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Max Payne

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Max Payne
Max Payne cover
Developers
Remedy Entertainment
Producer 3D Realms
Mac OS (Classic) Westlake Interactive
macOS (OS X) Westlake Interactive
Publishers
Retail (2001-2002) Gathering of Developers
Retail (2002-Present) / Digital Rockstar Games
OS X MacSoft
Russia 1C-SoftClub
Brazil GreenLeaf
Engines
MAX-FX
Release dates
Windows July 23, 2001[1]
Mac OS (Classic) July 16, 2002[2]
macOS (OS X) July 16, 2002[2]
Reception
Metacritic 89
IGDB 74
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Microtransactions None
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Third-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Action, Shooter, TPS
Art styles Realistic
Themes Contemporary, Detective/mystery, North America
Series Max Payne
Max Payne on HowLongToBeat
Max Payne on IGDB
Max Payne guide on StrategyWiki
Max Payne on MobyGames
Max Payne on Wikipedia
Max Payne
Max Payne 2001
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne 2003
Max Payne 3 2012
Max Payne 1&2 Remake TBA

Max Payne is a singleplayer third-person action, shooter and TPS game in the Max Payne series.

The game has few issues running on Windows Vista and later, see Missing audio for more details.
Also to prevent the game from locking up during startup, the unofficial startup hang patch should be applied.
For users with AMD Zen 2/3-based processors, the game doesn't work by default.[3][4] See JPEG errors on AMD Zen 2/3-based CPUs for a fix.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
SafeDisc v2 DRM[Note 1]
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Retail
DRM-free
Original Polish release.
Max Payne Anthology released only in Poland and Germany.
Windows
GamersGate
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Windows
Gamesplanet logo.svg
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Green Man Gaming
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Humble Store
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Mac App Store
Icon overlay.png
macOS (OS X)
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Can only be purchased in specific countries. Among others: USA, Canada, UK, Switzerland and some European countries. Notable exceptions: Brazil, Croatia, Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia and Singapore.
Windows
Games for Windows Marketplace (unavailable)
Icon overlay.png
[7]
Windows
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.

Peixoto's Patch

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

Run the game with the -skipstartup parameter[8]

Skip Launcher

Run the game with the -nodialog parameter[9]

Unlock All Difficulties Without Completing the Game

Add this to your Windows Registry

Remove broken Adaptive Difficulty

The adaptive difficulty feature in the game's standard difficulty mode ("Fugitive") is broken, and does not account for player deaths properly. This results in the difficulty escalating and then remaining on the hardest values.
Use this file to replace the minimum and maximum adaptive difficulty values with the original PC version's default/neutral values
Use this file to replace the adaptive difficulty values with the static ones from the remastered mobile version

Game data

In-game general settings.
In-game general settings.

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Remedy Entertainment\Max Payne\
Mac OS (Classic)
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/12140/pfx/[Note 2]

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) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/12140/pfx/[Note 2]
10 save slots + 2 quicksave slots + 1 autosave slot available.

Save game cloud syncing

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

Video

Launcher general settings.
Launcher general settings.
Launcher advanced settings.
Launcher advanced settings.
In-game video settings.
In-game video settings.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
Use ThirteenAG's fix.
Multi-monitor
Use ThirteenAG's fix.
Ultra-widescreen
Use ThirteenAG's fix.
4K Ultra HD
Use ThirteenAG's fix.
Field of view (FOV)
See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
Toggle with Alt+ Enter or use the -window parameter.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See Borderless fullscreen windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anisotropic filtering mode option only.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Up to 8x MSAA.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
Double and triple buffering are available.
If using Windows 10, see Vertical sync (Vsync).
60 FPS
120+ FPS
High frame rate breaks physics.[10] See Game breaking bugs at high frame rate.
The game seems to be completable when capped at 144 FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Field of view (FOV)

Set FOV with widescreen fix[citation needed]
  1. Install ThirteenAG's fix.
  2. Edit MaxPayne.WidescreenFix.ini.
  3. 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.

