Hitman 2: Silent Assassin

Hitman 2: Silent Assassin

Not enough ratings
How To Configure And Run The Game On Modern Systems: A Complete Guide
By mattiejas
This guide explains how to get Hitman 2: Silent Assassin to run properly on modern systems, fixing black screen issues, improving view distance, enabling widescreen resolutions, fixing the user interface on high DPI screens, and fixing the frame rate to resolve game engine bugs.
   
Award
Favorite
Favorited
Unfavorite
DxWrapper
When starting the game, you may have noticed a black screen during some cutscenes, and perhaps various other graphics glitches. One way to solve these problems is to install DxWrapper. Coincidentally, DxWrapper also comes with a built-in asi loader for loading scripts. We will use this later to install a widescreen resolution plugin. For now, download the latest version of DxWrapper from the official webpage:

https://github.com/elishacloud/dxwrapper/releases

From the zip file, you only need the following files:
  • dxwrapper.dll
  • dxwrapper.ini
  • d3d8.dll (found in the "Stub" folder)
Place all three files in the game folder (where hitman2.exe resides). Edit the following values in dxwrapper.ini (leaving everything else as it is):
LoadPlugins = 1 LoadFromScriptsOnly = 1 D3d8to9 = 1 AnisotropicFiltering = 1 AntiAliasing = 1 EnableVSync = 1
You should now be able to run the game without any graphics issues, with vsync, anti-aliasing, and anisotropic filtering.

Finally, we should ensure the game actually uses the Direct3D rendering engine, otherwise none of the above fixes will work. This is the default, but just in case, you can check it by verifying that you have the following line in your Hitman2.ini file:
DrawDll RenderD3D.dll
If instead you see RenderOpenGL.dll, change it back to RenderD3D.dll.
Widescreen Fix & Increased View Distance
Now, create a folder named scripts inside the main game folder. Download nemesis2000's widescreen fix from:

https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/2787-hitman-2-silent-assassin-widescreen-fix/

This zip file also includes an older version of DxWrapper, which we already downloaded and installed, so you should ignore those files from the zip file. We are only downloading this zip file for the widescreen plugin (and sadly, the original source is no longer available). These are the following two files, both residing in its scripts folder:
  • h2.ini
  • h2w.asi
Place both files in the scripts folder of your game. Only copy those two files, and do not copy anything else from this zip file.

You should now have the following layout in your game folder (along with any other game files):
... d3d8.dll dxwrapper.dll dxwrapper.ini ... hitman2.exe ... scripts\h2.ini scripts\h2w.asi
The default h2.ini will run the game at 1080p widescreen resolution. You can adjust this as you wish. However, the user interface does not scale along, making the user interface hard to read at high resolutions. We will fix this next.
High DPI Fix
You can skip this part if the user interface looks acceptable to you. However, if it looks too small, this section has you covered.

If you have a high resolution screen with a high DPI, to ensure that the user interface is not too small, you may wish to run the game instead at 720p, and let Windows scale up the game using the high DPI compatibility settings. If you wish to do so, you can edit h2.ini to match the following values (leaving everything else as it is):
Width = 1280 Height = 720
The game will now run at 720p resolution.

To force Windows to scale the window properly, right-click hitman2.exe and select Show more options -> Properties. Then, under Compatibility, select Change high DPI settings. Now enable Override high DPI scaling behaviour and select System (Enhanced) from the drop down menu. With this high DPI compatibility setting, the game's user interface will be appropriately sized, at the expense of some pixelation.
Frame Rate Fix
The game engine will exhibit various bugs if the game is run at a high frame rate. Most of the game works fine at 60 frames per second. However, for the least amount of glitches and the most stable experience, 30 frames per second is recommended, as this fixes a few more glitches (most notably, the trucks in Hidden Valley).

A first option is to use DxWrapper as it comes with a LimitPerFrameFps setting to limit the frame rate. However, this does not work consistently in my experience.

A second option, if you have an NVidia GPU, is to limit the frame rate using the NVidia Control Panel. This will permanently lock the game's frame rate. To verify that the fps limit is in effect, use steam's performance monitor, via Steam -> Settings -> In-Game -> Show performance monitor.

Finally, a third option is to use RTSS Rivatuner Statistics Server[www.guru3d.com] to limit the frame rate. This works with all GPUs. After installing and running the application, open the RivaTuner window from the system tray, select Add, select your hitman2.exe executable, and then set the Framerate limit to your desired value. The Rivatuner application must be running for the limit to work. To verify that the fps limiter works, enable Show own statistics in Rivatuner, which will display the fps in-game. Alternatively, use steam's performance monitor, via Steam -> Settings -> In-Game -> Show performance monitor.
Closing Thoughts
If you find anything unclear, or you believe that you've found an error, or you have a constructive suggestion, please do leave a comment below. It is my intention to keep this guide as up-to-date as possible, and I'll try to help to the best of my ability.

Additional resources: