Took me a while to find out but this is the solution:
1) Install the game, if you run into problems at this stage, set the MafiaLauncher.exe and MafiaSetup.exe executables on CD1 to Compatibility Mode: Windows XP SP2. If it fails, execute it as an administrator.
2) Go into C:\Program Files\Mafia en set the executable Game.exe to Compatibility Mode: Windows XP SP2
3) Go out and search the web for an update to 1.2 (mafia_patch_1.2_eng.exe). On the web you will find sites which refer to patch 1.3 and 1.2, there is no difference. I found it here .
4) Go into C:\Program Files\Mafia en execute Setup.exe. Make sure you configure it as follows:
5) Now sometimes you might be able to play now, if not, follow the next step. You can test this by playing an intro.avi from the c:\program files\mafia folder. If you have video, your good to go!
6) In order to play the intro movies of Mafia (and play the game), you need and Indeo codec. This is unsupported on Vista (as a matter of fact, starting Windows XP SP1 and higher). Go out and fetch a freeware Indeo codec. I’ve got it from this site. Starting from version 5.2 you have to pay for it so make sure you find an older one 
7) Open a command prompt with elevated right (hit the start button, type CMD, right click it and choose ”Run as an administrator”. In the console type: regsvr32 ir50_32.dll
8 ) Try to play the game and please leave a comment if this guide helped you out (or not)!
November 26th, 2008 at 12:43
I HAVE INSTALLED MY MAFIA GAME ON VISTA WHEN I START PLAYING THAN GRAPHICS ARE LIKE THEY ARE DISTURBED HELP ME
December 6th, 2008 at 16:19
Thanks a lot mate.
It really works!!!!
Regards
December 7th, 2008 at 0:38
steps 2 and 4 worked for me - for the demo version on Vista Sp1 - thanks
December 12th, 2008 at 0:58
You the man! Cheers for this
December 24th, 2008 at 11:46
Here’s the problem:
Indeo doesn’t support x64 systems. no mafia for me
December 28th, 2008 at 15:45
Usually these online guides by people never work, but this one really does!! 10/10! Thankyou! Also, lots of different resolutions and 32bit colour works for me too, above and beyond the settings you showed above. (shame about the 64 bit systems tho)
December 29th, 2008 at 0:17
man ur greattttt it all worked out fine i usually do thies on my own but thies helped a lot thx keep up the gd work
January 17th, 2009 at 3:59
Man, I cant this thing to run at all. New Vista Dell XPS. Nvidia 6800 GT. Quad Core. No Love! Ive tried putting both the .exe’s into XP but still nothing. I cannot get the game to install. Help!?!?
January 17th, 2009 at 15:43
youre the man this really works brilliant advice 5 stars
January 25th, 2009 at 21:58
You the man, appreciate dude, wish I could buy you a beer
January 26th, 2009 at 1:31
I have a new HP computer with Windows Vista. When I first installed Mafia, it loaded but the graphics had some weird clipping or something. Made it unplayable. I’ve tried your stuff. It installs but the patch from step 3 uninstalls the whole game. Trying to follow step 2 also gives me the option of uninstalling the game. Also my McAfee seems to block some ‘virus’ every time I try to start it and it deletes it and nothing happens. Nothing works
January 28th, 2009 at 21:07
i install it as usual and it runs normally, but the problem is that it doesnt go fullscreen and part of the “picture” is below the monitor, if you get me..
February 3rd, 2009 at 4:55
This was the best solution I found on the net by far! Great work and thanks a lot!!
February 3rd, 2009 at 20:29
Realy works, thanks a lot!!
February 8th, 2009 at 12:30
it works thank you. for people who cannot figure out be careful about the settings. can be executed from C:Program Fiiles/Mafia/Setup.exe
February 10th, 2009 at 19:42
Thanks a lot
Really appreciate it
February 11th, 2009 at 1:00
Cheers for the help. It works fine now after not even installing before. Keep up the good work.
February 16th, 2009 at 19:08
thanks, it works now
March 24th, 2009 at 23:01
Hi…. look this is my problem, my pc never fishes the instalation of the game, y tried the first step like you’ve said but it still doesn’t work, so maybe you could help me with that or give an explication for what’s happening, thanks a lot…
April 17th, 2009 at 17:33
Thank you so much for this man. You are a real star
April 30th, 2009 at 2:08
wow! thanks for this, much appreciated mate!
