Max Payne 3 - "future data" side effects in Chapter 1
4I guess it makes the most sense to think of Max Payne as a kind of time mage. He has always had the ability to slow down time, and by the third game his powers have grown immensely, allowing him to overlap past and future in a limited way. Perhaps one day he is strong enough to fully travel into the past and save his loved ones? Maybe we'll see that in the sequel.
So, there are some really esoteric side effects that can happen in the right circumstance when using the future data exploit, and this video is about them. As if this game wasn't astronomically complex with its glitch variations already.
0:00 - first of all, like I mentioned previously, if you do not unpause during the cutscene skip fade-out while starting this glitch, you get another variation of future time that is highly volatile and usually crashes the game.
0:21 - so here's the setup for the first side effect.
1. First, play up until new loading trigger with future data buffered, then Pause and retry from last Checkpoint with glitched Pause-menu. You'll always get cinematic Pause-menu in this circumstance, and you usually hear the cutscene audio playing in the background after retry.
2. Now, close Pause-menu before having hit the new loading trigger to not expend future time buffer. Then, in whatever way you see fit, use future data buffer to combine current set piece and following cutscene AND retry from last Checkpoint.
3. After retry, play through the set piece normally. Or optionally retry again (like here) if you want a different timing and then finish the set piece normally.
4. When you get to the next cutscene naturally, it glitches up. It either plays with a weird timing (as if it had partially ran in the background all this time) or with missing data (cutscene camera doesn't work, etc).
1:38 - the first side effect payoff. Here in Chapter 1-8 and with this timing, the chapter finishing cutscene lacks a camera, so it just shows the walls of the parking hall during the cutscene. And... that's it. Although it looks alarming, the game will still progress like normal to Chapter 2 afterwards. I believe this glitch effect does not happen if the overlapped cutscene ends before you start it again by finishing the set piece normally, hence you need a fairly long cutscene to do this glitch with.
2:49 - the first side effect in Chapter 1-3, shown without setup. There is no camera during the cutscene. Then it abruptly cuts to Max getting off the elevator downstairs with no graphics visible. Everything looks unloaded and even enemies are invisible until you reach the deeper corridor leading into the parking hall, after which things return normal again.
4:44 - here's the second side effect. It's a bit simpler so I don't show the setup for it, but what you have to do is:
1. Play up until new loading trigger with future data buffered, then retry without buffering glitched Pause-menu. You usually hear the cutscene audio start playing in the background after retry.
2. Then, retry again. I don't know why, but this step seems necessary.
3. Then finish the set piece normally.
This side effect doesn't do anything in some areas, but in Chapter 1-3 it causes a 100% reliable "softlock". After Max has shot the thug, he falls into the pool and never rises up again. Or maybe he flushed himself down into the basement via the pool. In any case, you are stuck and have to quit to continue.
(Fun fact: the same softlock can also be created by pause buffering towards the end of the bullet time. So there are two ways to enact this same exact effect.)
5:13 - in Chapter 1-7 it also causes a softlock at the end of bullet time camera. This softlock is quite persistent, and will continue to happen every time you retry from this Checkpoint until you shut off the whole game!
5:47 - even more curiously, the timed game over at Chapter 1-7 turns off after you've done this glitch. Normally the game fails Max is he waits too long before starting the next fight, preventing backtracking. But with the side effect, you are able to backtrack to Chapter 1-4 area with no problems, and it works the same (glitchy) way as shown in the "Chapter 1-6 loophole" video.
Just for fun I go to Chapter 1-8 area early using the open doors, but there is no one there and nothing to do. The enemies have also unspawned from the entire parking hall, rendering the level unwinnable.
Other Videos By AKheon
Other Statistics
Max Payne 3 Statistics For AKheon
AKheon currently has 40,820 views spread across 141 videos for Max Payne 3. About 23 hours worth of Max Payne 3 videos were uploaded to his channel, roughly 13.47% of the content that AKheon has uploaded to YouTube.