Payday 2

Payday 2

Developers
	Overkill Software
	Starbreeze Studios
DLC	Lion Game Lion
Publishers
	505 Games
Engines
	Diesel 2.0
Release dates
Windows	August 13, 2013
Linux	March 21, 2016
Reception
Metacritic	79
IGDB	75
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, DLC, Cross-game bonus
Microtransactions	Time-limited
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Shooter, Stealth
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Contemporary, North America
Series	Payday

Payday
Payday: The Heist	2011
Payday 2	2013
Payday 3	2023

General information

Port Report

Official Discord server

Unofficial PAYDAY Wiki

Master List of Fixes

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Epic Games Store		Requires online connection to Epic Online Services to play.
Green Man Gaming		Ultimate Edition also available.
Humble Store		Legacy Collection also available.
Steam		Regular or Legacy Edition

Due to Steam bundle limitations, the Legacy Edition cannot be gifted, however the base game can be purchased again and can be gifted.

Has Cross-play between Steam and Epic Games Store users.

The Linux build is no longer supported as of update 237 from June 8, 2023. Cross-saving between Windows and Linux ports was modified in Update 228; "to ensure stability of Linux saves", and voice chat is currently bugged on Linux (players can hear you, but you cannot hear other players).

Monetization

Type	Notes
Cross-game bonus	Exclusive in-game items can be obtained by owning one or more of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, SpeedRunners, Dead by Daylight, or Antisphere on Steam.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Career Criminal Content	Preorder only.
Lootbag	No longer available.
The Official Soundtrack	Soundtrack, additionally grants access to four masks, materials and patterns.
Armored Transport	Part of Legacy Collection.
Gage Weapon Pack #01	Part of Legacy Collection and Gage vs Bikers Bundle.
A Merry Payday Christmas Soundtrack	Soundtrack, additionally grants access to three masks.
Gage Weapon Pack #02	Part of Legacy Collection and Gage vs Bikers Bundle.
Gage Mod Courier	Part of Legacy Collection and Gage vs Bikers Bundle.
Gage Sniper Pack	Part of Legacy Collection and Gage vs Bikers Bundle.
Humble Mask Pack	No longer available.
The Big Bank Heist	Part of Legacy Collection.
Gage Shotgun Pack	Part of Legacy Collection and Gage vs Bikers Bundle.
Gage Assault Pack	Part of Legacy Collection and Gage vs Bikers Bundle.
Hotline Miami	Part of Legacy Collection.
Humble Mask Pack 2	No longer available.
Gage Historical Pack	Part of Legacy Collection and Gage vs Bikers Bundle.
Alienware Alpha Mask Pack	No longer available.
Alienware Alpha Mauler	No longer available.
Clover Character Pack	Part of Legacy Collection.
The Diamond Heist	Part of Legacy Collection.
Dragan Character Pack	Part of Legacy Collection.
The Bomb Heists	Part of Legacy Collection.
The Butcher's AK/CAR Mod Pack	Part of Legacy Collection.
Hotline Miami Mask Pack	Obtained by owning Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number on Steam.
Jacket Character Pack	Obtained by owning Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number Digital Special Edition on Steam.
The COMPLETELY OVERKILL Pack	No longer available.
The OVERKILL Pack	Part of Legacy Collection.
SpeedRunners	Obtained by owning SpeedRunners on Steam.
The Butcher's BBQ Pack	Part of Legacy Collection.
The Butcher's Western Pack	Part of Legacy Collection.
The Alesso Heist	Part of Legacy Collection.
The OVERKILL B-Sides Soundtrack	Soundtrack.
Humble Mask Pack 3	No longer available.
Humble Mask Pack 4	No longer available.
The Jack Mask Pack	No longer available.
The Joker Mask Pack	No longer available.
The King Mask Pack	No longer available.
The Queen Mask Pack	No longer available.
Sokol Character Pack	Part of Legacy Collection.
The Golden Grin Casino Heist	Part of Legacy Collection.
Gage Ninja Pack	Part of Legacy Collection and Gage vs Bikers Bundle.
Bobblehead DLC	No longer available.
Yakuza Character Pack	Part of Legacy Collection.
The PAYDAYCON 2015 Mask Pack	Can be obtained for free.
Gage Chivalry Pack	Part of Legacy Collection and Gage vs Bikers Bundle.
The Point Break Heists	Part of Legacy Collection.
The Goat Simulator Heist	Part of Legacy Collection.
Wolf Pack	Part of Legacy Collection. If you own the Wolf Pack from Payday: The Heist, you receive this DLC for free.
The COMPLETELY OVERKILL Pack II	No longer available.
Sydney Character Pack	Part of Legacy Collection.
Dead by Daylight Mask Pack 5	Obtained by owning Dead by Daylight: Deluxe Edition on Steam.
Humble Mask Pack 5	No longer available.
Biker Character Pack	Part of Legacy Collection and Gage vs Bikers Bundle.
