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Posted
on August 22, 2001 by Thomas
McGuire
Check for the latest game
prices here.
 Max
Payne is the first Game developed upon the MAX-FX engine, previously most well
known for powering 3D Mark 2000 & 2001, & one of the most successful PC
Game releases for quite some time.
Much
like 3D Mark 2001 it can sometimes take a hefty system to get the game to run at
a smooth frame rate, or just to look nice. This guide will take you through the
mass of options available for the Game, along with other tips & hints.
Troubleshooting
Begin
by downloading the latest patch for Max Payne; this may resolve many of the bugs
or other issues you may have encountered. You can download the latest Max Payne
patch from 3D Files.
Now
download the latest drivers for your Graphics card & Soundcard. This may
solve (some) display or audio problems you might encounter. There are links to
various manufacturers on the Drivers
page. If you are having problems with game CD Authentication & are using
Windows 2000/XP try the SafeDisc Driver fix from Macrovision.
Install DirectX
8.0A (or later) on your system if not already installed. This may fix
problems with Display/Sound/Input devices.
If
you experience static noise or irregular audio playback, try the following
(assuming that installing the latest drivers don’t fix the problems):
1.
Click on Start, Settings, then Control Panel. If you
have Windows 2000 or Millennium Edition installed note the icon names as shown
in brackets below.
2.
Open the Multimedia (Sounds & Multimedia) icon.
3.
Select the Audio tab & then hit the Advanced Properties
(Advanced) button.
4.
Select the Performance tab.
5.
Move the Hardware acceleration slider to the 2nd notch from the
left (Basic Acceleration). Move the Sample rate conversion quality
slider to the middle notch (Improved sample rate converter).
If
you are having problems running the game (Performance or otherwise) on Windows
2000 then try checking our Windows
2000 Compatibility & Performance guide.
If
you experience any lockups & such they might be caused by overclocking, if
so try lowering the Memory/Core speed of the overclocked device.
Still
having problem? Try emailing Technical
Support.
Command lines
Max
Payne contains several command line switches that can be used for
troubleshooting/performance purposes. Where appropriate these switches are
listed in their appropriate section. To add command line switches take the
following steps. Right click on your Max Payne shortcut & select Properties.
In the Target field is where these extra settings will be added.
Some
of the more useful Commands you may add are as follows;
-nodialog.
This command disables loading the Configuration utility, & loads Game
immediately instead. This will of course may it impossible to change Game
settings, so remove this command whenever you intend to change your settings.
-skipstartup.
This command will disable the playback of the short movie before the Game
initially loads. Highly recommended, as all this movie serves to do is slow down
initial loading time.
-screenshot.
This command enables you to take in-game screenshots by pressing the F10
key. These are saved in the screenshots sub-directory where Max Payne is
installed, e.g. D:\Max Payne\screenshots in Targa (.tga) file format,
& using a consecutive file name, i.e. shot0000.tga, shot0001.tga
& so forth.
-developerkeys.
This command enables you to use extra commands in the Game. This is of
most use if you want to see your frame rate (& other statistics) – which
can be done by pressing the F11 key. Other commands basically relate to
what may constitute cheats so I’ll ignore them.
-disable3dpreloads.
This command should be added should you experience any crashes while attempting
to load a level.
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