Thorough explanation of Preferences.txt

[eccentricity]

I have searched the forums but can only find tidbits on certain specific functions listed in the preferences.txt file. Is there somewhere on the net or can someone post a list of what each option means? Sometimes even the smallest setting drives me crazy when it comes to getting the last little oomph out of my games.

-ecc

[Krauser]

Almost all of those settings are ingame when you go into options. There's only a few that aren't. I think the only one that would speed up the game is the smooth camera scrolling option. This is default to on.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

A lot of the options are in game, but some, such as the detailed settlement information setting, are not in the options menu and appear in specific in-game windows.

All the player selected options appear there.

[ToranagaSama]

What exactly are you trying to accomplish in terms of "oomph"?

TW games aren't really that system intensive. A 1 year old or even a 2 year old PC should be able to max out the settings.

Are you talking about running in a resolution higher than what's on the Menu? Like 1600x1200 or something? If so, then, yes, you do need to edit the file(s). (CA really screwed the dog on this!) Do a search and you should come up with a thread with the info. If not, then I've got the info somewhere....

Luck!

[Krauser]

What exactly are you trying to accomplish in terms of "oomph"?

TW games aren't really that system intensive. A 1 year old or even a 2 year old PC should be able to max out the settings.

Are you talking about running in a resolution higher than what's on the Menu? Like 1600x1200 or something? If so, then, yes, you do need to edit the file(s). (CA really screwed the dog on this!) Do a search and you should come up with a thread with the info. If not, then I've got the info somewhere....

Luck!

He may have an older computer. My computer is 4 years old. The standard in those days was 1.5GHz, 128MB RAM, 40GB HDD, and 64MB video card. I have upgraded mine but if it wasn't upgraded I would have to run things on low and medium.

[LestaT]

He may have an older computer. My computer is 4 years old. The standard in those days was 1.5GHz, 128MB RAM, 40GB HDD, and 64MB video card. I have upgraded mine but if it wasn't upgraded I would have to run things on low and medium.

Hear ! Hear ! Same like mine though I'm now running on 512 ram and 128 v card. Still not satisfied though. Though of getting 256 for v card. Sadly my mboard only support 4x.

Hmm...

I was playing half the campaign on large size unit. Scrap it. Go for huge. Better but slower battles...

[eccentricity]

ToranagaSama: Can you please post the information that I was looking for? I still cannot find it on the search engine here, thanks.

[Oaty]

SAFE_REFRESH:? safe mode?
USE_TRIPLE_BUFFER:?
USE_WIDESCREEN: widescreen or regular
SUBTITLES:?
MORALE:true for morale false for no morale or nearl unroutable troops
FATIGUE:determines wether your men will tire or not on the battlefield
LIMITED_AMMO:limit the ammo or unlimited ammo
SUPPLY:? I don't think that's even an implemented feature
FOG_OF_WAR:turns fog of war on and off
RESTRICT_CAMERA:restrict the camera to being stretched adistance away from the nearest troop or free camera of the whole battlefield
DEFAULT_BATTLE_CAMERA:in game option
EVENT_CUTSCENES:kills the cutscenenes of generals death and battering ram scenes
SMOKE:turns smoke on and off
DESYNC: from here to detailed unit shadows i believe is accessable in video options
SPLASHES:
GLINTS:
REFLECTIONS:
SHADOWS:
VEGETATION:
DETAILED_UNIT_SHADOWS:
GLOSS_MAPPING:
STENCIL_SHADOWS:
MULTI_TEXTURE:
AUTO_SAVE:turn on for a save everytime you hit end turn
SHOW_BANNERS:turns on and off a units banners on the field
UNIT_SIZE:160 the biegger the better graphical option selection
MASTER_VOL:100 from here to music volume can be selected under in game audio
SPEECH_VOL:100
SFX_VOL:100
MUSIC_VOL:70
CAMERA_ROTATE:1 in game option
CAMERA_MOVE:34 in game option
CAMERA_FOV:75.000000 ingame option
ENABLE_AUDIO:TRUE sound on sound off
ENABLE_MUSIC:TRUE from here to minimal UI is self explanatory or selectable in game
ENABLE_UNIT_SPEECH:TRUE
DISABLE_BACKGROUND_FMV:FALSE
DISABLE_ARROW_MARKERS:FALSE
AUDIO_3D_PROVIDER:Miles Fast 2D Positional Audio
CLOUD_TRANSITIONS:TRUE
GRASS_DISTANCE:75
AA_QUALITY:AA_HIGH
STRATEGY_RESOLUTION:1024x768
STRATEGY_32_BIT:TRUE
BATTLE_RESOLUTION:1024x768
BATTLE_32_BIT:TRUE
UNIT_DETAIL:SUPER_HIGH
BUILDING_DETAIL:ULTRA_HIGH
TGA_CAPTURE_WIDTH:1024
TGA_CAPTURE_ASPECT:1.333333
TGA_CAPTURE_INPUT_SCALE:1
TGA_CAPTURE_RESERVE_SPACE:FALSE
LABEL_CHARACTERS:FALSE
LABEL_SETTLEMENTS:TRUE
MINIMAL_UI:TRUE Removes the interface you see at the bottom
CAMPAIGN_MAP_MAX_SCROLL_SPEED_MIN_ZOOM:30
CAMPAIGN_MAP_MAX_SCROLL_SPEED_MAX_ZOOM:30
FIRST_TIME_PLAY:FALSE
ADVISOR_VERBOSITY:0
MUTE_ADVISOR:FALSE
BLIND_ADVISOR:FALSE
CAMPAIGN_MAP_CAMERA:FOLLOW_AI_FACTIONS
CAMPAIGN_MAP_SPEED_UP:FALSE
CAMPAIGN_MAP_GAME_SPEED:99
DISABLE_EVENTS:0
MICROMANAGE_ALL_SETTLEMENTS:TRUE
ADVANCED_STATS_ALWAYS:FALSE
UNIT_USE_SHADERS:TRUE
TERRAIN_QUALITY:HIGH
EFFECT_QUALITY:HIGHEST
VEGETATION_QUALITY:HIGH
KEYSET:0
UNLIMITED_MEN_ON_BATTLEFIELD:FALSE
CAMPAIGN_MAP_CAMERA_SMOOTHING:TRUE
CHAT_MSG_DURATION:10
USE_QUICKCHAT:FALSE
GS_PIDS:FALSE
GS_PIDS_FULL:FALSE
GS_PIDS_CUR:TRUE
ALWAYS_LOGFILE:FALSE
TIMESTAMP_LOGFILE:TRUE