Borderless fullscreen windowed

Force borderless fullscreen
  1. Install ThirteenAG's fix.
  2. Go to <path-to-game> and create a file called wndmode.ini.

Vertical sync (Vsync)

The built-in Vsync requires workarounds to function on modern operating systems (Windows 10 and later).
Use Widescreen Fix[11]
  1. Download ThirteenAG's fix.
  2. Copy all contents to the game directory.
  3. Open global.ini inside scripts.
  4. Change UseD3D8to9=0 to UseD3D8to9=1.
Use d3d8to9[11]
  1. Download d3d8to9.
  2. Copy d3d8.dll to the game directory.
Use dgVoodoo 2

Input

In-game key map settings.
In-game key map settings.
In-game mouse settings.
In-game mouse settings.

Audio

In-game audio settings.
In-game audio settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Music & Effects
Surround sound
Up to 7.0 output with DirectSound3D restoration software
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free 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
  1. Download the files from here.
  2. Copy and paste the files to <path-to-game>.

Installer fails on Windows 7 64-bit and later (Retail)

Default installer on disc root is 16-bit.
Run setup.exe[13]
  1. Run the setup.exe file located in the Disk1 folder instead.
  2. 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]
  1. Download the unofficial patch.
  2. Extract the contents to the game directory.
  3. Run MaxBatch.bat.
  4. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Notes

Relies on automatic recompression of audio files without quality loss to another format.

The launcher does not start

Set the compatibility mode to Windows 98 / Me[15]

JPEG errors on AMD Zen 2/3-based CPUs

Use a fixed rlmfc.dll[16]
  1. Download this file.
  2. Extract it to <path-to-game> and overwrite rlmfc.dll.

Notes

Instructions to apply the fix manually here.

Game crashes or videos fail to load

Set the compatibility mode to Windows 98 / Me[citation needed]

Error: setFullscreen - creating the device failed: E_FAIL

Use ThirteenAG's fix[citation needed]

Exception in engineInit: Unable to load saved 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[17]
Reinstall the game (Steam)[18]
  1. Set up a new Steam library folder without spaces in the folder path (e.g. C:\Steam).
  2. Reinstall the game to the new Steam library folder.
  3. Go to that folder and then to SteamApps\common\.
  4. Rename the Max Payne folder to MaxPayne.
  5. Go back to the SteamApps folder and open appmanifest_12140.acf with any text editor.
  6. Change the line "installdir" "Max Payne" to "installdir" "MaxPayne".
  7. Restart Steam.
  8. If needed, set the compatibility mode to Windows 98 / Me.

Game won't launch, shows up in task manager, white screen

Use the unofficial Startup hang patch[citation needed]
Set the compatibility mode to Windows 98 / Me[citation needed]
Skip the intro or delete it in the game folder[citation needed]
Force CPU affinity to one core[citation needed]
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[19]

Notes

If DSOAL does not function, apply the registry changes listed here.

Game breaking bugs at high frame rate

Shootdodge and jump distance are shortened, which makes certain areas incompletable.
The game's built-in Vsync does not work on Windows 10 and later; requires a fix.
Both Nvidia and AMD control panels cannot cap the frame rate, unless a wrapper is applied.[20][21]
Use one of the Vsync fixes and set the refresh rate to 144 Hz or lower[22]
Cap the frame rate to 144 FPS or lower

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
Use dgVoodoo 2

Reshade/SweetFX doesn't work

This problem occurs when using the ThirteenAG's Widescreen Patch.
Edit INI file[citation needed]
  1. Open global.ini in the scripts folder.
  2. Change UseD3D8to9=0 to UseD3D8to9=1.
  3. 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
  1. Download d3d8to9.
  2. Copy d3d8.dll to {{folder<path-to-game>}}.
  3. 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
  1. Download ThirteenAG's fix.
  2. Copy all contents to the game directory.
  3. Open global.ini in the scripts folder.
  4. Change UseD3D8to9=0 to UseD3D8to9=1.
  5. 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
  1. In the game properties on Steam, go to Compatibility.
  2. Enable Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool.
  3. 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.
Devices
Novint Falcon