The Biker Heist	Part of Legacy Collection and Gage vs Bikers Bundle.
The COMPLETELY OVERKILL Pack III	No longer available.
free August Event	Can be obtained for free.
John Wick Weapon Pack	Part of Legacy Collection.
The PAYDAYCON 2016 Mask Pack	No longer available.
Gage Spec Ops Pack	Part of Legacy Collection and Gage vs Bikers Bundle.
Scarface Character Pack	No longer available.
Scarface Heist	Part of Legacy Collection.
Sydney Mega Mask	Players can donate at least $10 USD towards a charity to receive the mask.
John Wick Heists	Part of Legacy Collection.
Gage Russian Weapon Pack	Part of Legacy Collection and Gage vs Bikers Bundle.
Fedora	Can be obtained for free.
Locke and Load Day 9	Can be obtained for free.
Antisphere Mask Pack	Obtained by owning Antisphere on Steam.
h3h3 Character Pack
Payday 2: VR	Free.
Border Crossing Heist	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, Silk Road Collection and Border Crossing Bundle.
Cartel Optics Mod Pack	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, Silk Road Collection and Border Crossing Bundle.
Tailor Pack 1	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, Silk Road Collection and Border Crossing Bundle.
San Martín Bank Heist	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, Silk Road Collection and San Martín Bundle.
Tailor Pack 2	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, Silk Road Collection and San Martín Bundle.
Federales Weapon Pack	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, Silk Road Collection and San Martín Bundle.
Weapon Color Pack 1	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, Silk Road Collection and San Martín Bundle.
Breakfast in Tijuana Heist	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, Silk Road Collection and Breakfast in Tijuana Bundle.
Fugitive Weapon Pack	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, Silk Road Collection and Breakfast in Tijuana Bundle.
Weapon Color Pack 2	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, Silk Road Collection and Breakfast in Tijuana Bundle.
Gunslinger Weapon Pack	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, Silk Road Collection and Buluc's Mansion Bundle.
Tailor Pack 3	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, Silk Road Collection and Buluc's Mansion Bundle.
Weapon Color Pack 3	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, Silk Road Collection and Buluc's Mansion Bundle.
Buluc's Mansion Heist	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, Silk Road Collection and Buluc's Mansion Bundle.
Jiu Feng Smuggler Pack	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, City of Gold Collection and Dragon Heist Bundle.
Dragon Pack	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, City of Gold Collection and Dragon Heist Bundle.
Jiu Feng Smuggler Pack 2	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, City of Gold Collection and Ukrainian Prisoner Bundle.
The Ukrainian Prisoner Heist	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, City of Gold Collection and Ukrainian Prisoner Bundle.
Guardians Tailor Pack	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, City of Gold Collection and Ukrainian Prisoner Bundle.
Jiu Feng Smuggler Pack 3	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, City of Gold Collection and Black Cat Bundle.
Black Cat Heist	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, City of Gold Collection and Black Cat Bundle.
Mega City Tailor Pack	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, City of Gold Collection and Black Cat Bundle.
Winter Ghosts Tailor Pack	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection and City of Gold Collection
Jiu Feng Smuggler Pack 4	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, City of Gold Collection and Mountain Master Bundle.
Golden Dagger Tailor Pack	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, City of Gold Collection and Mountain Master Bundle.
Mountain Master Heist	Part of Silk Road & City of Gold Collection, City of Gold Collection and Mountain Master Bundle.
Southbound Tailor Pack	Part of Midland Bundle
McShay Weapon Pack	Part of Midland Bundle
Midland Ranch Heist	Part of Midland Bundle
High Octane Tailor Pack	Part of Lost in Transit Bundle
Tijuana Music Pack	Part of Lost in Transit Bundle
McShay Weapon Pack 2	Part of Lost in Transit Bundle
Lost in Transit Heist	Part of Lost in Transit Bundle
Street Smart Tailor Pack	Part of Hostile Takeover Bundle
McShay Mod Pack	Part of Hostile Takeover Bundle
McShay Weapon Pack 3	Part of Hostile Takeover Bundle
Hostile Takeover Heist	Part of Hostile Takeover Bundle

All Heist, Character, Weapon, Tailor, and Weapon Colour Pack DLCs released for Payday 2 are supported on Linux. Only the VR DLC is not supported.