May 1st, 2009 at 18:22
i was desperate, i bought 3 times the game and never worked. now it’s ok. thx you
May 16th, 2009 at 3:32
Thnks a lot man…It works
May 24th, 2009 at 10:53
MEGA RESPECT!!! It works. I thought that i will have to reinstal my system for windows xp.
May 28th, 2009 at 12:02
it seems like its working cos when i play the intro it works however the game doesnt work
when i try to open the game (error doesnt appear anymore) my screen goes blank and when i open the task manager it says that mafia is not responding.i dont quite understand step 7 so maybe thats why isnt working?any clues?thanks
May 28th, 2009 at 21:49
thank you for very quick response!ITS WORKING!thank you very much!
June 4th, 2009 at 15:47
Thanks a lot! I had big adventures dealing with this problem now I fixed it thanks to you! Keep on like this!
June 10th, 2009 at 17:17
Hi.
I just got a sold out version of the game, and installed it on Win 7 RC, it didn’t want to start, it was because of the video codec, I have lots of palyers, and codecs needed for HD vide= playback and all stuff, but tried playing the intro video with standard windos media player, and it didn’t play, so installed the codec and now works fine. Any resolution, any settings level
Thanks for your help.
June 13th, 2009 at 13:00
thanx a lot, man.. I was going nuts not playing the game since I changed my pc some 2 years ago. cheers!
July 2nd, 2009 at 21:51
Thanks a lot lot guys worked a treat
July 12th, 2009 at 21:13
thx working fine now
July 24th, 2009 at 9:27
great only one ive found that works and works 100 per cent fair play !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
August 2nd, 2009 at 4:23
Thank you friend!!!!!!
In my case, the key word was the ”mafia setup”, once I take that configuration, everything works.
I have to say that my problem were the graphics, they looks terrible, but now they are realy good.
Thanks, for your help
August 27th, 2009 at 0:41
THANKS A LOT!!!!!!!!
btw, i put the resoloution and the bit rate higher and it still works.
Tis my favourite game ever!
cant wait for the second 1!
August 29th, 2009 at 1:16
u have to run “Run As Administrator”. i tried and it worked. i use vista 64 bit
September 11th, 2009 at 14:06
Thanks a lot, I have Windows Vista 64 Home Edition and now the game works fine. Great job!
September 13th, 2009 at 17:00
ciao..ho installato il gioco mafia non originale..ho letto che molti hanno problemi.. anche io..il gioco va alla grande ma le dimensione della cartella di gioco sono troppo grandi..mi spiego meglio..non mi si vede la parte sotto..ho provato a riposizionare la cartella schiacciando alt+space..la sposta ma non salva la posizione che vorrei.ho provato anche con aggiungere nelle proprieta -w NIENTE NIENTE avete consigli?????????????
September 15th, 2009 at 20:57
You rock my friend. the game is on
October 12th, 2009 at 15:25
when i run the game it doesn’t go fullscreen. but my settings say fullscreen is marked.
October 27th, 2009 at 16:32
hi bro
when i was not suessful this treatment,
November 21st, 2009 at 21:01
Pls help..
i have followed all the steps……It worked fine…….but on one day the system rebooted itself……….after that it is not working. I have reinstalled the game with all the settings but it does not work………help.
December 9th, 2009 at 22:54
Uhhhh wow after an hour of tweaking, installing 1990’s video codecs, changing compatibility issues, turns out damn thing wont run on x64 machines. Couldve saved a lot of time if I had scrolled down prior to going thru all those steps. BTW in Win7 that console shell command does not work, its invalid entry. But great troubleshooting guide for people with 32BIT SYSTEMS!!!! x64 seems like its giving me more problems than is helping!
December 11th, 2009 at 19:19
it really works xD sometimes the game shut down. but many thanks.
December 15th, 2009 at 15:29
Hi I hd dwnld MAFIA ISO file.. i hd installed it.. after installing CD1. it ask’s fr CD2.. but there is no option to select to instal CD2…
Plse tel me.. Hw to instal the remaining part..???
