Postal

This page is for the original Postal. For the 2016 remake, see Postal Redux.

Postal

Developers
	Running With Scissors
macOS (OS X)	Ryan C. Gordon
Linux	Loki Software
Publishers
	Ripcord Games
Canada	Softek International
Japan	MicroMouse
Korea	Shinsung
Russia	Akella
Europe	Take-Two Interactive
Classic and Uncut	Whiptail Interactive
Engines
	RSPiX
Release dates
Windows	September 24, 1997
Mac OS (Classic)	September 24, 1997
Linux	October 29, 2001
macOS (OS X)	July 26, 2005
Reception
Metacritic	56
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Freeware
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Bird's-eye view, Isometric
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Shooter
Art styles	Stylized
Themes	Dark, North America
Series	Postal

Postal
Postal	1997
Postal²	2003
Postal III	2011
Postal Redux	2016
Postal 4: No Regerts	2022
Postal: Brain Damaged	2022
Poostall Royale	2023

Warnings

The macOS (OS X) version of this game does not work on macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or later due to the removal of support for 32-bit-only apps.

Postal is a singleplayer and multiplayer bird's-eye view and isometric shooter game in the Postal series developed by Running With Scissors and published by Ripcord Games.

Postal first released in open beta on July 21, 1997. The beta was playable until August 21, 1997.

The game released to retail for Windows and Mac OS on September 24, 1997, followed by Linux on October 29, 2001 and OS X on July 26, 2005. An expansion, Special Delivery, released on August 27, 1998.

Postal later released on digital stores, including MacGameStore in November 2006, GamersGate in October 2008, GOG.com in April 2009, Direct2Drive in February 2011, and Steam in March 2013.

The game's Steam release was followed by updates that introduced performance improvements, widescreen support, modernized controls, and other enhancements. Due to compatibility issues, multiplayer and the level editor were removed.

On December 28, 2016, Running With Scissors released the source code for Postal. A community-contributed update released on November 14, 2017, restoring Super Postal-exclusive levels, Christmas bonus content, multiplayer over LAN, level selection, and other legacy features.

In December 2019, the game became permanent freeware on Steam and GOG.com.

General information

Postal Plus Help (retrieved) - Official help site

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Source code on BitBucket (retrieved)

Source code on GitHub - Outdated compared to the BitBucket release

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Custom DRM code may sabotage the game by igniting all characters or forcing the Postal Dude to commit suicide.
Developer website
GOG.com		Freeware.
Steam		Freeware.
ZOOM Platform		Freeware. Your Mom's Box Set also available.
Humble Store
Developer website (unavailable)		Softwrap DRM.
GamersGate (unavailable)
Green Man Gaming (unavailable)

A demo is available.

Version differences

Going Over the Edge is a violence-neutered European edition that removes enemy executions, the marching band in Parade of Disasters, and the Elementary School post-game cutscene. Censored content can be restored with patches.

Super Postal, also known as Postal Premium Pack, is a Japanese edition that includes the Special Delivery expansion and two exclusive levels, Tokyo and Osaka. All blood and the Elementary School post-game cutscene are removed. Exclusive levels and audio from this edition are included in digital releases.

Postal Plus includes the Special Delivery expansion. Re-released in 2003 as Classic and Uncut, which includes the "Monday" demo of Postal 2 with retail releases. All digital releases are based on this edition.

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Special Delivery	Adds four new levels (EZ Mart, Shanty Town, Earthquake and La Palamino Resort) and new multiplayer features (in-game chat, co-op mode, and in-progress game joining). Included in Postal Plus and later editions.

Essential improvements

Official retail patches

Original release patch (Euro-violence patch included)

• Included with the Special Delivery expansion.
• Windows versions of Going Over the Edge must have the Euro-violence patch applied before the retail patch.
• Mac OS versions of Going Over the Edge must have the configuration file renamed to POSTAL.INI after patching.

Postal Plus patch

• Classic and Uncut editions are up-to-date.

Fan patch

Unofficial patch that fixes bugs and adds new features, cheats, and optional balance changes.

Designed for digital releases.

An overview of features is presented in the author video, and in the mod readme.

Installation instructions
Download the patch from Mega.nz. Extract patch, Postal_Fan_Patch.exe, and POSTALPATCH.INI to <path-to-game>. Launch the game via Postal_Fan_Patch.exe. Note The balance and gameplay changes can be reverted by replacing Postal_Fan_Patch.exe with the one provided in Classic Gameplay (optional).

Game data

Digital releases on Windows write all game data to %APPDATA%.

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\POSTAL.INI <path-to-game>\Postal Plus.ini %APPDATA%\RunningWithScissors\Postal Plus\POSTAL.INI
Mac OS (Classic)
macOS (OS X)
Linux	$XDG_DATA_HOME/PostalPlus/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\savegame\ %APPDATA%\RunningWithScissors\Postal Plus\savegame\
Mac OS (Classic)
macOS (OS X)
Linux	$XDG_DATA_HOME/PostalPlus/

This game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux.

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

In-game video settings.