I filled an explanation for most of them nd most of its self explanitory so ask away on what is you want know that's not there

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Safe_Refresh refers to keeping the monitor at a safe refresh rate (not for example 110khz at 1600x1200) this will keep the monitor from overheating or breaking in some other fashion. It is on by default.

[Krauser]

USE_TRIPLE_BUFFER: this has to do with the way the game will draw the graphics. It reduces tears, artifacts, and flickering of graphics. It also requires more video RAM though so it is disabled on slower machines.
SUBTITLES: Toggles subtitles on and off during the intro cutscenes.

These all have to do with taking screenshots. Press PrintScreen while ingame to take a screen shot. All screenshots are .tga format which can be opened in Photoshop and a few other programs too.
TGA_CAPTURE_WIDTH:1024
TGA_CAPTURE_ASPECT:1.333333
TGA_CAPTURE_INPUT_SCALE:1
TGA_CAPTURE_RESERVE_SPACE:FALSE

[ToranagaSama]

Hear ! Hear ! Same like mine though I'm now running on 512 ram and 128 v card. Still not satisfied though. Though of getting 256 for v card. Sadly my mboard only support 4x.

Hmm...

I was playing half the campaign on large size unit. Scrap it. Go for huge. Better but slower battles...

JFYI, spending more money for a video card JUST for 256 megs of ram WONT do you ANY good. There are virtually NO games, none, nada, that can take advantage of the extra memory. Recently, I understand there may be an exception or two. RTW is not such an exception.

What I suggest is to invest in another 512 megs of RAM; and, insure that you are running a **cool** system (a new case may be in order); then, you may want to investigate Overclocking.

As for as the video card, what card do you have? Do have the latest drivers for it?

Luck!

---

Safe_Refresh refers to keeping the monitor at a safe refresh rate (not for example 110khz at 1600x1200) this will keep the monitor from overheating or breaking in some other fashion. It is on by default.

Hey, what's the matter with that speed and resolution? Just gotta have the monitor for it---Cornerstone p1700 21" CRT. Hehehe....

[ToranagaSama]

ToranagaSama: Can you please post the information that I was looking for? I still cannot find it on the search engine here, thanks.

Well Oaty posted the contents of his preferences.txt file, so I'll try to highlight the sections that might be appropriate to for you, though it would help if you would be more descriptive in terms of "ommph". Do you want the game to look better, perform better or both. Also, you NEED to post your system specs! I'll note what effects you can turn off for better performance:

