date.
- Fixes missing audio in cutscenes and certain areas.
- Forced Vsync, otherwise not possible on Windows 10, which prevents several bugs.
- Forced resolution solves several artifacts on the edges of polygons and allows supersampling anti-aliasing.
Fix Packs
- Complete FixPack. A patch that includes startup hang patch, ThirteenAG's Widescreen Fix, a high-res texture pack, different options for video wrappers and other fixes.
- Definitive Fix. A patch that includes startup hang patch, ThirteenAG's Widescreen Fix, a D3D9 wrapper and other fixes.
Skip intro videos
Skip Launcher
Unlock All Difficulties Without Completing the Game
Add this to your Windows Registry
|
Remove broken Adaptive Difficulty
Use this file to remove the broken adaptive difficulty on "Fugitive" using the values of the remastered mobile version
|
Game data
In-game general settings.
Configuration file(s) location
Save game data location
System |
Location |
Windows |
%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Max Payne Savegames\ |
Mac OS (Classic) |
{Boot}:Documents:Max Payne Saved Games or user's Documents folder |
macOS (OS X) |
$HOME/Documents/Max Payne Saved Games/ |
Steam Play (Linux) |
<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/12140/pfx/[Note 2] |
- 10 save slots + 2 quicksave slots + 1 autosave slot available.
System |
Native |
Notes |
OneDrive |
|
Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers. |
Steam Cloud |
|
|
Video
Launcher general settings.
Launcher advanced settings.
Set FOV with widescreen fix[citation needed]
|
- Install ThirteenAG's fix.
- Edit
MaxPayne.WidescreenFix.ini .
- Set
FOVFactor to the desired value (capped at around 1.43 ).
Notes
- It might turn nightmare levels unplayable, since these sections of the game already alter the camera FOV.
|
- The built-in Vsync requires workarounds to function on modern systems (Windows 10 and later).
Apply one of the following three options:
Use Widescreen Fix[11]
|
- Download ThirteenAG's fix.
- Copy all contents to the installation folder.
- Open
global.ini in the scripts folder.
- Change
UseD3D8to9=0 to UseD3D8to9=1 .
|
Use d3d8to9[11]
|
- Download d3d8to9.
- Copy
d3d8.dll to the installation folder.
|
Input
In-game key map settings.
Audio
Localizations
- Some regions only have certain languages available. All audio languages can be downloaded from here.
Language |
UI |
Audio |
Sub |
Notes |
English |
|
|
|
|
Czech |
|
|
|
Fan translation, download. |
French |
|
|
|
|
German |
|
|
|
Fan translation, download. |
Italian |
|
|
|
|
Japanese |
|
|
|
Ported from mobile version and converted with sound patch, download. |
Polish |
|
|
|
Retail only. Patch for digital release here. Details |
Brazilian Portuguese |
|
|
|
Retail only.[12] Patch for digital release here. |
Russian |
|
|
|
Retail only. Patch for digital release here. |
Slovenian |
|
|
|
Fan translation, download. |
Spanish |
|
|
|
Retail only. Patch for digital release here. |
Turkish |
|
|
|
Fan translation, download. |
Issues unresolved
Missing intro video (Proton/Linux)
- With Proton 5.13-6 and newer, the intro video before the main menu plays audio only. It can be skipped by adding
-skipstartup
to the launch options.
- With Proton 5.0-10 and older, the intro video before the main menu is skipped entirely, even if the
-skipstartup
parameter is not used.
Issues fixed
Corrupted files in the French version (Steam)
- The French version of Max Payne, on Steam, has corrupted files. Error message: "Invalid Data Read from R_memory File("part1_level1b)".
Reports indicate issues with the following files: x_level1.ras
, x_level2.ras
and x_level3.ras
.
Replace files
|
- Download the files from here.
- Copy and paste the files to the game directory.
|
Installer fails on Windows 7 64-bit and later (Retail)
- Default installer on disc root is 16-bit.
Run setup.exe[13]
|
- Run the
setup.exe file located in the Disk1 folder instead.
- Click Yes if the "insufficient memory" message pops up and install anyway.
|
Missing audio
Use DirectSound3D restoration software
|
Notes
- In case of missing audio when using dgVoodoo with the above solutions, use version 2.72 or older.
For newer versions, run the game as administrator.
|
Use unofficial patch[14]
|
- Download the unofficial patch.
- Extract the contents to the installation folder.
- Run
MaxBatch.bat .
- Follow the on-screen instructions.
Notes
- Relies on automatic recompression of audio files without quality loss to another format.
|
The launcher does not start
JPEG errors on AMD Zen 2/3-based CPUs
Game crashes or videos fail to load
Error: setFullscreen - creating the device failed: E_FAIL
Exception in engineInit: Unable to load save game "Files"
Reinstall the game on the local disk (C:)[citation needed]
|
Exception in startupInit: Directory \data not found
Reinstall the game without specifying spaces in the folder path (e.g. C:\Games\MaxPayne)[citation needed]
|
Disable Anti-Aliasing[citation needed]
|
Reinstall the game (Steam)[17]
|
- Set up a new Steam library folder without spaces in the folder path (e.g. C:\Steam).
- Reinstall the game to the new Steam library folder.
- Go to that folder and then to
SteamApps\common .
- Rename the
Max Payne folder to MaxPayne .
- Go back to the
SteamApps folder and open appmanifest_12140.acf with any text editor.
- Change the line
"installdir" "Max Payne" to "installdir" "MaxPayne" .
- Restart Steam.
