Are there any mods that remove the adaptive difficulty?

[JP_Russell]

Last time I tried this game, I ended up giving up on it because I found enemies mysteriously becoming more and more bullet spongy and their damage kept increasing to the point that I eventually couldn't progress without dying. When I looked into it, I found out about the game's adaptive difficulty that ramps up if you're performing well and pulls back if you're underperforming.

This was no fun for me as it meant I would have to try to deliberately take damage and play poorly without reloading my save to keep enemies from turning into nigh-invulnerable supersoldiers (and on the flipside, I don't want to play a game where it makes things easier when I mess up instead of me having to just do better).

It's a bummer because I was enjoying the game otherwise up to that point, and I still fancy revisiting the game someday. But I probably won't be able to enjoy myself if I can't mod out the adaptive difficulty, so I'm curious if anyone knows if there are any such mods.

[b2007929]

Does the sequel Max Payne 2 have adaptive difficulty?

[JP_Russell]

b2007929 eredeti hozzászólása:

Does the sequel Max Payne 2 have adaptive difficulty?

I don't believe so.

[darkje]

JP_Russell eredeti hozzászólása:

... But I probably won't be able to enjoy myself if I can't mod out the adaptive difficulty, so I'm curious if anyone knows if there are any such mods.

I never had any problems with the AD, but if you want to try you can make your own mod for it.

- make sure you have [e-mail] and rl.dll in your MP dir.
- open a command prompt in your MP dir. and type 'rasm@ker -x x_data.ras' followed by enter.
- now use windows explorer and go to your MP dir. and find the dir. named 'data'
- in there you will find difficulty.txt, make a backup copy of it and then edit it to make the minimum and maximum settings of the normal difficulty the same as the default (so copy that def. block of 8 lines and paste it over min-max.
- move the original x_data.ras somewhere else
- run the game, it will use the data folder now, if the modification works satisfactory, you have 2 options.
- option1, repack the whole data folder into a new 'x_data.ras', by using 'rasm@ker -a data x_data.ras' in a command prompt as before. delete the data directory. and you are ready to play.
- option2, make a mod with only the modified file in it. In the data folder delete everything but difficulty.txt. Use rasm@ker -a data no-ad.mpm, of course in the commandpromt as before. delete the data folder and put back the original x_data.ras. Now you can play and select no-ad as a mod from the game startup screen.

Since I'm not sure if the difficulty.txt is the only factor to AD, you have to test it of course.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1206296088

[Turbo Nozomix]

darkje eredeti hozzászólása:

JP_Russell eredeti hozzászólása:

... But I probably won't be able to enjoy myself if I can't mod out the adaptive difficulty, so I'm curious if anyone knows if there are any such mods.

I never had any problems with the AD, but if you want to try you can make your own mod for it.

- make sure you have [e-mail] and rl.dll in your MP dir.
- open a command prompt in your MP dir. and type 'rasm@ker -x x_data.ras' followed by enter.
- now use windows explorer and go to your MP dir. and find the dir. named 'data'
- in there you will find difficulty.txt, make a backup copy of it and then edit it to make the minimum and maximum settings of the normal difficulty the same as the default (so copy that def. block of 8 lines and paste it over min-max.
- move the original x_data.ras somewhere else
- run the game, it will use the data folder now, if the modification works satisfactory, you have 2 options.
- option1, repack the whole data folder into a new 'x_data.ras', by using 'rasm@ker -a data x_data.ras' in a command prompt as before. delete the data directory. and you are ready to play.
- option2, make a mod with only the modified file in it. In the data folder delete everything but difficulty.txt. Use rasm@ker -a data no-ad.mpm, of course in the commandpromt as before. delete the data folder and put back the original x_data.ras. Now you can play and select no-ad as a mod from the game startup screen.

Since I'm not sure if the difficulty.txt is the only factor to AD, you have to test it of course.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1206296088

Thanks for these instructions!

It seems that you don't have to recompile X_data.ras and delete the data decompiled folder to use a custom difficulty.txt. I just left the data folder in the Max Payne directory and renamed x_data.ras to x_data.ras.bak. Now the game uses the data folder with my custom difficulty.txt file in it.


I notice in difficulty.txt that Fugitive difficulty, which is the only difficulty a person can play on their first playthrough, is the only difficulty level that is adaptive, as the other difficulty levels use constant values for their minimum, default, and maximum adaptive profiles.

