Commandos2-ModernPatch

High frame rate, Full HD and bug-fix patch for Commandos 2: Men of Courage (Steam).

Commandos 2 runs its game logic and its rendering at a fixed 25 frames per second. Commandos2-ModernPatch keeps the game logic at its original 25 ticks per second — so game speed, AI and mission scripts are unchanged — but renders as many frames as your monitor can show in between, moving the camera and everything on the map smoothly. It also fixes several bugs of the original game at modern resolutions.

Full HD mission (Das Boot, Silent Killer)	Full-screen pause menu over the game in HD
3D interior in Full HD	Video options: pick 1280x720 (16:9) for the HD mode

Features

Smooth rendering

• Rendering at your monitor's refresh rate (e.g. 144/240 Hz) while the game logic stays at 25 ticks per second: camera scrolling, zoom and rotation, soldiers, enemies, vehicles and projectiles move smoothly.
• Smooth rotation of building and vehicle interiors (Alt + middle mouse button) and of the window shown when peeking through a door.
• Smooth cursor, including dragging items in the inventory and the menus; the pick-up shine on bonus books plays at its original speed, drawn smoothly.
• Even frame pacing, also with a frame rate cap (MaxFps).

Full HD

• Full HD (or any) resolution for the game's HD video mode (originally 1280×720).
• Full-screen pause menu in HD: the menu is scaled up over a sharp view of the game.
• Larger interface in missions: the command panel, inventory (including dragged items) and the mission notebook are enlarged to match the resolution (UIScale), with mouse input mapped accordingly.
• No black screens when the game switches resolution — borderless full screen through the bundled cnc-ddraw. Loading screens fill the screen.

Fixes for bugs of the original game

• Crash when zooming in at resolutions above 1280×720.
• Holes and smeared areas in the map when zoomed out at high resolutions.
• Quick repeated clicks in the inventory were ignored (picking up and dropping an item).
• The cheat password changed in the Steam version: both PYROFOREVER and the classic GONZOANDJON work, or enable cheats with Cheats=1.

Performance

• Faster rendering of water, and of the map while the camera is still.

Original behaviour is kept where smoothing is not possible: character animation frames, the 3D portraits and the animated cursor run at their original speed.

Settings menu: press Ctrl+Shift+F10 in game. Every option of Commandos2-ModernPatch.ini can be changed there (Basic and Advanced tabs, mouse or arrow keys); the game is paused while the menu is open and changes are saved at once. Options marked with * apply after restarting the game.

No game files are modified; the patch is a ddraw.dll placed next to the game and applies its changes in memory while the game runs.

Requirements

• Commandos 2: Men of Courage, Steam version, the main executable Comm2.exe (SHA-256 3645321656e05fab2cb91cff7d416152c9276d821ffef85cd0399bd4a15d1aaa). The "Legacy" version (Legacy\comm2.exe) is not supported.
• Windows 10 or 11.

Installation

1. Download Commandos2-ModernPatch-<version>.zip from the Releases page.
2. Extract it into the game folder (the folder containing Comm2.exe, e.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Commandos 2 Men of Courage). You should end up with ddraw.dll and Commandos2-ModernPatch.ini next to Comm2.exe, plus a Commandos2-ModernPatch folder.
3. Start the game normally from Steam (not the Legacy version).
4. For Full HD: in the game's video options choose 1280x720 (16:9) — the patch turns this mode into the resolution set in HDResolution (default 1920×1080). The label in the menu keeps saying 1280x720.

Uninstall: delete ddraw.dll, Commandos2-ModernPatch.ini, Commandos2-ModernPatch.log and the Commandos2-ModernPatch folder.

Configuration (Commandos2-ModernPatch.ini)

Option	Default	Description
Enabled	1	0 = the game behaves exactly like the original
Camera	1	Smooth camera scrolling and zoom
Objects	1	Smooth movement of soldiers, vehicles, projectiles
Mouse	1	Smooth cursor and inventory dragging
Menus	1	Smooth cursor in menus
HDResolution	1920x1080	Resolution of the game's HD video mode
HDMenus	1	Pause menu in the game resolution
PauseMenuScale	1	1 = stretched to full screen, 2 = enlarged 4:3, 0 = small and centred
UIScale	0	Interface size in missions: 0 = automatic (screen height / 720), 1 = original, or a factor such as 2
CncDDraw	1	1 = borderless full screen via cnc-ddraw, 0 = system DirectDraw
Cheats	0	1 = cheat keys always active (see below)
Optimizations	1	Faster rendering of water and of the map while the camera is still (0 = original code; not in the ini by default)
MaxFps	0	Frame rate cap, 0 = monitor refresh rate
Debug	0	1 = statistics in Commandos2-ModernPatch.log

All options can also be changed in game in the settings menu (Ctrl+Shift+F10).

cnc-ddraw's own settings are in Commandos2-ModernPatch\cnc-ddraw\ddraw.ini (section [comm2]). Alt+Enter switches between full screen and a window.

