So still no audio mixing fixes?

[Nathan]

Voice lines are still insanely quiet while some ambient noises are deafening - First chapter, enter warehouse, hear only the rain on the roof over any talking, the TV with D*ck Justice, Max talking to the cleaners...

It doesn't matter, EAX on/off, Multichannel on/off, though off is marginally better, even more quiet with on, and channels Low is marginally better over High, but only marginally, I'm talking 1-3% improvement.

Also tried the internet fixes with dsoal-aldrv, dsound & OpenAL32 dll files (and the reg edits), nada, zip, notice almost no change in the actual audio mixing, rain still deafening while voices super quiet, and the ingame audio sliders only make all in a batch louder or quieter.

I've had this now on two entirely different PCs in the last 5 years, nothing works.

Made a manual tweak, see here:

Originally posted by Nathan:

https://www.moddb.com/games/max-payne-2/downloads/mp2-manual-audio-mix-tweaks
Done, hope that helps

[CalicoJack]

I am not 100% sure but i think it sounds about the same. I play with EAX on, using CreativeALchemy to make it work. (same PC I used the steam version with)

Here, you can listen in to the first 20 minutes of the game.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3127690652
The monologue is only a touch too quiet when something explodes, like when Max talks while being in the crashing elevator in the beginning of the game. Kinda acceptable...
Otherwise I find it okay and can hear everything well.
After installing the CD version of MP2 i installed the v1.01 patch. It asks the user if he also wants to install a fix for sound issues. I didnt activate it, but I guess for some people it doesnt hurt to give it a try.

[CalicoJack]

Just gave the official "Max Payne 2 - Patch v1.01" another try, this time saying YES when asked if I have a sound issues with the game.

Guess what.... The sound mixing is fixed completely!

[Nathan]

Can you install the patch 1.01 on the steam version?

Obviously you have somehow installed CreativeALchemy on your PC, I googled it and it seems like unsupported closed-source software that Microsoft has dropped trying to support years ago, so not sure what the process would be to install such stuff, I just don't want to break audio even more, I remember almost completely breaking my audio on my older PC when Microsoft pushed their sh*tty Windows 10 update that broke a lot of audio stuff and I tried endlessly to fix it, only making it worse.

[CalicoJack]

Regarding EAX and CreativeALchemy on modern systems. I just followed this guide. Works for all EAX supported games.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2487107657

But I think the sound fix included in the official patch is unrelated to wether one uses EAX or not.
I´d suggest to just download the official patch and see if it works on the steam version.
The patch told me that it disabled multi-channel sound, which was then deactivated in the launcher settings. But when i am ingame i still have 5.1 surround sound (plus EAX)... Idk, It just seems to work.

I hope this helps.

[Nathan]

The patch file (downloaded from PCGamingWiki) says it can't find the Max Payne 2 installation directory :(

[CalicoJack]

Originally posted by Nathan:

The patch file (downloaded from PCGamingWiki) says it can't find the Max Payne 2 installation directory :(

Okay. Sorry.
But thanks for testing it!

[Nathan]

I was googling/reading some comments on MODDb and there's a fan uploaded manual "patch 1.01" with supposedly all the files from the patch 1.01 that could be applied onto the install, also some talk of the Max Payne Startup Hang Patch 1.01 having updated files from 1.01 and talk of Steam version indeed not being as up to date compared to disk version + 1.01
https://www.moddb.com/games/max-payne-2/downloads/max-payne-2-v101-patch-manual-installation-pack

Originally posted by dibdob:

dibdob Oct 22 2019

Quote from gamer on anon forum:

"just made some sfv checkings with retail version + patch 1.01 and indeed the steam release is outdated,
but:
steam version + the files from Startup Hang Patch 1.01 brings the steam version uptodate"

Steamcommunity.com

So going to try those a bit later and report back