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<h1>MESS Configuration Files</h1>
<p class="normal">This section deals with configuration files used by MESS. You will find an explanation on how to find create configuration files
for your games and where to put them.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Introduction</h2>
<p class="normal">In MESS you have always been able to configure each game individually MESS GUI is the same. This is of great use if for instance
you are having performance issues with systems or say want to run certain systems in windows and others in full screen. The command line version of
MESS or MAME never had this option so you had to change the command line for each game you wanted different settings on.</p>
<p class="normal">Now with the latest versions of MESS and MAME you can have configuration files for any system or clone system you want and when
MESS starts it will automatically load the settings for you.</p>
<p class="normal"> </p>
<hr />
<h2>Creating The Files</h2>
<p class="normal">The settings files are based on the <span class="filename">MESS.ini</span> file that is created when MESS starts. The easiest way
to create a new config file is to simply duplicate the original file and remove/change the stuff you don't want.</p>
<p class="normal">Open you MESS folder and find the <span class="filename">MESS.ini</span> file. It'll look something like this...</p>
<p align="center"><img src="images/iniicon.gif" width="166" height="61" border="1" /></p>
<p class="normal">Right click on the file and select copy. Now right click on a blank area and select paste and you will see a file "copy of MESS"
appear. Right click over this file and select rename. In the box type the name of the system as it appears on the original BIOS zip file e.g. Atari
2600 = a2600.</p>
<p class="normal">It will keep things a lot tidier if you move your new config file to the ini folder. MESS will by default look there anyway.</p>
<p class="normal">Double click your config file and it should open up in notepad. Below you can see the default <span class="filename">MESS.ini</span> file.</p>
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<pre class="fixedsize">#
# CORE SEARCH PATH OPTIONS
#
rompath roms
hashpath hash
softwarepath software
samplepath samples
artpath artwork
ctrlrpath ctrlr
inipath .;ini
fontpath .
#
# CORE OUTPUT DIRECTORY OPTIONS
#
cfg_directory cfg
nvram_directory nvram
memcard_directory memcard
input_directory inp
state_directory sta
snapshot_directory snap
diff_directory diff
comment_directory comments
#
# CORE FILENAME OPTIONS
#
cheat_file cheat.dat
#
# CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
#
readconfig 1
skip_gameinfo 0
#
# MISC OPTIONS
#
bios default
cheat 0
#
# STATE/PLAYBACK OPTIONS
#
# state <NULL> (not set)
autosave 0
# playback <NULL> (not set)
# record <NULL> (not set)
# mngwrite <NULL> (not set)
# wavwrite <NULL> (not set)
#
# DEBUGGING OPTIONS
#
log 0
oslog 0
verbose 0
#
# PERFORMANCE OPTIONS
#
autoframeskip 0
frameskip 0
frames_to_run 0
throttle 1
sleep 1
rdtsc 0
priority 0
multithreading 0
#
# VIDEO OPTIONS
#
video d3d
numscreens 1
window 0
maximize 1
keepaspect 1
prescale 1
effect none
pause_brightness 0.65
waitvsync 0
syncrefresh 0
#
# VIDEO ROTATION OPTIONS
#
rotate 1
ror 0
rol 0
autoror 0
autorol 0
flipx 0
flipy 0
#
# DIRECTDRAW-SPECIFIC OPTIONS
#
hwstretch 1
#
# DIRECT3D-SPECIFIC OPTIONS
#
d3dversion 9
filter 1
#
# PER-WINDOW VIDEO OPTIONS
#
screen auto
aspect auto
resolution auto
view auto
screen0 auto
aspect0 auto
resolution0 auto
view0 auto
screen1 auto
aspect1 auto
resolution1 auto
view1 auto
screen2 auto
aspect2 auto
resolution2 auto
view2 auto
screen3 auto
aspect3 auto
resolution3 auto
view3 auto
#
# FULL SCREEN OPTIONS
#
triplebuffer 0
switchres 0
full_screen_brightness 1.0
full_screen_contrast 1.0
full_screen_gamma 1.0
#
# GAME SCREEN OPTIONS
#
brightness 1.0
contrast 1.0
gamma 1.0
#
# VECTOR RENDERING OPTIONS
#
antialias 1
beam 1.0
flicker 0
#
# ARTWORK OPTIONS
#
artwork_crop 0
use_backdrops 1
use_overlays 1
use_bezels 1
#
# SOUND OPTIONS
#
sound 1
samplerate 48000
samples 1
volume 0
audio_latency 1