Fugitive's adaptive difficulty is bit ridiculous, I think, because it ignores if the player uses quick-loading when they die and so the difficulty when using quick-loading is constantly at its maximum - and Fugitive's maximum adaptive difficulty is actually harder at its maximum adaptive difficulty in some ways than Hard-Boiled, DOA, and NYM.

The different difficulty levels in Max Payne do not always scale upwards in difficulty with each next difficulty setting. They are actually conceptually different with some variables higher and some lower than the previous difficulty. So, they encourage different play-styles. Though, I assume that the higher the difficulty level, the more challenging it's supposed to be, overall.


However, like I said Fugitive is actually harder at its maximum adaptive difficulty in some ways than Hard-Boiled, DOA, and NYM.

For example, gained bullet-time per kill at Fugitive-default difficulty is 1.0. Then, at Fugitive-maximum adaptive difficulty it's at 0.7. In Hard-Boiled it's 1.0. In DOA it's 2.0. And in NYM it's 1.1.

The value for the player health multiplier at Fugitive-default, Fugitive-maximum, H-B, DOA, NYM difficulties scales like this: 1.0, 0.4, 0.4, 0.3, 0.9.

Enemy health multiplier scales like this: 0.8, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.0.


So, for my first playthrough I've created a constant difficulty that is more challenging than F-default, but is less punishing than F-maximum. I'm also going to try out my custom setting and adjust it further if needed.

Here are the stock values for the F-default and F-maximum difficulty settings:

[default]
EnemyHealthMultiplier = 0.8;
AmmoFoundMultiplier = 1.0;
PlayerHealthMultiplier = 1.0;
AutoAimCapsuleRadiusMultiplier = 4.0; // clamped to be at least 1.0
AutoAimCapsuleHeightMultiplier = 2.0; // clamped to be at least 1.0
HealthRegenerateMultiplier = 4%; // percents / second
HealthGainedImmediately = 5%; // percents of maximum health to gain immediately before regeneration
BulletTimeGainedPerKillMultiplier = 1.0;

[maximum]
EnemyHealthMultiplier = 1.2;
AmmoFoundMultiplier = 1.0;
PlayerHealthMultiplier = 0.4;
AutoAimCapsuleRadiusMultiplier = 2.0; // clamped to be at least 1.0
AutoAimCapsuleHeightMultiplier = 1.5; // clamped to be at least 1.0
HealthRegenerateMultiplier = 2%; // percents / second
HealthGainedImmediately = 3%; // percents of maximum health to gain immediately before regeneration
BulletTimeGainedPerKillMultiplier = 0.7;

And here's how I've now set both F-default and F-maximum for my custom difficulty:

EnemyHealthMultiplier = 0.9;
AmmoFoundMultiplier = 1.0;
PlayerHealthMultiplier = 0.9;
AutoAimCapsuleRadiusMultiplier = 3.6; // clamped to be at least 1.0
AutoAimCapsuleHeightMultiplier = 2.0; // clamped to be at least 1.0
HealthRegenerateMultiplier = 2.0%; // percents / second
HealthGainedImmediately = 3.8%; // percents of maximum health to gain immediately before regeneration
BulletTimeGainedPerKillMultiplier = 1.0;

The above configuration is one I've worked out after playing and adjusting it a few times. It's doing a great job for me now, far better than the stock F-default and F-maximum configurations.

If anything stands out as needing to be changed, I can adjust it in the difficulty.txt file in the data folder and save the adjustment, then just play.

[Noob Herder]

Huh, I honestly don't remember this being a thing back in 02, I must've forgotten about it. I honestly thought the game ramped up the difficulty once you face commandos bc they are better shots with better weapons, as well as take more hits bc I assumed it must've been body armor or something.

[darkje]

Turbo Nozomix eredeti hozzászólása:

darkje eredeti hozzászólása:

I never had any problems with the AD, but if you want to try you can make your own mod for it.