Buying DLCs is not required to join missions from DLCs. Only a host has to have the DLC.

All DLC maps up to The White House can be played without DLC for 1 time in Career mode. Career mode also does not require the player to pay any offshore fee.

Starting from October 1, 2020, the Scarface Character Pack is no longer available for purchase due to licensing issues, rendering this DLC permanently unavailable if it was not purchased prior to that date.

Career mode does not support the One Down modifier, so it is impossible to get achievements related to it.

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Use the -skip_intro parameter

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\PAYDAY 2\renderer_settings.xml
Linux	$XDG_DATA_HOME/.local/share/Starbreeze/Payday2/renderer_settings.xml

Key bindings are stored inside save files.

It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\PAYDAY 2\saves\<user-id>\
Linux	<Steam-folder>/userdata/<user-id>/218620/remote/
Steam	<Steam-folder>/userdata/<user-id>/218620/remote/

Transfer save data from base game to VR beta

Deleting previous VR save may halt progress in VR.

Manually copy base game save

Go to %LOCALAPPDATA%\PAYDAY 2\saves\<user-id>\ You'll find 2 files, save098.sav and save096.sav. The former being the base game save and latter being the VR save. If the VR save is missing, launch Payday 2 VR. Copy save098.sav and paste it into the same folder, with the name save098 - Copy.sav Delete or rename save096.sav to save096 OLD.sav Rename save098 - Copy.sav to save096.sav Launch Payday 2 VR

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Epic Games Launcher		Saves can be manually transferred between Steam and Epic.
Steam Cloud		Cross-saving was "disabled" between Windows and Linux versions in Update 228 (In actuality, saves still sync over, the port now merely uses a differently named, but otherwise identical, save slot for Linux), however, save games can still be used interchangeably. A workaround for this has been made. Saves can be manually transferred between Steam and Epic.

Video

In-game general video settings.

In-game advanced video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen			Cutscenes and HUD are pillarboxed 16:9.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		Hor+ scaling, only up to 85-90°. Use Custom FOV. Recommended values are 1.70(105°), 1.75(110°) or 1.85(120°). Viewmodels start looking worse at 105°. Use this mod for more FOV when aiming.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Use this mod for Borderless Windowed Fullscreen
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Up to 16 samples.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		As of Update 100, FXAA and SMAA are available to choose from. Nvidia users can force MSAA and SGSSAA with flag 0x004012C1 (disabling Chromatic Aberration is recommended to prevent blurring).
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		Defaults to 60 Hz. See Run the game at screen refresh rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

NVIDIA HBAO+

Enabling HBAO+ for Nvidia graphics cards[citation needed]
Download and run Nvidia Profile Inspector. Under Profiles select Payday 2. Under Ambient Occlusion compatibility insert the flag 0x00000004. Under Ambient Occlusion usage select Enabled. Under Ambient Occlusion setting select your quality of preference, but in order to use HBAO+ you must use Quality or High Quality. Click Apply changes.

Input

In-game control settings.

In-game keybinding settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Some restriction that doesn't allow to set same key binds in vehicle controls as while on foot. A mod like HoldTheKey removes most restrictions on keybindings allowing you to setup on both keys.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus		Cursor speed is tied to framerate
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support		XInput is required, but workarounds for other controllers can utilise the Steam Big Picture configurator, or X360CE (Windows) and XboxDRV (Linux).
Controller remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Controller sensitivity		Can be adjusted in-game. Is tied to the mouse's sensitivity.
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

DualShock 4 controllers		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Tracked motion controllers
Button/gesture prompts

Generic/other controllers		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Additional information
Button prompts		There is a mod available to replace the default prompts with DualShock 3/4 prompts Payday 2 DualShock 3/4 Button Prompts mod
Controller hotplugging		Chosen at the start screen. Cannot switch between controller and keyboard without restarting.
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

In-game audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		"Music", "SFX", and "Voice Chat" separated.
Surround sound		Stereo output only. Users report surround sound worked in the past but was possibly broken by an update.
Subtitles		Subtitles for character callouts are not available, such as players calling to each other. But can be implemented with a mod: See the Mods list.
Closed captions		See the Mods list, for a mod to implement them.
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Simplified Chinese
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Russian
Spanish
Brazilian Portuguese				Fan translation, download.

