Bionic Commando (2009)

This page is for the 2009 game. For the original 1988 game, see Bionic Commando.

Bionic Commando
Bionic Commando	1988
Bionic Commando Rearmed	2008
Bionic Commando (2009)	2009

Bionic Commando (2009) is an action adventure game developed by GRIN using the Diesel engine and published by Capcom. The game features both a singleplayer campaign and a multiplayer mode, though as of 2022 the online mode is no longer available due to the closure of its online servers.

The player controls Nathan Spencer and his main characteristic is the ability of using his Bionic Arm, which allow him to swing around buildings and throw objects. The game mixes fluid traversal movement and packed action gameplay with multiple firing weapons and type of enemies on a level based structure.

The game is part of the Bionic Commando series that has started with the homonymous NES title in the 1987, which received a remake called Bionic Commando Rearmed that was developed by GRIN aswell.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SecuROM DRM disc check.^[1]
Steam

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Launch the game with the `-nointro -s` command line arguments^[2]

Download replacement video files^{[citation needed]}
Download Blank Video Files. Go to `<path-to-game>\DATA\MOVIES`. Replace the `.bik` files with the new blank files.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\BC\data\settings\
Steam	<path-to-game>\data\settings\
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/21670/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

controls.xml stores control bindings.

renderer_settings.xml stores video settings.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\BC\saves\
Steam	<Steam-folder>\userdata\<user-id>\21670\
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/21670/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video

Video settings.

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD		HUD elements, in-game text and button prompts don't scale up and are very small at 4K resolutions.
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed	See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)	See Anti-aliasing (AA).
Vertical sync (Vsync)	Disabled. Force in the graphics card control panel or use D3Doverrider or Special K.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)	See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Windowed

Edit renderer_settings.xml^[3]
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open `renderer_settings.xml` with a text editor. Change `windowed = "false"` to `windowed = "true"` Save the changes.

Anti-aliasing (AA)

Force SGSSAA (Nvidia only)^[4]

Download and run Nvidia Profile Inspector.
Search for Bionic Commando in the profiles list.
Set Antialiasing compatibility to 0x004010C1.
Set Antialiasing - Mode to Override any application setting.
Set Antialiasing - Setting to 2x/4x/8xQ Multisampling.
Set Antialiasing - Transparency supersampling to 2x/4x/8x Sparse Grid Supersampling (the level must match the previous setting).
Optionally, set Texture filtering - LOD Bias to either -0.500 (if using 2x MSAA + 2x SGSSAA), -1.000 (if using 4x) or -1.500 (if using 8x). This will increase sharpness, but may mess up some visual effects.
Click Apply to save the changes.

Notes

Don't Alt+Tab ↹ out of the game without opening a menu first, otherwise the lighting will be messed up.

Input

Control bindings.

Input device is selected by pressing either ↵ Enter or Start button at the start screen, which disables the other device from that point on.

The game uses Xbox controller prompts for keyboard and mouse, no fix available.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Further remap by editing `controls.xml`
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity		In-game mouse movement speed depends on the framerate,^[3] see Mouse Sensitivity for more details. The Y axis is slower then X axis, see Mouse Consistency for a workaround.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping		Edit `controls.xml`
Controller sensitivity		Aim Acceleration cannot be disabled when using a controller but can be mitigated by lowering the in-game aim sensitivity.
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

DualShock 4 controllers		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Button prompts
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Bind all secondary weapons to one key

Since you can't have multiple secondary weapons at the same time (in the single player mode), only one key is needed.

Edit controls.xml^{[citation needed]}

Go to the configuration file(s) location.
Open controls.xml.
Find the lines:

<button name="equip_hiker" input="3"/>
<button name="equip_sniper" input="4"/>
<button name="equip_tarantula" input="5"/>
<button name="equip_bulldog" input="6"/>
<button name="equip_mgsj" input="7"/>

4. And for example change them to:

<button name="equip_hiker" input="3"/>
<button name="equip_sniper" input="3"/>
<button name="equip_tarantula" input="3"/>
<button name="equip_bulldog" input="3"/>
<button name="equip_mgsj" input="3"/>

Notes

Do not reset the controls binding via in-game options otherwise even this setting will be reverted to the default one.

Skip cutscenes by pressing "Space" two times

The game allow to skip cutscenes by pressing "Enter" after you press "Space".

For an easier configuration you can modify this behavior by let the game skip the cutscenes after a second press of the "Space" button.

Edit controls.xml^{[citation needed]}

Go to the configuration file(s) location.
Open controls.xml.
Find the "skip_cutscene" line (upper line is presented for localize the interested line more easily due to multiple similar entries):

<button name="toggle_weapon" input="r"/>
<button name="skip_cutscene" input="confirm"/>

4. And change it to:

<button name="skip_cutscene" input="space"/>

Notes

Do not reset the controls binding via in-game options otherwise even this setting will be reverted to the default one.

Navigate through "Info Screen" entries by pressing "Space"

The game allow to select the specific entries of the "Info Screen" (Objectives, Challenges etc.) by pressing the "Enter" button.