- make sure you have [e-mail] and rl.dll in your MP dir.
- open a command prompt in your MP dir. and type 'rasm@ker -x x_data.ras' followed by enter.
- now use windows explorer and go to your MP dir. and find the dir. named 'data'
- in there you will find difficulty.txt, make a backup copy of it and then edit it to make the minimum and maximum settings of the normal difficulty the same as the default (so copy that def. block of 8 lines and paste it over min-max.
- move the original x_data.ras somewhere else
- run the game, it will use the data folder now, if the modification works satisfactory, you have 2 options.
- option1, repack the whole data folder into a new 'x_data.ras', by using 'rasm@ker -a data x_data.ras' in a command prompt as before. delete the data directory. and you are ready to play.
- option2, make a mod with only the modified file in it. In the data folder delete everything but difficulty.txt. Use rasm@ker -a data no-ad.mpm, of course in the commandpromt as before. delete the data folder and put back the original x_data.ras. Now you can play and select no-ad as a mod from the game startup screen.

Since I'm not sure if the difficulty.txt is the only factor to AD, you have to test it of course.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1206296088

Thanks for these instructions!

It seems that you don't have to recompile X_data.ras and delete the data decompiled folder to use a custom difficulty.txt. I just left the data folder in the Max Payne directory and renamed x_data.ras to x_data.ras.bak. Now the game uses the data folder with my custom difficulty.txt file in it.


I notice in difficulty.txt that Fugitive difficulty, which is the only difficulty a person can play on their first playthrough, is the only difficulty level that is adaptive, as the other difficulty levels use constant values for their minimum, default, and maximum adaptive profiles.

Fugitive's adaptive difficulty is bit ridiculous, I think, because it ignores if the player uses quick-loading when they die and so the difficulty when using quick-loading is constantly at its maximum - and Fugitive's maximum adaptive difficulty is actually harder at its maximum adaptive difficulty in some ways than Hard-Boiled, DOA, and NYM.

The different difficulty levels in Max Payne do not always scale upwards in difficulty with each next difficulty setting. They are actually conceptually different with some variables higher and some lower than the previous difficulty. So, they encourage different play-styles. Though, I assume that the higher the difficulty level, the more challenging it's supposed to be, overall.


However, like I said Fugitive is actually harder at its maximum adaptive difficulty in some ways than Hard-Boiled, DOA, and NYM.

For example, gained bullet-time per kill at Fugitive-default difficulty is 1.0. Then, at Fugitive-maximum adaptive difficulty it's at 0.7. In Hard-Boiled it's 1.0. In DOA it's 2.0. And in NYM it's 1.1.

The value for the player health multiplier at Fugitive-default, Fugitive-maximum, H-B, DOA, NYM difficulties scales like this: 1.0, 0.4, 0.4, 0.3, 0.9.

Enemy health multiplier scales like this: 0.8, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.0.


So, for my first playthrough I've created a constant difficulty that is more challenging than F-default, but is less punishing than F-maximum. I'm also going to try out my custom setting and adjust it further if needed.

Here are the stock values for the F-default and F-maximum difficulty settings:

[default]
EnemyHealthMultiplier = 0.8;
AmmoFoundMultiplier = 1.0;
PlayerHealthMultiplier = 1.0;
AutoAimCapsuleRadiusMultiplier = 4.0; // clamped to be at least 1.0
AutoAimCapsuleHeightMultiplier = 2.0; // clamped to be at least 1.0
HealthRegenerateMultiplier = 4%; // percents / second
HealthGainedImmediately = 5%; // percents of maximum health to gain immediately before regeneration
BulletTimeGainedPerKillMultiplier = 1.0;

[maximum]
EnemyHealthMultiplier = 1.2;
AmmoFoundMultiplier = 1.0;
PlayerHealthMultiplier = 0.4;
AutoAimCapsuleRadiusMultiplier = 2.0; // clamped to be at least 1.0
AutoAimCapsuleHeightMultiplier = 1.5; // clamped to be at least 1.0
HealthRegenerateMultiplier = 2%; // percents / second
HealthGainedImmediately = 3%; // percents of maximum health to gain immediately before regeneration
BulletTimeGainedPerKillMultiplier = 0.7;

And here's how I've now set both F-default and F-maximum for my custom difficulty:

EnemyHealthMultiplier = 0.9;
AmmoFoundMultiplier = 1.0;
PlayerHealthMultiplier = 0.9;
AutoAimCapsuleRadiusMultiplier = 3.6; // clamped to be at least 1.0
AutoAimCapsuleHeightMultiplier = 2.0; // clamped to be at least 1.0
HealthRegenerateMultiplier = 2.0%; // percents / second
HealthGainedImmediately = 3.8%; // percents of maximum health to gain immediately before regeneration
BulletTimeGainedPerKillMultiplier = 1.0;

The above configuration is one I've worked out after playing and adjusting it a few times. It's doing a great job for me now, far better than the stock F-default and F-maximum configurations.

