Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy

How to Play

The game has been tested on Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 10 and Windows 11, it works fine. You may experience some small troubles when you play the game on modern systems, check our Guide and Notes for details

Install & play guide:

• Mount the disc image. You will need the utility for mounting disc image files, like WinCDEmu, UltraISO, Alcohol 52%/Alcohol 120% or Daemon Tools Lite
• Install the game (if autorun doesn't work - simply launch the installation from Setup.exe inside the disc). It is recommended to install the game not in default path, but in some other, non-system folder, like C:/Games/Psi Ops
• European multilingual version on our website is DRM-Free, so you don't need to use any NoCD after the installation
• Open the game folder and find PsiOps.exe. Right click on PsiOps.exe -> Properties -> Compatibility -> Set "Run this app in compatibility mode with Windows XP" and "Run as administrator"
• Launch the game and play. If the game doesn't work in compatibility mode with Windows XP - try to launch it in compatibility mode with other version of Windows (Windows 98, Windows 2000, etc.)

Notes:

• If the installation doesn't start - try to launch Setup.exe in compatibility mode with old version of Windows (98, 2000 or XP)
• It is recommended to install all versions of Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable and NET Framework for the correct work of the game. Also it is recommended to install K-Lite Codec Pack for the correct work of in-game videos
• The game works on DirectX 9, so if you're using Windows 8, 8.1, 10 or 11 - you need to enable DirectPlay: Go to Control Panel, and select 'Programs'. Select 'Turn Windows features on and off', click on 'Legacy Components' and check the box 'DirectPlay'. Select OK, once the installation is done, restart your computer
• European multilingual version on our website is DRM-Free release, you can simply install & play, NoDVD is not required. We added NoDVD just in case if someone will be looking for it, because the original release of the game was protected by infamous StarForce DRM. That NoDVD showed some generic warnings about suspicious/unsafe file, it's the usual thing with "cracks", NoDVD are safe to use
• European version has support for 5 languages: English, French, German, Spanish & Italian. You can change the language of installed game through Windows Registry: open it (press Win+R -> type regedit.exe and press Enter), go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/WOW6432Node/GAMESTAR/PsiOps path (if you use 32-bit Windows OS, the Registry path is the same but without Wow6432Node), and change the Language parameter: 1 for English, 2 for French, 3 for Italian, 4 for Spanish, 5 for German. Close the Windows Registry and run the game
• The game also had a freeware release with ads, it was available for download on Midway's website. That version was requiring the Internet connection to play, MajorGeeks website fixed it and now the freeware version is playable without the Internet. You can download that variant on MajorGeeks website or on our website, it has no DRM. By default that version comes with English language, but you can change it to another language, follow this guide (if you use 32-bit Windows OS, the Registry path is the same but without Wow6432Node)
• If you get error 0xc0000142 or the game doesn't start - add PsiOps.exe to the exceptions of DEP (Data Execution Prevention): go to Control Panel -> System Properties -> Advanced System Settings. From the System Properties dialog, select Settings. Select the Data Execution Prevention tab. Select "Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select". Click Add and use the browse feature to show the path to the program executable you want to exclude, in that case PsiOps.exe inside the game folder. Here's the guide with pictures. If that doesn't work, try adding it as an exception in Windows Security's DEP settings, follow this guide
• If you can't begin to play or the game doesn't respond when you press a key - reset to the defaults in the keyboard settings
• If you have gameplay issues, such as ladders killing the main character, jumping not working or you see ghosting when main character moves - that happens when the game runs on more than 60 FPS framerate. Enable Vsync in game settings to lock the framerate to 60 FPS. If it didn't help - enable Vsync or limit the framerate in control panel of your video card, or limit the game's framerate to 60 FPS with one of framerate limit utilities. For example, the easiest method is to use ThirteenAG's d3d9-wrapper, simply copy d3d9.dll & d3d9.ini in game folder, next to executable file, then open d3d9.ini in Notepad and enter FPSLimit=60; after that save the changes and run the game
• By default the game supports only 4:3 screen ratio resolutions. But you can play the game in wide screen resolutions by using Widescreen Fix by ThirteenAG. To install it simply copy all files from the archive and put in game folder, then open PsiOpsTheMindgateConspiracy.WidescreenFix.ini inside Psi Ops/scripts folder and change ResX = and ResY = parameters to enable the screen resolution you need (for example, if you want to run the game in 1920x1080 mode, make ResX = 1920 and ResY = 1080). However, with that fix all in-game videos will be playing on the left side of the screen, that issue is not fixed yet
• Alternatively, you can run the game in widescreen resolutions with dgVoodoo 2, but the image will be stretched. But you can change dgVoodoo settings through dgVoodoo Control Panel (dgVoodooCpl.exe) and enable 4:3 screen ratio, and play in high 4:3 screen resolution
• The game has support of Surround Sound, use DSOAL utility to enable it on modern systems
• Be careful, Russian version is still protected with StarForce DRM! StarForce DRM is not compatible with modern systems and can ruin it, especially if you use 32-bit version of Windows! DO NOT run the game after you installed it, to avoid the installation of StarForce drivers! Use NoDVD before the first launch of the game, NoDVD "breaks" DRM protection and allows to run the game without the disc. If you accidentally installed StarForce drivers - use StarForce Removal Tool (sfdrvrem) to remove it
• NoDVD for Russian version showed some generic warnings on VirusTotal scan. All warnings are generic, about suspicious/unsafe file, it's the usual thing with "cracks", NoDVD are safe to use. Check this thread for more details about that NoDVD
• The game doesn't have the controller support. If you want to play with gamepad, use additional tools that convert controller input to keyboard, check PCGamingWiki guide for controllers
• Don't forget to check PCGamingWiki if you have troubles!