POSTAL 2

Platform ID com.runningwithscissors.postal2

DigitalHeaven.Mods.Postal2 Prototype replaces the Dude with a DigitalHeaven avatar in POSTAL 2 (build 5100, an early hybrid Unreal Engine 2). It is an UnrealScript mod with a small native library behind it. Nothing of the game’s is replaced.

Note

Single player (build 5100) is supported. Share the Pain multiplayer (build 1409) is not. Items marked ❔ have not been run in the game.

Requirements

Game	POSTAL 2, build 5100 (System\Postal2.exe, InstalledVersion=5100)
Mod hook	Workshop P2GameMod (a mutator)

Platform support

Platform	Status
Windows	🟡 Prototype
Linux (Proton only)	❔
macOS (Proton only)	❔
Share the Pain (build 1409)	❌

Two integrations

	Runtime mod	Exporter
Role	Primary	Fallback
Avatars	Any workspace avatar, picked in the game	Avatars exported ahead of time
Package built	In the game process, on pick	By the DigitalHeaven.Platforms.Postal2 CLI, with UCC or --writer csharp
Read through	DHRuntime	DHManifest.txt
Needs UCC	No	Yes, unless --writer csharp

The mod asks the runtime first, then the manifest. Everything after that (state, picking, limbs, the settings page, saves) is the same code for both. Without DHRuntime.u the mod is the exporter mod.

Runtime pipeline

Picking an avatar builds its package in the game process, off the game thread.

1. The picker lists the workspace’s avatars. A pick sends build to DHRuntime.
2. Reference skeletons are read from the player’s own Characters.ukx and weapon .ukx files: the Dude and 19 limb skeletons.
3. Load workspace: the avatar’s pallet is read.
4. Fit: the avatar is fitted onto the reference skeletons.
5. Textures are converted.
6. C# writer: a DHRt<hash> package is written in memory (<hash> is 16 hex of its SHA-256).
7. A KERNEL32 file hook answers the engine’s open of ..\System\DHRt<hash>.u from memory.
8. The engine loads the package like any other, and the mod swaps the body.

picker -> reference skeletons -> load workspace -> fit -> textures -> C# writer
 (pick)       50 ms                 700 ms        1.4-1.6 s  270 ms     210 ms
                                                                          |
   engine loads package  <-  KERNEL32 file hook serves bytes from memory  <+
                             (DHRt<hash>.u, 14.3 MB, never written to disk)

Measured for mltn Taidum (build 5100, suburbs-3):

Stage	Time
Reference skeletons	50 ms
Load workspace	700 ms
Fit	1.4 to 1.6 s
Textures	270 ms
C# writer	210 ms
Total	2.6 to 2.9 s

The package is 14.3 MB. Nothing is written to disk and nothing is cached. A changed avatar is a new content-hashed package under the same choice. Builds run one at a time on their own thread. A frame hitch was not measured.

Shipped files

Four files go into the game’s System folder. Nothing of the game’s is replaced, and no RWS data ships: the reference skeletons are read from the player’s own install.

File	Holds
DigitalHeaven.u	The mod (script package)
DHRuntime.u	DHRuntimeBridge, the one native function
DHRuntime.dll	UE2 native package; forwards to DHRtCore.dll and installs the file hook
DHRtCore.dll	NativeAOT win-x86 library: workspace, fit, textures, package writer

native\install-runtime.bat and uninstall-runtime.bat copy exactly these and refuse while the game runs.

Cost

Peak working set while building	about +360 MB (1692 MB with the build, 1332 MB without)
Resident after the build	1537 MB

The game is a 32-bit process, so the peak matters. Reduction work is in progress.

Enabling the mod

1. Start POSTAL 2.
2. New Game > Workshop… > Mods > DigitalHeaven, then Start.

Plain New Game strips mutators and does not load the mod.

What the mod does

Feature	Status
Body swap (with mirrors)	🟡 Prototype
First-person hands on 19 limb skeletons	🟡 Prototype
First-person kick	🟡 Prototype
Settings page and DigitalHeaven.ini	🟡 Prototype
Spring bones	❌
Overlay	❌

Body

Replaces the Dude’s mesh and skins, in third person and in mirrors. The fit keeps the Dude’s bone names, hierarchy and animations, and by default writes the avatar’s own proportions into the skeleton. A late swap restarts the Dude’s idle so the avatar does not stay in the bind pose.

