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Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne cover
Developers
Remedy Entertainment
Publishers
Rockstar Games
Russia 1C-SoftClub
Engines
MAX-FX
Release dates
Windows October 14, 2003
Reception
Metacritic 86
IGDB 84
Taxonomy
Microtransactions None
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Third-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Action, Shooter
Art styles Realistic
Themes North America, Contemporary
Series Max Payne
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Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne on HowLongToBeat
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne on IGDB
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Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne guide on StrategyWiki
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne on MobyGames
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne on Wikipedia
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Max Payne
Max Payne 2001
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne 2003
Max Payne 3 2012

General information

Max Payne Wiki
Steam Community Discussions

Availability • Link[edit]

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
 SecuROM DRM disc check, 3 CD's Roms
Windows
Gamesplanet
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Windows
Green Man Gaming
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Windows
Humble Store
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Windows
Steam
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Windows
demo
A 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.
Max Payne 1 + 2 Doppelpack, available in Germany, is DRM-free for both Max Payne 1 and 2.[citation needed]

Essential improvements • Link[edit]

Patches • Link[edit]

Patch 1.01 is the latest version.

Unofficial patches • Link[edit]

Startup hang patch

Dead Man Walking mode bonus chapters • Link[edit]

Skip intro videos • Link[edit]

Launch the game with the -skipstartup parameter[citation needed]

Skip launcher • Link[edit]

Launch the game with the -nodialog parameter

Game data • Link[edit]

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

Configuration file(s) location • Link[edit]

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\MP2_Init.ras[Note 1]
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Remedy Entertainment\Max Payne 2\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/12150/pfx/[Note 2]

Save game data location • Link[edit]

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Max Payne 2 Savegames\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/12150/pfx/[Note 2]
10 save slots + 2 quicksave slots + 1 autosave slot available.

Save game cloud syncing • Link[edit]

System Native Notes
Steam Cloud

Video • Link[edit]

Launcher general settings.
Launcher general settings.
Launcher advanced settings.
Launcher advanced settings.
In-game video settings.
In-game video settings.
Can only be changed in the launcher

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
 
 Use ThirteenAG's fix.
Multi-monitor
 
 Stretched
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)
Can be improved by forcing 16x in the graphics card control panel.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Not applied when Bullet Time is active; Nvidia users see Anti-aliasing (AA).
Vertical sync (Vsync)
Always enabled.
Use d3d8to9 on Windows 10.
60 FPS
120+ FPS
Uncapped frame rate causes minor issues. Physics objects and dead bodies jump more, NPCs may be knocked down by doors when opening them during scripted animations. [1]

Field of view (FOV) • Link[edit]

Use widescreen fix[citation needed]
  1. Install ThirteenAG's fix.
  2. Edit MaxPayne2.WidescreenFix.ini.
  3. Set FOVFactor to the desired value.
Use game's console command[citation needed]
  1. Start the game with the -developer command line argument.
  2. Type in the command fov x where x is a value.
Changing the FOV causes visual glitches during some in-game cutscenes, and might turn the nightmare levels unplayable, since these sections of the game already alter the camera FOV.

Borderless fullscreen windowed • Link[edit]

Force borderless fullscreen[citation needed]
  1. Install d3d8to9 to the installation folder.
  2. Install Special K by following the Special K Unofficial Guide.
  3. Start the game once and close it to allow the configuration file of Special K to be created.
  4. Open <path-to-game>\d3d9.ini or %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Mods\SpecialK\Profiles\maxpayne2.exe\SpecialK.ini depending on the installation method used.
  5. Change Borderless=false to Borderless=true and Fullscreen=false to Fullscreen=true under [Window.System].
  6. Change ForceWindowed=false to ForceWindowed=true under [Display.Output].

Anti-aliasing (AA) • Link[edit]

Graphical issues occur when using anti-aliasing.
MSAA[2]
  1. Disable antialiasing in the Max Payne 2 launcher.
  2. Select the Max Payne 2 driver profile in Nvidia Profile Inspector.
  3. Change Antialiasing compatibility to 0x00000040 or 0x02000001
  4. Change Antialiasing - Mode to Override any application setting
  5. Change Antialiasing - Setting to 4x [4x Multisampling] or another level of MSAA.
  6. Apply changes.

Notes

Default Nvidia profile does not use any compatibility bits. Without these, MSAA or SGSSAA will not be applied when the Bullet Time effect is active.
SGSSAA[citation needed]
  1. Follow the above instructions for MSAA.
  2. Change Antialiasing - Transparency Supersampling to 4x Sparse Grid Supersampling or any other level of SGSSAA.
  3. Apply changes.

Notes

Amount of SGSSAA used should be equal to MSAA for proper application.