SMOKE:TRUE (turn off for better performance)
DESYNC:TRUE (turn off for better performance)
SPLASHES:TRUE (turn off for better performance)
GLINTS:TRUE (turn off for better performance)
REFLECTIONS:TRUE (turn off for better performance)
SHADOWS:TRUE (turn off for better performance)
VEGETATION:TRUE (turn off for better performance)
DETAILED_UNIT_SHADOWS:TRUE (turn off for better performance)
GLOSS_MAPPING:TRUE (turn off for better performance)
STENCIL_SHADOWS:TRUE (turn off for better performance)
MULTI_TEXTURE:TRUE (turn off for better performance)
AUTO_SAVE:TRUE
SHOW_BANNERS:TRUE
UNIT_SIZE:80 (use normal or low unit size)
MASTER_VOL:100
SPEECH_VOL:100
SFX_VOL:100
MUSIC_VOL:100
CAMERA_ROTATE:50
CAMERA_MOVE:69
CAMERA_FOV:75.000000
ENABLE_AUDIO:TRUE
ENABLE_MUSIC:TRUE (you might want to turn this off)
ENABLE_UNIT_SPEECH:TRUE
DISABLE_BACKGROUND_FMV:FALSE
DISABLE_ARROW_MARKERS:TRUE (turn off for better performance)
AUDIO_3D_PROVIDER:Creative Labs EAX 2 (TM)
CLOUD_TRANSITIONS:TRUE (turn off for better performance)
GRASS_DISTANCE:75 (not sure, but you might want to lower this)
AA_QUALITY:AA_LOW (you definitely want this low; I don't remember, but mine is low probably cause I noticed little difference at highest)
STRATEGY_RESOLUTION:1600x1200 (change for higher resolution)
STRATEGY_32_BIT:TRUE (better to set to 16 bit for better performance)
BATTLE_RESOLUTION:1600x1200 (change for higher resolution
BATTLE_32_BIT:TRUE (better to set to 16 bit for better performance)
UNIT_DETAIL:SUPER_HIGH ( set to lower for performance)
BUILDING_DETAIL:ULTRA_HIGH (set to lower for performance)

[Everyone feel free to correct]

You do NOT need to alter:

SAFE_REFRESH:FALSE
USE_TRIPLE_BUFFER:FALSE

unless you are having a specific problem.

Now, if you turn things off, the game won't look as pretty, but will play faster. If you've got a low-level system then its just the tradeoff; if a high-level then you turn everything to highest; if a mid-level system, then you've just got to experiment to determine what works best for your system and your taste.

Experiment with turning music off/on. It may make a performance difference, but it entirely dependant on the quality of your soundcard in conjunction with your CPU power.

OH! BTW, to complete changing the resolution, if I recall there is another file that needs to be modded. I believe the name of the file is:

descr_auto_optimise_options.txt

You'll find it in the Data folder. The file is a bit difficult to read properly. If you can you might want to open it in a spreadsheet program, like Excel. Though, you don't really need too.

DO NOT mod this file until you are sure what to do. First thing make a copy of it for backup. If you truly want to change your resolution, then ask again, and I'll search the forum and try to find the instructions.

Give us your systems specifications.

[eccentricity]

My specs are P4 2.26 GHz, ASRock P4VT8+ Mainboard, WIN XP SP2, Onboard AC97 Audio, 512 MB RAM, 40GB HDD, 17" Gateway Monitor (max res: 1280 x 1024), 128MB GeForce MX 4000 Video || "culprit of all my problems".

I have tried over-clocking the CPU first and video second without on many occasions after each BIOS update without any luck. Apparently the cheap off-name memory I'm using isn't stable enough for a core OC. Although it might be the power supply because it isn't name brand either.

I'm hoping for a very pretty battlefield and campaign map but I am willing to sacrifice any and all enhancements for pure performance but tweaking and finding a good medium is a sumbitch so I guess its just a matter of fooling around I'm right between average and above average settings.

Thanks for the help

[LestaT]

[QUOTE=ToranagaSama]JFYI, spending more money for a video card JUST for 256 megs of ram WONT do you ANY good. There are virtually NO games, none, nada, that can take advantage of the extra memory. Recently, I understand there may be an exception or two. RTW is not such an exception.

What I suggest is to invest in another 512 megs of RAM; and, insure that you are running a **cool** system (a new case may be in order); then, you may want to investigate Overclocking.

As for as the video card, what card do you have? Do have the latest drivers for it? QUOTE]

The RAM will be add soon but nowadays it's quite difficult to get an SDRAM (PC 133). Sadly I'm still using an old board.

It's just that I see a lot of differences when I change from 64 meg to 128. Anyway I forgot the brand . All I know it's the cheapest I can get RM 200 = USD 40-50). Just a small box with the crad (not even a cooler) and a driver cd which I don't use.

Planning to get a 'real' card I guess.

Gameplay is okay except during large scale battles might be a bit slow. (Huge units sive, full stack both armies)

The difference I realize when I upgraded SDRAM from 256 to 512 is quiker loading time. That's all.

What I hate about my current card is there's some kind od dots on the screen. (Only once in a while).

[ToranagaSama]

What I hate about my current card is there's some kind od dots on the screen. (Only once in a while).

Those dots are probably *artifacting*. These are graphical errors the card is making, probably the result of overheating. You should find a decent fan to fit that card.