Network

In-game network settings.

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play		4	Co-op Use Nucleus Co-op.
LAN play
Online play		4	Co-op

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
UDP	9899

This game supports Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) for automatic port configuration.

VR support

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

Headsets
SteamVR		Requires VR DLC.
Oculus VR (LibOVR)		Requires VR DLC.
Windows Mixed Reality		Requires VR DLC.
OSVR

Devices
Tracked motion controllers		See Input for details.
Traditional controller		See Input for details.
Keyboard/Mouse

Play area
Seated
Standing
Room-scale

Issues fixed

Game crashes with memory issue in crash log

Try lowering the graphics settings as Payday 2 is in 32 bit only
Lower Graphics settings in Payday 2.

Game crashes with LLVM-related issues in the system log on Linux

Degraded Performance may be experienced with this command.

Any Mesa build that is built against LLVM 13 or above will crash the game. This can be fixed by running Zink; an OpenGL to Vulkan conversion layer baked into Mesa
Paste the following into Launch Options for Payday 2 env __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=mesa MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE=zink GALLIUM_DRIVER=zink %command% If you want to run SuperBLT, the command is instead env __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=mesa MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE=zink GALLIUM_DRIVER=zink LD_PRELOAD="$LD_PRELOAD ./libsuperblt_loader.so" %command%

Main Menu gets excessively brighter upon launching the game

Ensure that your videocard driver's application settings are set to default
For AMD cards, open Radeon Settings, and ensure System Settings under Gaming are set to "Use application settings".

Do not use third-party program SMAA[citation needed]
If you are using a third-party program such as RadeonPro in the case of AMD, ensure that SMAA is set to Off. Also opening and closing the Steam overlay may help to rectify this problem.

Not fitting fullscreen despite running at 1080p/Black screen when selecting 1080p

Sometimes Payday 2 does not fit entirely to the user's screen even though the resolution is set to 1920x1080.

Change renderer settings file[citation needed]
Open renderer_settings.xml. There are two lines of text. On the bottom line, find where it says resolution= and make sure that's followed by 1920 1080. Finally look for refresh_rate= and make sure that's followed by 60/120/144 The game should be running entirely in full screen now.

Issues with mouse movement near the top of the screen in fullscreen mode

On some resolutions the game will not properly lock the mouse to the window, causing issues with in-game overlays and unfocusing the game when clicking the top of the screen

Install a program to lock the mouse cursor inside the window[citation needed]
Download Borderless Gaming.

Mouse input delay

Disable multi-threading
Go to <path-to-game> Open context.xml. Find multithreaded="true" Replace with multithreaded="false"

Change flip queue size to 0 or 1
AMD users should try RadeonPro Nvidia users can look in the "Manage 3D Settings" section of the graphics card control panel

Play on Intel HD3000 & HD4000

Custom .dll light-wrapper
Download Nvidia d3d9 perf fix Extract d3d9.dll into <path-to-game>

Double mouse cursor after Alt+Tab

Needs verification; option not present on Windows Vista.

Disable allowing themes to change mouse pointers
Go to Control Panel, Mouse, Pointers tab Uncheck "Allow themes to change mouse properties".

Refocus window workaround[citation needed]

Press Alt+Tab ↹ and navigate to game to bring it forward/'focused', if you are focused on another window in front (such as a browsers). Then cycle through Alt+Tab ↹ again once you have brough the game forward and continue to hold when the selection is poised over the game. Position cursor inside game window and click repeatedly immediately after you release Alt+Tab ↹. This will allow the game to refocus.

Run the game at screen refresh rate

Fullscreen mode defaults to 60 Hz even if the screen refresh rate is set higher than that.

Override refresh rate set by game
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open renderer_settings.xml with a text editor. Change the refresh_rate = "60" value to the desired hertz.

