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Edit: for clarification, this relates to the original game, not the remade definitive edition released in 2020

I am trying to play the original Mafia game, and have an issue where the mouse does not move at all in-game. I am using the version of the game I have on steam which is listed as Mafia 2002.

  • The behaviour is such that when I first open the game the mouse cursor shows in the top-left but will not move at all.

  • If I open the steam overlay, the mouse works within the overlay.

  • If I browse to the game directory and run Mafia\Game.exe directly I cannot open the steam overlay (as it is not running) yet the problem is still present.

  • The problem occurs whether I run in fullscreen or a window.

  • I have, after observing the issue, independently installed the correct DirectX version and VC Redistributable, this also did not fix the issue.

  • I have tried running in compatibility mode for both XP (SP3) and Windows 8

  • The problem is not affected by whether I run as Administrator or not

I have found forum entries online which claim that you can create a wndmode.ini in the game directory, or download a d3d8.dll to place directly in the game directory, neither of these seem to work. I have fond memories of playing this game when it was new, and recently completed the third game in the series, which has left me wanting to go back and see whether the original holds up, but the mouse issue makes this somewhat unplayable, so any help whatsoever would be appreciated.

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  • I you find no better solution, try to play on a VirtualBox machine with Win 7 or XP. Mafia is not a very GPU demanding game (I was able to run in on a virtual machine on a host without a discrete GPU with no problems).
    – d.k
    Commented Apr 26, 2018 at 13:22
  • Can you start the game as administrator? That could possible resolve the mouse issue. Commented Apr 26, 2018 at 13:55
  • I have tried as administrator, I'll add that to the question. I'll have a go at running a virtual machine, I'm a little concerned that I don't have an XP license and that I'd potentially have to open a deprecated Windows version to the internet for Steam, but I'll let you know how I do Commented Apr 26, 2018 at 14:42
  • XP isn't even on support anymore, so technically, all versions are deprecated. It's a risk no matter what version you use. I think Mafia was also a console release; do you have a controller currently plugged in?
    – CDove
    Commented Apr 27, 2018 at 11:54
  • So I downloaded one of the virtualbox application images which are intended for browser testing (you get a month and then the image stops booting) and I went for a Windows 7 image, installed steam, downloaded Mafia, but the settings won't allow me to select a resolution and when I try to start the game anyway it just crashes, so I'm not sure a virtual machine is an option Commented May 1, 2018 at 14:06

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The issue in question was only able to be reproduced while I was using a Radeon 5750 (it's worth noting that back when I originally bought the game I had an Nvidia card of that era, which worked fine). When I upgraded to a GTX1060 the issue disappeared, so this appears to have been an issue related to incompatibility with either the graphics card itself, drivers, or the control system software.

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