First-person hands and kick

The avatar’s hands are drawn over the held weapon on 19 limb skeletons, one per weapon family. The kick draws the avatar’s foot. Each avatar’s package carries its own limb meshes.

Settings page

Reach it with Escape > Options > DigitalHeaven, or mutate dhmenu. The Options list on the main menu is not reachable (no mod runs there).

Setting	Values	Status
Avatar	Every workspace avatar, or Dude (default)	✅ via .ini, ❔ via the page
Replace Body	on, off	✅
Replace First Person Hands	on, off	✅
Replace First Person Kick	on, off	✅
Level of Detail	Full Detail, Automatic	🟡 the runtime writer emits one LOD

Choices are written to System\DigitalHeaven.ini on the first change:

[DigitalHeaven.DHSettings]
Avatar=DHAvatar_MltnTaidum
bReplaceBody=True
bReplaceHands=True
bReplaceKick=True
bFullDetail=True

An empty Avatar takes the manifest’s active avatar. Restore Defaults clears the choices. Taking the avatar off restores the Dude captured before the first swap in the level.

Console commands

Type each with mutate:

Command	Does
dhstatus	Logs which avatar is worn
dhreload	Reloads the manifest and avatar
dharms	Logs arm bone data
dhhead	Logs head bone data
dhbones	Logs the bone table and whether the game applies the avatar’s bone lengths
dhhands	Logs one frame of hand placement against the held weapon
dhglow	dhglow <0 to 255> sets the hands’ ambient light
dhmenu	Opens the settings page
dhnoclip	Toggles DigitalHeaven noclip (the key V when it was free, and a button on the Tools page)

DigitalHeaven noclip

Noclip flies the player through everything with the look direction: jump climbs, crouch descends, and the walk key (Shift by default) flies faster. The flight is Core’s NoclipFlight, the same step the engine and the other game mods run, with its default speed (12 m/s, 2.5 times that with the walk key). The runtime library runs one step per frame through the native bridge (about a microsecond a call), and the mod reads the held movement keys through the player’s own binds (the game’s input axes read zero outside the player’s own tick, so a key held when noclip starts counts at once), converts meters to Unreal units (88 per meter, the avatar scale), and moves the pawn by the answered velocity with physics and collision off. The numbers cross as whole millionths, since UnrealScript prints a float with two decimals and would round a frame’s time to zero. Noclip needs the runtime.

Switching it off puts the collision back at once, where the player is, inside geometry or not, as Source’s noclip does. Noclip never reaches a save: it ends for the save and comes back after.

The V key is bound the way the menu keys are: only when free, never over another binding, logged, and removed when the Menu Key setting is off or the runtime is uninstalled.

Settings layering

lods, fit and proportions resolve in this order, each layer overriding the one before:

1. Built-in default
2. dh-config.jsonc, platforms.postal2
3. The avatar’s override, platforms/postal2/<avatar>.jsonc (or under the ID com.runningwithscissors.postal2)
4. User force (CLI flag, or the settings page for Level of Detail)

Key	Values	Default	Effect
lods	on, off	off	off keeps the full mesh at every distance
fit	height, hips	height	height scales to the Dude’s total height with the hip cap
proportions	own, reference	own	own writes the avatar’s own bone lengths into the skeleton

Key	Runtime mod	Exporter
lods	🟡 single LOD from the C# writer	✅ with UCC (LOD 1 to 3 are one bone per vertex)
fit	✅	✅
proportions	✅	✅

Known limits

Item	State
Finger fit	🟡 approximate on some weapons (chainsaw and dusters worst)
Tail	🟡 rigid: the Dude has no tail bones
Patterned fur	🟡 flattened to a tint
LODs from the C# writer	🟡 one LOD (collapse data is zero; pops would be the first suspect)
Share the Pain	❌ needs the 1409 script and native builds
Workshop delivery of the DLLs	❌ files are installed by hand
Linux and macOS	❔ Proton only, untested
Settings page avatar picker in game	❔ the same path was driven through the .ini
Saves with a runtime avatar	❔
Limbs with runtime avatars	❔