#
# INPUT DEVICE OPTIONS
#
# ctrlr <NULL> (not set)
mouse 0
joystick 0
lightgun 0
dual_lightgun 0
offscreen_reload 0
steadykey 0
a2d_deadzone 0.3
digital none
#
# AUTOMATIC DEVICE SELECTION OPTIONS
#
paddle_device keyboard
adstick_device keyboard
pedal_device keyboard
dial_device keyboard
trackball_device keyboard
lightgun_device keyboard
mouse_device mouse
#
# MESS SPECIFIC OPTIONS
#
newui 1
# ramsize <NULL> (not set)
threads 0
natural 0
min_width 200
min_height 200
writeconfig 0
skip_warnings 0
</pre></td>
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<p class="normal">As you can see most of the lines mimic the command line options use by MESS and you can find detailed explanations of these
commands on the <a href="win32cmd.htm" target="_blank">MESS W32 Commands</a> page. The only difference is the 1 or 0 that follows the command. These
mean yes (1) or no (0) on most commands but check on the setup page as they may refer to a value. The lines starting with # are comments and are
ignored by MESS.</p>
<p class="normal">Remember no matter what changes you make you can't mess up MESS, just change the setting back or delete the config file and start
again.</p>
<p class="normal"> </p>
<hr />
<h2>Types Of Config Files</h2>
<p class="normal">There are four types of config types. You have one for vector games called <span class="filename">vector.ini</span> and one for
specific drivers for games, e.g. <span class="filename">oric.ini</span> would affect all the systems in oric.c (which are oric1, orica, prav8d,
prav8dd and telstrat). You can also create files for specific parent sets that will be used by all of the clones, e.g. <span class="filename">
oric1.ini</span> would be used also by the clones (i.e. orica, prav8d, prav8dd, telstrat), or you can make config file for specific clones (e.g.
<span class="filename">prav8d.ini</span> in the example above).</p>
<p class="normal">To find out what drivers a game uses you can add the -verbose option to your command line. e.g. <span class="command">MESS a2600
-verbose</span> and will give you something like the following...</p>
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<td class="consoletext">
<pre>parsing mess.ini...OK.
parsing /a2600.ini...N/A
parsing root.ini...N/A
parsing a2600.ini...N/A
Using DirectInput 5
Keyboards=1 Mice=1 Joysticks=1 Lightguns=0
Mouse support disabled
Joystick support disabled
Keyboards=1 Mice=0 Joysticks=0
Initialising DirectDraw & Direct3D 7 blitter (58.81MB video memory
available)
Rendering to an off-screen surface and using blt()
Primary surface created: 1280x1024x32 (R=00ff0000 G=0000ff00 B=000000ff)
Managed texture surface created: 256x256x16 (R=00007c00 G=000003e0 B=0000001f)
Pre-process texture surface created: 1024x1024x16
RGB effects surface created: 1280x1024x32
Scanline surface[0] created: 2x2x32
Scanline surface[1] created: 4x4x32
Blitter initialisation complete (46.78MB video memory free)
Primary buffer: 44100 Hz, 16 bits, 1 channels
SSE supported
</pre></td>
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<p class="normal">If you look at the first couple of lines you can see the ini files that MESS is looking for. MESS always loads the MESS.ini file
first but in this instance it looks for the <span class="filename">a2600.ini</span> file (system file). If I had used a clone system MESS would also
look for the .ini file for that as well. Each of these files would override the previous one and MESS would only use the commands in the final config
file.</p>
<p class="normal">As an example of a config file, here is one that I have made up for the Atari 2600 system. The reason behind it was that I wanted
it to run fullscreen as it was easier to see. The d3d option made MESS use my 3D card to draw the graphics as it's faster on my system.</p>
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<pre class="fixedsize">#Atari 2600 Fullscreen
window 0
direct3d 1
</pre></td>
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<p class="normal">Once you are happy with your file save it and run MESS and it will use your new settings.</p>
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cooker
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