Cheats

The Steam version changed the cheat password from GONZOANDJON to PYROFOREVER, which is why the old cheats seem not to work. The patch accepts both, in any letter case: type one during a mission (single player), or set Cheats=1 to skip the password. Cheat keys include Ctrl+I, Ctrl+V, Shift+X (move the selected commando to the cursor) and Ctrl+Shift+N (complete the mission).

Known limitations

• Character animations (walking cycles etc.) are hand-drawn at the original frame rate; only their movement across the screen is smoothed.
• Mission briefings run in 640×480 (scaled) at the original 25 fps.
• Menus are 640×480 artwork and are shown with black bars (4:3).
• Camera and object positions are shown one logic tick (40 ms) behind; unit orders and game timing are not affected.
• Mainly tested at 1920×1080. At 4K or ultrawide resolutions the map can show missing areas when fully zoomed out; reports from such setups are welcome.

Troubleshooting

First look at Commandos2-ModernPatch.log next to Comm2.exe. Every start adds a section beginning with === hh:mm:ss === (the last one is the latest), which says whether the patch recognised the game and which parts were enabled.

Problem	What to try
Nothing changes, the log says unexpected Comm2.exe build - hooks disabled	The patch only works with the Steam Comm2.exe (see Requirements). The GOG and Legacy versions, and executables changed by other mods, are not supported. If Steam updated the game, please open an issue.
No log file at all	ddraw.dll is not being loaded: check that it is in the same folder as Comm2.exe, and that you start the main version from Steam, not "Legacy". Some antivirus programs block or quarantine proxy DLLs like ddraw.dll.
The game does not start, black screen or crash at start	Remove other DirectDraw / Direct3D wrappers from the game folder (HD Project files, ReShade dxgi.dll / d3d9.dll, dgVoodoo). Then try CncDDraw=0. Turn off overlays one by one (Steam, Discord, MSI Afterburner / RivaTuner, recording software).
Black or flickering picture, wrong colours	In Commandos2-ModernPatch\cnc-ddraw\ddraw.ini, section [comm2], change renderer=auto to renderer=opengl, renderer=direct3d9 or renderer=gdi. Update the graphics driver.
Stutter or low frame rate	Set MaxFps to your monitor refresh rate or lower (e.g. MaxFps=60). Check that the game runs on the dedicated graphics card on laptops. Debug=1 writes frame statistics to the log.
Mouse cursor is offset or clicks hit the wrong place	Make sure the Windows display scaling is not overridden for Comm2.exe (Properties → Compatibility → Change high DPI settings), and try without other mods.
Something looks or behaves wrong only with the patch	Open the settings menu (Ctrl+Shift+F10) and turn Smoothing off to compare. If it is only wrong with the patch, please open an issue.
Crash during the game	The log contains the crash address. Please open an issue and attach it.

Reporting a problem: open an issue on the Issues page with the Bug report form and attach Commandos2-ModernPatch.log. For crashes or performance problems set Debug=1 first, reproduce the problem, then attach the log. Please also include the resolution, monitor refresh rate and graphics card.

Building from source

Requirements: Visual Studio 2019 or newer with Desktop development with C++.

build.bat                                             (builds build\ddraw.dll)
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File package.ps1  (builds out\Commandos2-ModernPatch-<version>.zip)

package.ps1 downloads cnc-ddraw 7.1.0.0 from its GitHub releases (checksum verified). For development, copy build\ddraw.dll and dist\Commandos2-ModernPatch.ini into the game folder and the cnc-ddraw files into <game>\Commandos2-ModernPatch\cnc-ddraw\ (or set CncDDraw=0).

How the patch works internally — hooks, addresses and the reasoning behind them — is described in docs/TECHNICAL.md.

License

MIT, see LICENSE. Bundled cnc-ddraw: MIT, see THIRD_PARTY.md. Commandos 2 is a trademark of its respective owners; this project contains no game code or assets and requires a legally owned copy of the game.