December 26th, 2009 at 17:52
I got everything to work but the sound. Still hear the music but sound effects and voices are lacking. Otherwise, your guide is awsome.
December 26th, 2009 at 21:57
Hi, you’re the Champ!, worked fine, u made my day. Thanks a lot for the instructions.
January 2nd, 2010 at 21:32
what have i got to open on step №7?
January 29th, 2010 at 16:55
i have windows 7 i done every thing the game runs but when i turn the buildings and everything arnt straight they go its weird can antone help
February 26th, 2010 at 6:13
Anybody have Mafia running fine on Windows 7 (32 bit)? If so, did you follow the procedures detailed here? Did you have to install the Indeo codec and register the dll?
March 5th, 2010 at 19:56
Well… did everything and it doesnt work
Win 7 here
March 8th, 2010 at 3:39
i been trying 2 weeks now to try to play wen i saw yur forum its works on win 7 too u are great man thks a lot
March 11th, 2010 at 18:55
help me please I start the game end i see black screen the game is stop I can do nothing
March 14th, 2010 at 14:36
Hi
I can’t istall it on win 7 (64 bit). Sby can help me?
March 30th, 2010 at 14:50
Hi!
I can`t get it working on windows 7 32 bit. I have no problems with the beginning video, and the game starts but it`s the graphics that are just not right. Eaven in the menu, I have things disappearing and appearing, on the in game videos i have cars with no roof or wheels etc.
I tried the Inde codec but I get this error 0×8000ffff
Any help would be absolutely marvolous!
P.S. I`m useing a notebook, but it worked with XP on the same notebook.
March 30th, 2010 at 15:33
P.S. It works on compatibility. I´d like to see it working also without.
May 10th, 2010 at 1:12
ok i got it work the only problem i have now is that iam trying to play the game in a window and the game window is to big for my screen and i can only see half the game is there a way to make the game window smaller or even put it in fullscreen mode?
May 13th, 2010 at 22:16
Thx. I am warming up to the release of Mafia II by playing through the old game again. Thanks to this guide it works on my Vista.
May 25th, 2010 at 15:30
plz how can i change my game in english i downloaded it in spanish’
June 16th, 2010 at 20:16
you are the best! thanx!!!
July 12th, 2010 at 8:56
I do everything as you said, i can play the intro. But when I started, it jumped back to the window. Please help me!
July 19th, 2010 at 19:44
Just follow the steps as mentioned in the Screenshot & it worked perfectly fine even on Windows 7 64bit.
August 3rd, 2010 at 20:53
thanks, it works now
August 17th, 2010 at 16:14
Thanks a lot dude, you rock!
August 19th, 2010 at 15:14
Finally, it starts!
But then I get a black screen with no sound or video on startup, and have to CTRL+AlT+DELETE out.
August 24th, 2010 at 16:12
Thanks a lot! Tried everything till I found this site. U rock!
September 5th, 2010 at 10:32
Mate, thanks for the tip, it sort of work but every time I tried to lead the game, it just went blank and when I open the task manager it says that Mafia is not responding… may I ask why is that? and if there is a way to fix it
September 5th, 2010 at 21:20
Thx very much, after step 8 it worked!!!
September 6th, 2010 at 20:39
Sort of works:
Indeo codec installation crashed when it was looking for a Netscape copy. So I used ‘custom install’ and disabled ‘browser codec’ (or something like that - bottom one in the list). After that the codec installed fully.
Then Mafia opens - first the splash-screen, then a black fullscreen that immediately minimizes into the bottom taskbar of Win Vista (it says ‘Mafia ..zzZZ’).
If I then wait until the sound stops and I click on it a couple of times, it goes to fullscreen black.
Then I can hit the spacebar and it loads into the Create Profile-screen.
This works most of the times and only if I have maximum resolution settings and triplebuffer and VSync set on.
But hey, it’s better that not playing at all!
September 6th, 2010 at 20:42
in response to my previous entry:
Oh darn!
I overlooked the 60Hz option in the setup!
I set it to 60Hz and there are no problems starting the game anymore - regardless of other settings!
My bad!