Why won't the game Max Payne 2 run on my Windows installation?

A. I recently purchased Max Payne 2 for the PC. After I installed and attempted to start the game, nothing happened. I downloaded a patch from the vendor's Web site and applied it, but the game still wouldn't start, even with the CD-ROM present. After searching the Internet, I discovered that many people have experienced the same problem and that the only solution is to download a game crack from the Web that disables the need to have the CD-ROM inserted in the drive to play the game. After I applied the crack, the game worked.

The problem occurs because the game code uses copy protection that doesn't detect some types of CD/DVD drives. I typically don't condone applying game cracks, but you might not otherwise be able to play the game. The developers shouldn't have implemented this type of protection without sufficient testing to ensure that people who had purchased the game could actually play it.