- If needed, set the compatibility mode to
Windows 98 / Me .
|
Game won't launch, shows up in task manager, white screen
Roll back AMD Catalyst drivers to v12.6 from here[citation needed]
|
Random freezes
- It occurs when too many sound effects are played at once and the IndirectSound wrapper is used to fix the missing audio issue.
Replace IndirectSound with DSOAL[18]
|
Notes
- If DSOAL does not function, apply the registry changes listed here.
|
Game breaking bugs at high frame rate
- Although it is enabled by default, Vsync does not work on Windows 10.
- Uncapped high frame rate reduces shootdodge and jump distance by making certain areas uncompletable.
- Both the Nvidia and AMD control panels won't cap the frame rate.
Use RTSS to cap the frame rate to 60 FPS[19]
|
Use d3d8to9
|
- Download d3d8to9.
- Copy
d3d8.dll to the game directory and set the monitor refresh rate to 60Hz.
|
Visible polygon seams
- On Windows 10, there are a lot of visible polygon seams when both Hardware T&L and anti-aliasing are enabled.
Disable anti-aliasing in the game launcher and force it through the GPU control panel
|
Reshade/SweetFX doesn't work
- This problem occurs when using the ThirteenAG's Widescreen Patch.
Edit INI file[citation needed]
|
- Open
global.ini in the scripts folder.
- Change
UseD3D8to9=0 to UseD3D8to9=1 .
- Install ReShade or SweetFX as DirectX 9.
|
Delete dinput8.dll or rename it to d3d8.dll
|
Reduced color depth (Proton/Linux)
- Color banding may occur with Proton 6.3-8 or newer.
Use d3d8to9
|
- Download d3d8to9.
- Copy
d3d8.dll to the installation folder.
- Run the game with the environment variable
WINEDLLOVERRIDES set to "d3d8=n,b" . In the game properties on Steam, go to the General tab and add WINEDLLOVERRIDES="d3d8=n,b" %command% in the launch options field.
|
Use ThirteenAG's widescreen fix
|
- Download ThirteenAG's fix.
- Copy all contents to the installation folder.
- Open
global.ini in the scripts folder.
- Change
UseD3D8to9=0 to UseD3D8to9=1 .
- Run the game with the environment variable
WINEDLLOVERRIDES set to "d3d8=n,b" . In the game properties on Steam, go to the General tab and add WINEDLLOVERRIDES="d3d8=n,b" %command% in the launch options field.
|
Use Proton 5.13-6 or older
|
- In the game properties on Steam, go to Compatibility.
- Enable Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool.
- Select
Proton 5.13-6 or older from the drop-down menu.
|
VR support
3D modes |
State |
Notes |
vorpX |
| G3D Requires D3D8to9 wrapper, see vorpx forum profile introduction. |
Other information
API
Technical specs |
Supported |
Notes |
Direct3D |
8 |
|
DirectDraw |
|
DirectDraw for the intro video only. Everything else uses Direct3D 8.[20] |
OpenGL |
|
Mac OS only |
Shader Model support |
1.1 |
|
Executable | PPC | 16-bit |
32-bit |
64-bit | ARM |
Notes |
Windows | | |
|
| |
|
macOS (OS X) | | | |
| |
PowerPC applies for retail version only. ARM aplies for Mac App Store version only. |
Mac OS (Classic) | | | |
|
|
|
Middleware
- No middleware information; you can edit this page to add it.
Console commands
See this article.
Command line arguments
- See command line arguments on how to use the following options.
Parameter |
Description |
-screenshot |
Enables F10 for taking screen shots. Screen shots are saved to the "screenshots" folder in the Max Payne installation folder. |
-nodialog |
Skips the Max Payne startup dialog when loading the game (uses options previously set). |
-skipstartup |
Skips the startup video. |
-disable3dpreloads |
If the system runs out of texture memory while loading a level, this option may prevent the game from crashing due to a driver error. |
-window |
Runs the game in a windowed mode, in the resolution selected from the Max Payne launch dialog. Not all 3d accelerators support running in a windowed mode. |
-novidmemcheck |
Disables the video memory check at the start of the game. |
-developer |
Enables "developer mode", including console (toggled with F12). |
-developerkeys |
Enables special developer keys. Requires developer mode. Using developer keys can break the game flow. |
-showprogress |
Shows extended loading information. Requires developer mode. |
-profile |
Enables in-game profiler. Toggle profile with F11, and see console aliases for profiling options. |
Mods
System requirements
Windows | Mac OS (Classic) | macOS (OS X) |
Windows |
|
Minimum[21] |
Recommended |
Operating system (OS) |
95, 98, ME, 2000 | |
Processor (CPU) |
450 MHz
| 700 MHz |
System memory (RAM) |
96 MB |
128 MB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
| |
Video card (GPU) |
16 MB of VRAM DirectX 8.0 compatible
| 32 MB of VRAM |
Sound (audio device) |
DirectSound compatible | |
Mac OS |
|
Minimum |
Recommended |
Operating system (OS) |
9.1 |
9.2.2 |
Processor (CPU) |
PowerPC G3 400 MHz | |
System memory (RAM) |
128 MB | |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
900 MB | |
Video card (GPU) |
OpenGL compatible 16 MB of VRAM | |
macOS (OS X) |
|
Minimum |
Operating system (OS) |
10.2 |
Processor (CPU) |
PowerPC G3 400 MHz |
System memory (RAM) |
128 MB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
900 MB |
Video card (GPU) |
OpenGL compatible 16 MB of VRAM |
Notes
- ↑ SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10[5] or Windows 11 and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.[6]
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
References