For an easier navigation you can modify this behavior by let the player select those entries with the press of the "Space" button.

Edit controls.xml^{[citation needed]}

Go to the configuration file(s) location.
Open controls.xml.
Find the "confirm" line (upper line is presented for localize the interested line more easily due to multiple similar entries):

<button name="equip_grenade" input="2"/>
<button name="confirm" input="confirm"/>

4. And change it to:

<button name="confirm" input="space"/>

Notes

Do not reset the controls binding via in-game options otherwise even this setting will be reverted to the default one.

Mouse Sensitivity

In-game mouse movement speed depends on the framerate, the lower is the framerate and higher is the aim speed (in a proportional way so 60 FPS is double the speed of 120 FPS, 30 FPS is four times the speed of 120 FPS and so on). This results in a very difficult mouse control on a lower framerate (e.g. 60 FPS).

To fix this is suggested to lower the in-game aim sensitivity at the minimum level and then adjust the aim speed accordingly with the mouse DPI settings (800 DPI is enough for accurate gameplay at 60 FPS with the in-game aim sensitivity at the minimum level).

Notes

At higher framerate (100+ FPS) this issue tend to be a lot less prominent, it's still suggested to lower the in-game aim sensitivity accordingly.

It's very important to cap the game framerate at a maximum of 144 FPS anyway due to physics issues, see "Frame rate (FPS)" for more info.

Mouse Consistency

The Y axis is roughly 40% slower then X axis.

It's possible to have a workaround with mice that support separate DPI sensitivity per axis or more simply by editing the controls.xml

Edit controls.xml^{[citation needed]}

Go to the configuration file(s) location.
Open controls.xml.
Find this line:

<axis name="look" controller="mouse" input="mouse" multiplier="0.05 0.05 0" lerp="1" no_limit="true"

4. And change it to:

<axis name="look" controller="mouse" input="mouse" multiplier="0.05 0.07 0" lerp="1" no_limit="true"

Notes

Do not reset the controls binding via in-game options otherwise even this setting will be reverted to the default one.

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music and sound effects.
Surround sound		Up to 7.0 output through OpenAL.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		Use OpenAL Soft 1.20.1 or higher for binaural HRTF mixing.^[5]
Royalty free audio

OpenAL Soft 1.19.0 and 1.19.1 cause distorted audio in GRIN engine games. OpenAL Soft 1.20.1 fixes the audio.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese				Fan translation: download (TriboGamer)
Russian
Spanish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		8	Versus Can still be played through LAN party (like using ZeroTier)
Online play		8	Versus Not working anymore due to server closure

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
vorpX		G3D User created game profile, see vorpx forum profile introduction.

Issues fixed

Game crashes on startup

Install a specific Physx version^{[citation needed]}
Download and install https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/physx/9_13_1220/physx-9-13-1220-driver/

Alternative Physx version^{[citation needed]}
Download and install https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/physx/9_18_0907/physx-9-18-0907-driver.html Run game in Compatibility Mode as either Windows 95 or Windows 98 / Windows ME

Fix missing OpenAL32.dll and Missing Sound Card

Install OpenAL^[6]

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0c
Shader Model support	3.0

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	PhysX
Audio	OpenAL
Cutscenes	Bink Video

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	XP SP2, Vista
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz AMD Athlon X2 5200+ 2.6 GHz
System memory (RAM)	1.5 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	8 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 7800 series ATI Radeon X1900 512 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible Shader model 3.0 support
Sound (audio device)	DirectX 9.0c compatible

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/21670/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (21670) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

↑ Reclaim Your Game - RYG's SecuROM 7+ DRM List - last accessed on May 2023
↑ FILEnetworks Blog: Fix Bionic Commando (PC) 2009 crashes, unlock content & troubleshoot video issues - last accessed on May 2023
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 Verified by User:Antrad on October 13, 2018
↑ NVidia Flags - last accessed on May 2023
↑ OpenAL Soft 1.20.1: Fixed audio in Diesel engine games (Bionic Commando HRTF) - last accessed on May 2023
↑ Bionic Commando No sound card found - Steam Users' Forums (retrieved)

[Proton_path_note-3] 1.0 ^1.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/21670/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (21670) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

[1] Reclaim Your Game - RYG's SecuROM 7+ DRM List - last accessed on May 2023

[2] FILEnetworks Blog: Fix Bionic Commando (PC) 2009 crashes, unlock content & troubleshoot video issues - last accessed on May 2023

[refcheck_Antrad-4] 3.0 ^3.1 Verified by User:Antrad on October 13, 2018

[5] NVidia Flags - last accessed on May 2023

[6] OpenAL Soft 1.20.1: Fixed audio in Diesel engine games (Bionic Commando HRTF) - last accessed on May 2023

[7] Bionic Commando No sound card found - Steam Users' Forums (retrieved)

[1]

[2]

[Note 1]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

Developers

	GRIN
Publishers
	Capcom
Russia	1C Company
Engines
	Diesel
Release dates
Windows	July 28, 2009
Reception
Metacritic	69
IGDB	69
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action
Themes	Sci-fi
Series	Bionic Commando