Input • Link[edit]

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

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Quick save/load cannot be remapped (set to F5 and F9, respectively).
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
[3]

Audio • Link[edit]

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

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support
EAX 2.0

Localizations • Link

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Polish
Retail only. For digital versions download this
Russian
Patch for digital release here.
Spanish
Retail only. Download.

Issues fixed • Link[edit]

Application load error 5:0000065434 • Link[edit]

Set the Anti-aliasing to Off[citation needed]

The launcher does not start • Link[edit]

Laptops using Nvidia Optimus must set the preferred graphics processor for Max Payne 2 to "Intel Integrated Graphics"[citation needed]
Run the game in compatibility mode for Windows 98 / Me[citation needed]

Error: setFullscreen - creating the device failed: E_FAIL • Link[edit]

Use ThirteenAG's fix[citation needed]
  1. Download ThirteenAG's fix.
  2. Extract the contents to the installation folder.
  3. Disable anti-aliasing in the game's launcher.

Exception in engineInit: Unable to load save game "Files" • Link[edit]

Reinstall the game on the C: drive[citation needed]

Error: Exception in startupInit: Directory \data not found • Link[edit]

Move the game to a folder without spaces[citation needed]

Reinstall the game to a folder without spaces in the folder path (e.g. C:\Games\MaxPayne2).

(Steam) Move the game to a folder without spaces[citation needed]
  1. Set up a new Steam library folder without spaces in the folder path (e.g. C:\Steam).
  2. Remove the game and install it to the new Steam library folder.
  3. Go to that folder and go into SteamApps\common.
  4. Rename the Max Payne 2 The Fall of Max Payne folder to MaxPayne2.
  5. Go back to the SteamApps folder and open appmanifest_12150.acf with a text editor.
    • If Windows Notepad can't read it, use another text editor like Notepad++.
  6. Change the line "installdir" "Max Payne 2 The Fall of Max Payne" to "installdir" "MaxPayne2"
  7. Restart Steam.
  8. If needed, run the game in compatibility mode for Windows 98 / Me.

Game won't launch on AMD graphics cards, still shows up in task manager • Link[edit]

Use the Unofficial startup hang patch[citation needed]
Run the game in compatibility mode for Windows 98 / Me[citation needed]
Roll back CCC drivers to Catalyst 12.6[citation needed]
See Force CPU affinity to run the game on one core[citation needed]

Launcher starts, but game won't launch on Nvidia graphics cards, crashes and doesn't show up in task manager • Link[edit]

Make sure that Options->Video Settings->Antialiasing is set to 'Off'

Mods don't work • Link[edit]

Make sure that version of the game contains few RAS archive files, instead of unpacked game files to folder "data".

Mouse hitches and stops oddly • Link[edit]

Make sure that Options->Video Settings->Antialiasing is set to 'Off'

Reshade/SweetFX doesn't work • Link[edit]

This problem occurs when using the Thirteen AG Widescreen Patch.
Use the d3d8to9 wrapper[citation needed]
  1. Rename Thirteen AG Widescreen Patch's d3d8.dll file to dinput.dll. It is located in the game's root folder.
  2. Download d3d8to9 and place it in the game's root folder.
  3. Install ReShade or SweetFX as DirectX 9.

Max/Mona suddenly runs continuously without pressing anything • Link[edit]

See Force CPU affinity to run the game on one core

VR support • Link[edit]

3D modes Native Notes
vorpX
G3D, Z3D
Requires "D3D8to9" wrapper, see vorpx forum profile introduction.

Other information • Link[edit]

API • Link[edit]

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 8
Shader Model support 1.1
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware • Link[edit]

Middleware Notes
Physics Havok
Audio DirectSound3D
Cutscenes Bink Video

Command line arguments • Link[edit]

See command line arguments on how to use the following options.
Parameter ExpandDescription

Modifications • Link[edit]

System requirements • Link[edit]

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 98 2000, ME, XP
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium III 1.0 GHz
Intel Celeron 1.2 GHz
AMD Athlon 1.0 GHz
AMD Duron 1.2 GHz		 Intel Pentium 4 1.7 GHz
Intel Celeron 1.7 GHz
AMD Athlon 1.4 GHz
AMD Duron 1.7 GHz
System memory (RAM) 256 MB 512 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 1.5 GB
Video card (GPU) 32 MB of VRAM
DirectX 9 compatible 		64 MB of VRAM
Sound (audio device) DirectSound compatible sound card

Notes • Link

  1. Jump up ↑ When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).
  2. ↑ Jump up to: 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>/12150/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (12150) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References • Link

  1. Jump up ↑ Max Payne frame limit · Issue #568 · ThirteenAG/WidescreenFixesPack
  2. Jump up ↑ Verified by User:Flang on 2019-07-21
  3. Jump up ↑ Joystick/Joypad support for Max Payne 2 on PC – Rockstar Support
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