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		Digital releases only. In-game HUD is stretched and menus remain in 4:3.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen		Digital releases only. In-game HUD is stretched and menus remain in 4:3.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		Press Alt+↵ Enter or use the --windowed command line argument.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Disable Direct3D texture filtering

Texture filtering is force-enabled with the Direct3D and OpenGL renderers.

Disable with dgVoodoo 2
Download and install dgVoodoo 2 for DirectX 9 to <path-to-game>. Run dgVoodooCpl.exe. Under Config folder / Running instance, click Add and select <path-to-game>. Under DirectX > Texturing, set Filtering to Force point sampled. Click Apply.

Input

In-game general control settings.

In-game key map settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers		Digital releases only.
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

PlayStation controllers

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Weapon switching with mouse wheel

In-game mouse wheel binding is broken; successful only on rare occasions.

Full mouse wheel support has yet to be added in a future update.

Edit the configuration file
Open the configuration file in a text editor. Go to the [Mouse] section. Change the values of PrevWeapon and NextWeapon to Wheel Up and Wheel Down respectively.

Classic controls are unintuitive

The original control scheme is tank-based; the forward/backward keybinds are for movement, while the left/right keybinds and the mouse are for turning relative to the Postal Dude.

Replaced with a more conventional twin-stick scheme in digital releases. Classic controls are still available in the options.

Edit controls in-game (retail)
In the control options, go to Keyboard Setup. Set both Strafe bindings to the same bindings as Turn Left and Turn Right respectively (e.g. if Turn Left and Turn Right are set to A and D, set both Strafe bindings to A and D as well). Back in the main control options, go to Turning Speeds and set Tap Degrees to 0. Notes It is not possible to turn while strafing.

Crosshair stuck at mouse position while using controller

Disable "Use Mouse" in the in-game options

Audio

In-game audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Brazilian Portuguese				Fan translation, download. Only the main campaign is translated.
French				Going Over the Edge editions only.
German				Going Over the Edge editions only.
Japanese				Interface translation in Super Postal editions only. Audio is available in digital releases; change voices in settings. Audio is forced in the Tokyo and Osaka levels.
Polish				Retail only.
Russian				Retail only. Patch for digital releases here.
Spanish				Fan translation, download.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		16	Co-op, Versus
Online play		16	Co-op, Versus Removed from digital releases.

Connection types

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

Co-op only included in the Special Delivery expansion, Postal Plus, and later editions.

Issues fixed

Cannot turn left with keyboard + player turns too fast + NPCs spin rapidly

Occurs on Windows XP and later.

Fully fixed in digital releases.

Use the official patch
Download the patch from the second hyperlink on the GOG.com Support article ("this file" text). Extract Postal_Plus.exe and rename it to Postal Plus.exe (no underscore). Copy Postal Plus.exe to <path-to-game> and overwrite the existing file. Notes Only compatible with Postal Plus and later editions. Issues may still persist after applying the patch.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9	Digital releases only. Enabled by default.
OpenGL		Digital releases only. Forceable with the -opengl command line argument.
Software renderer		Default for retail. Forceable in digital releases with the -software command line argument.

Executable	PPC	16-bit	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)					This 32-bit-only macOS game does not work on macOS Catalina (10.15) or later.
Linux
Mac OS (Classic)

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Input	SDL
Multiplayer	MPlayer.com, Heat.net, Kali	Retail only.

Santa Patch

Official Christmas-themed patch that replaces certain enemy models and voice lines with Santa Claus.

Included in digital releases and enabled automatically during holidays.

Apply the patch
Download the patch. Open santa.exe and press the Setup button. In the directory menu, click Browse and go to <path-to-game>. Select <path-to-game> and confirm. Press the X-mas button.

Hoodcraft

A new level editor included in digital releases that replaces the original retail level editor.

See the setup guide on Steam Community

Audio extraction utility

Official tool for extracting .wav audio from .sak archives.

Download from PCGamingWiki Files.

Mods

Hotmail - Adds the signature mechanic from Superhot.

A Day in Paradise - Total conversion of sorts; changes enemies and story but maintains the same levels.

System requirements

Windows

Mac OS (Classic)

macOS (OS X)

Linux

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95, NT 4.0
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 90 MHz	Intel Pentium 166 MHz
System memory (RAM)	16 MB	32 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	1 MB (compact installation) 157 MB (full installation)
Video card (GPU)	SVGA	DirectX 5 compatible
Sound (audio device)	Sound Blaster or compatible
Other	2x CD-ROM drive	4x CD-ROM drive

Mac OS
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	7.1	7.5
Processor (CPU)	PowerPC 66 MHz	PowerPC 100 MHz
System memory (RAM)	16 MB	32 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)
Other	2x CD-ROM drive	4x CD-ROM drive

Linux
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	Linux kernel 2.2 (glibc-2.1)
Processor (CPU)	166 MHz
System memory (RAM)	16 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)
Video card (GPU)	XFree86 3.3.5
Sound (audio device)	OSS compatible
Other	8x CD-ROM drive