Your memories are wrong and nothing is or was super easy to find out. C4 Commander software does not send any messages regarding the displays, unless you have some magic monitor software, that can look into the binary code of the program. Any display info (or basically everything) with the Commander Software is defined with .xml files. The .xml files will not help you in “sniffing” the MCU protocol. The .xml files work only with the Commander software together. You can not use the .xml files for anything else (i.e. with Cubase). If you do not use any .xml file, you do not need the Commander software at all, because the C4 will be in a state, that is equal to “just turned on”.
And if you use a .xml file, you will mask the encoders with whatever is defined in the .xml file, but the MCU protocol expects “unmasked” encoders. So even if you are monitoring the Commander software, you will have very wrong values. The only way to make that work with .xml files, is to mask the encoders, with exactly the same CC-parameters they have before masking (CC 0-31). You will not find such a .xml file, you need to create one on your own. So happy tracing… 
But who knows, proof me that i am wrong. You maybe have a monitor software that is unknown to me 