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 8
DirectDraw
DirectDraw for the intro video only. Everything else uses Direct3D 8.[23]
OpenGL 1.2 Mac OS only.
Shader Model support 1.1
ExecutablePPC16-bit 32-bit 64-bitARM 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 taking screenshots with F10. They are saved to <path-to-game>\screenshots.
-nodialog Skips the setup dialog when loading the game. Previously set options are used.
-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.
-window Runs the game in windowed mode, at the resolution selected from the setup dialog.
Not all 3D accelerators support running in windowed mode.
-novidmemcheck Disables the video memory check at startup.
-developer Enables developer mode, including the 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
Minimum[24] Recommended
Operating system (OS) 95, 98, ME, 2000
Processor (CPU) 450 MHz
System memory (RAM) 96 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)
Video card (GPU) 16 MB of VRAM
DirectX 8.0 compatible
Sound (audio device) DirectSound compatible
Mac OS
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 9.1
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

  1. 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. 2.0 2.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/12140/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (12140) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

  1. Max Payne Ships (retrieved) - last accessed on 2023-08-02
  2. 2.0 2.1 Max Payne Goes Gold! (June 13) (retrieved) - last accessed on 2023-08-02
    "Max Payne, the amazing shooter about a New York cop "with nothing to lose", has been approved by all parties for duplication and will be heading to store shelves on July 16th."
  3. Steam Community - last accessed on 9 June 2023
  4. Verified by User:Eddmanx on 2023-10-14
  5. Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of - Microsoft Community - last accessed on 2017-01-16
  6. Microsoft - MS15-097: Description of the security update for the graphics component in Windows: September 8, 2015 - last accessed on 2018-02-16
  7. Max Payne ™ - Games for Windows - last accessed on 19 August 2022
  8. Verified by User:Averygoodperson on 2022-01-23
  9. How to directly boot the game and skip/bypass the launcher? - Steam Users' Forums - last accessed on May 2023
  10. Max Payne frame limit · Issue #568 · ThirteenAG/WidescreenFixesPack - last accessed on 9 June 2023
  11. 11.0 11.1 Verified by User:Keith on 2020-10-12
  12. Big Box PC Games Brasil Wiki - last accessed on 2023-06-12
  13. Can't install Max Payne on Win7 x64 - last accessed on May 2023
  14. -Ultimate Max Payne(1) Vista/Win7 Sound Fix- - Steam Users' Forums - last accessed on May 2023
  15. Verified by User:Chick'n'Duck on 2023-10-14
  16. luigoalma comments on A Uniquely Ryzen 3000 Problem - Max Payne (2001) : AMD - Reddit - last accessed on May 2023
  17. Verified by User:AlphaYellow on 2023-12-15
  18. Verified by User:Theexplodingbarrel on 2023-06-03
  19. Game freezes for no apparent reason (central topic) - Steam Community Discussions - last accessed on 2023-06-03
  20. GitHub - ThirteenAG/WidescreenFixesPack: Max Payne 1: can't limit FPS with WidescreenFixes - last accessed on 2023-10-14
  21. Steam Community Discussion - I cannot get the frame rate to lock - last accessed on 2023-10-22
  22. Verified by User:Eddmanx on 2023-10-16
    Tested by capping the frame rate. Can't pinpoint the exact value it breaks at; seems to be between 144 and 180. I picked 144 since it's more common.
  23. Verified by User:Eddmanx on 2022-08-30
    Checked with RTSS and dgVoodoo2
  24. Max Payne manual - last accessed on 2023-08-02