If anything stands out as needing to be changed, I can adjust it in the difficulty.txt file in the data folder and save the adjustment, then just play.

Funny this came up again. Thanks for the creds!

- You are right, you don't need to repack you can play in (partially) unpacked state just fine. You could even delete all but your modded file, put the ras back in place and have the data directory with only your file in it, the unpacked file will override the one from the ras in that case.

- At that point it's also very easy to make it a definitive mod when you are happy with the values, just rasm@ker -a data [modname].mpm, and voila you have created an actual mod! Then rename/move data folder out of the way, start max and select your .mpm from the dropdown list in the startup screen. *modname must be 8 or less letters, like 'noadapth.mpm'

- Your values seem to be a good in between setting.

- Would be nice if you did the mpm and wrote a small steamguide for it.

Good job, have fun gaming...

[Vile Sentry]

Shellshock eredeti hozzászólása:

I would love this. There is nothing challenging or hard about enemies surviving two shotgun blasts from point blank range.

I know it's old but this sums it up so well.

I love difficulty, but I would rather they throw in more or smarter enemies than make the enemies tougher. I'm not asking for "realism" but just that sense that guns have some kind of impact. I know it isn't a favorite among fans, but I loved MP3 and I feel like it really nailed having difficulty without making enemies unrealistically bullet spongey.

[Esoteric]

My only quarrel with this game is that you don't start each chapter with full health.

[Sammy Fox]

I never had a problem with the adaptive difficulty. It can get pretty crazy (While playing through the game with cheats (for fun, not for the sense of achievement you dolts) I'd end up in situations where I'd shoot someone in the head with the sniper and they'd SOMEHOW SURVIVE) but this game's gunplay is plenty fair what with the lack of hitscan projectiles, the challenge always seemed fair because I could just go and dodge most bullets.

And if all else failed, I'd just bullet dodge directly into gunfire (especially regarding explosives) since in MP1 you can't die during a shoot dodge from any kind of gunfire or explosives until you hit the ground

[Vile Sentry]

=AJSA= Sammy eredeti hozzászólása:

I never had a problem with the adaptive difficulty. It can get pretty crazy (While playing through the game with cheats (for fun, not for the sense of achievement you dolts) I'd end up in situations where I'd shoot someone in the head with the sniper and they'd SOMEHOW SURVIVE) but this game's gunplay is plenty fair what with the lack of hitscan projectiles, the challenge always seemed fair because I could just go and dodge most bullets.

And if all else failed, I'd just bullet dodge directly into gunfire (especially regarding explosives) since in MP1 you can't die during a shoot dodge from any kind of gunfire or explosives until you hit the ground

No argument there, I didn't know what "hit scan" was as a kid, but even back then I knew that for some reason I enjoyed max payne better because I could see that the things hitting me were actually bullets leaving the enemy's guns.

It is probably what you said, how it lets you dodge it and it seems more fair, but I wonder if there is just some deep instinctual thing I don't conciously realize, like my subconcious just knows that the hitscan enemy is "cheating" and that nothing is really hitting me and it just makes it feel less immersive.

I really wish Max Payne 3 did better. I know it was a huge disapointment to many, but I honestly loved that game for how it did the little things like that but brought it into a modern game with intense detail.

Maybe I am not alone in this, but I feel like that game ages like fine wine. I think we all kind of hated it at first, even I was a little annoyed despite paying full price and playing it non stop, but playing it now just makes me realize what a great little gem it is and how we really don't have many games like it anymore.

But as soon as I try to say that, there would be some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ telling me "Oh really, never before? BRO It's just gears of war! You take cover, that means it's just a gears of war clone" ok maybe that is a little exagerated but it really doesn't feel that far off from how people really sound to me when talking about games like that.

[Racuch Zawodowiec]

I've read somewhere that if you're reloading the game using f9 instead of space, the game doesn't know that you just died and doesn't decrease the difficulty. I can't guarantee that this is legit though, but I always used f9 to load game, even on highest difficulty.

[Sammy Fox]

DriscolDevil eredeti hozzászólása:

It is probably what you said, how it lets you dodge it and it seems more fair, but I wonder if there is just some deep instinctual thing I don't conciously realize, like my subconcious just knows that the hitscan enemy is "cheating" and that nothing is really hitting me and it just makes it feel less immersive.