MSVCR120.dll was not found

Dependency is missing for game
Go to the https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40784 Download and install BOTH vcredist_x64.exe AND xcredist_x86.exe Restart

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0c
OpenGL	3, 4.5	Linux only.
Shader Model support	3

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
Linux			Game is still limited by the 4GB hardcoded RAM limit that Windows adheres to.

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	PhysX	Windows only
Audio	Wwise
Cutscenes	Bink Video
Multiplayer	Epic Online Services

Mods

Libraries

• SuperBLT, the successor to BLT-Hook and BLT4Linux, is essential for having multiple mods in Payday 2, and is designed to be both Windows and Linux-compatible. A Precompiled Loader for the Native Linux Port can be found here.
• BeardLib, a large library that assists in mod creation, and is essential for a lot of mods to work in Payday 2.
• Simple Mod Updater enables auto updating of mods using its' system.

Bugfixes

• The Fixes collection of fixes for a lot of base game bugs and crashes.
• Visual Fixes collection of fixes for game textures, materials, and models.

Optimization

• Celer and Map-Based Optimizations Improves frame rate by optimising various maps using portals and occluders to de-render models if the player isn't within a certain area, no textures are changed. Additionally, Celer also features an improved occlusion manager and faster portals processing.
• Clear Texture Cache Frees memory resources once a heist is loaded.
• Iter Improves navigation of all NPCs and fixes various map issues.
• Full Speed Swarm This mod allows all NPCs to stay as active as the game specs require. It also adds a large amount of fixes and code optimizations. It does NOT increase spawn rate or amount.

Quality of life

• Closed Captions and Subtitles implements Closed Captions and Subtitles for character dialogue, such as players calling to each other. Or enemies talking and shouting.
• Less Aliasing reduces the colour shimmering around models due to Anti-aliasing, making for a clearer image.
• Rename Inventory Items With A Controller allows you to rename weapons and masks using a keyboard and controller.
• Slider Values re-enables the slider GUI values in the options that were hidden since Update 79.
• Drag and Drop Inventory is a mod that lets you move items, such as weapons and masks, in your inventory via drag and drop. You can even move them to a different page.
• Inspect Weapon for Controllers adds weapon inspect support to controllers by pressing and holding down Y for 0.2 seconds.

HUDs

• Pocohud and Additional PocoHud Trackers is an incredibly popular fan made HUD mod. While not essential, it can dramatically improve your experience.
• VanillaHUD Plus (WolfHUD Continued) is cited as a "Compilation HUD" mod, which collects popular standalone HUD mods together into one package. Because of this, It's extremely configurable, and features can be tuned to personal preferences, or turned off outright.
• VoidUI redesigns the entire HUD with a white and black angled aesthetic. VoidUI Infoboxes adds customisable info-boxes to your screen.
• Modern Minimal HUD Designed to reduce visual pollution on screen and has a tactical modern touch to it.

Gameplay

• Better Bots This mod tweaks and changes certain aspects of the bots so they are both more useful and are more similar to human players.
• Keepers This mod lets you issue various types of order to your NPC teammates, including jokers.
• Monkeepers This mod makes NPC teammates carry bags like players show them.
• Saw Helper Show actual sawing hitboxes on objects which the game developer usually misplaces saw icons.

Graphics

• Old Deferred Lighting Restoration SuperBLT Edition To restore certain lighting that was toned down in newer versions.
• DX11 Shaders Fix SuperBLT Edition Improve shadows and Depth of Field visual quality by applying DX11 shaders. Mod will cause a crash when using DX9 only graphic cards.
• Visual Fixes Fixes textures, reflections, shadows, and other issues with the game's visuals.
• Depth of Field Removal Removes an always-present depth of field effect that is separate from the depth of field graphics option.

System requirements

Windows

Linux

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	7	10
Processor (CPU)	Intel Dual Core 2.0 GHz	Intel Quad Core 2.3 GHz
System memory (RAM)	4 GB	8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	83 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 8800 ATI Radeon HD 2600 512 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible	Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 ATI Radeon HD 5850 1 GB of VRAM

Linux
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	SteamOS
Processor (CPU)	Intel Dual Core 2.0 GHz	Intel Quad Core 2.3 GHz
System memory (RAM)	4 GB	8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	83 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 8800 ATI Radeon HD 2600 512 MB of VRAM	Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 ATI Radeon HD 5850 1 GB of VRAM

A 64-bit operating system is required.