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Fan Video Shows Max Payne With HD Textures

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman



A venture that is refitting old games with improved graphics has released a video showcasing Max Payne in HD. The wizard at the helm of Awesome Mods has been working on remastering the early 2000s third-person shooter, giving it a facelift in terms of textures. The aim of the exercise is to promote the Max Payne Project Remastered, which is collecting funds.

Awesome Mods' video shows the gritty former cop walking through several in-game environments, giving the viewers a comparison between the original graphics and improved HD textures. The difference is massive, as one would expect with two decades-old technology. The mushy pixelated walls now have clear bricks, the stop sign and the graffiti on the wall are detailed, and the meat hanging at the butcher looks now more like a piece of flesh than a bloody sock.

This Max Payne remaster isn't without issues, though. Some blood spills are inconsistent and look like they are from the vanilla game. However, perhaps more importantly it seems that the AI hasn't been able to decipher what the packing labels or signs say. In the boxes at the warehouse on original textures, it seems to read something like Canned Fastfish, but the AI has created some unintelligible symbols to replace actual letters. The same goes for signs and police barricades saying "police dept," some of which have been turned into odd symbols.

There are some other issues that adding HD textures doesn't address, either. The grates still don't have actual holes, they're just blackened out, and everything is still flat. This is due to the polygon count that hasn't been increased. The comparison is purely between the textures, which admittedly do make quite a difference. All the additional changes would require a lot of work, maybe even an actual Max Payne remake, which fortunately Remedy is currently conceptualizing.

That being said, the graphical difference is immense, and it truly does bring Max Payne to a new level. Some of the most impressive upscaling happens at the hotel, in which the paintings and posters are way crispier and more detailed. Also, one thing that the videos aren't meant to compare is the lighting. However, it suggests in the title that the game runs with "Next-Gen Ray Tracing." This should make at least as much of a difference as the textures to the game's atmosphere.
 

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


I don't know about angels, but it's fear that gives men wings.

Max Payne is the gritty film noir adventure of a broken man infiltrating the mob and taking down a government conspiracy, it's fondly remembered and spawned 2 sequels and a major Hollywood film, but...was it any good?

Max Payne is a great example of the memory of the entire event condensed to 'just the best bits' being a lot more enjoyable than the process of actually playing through it, which is buggy, simplistic and often frustrating.

Max Payne is an incredible experience told through a slightly above average gameplay vehicle.
 

mitch1971

Member
The HD textures would ease the pain...
Dean Winchester Reaction GIF
 

Soltype

Member
the repeating brick textures look better low res than the sharp HD ones.It sticks out way more in HD.
 

Drizzlehell

Banned
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For real though, I always liked how most of those old PC games hold up pretty well in texture department. That was the advantage of having lots of system and video memory.

I also remember vividly how Max Payne used to require a beefy rig to run at full details. If you had a Pentium 4 with 256 megs of RAM and a GeForce 2 or 3 then you were a god.
 
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ShadowNate

Member
I like it. Could do with an upgraded engine too, though, especially for the visual effects that add significantly to the mood such as fog and snow, and the handling of bullet and blood decals.
 
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