The bullets were actually rendered regardless if you were using bullet time or not, with the damage mechanism being the same as well. It did happen to me sometimes in the middle of gunfights that my view would be obscured by a stray bullet for a split second (which I thought was really cool). In that regard the game was extremely fair, which I can't say the same for Max Payne 3 where hitscan was in full use if you weren't using bullet time which is also why gunfights were such a chore in that game.

Hell a decade ago I'd gotten so good at Max Payne that I could play without the bullet time altogether because of the gameplay that let me avoid getting shot by moving around. Try playing MP3 without bullet time.

[Knight of The Wind]

I am necroing the topic but I got the default difficulty values from the remastered android version so I wanted to share here they are:

[difficulty] // FUGITIVE
{
[normal]
{
[properties]
SaveGameLimit = 0; // n saves/level (0 equals unlimited)
IntermediateLevels = 2; // n levels are interpolated between minimum-default and default-maximum
HealthGainedFromPainkiller = 100%; // percents of maximum health
DeathFrequency = 180; // in seconds
FrequentDeaths = 5; // number of deaths in last "DeathFrequency" seconds

// messages to send if player has died "FrequentDeaths" times in last "DeathFrequency" seconds
[FrequentDeathMessages]
{
// [Message] String = "MaxPayne_HudMode->mphm_printdirect( \"debug: you're dying frequently...\" );";
// [Message] String = "player->c_addhealth( 15 );";
}

this makes Fugitive difficulty much more tolerable because they turned off adaptive difficulty.

[EndOfGameMessages]
{
[Message] String = "MaxPayne_Hudmode->mphm_printTipAlways( STRING_NORMAL_COMPLETED1 );";
[Message] String = "MaxPayne_Hudmode->mphm_printTipAlways( STRING_NORMAL_COMPLETED2 );";
[Message] String = "MaxPayne_Hudmode->mphm_printTipAlways( STRING_NORMAL_COMPLETED3 );";
}

[minimum]
EnemyHealthMultiplier = 0.3;
AmmoFoundMultiplier = 1.5;
PlayerHealthMultiplier = 2.9;
AutoAimCapsuleRadiusMultiplier = 4.0; // clamped to be at least 1.0
AutoAimCapsuleHeightMultiplier = 2.0; // clamped to be at least 1.0
HealthRegenerateMultiplier = 6%; // percents / second
HealthGainedImmediately = 8%; // percents of maximum health to gain immediately before regeneration
BulletTimeGainedPerKillMultiplier = 1.2;

[default]
EnemyHealthMultiplier = 0.3;
AmmoFoundMultiplier = 1.5;
PlayerHealthMultiplier = 2.9;
AutoAimCapsuleRadiusMultiplier = 4.0; // clamped to be at least 1.0
AutoAimCapsuleHeightMultiplier = 2.0; // clamped to be at least 1.0
HealthRegenerateMultiplier = 6%; // percents / second
HealthGainedImmediately = 8%; // percents of maximum health to gain immediately before regeneration
BulletTimeGainedPerKillMultiplier = 1.2;

[maximum]
EnemyHealthMultiplier = 0.3;
AmmoFoundMultiplier = 1.5;
PlayerHealthMultiplier = 2.9;
AutoAimCapsuleRadiusMultiplier = 4.0; // clamped to be at least 1.0
AutoAimCapsuleHeightMultiplier = 2.0; // clamped to be at least 1.0
HealthRegenerateMultiplier = 6%; // percents / second
HealthGainedImmediately = 8%; // percents of maximum health to gain immediately before regeneration
BulletTimeGainedPerKillMultiplier = 1.2;
}



Or just download my mod from moddb:

https://www.moddb.com/games/max-payne/downloads/mpadaptivedifficultyremover

[Sammy Fox]

Knight of The Wind eredeti hozzászólása:

I am necroing the topic but I got the default difficulty values from the remastered android version so I wanted to share here they are:

(...)

You've toyed around with the android version? Can you tell me if the sound packs have the same number of sounds as the PC version or if they really did skim off sound effects and voice clips?

[UmbralPenumbra]

Is there not an option in the menu to enable/disable adaptive difficulty? Maybe I'm having a false memory from the PS2 version

Adaptive difficulty is wonderful for a 10 year old playing a clunky third person shooter for the first time, on a console controller. I speak from historical experience (2001 was a pretty good year for shootin games)