1BOOM.CFG(5)                   File Formats Manual                  BOOM.CFG(5)
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NAME

6       boom.cfg, glboom.cfg - Configuration file for PrBoom v2.1.0 onwards
7

USAGE

9       When  a  version  of PrBoom is run, it  searches for this configuration
10       file to modify its default  settings.   Every  time  PrBoom  exits,  it
11       rewrites  the  configuration file, updating any settings that have been
12       changed using the in-game menus.
13
14       PrBoom  expects  the  config  file  to   be    ~/.prboom/boom.cfg,   or
15       ~/.prboom/glboom.cfg if compiled with GL support. Alternatively, it can
16       be made to look elsewhere by using a command-line parameter:
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18       {prboom,glboom} [-config myconf]
19

FORMAT

21       boom.cfg consists of a number of variables and values. Each line is  of
22       the following format:
23
24       [  { {{#,;,[} comment_text , variable {decimal_integer, 0x hex_integer,
25       "string_text"}}]
26
27       Any line beginning with a non-alphabetic character is treated as a com‐
28       ment  and  ignored;  for future compatibility you should start comments
29       with a #, ; or [.  Note however that when PrBoom rewrites  boom.cfg  it
30       does not preserve user added comments.
31
32       Any  line  beginning with an alphabetic character is treated as a vari‐
33       able-value pair.  The first word (sequence  of  non-whitespace  charac‐
34       ters) is the variable name, and everything after the following block of
35       whitespace is taken to be the value assigned to the variable.
36
37       Variables not recognised by PrBoom, or which are given an invalid value
38       or  a value of an inappropriate type, are ignored. Warning messages are
39       given where relevant.
40
41       The variables recognised by PrBoom are  described  per-section  in  the
42       following  sections.  The  sections  are  informal however; when PrBoom
43       rewrites the config file it writes in section headings and  puts  vari‐
44       ables into the relevant sections, but when reading these are ignored.
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46

MISC SETTINGS

48       compatibility_level
49              PrBoom  is  capable of behaving in a way compatible with earlier
50              versions of Doom and Boom/PrBoom. The value given  here  selects
51              the  version  to  be compatible with when doing new games/demos.
52              See README.compat for details.
53
54       realtic_clock_rate
55              Selects the speed that PrBoom runs at, as a percentage of normal
56              game speed.  Leave at 0 unless you want to experiment. Note that
57              it is considered `cheating' to use this at any setting  below  0
58              (or above?).
59
60       max_player_corpse
61              Sets the maximum number of player corpses to leave lying around.
62              If this limit would be exceeded, an old corpse is removed.  Use‐
63              ful  for  big/long  Deathmatch  games, where the sheer number of
64              corpses could slow the game down.
65
66       flashing_hom
67              Flag indicating whether a flashing red background  is  drawn  to
68              highlight HOM errors in levels (for level developers)
69
70       demo_insurance
71              Selects a method of protecting demos against `going out of sync'
72              (where the player seems to lose control and behave madly, but in
73              fact  the  players  original  instructions as stored in the demo
74              have got out of sync with the game he was playing). 0=No protec‐
75              tion,  1=Full  protection,  2=Only while recording demos. Safest
76              when left set to 2.
77
78       endoom_mode
79              This parameter specifies options controlling the display of  the
80              credits  screen  when  Doom  exits. Currently it is the sum of 3
81              options: add 1 for colours, 2 for  non-ASCII  characters  to  be
82              displayed, and 4 for the last line to be skipped so the top line
83              doesn't scroll off screen.
84
85       level_precache
86              If set, when loading a new level PrBoom precaches all the graph‐
87              ics  the  level  is likely to need in memory. This makes it much
88              slower to load the level, but reduces disk  activity  and  slow‐
89              downs  reading  data  during  play. Most systems are fast enough
90              that precaching is not needed.
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92

FILES SETTINGS

94       wadfile_1, wadfile_2
95              The names of 2 .wad files to be automatically loaded when PrBoom
96              is started.  A blank string means unused.
97
98
99       dehfile_1, dehfile_2
100              The  names  of  2 patch files (.deh or .bex) to be automatically
101              loaded when PrBoom is started (empty string for none).
102
103

GAME SETTINGS

105       default_skill
106              The default skill level when starting a new game.
107
108       weapon_recoil
109              Enables recoil from weapon fire.
110
111       doom_weapon_toggles
112              Flag indicating whether pressing 3 or  1  when  that  weapon  is
113              already selected causes the selected shotgun or fist/chainsaw to
114              be toggled, as in original Doom. Some people  prefer  to  use  a
115              number for each weapon alone.
116
117       player_bobbing
118              Enables player bobbing (view randomly moving up/down slightly as
119              the player runs).
120
121       monsters_remember
122              Makes monsters remember their previous enemy after killing their
123              current target.
124
125       monster_infighting
126              Whether  monsters  will  fight  each other when they injure each
127              other accidentally.
128
129       monster_backing
130              Whether monsters without close combat  weapons  will  back  away
131              from close combat (unlike original Doom).
132
133       monster_avoid_hazards
134              Whether monsters avoid crushing ceilings.
135
136       monkeys
137              Whether monsters will climb steep stairs.
138
139       monster_friction
140              Whether  monsters  are  affected by changed floor friction (they
141              should be, but weren't in Boom)
142
143       help_friends
144              Whether monsters will help out injured monsters by  aiding  them
145              against their attacker.
146
147       player_helpers
148              The number of helper dogs to spawn.
149
150       friend_distance
151              Distance within which friends will generally stay.
152
153       dog_jumping
154              Whether dogs will jump.
155
156       sts_always_red
157              PrBoom  can  make  the colour of the text displays on the status
158              bar  reflect  your  current  status  (red=low,   yellow=average,
159              green=good, blue=super-charged).  This option if set selects the
160              traditional Doom behavior of always-red status bar display;  set
161              to 0 to allow the coloured display.
162
163       sts_pct_always_gray
164              See  above,  this  makes  just  the  percent  signs always gray,
165              instead of changing colour.
166
167       sts_traditional_keys
168              Doom and PrBoom have two types of  keys;  PrBoom  will  normally
169              display  both  keys  of  a  given  colour if you have both. This
170              option, if enabled, instead makes PrBoom only ever  display  one
171              key of each colour, in the same way Doom did.
172
173       traditional_menu
174              Changes  PrBoom's  menu ordering to be the same as original Doom
175              if enabled.
176
177       show_messages
178              When enabled, text messages are displayed in the top left corner
179              of  the  screen describing events in the game. Can be toggled in
180              the game, this is just to preserve the setting.
181
182       autorun
183              Makes the player always run, without having to hold down  a  run
184              key.  Can  be  toggled in the game, this just preserves the set‐
185              ting.
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187

SOUND SETTINGS

189       sound_card
190              Selects whether sound effects are  enabled  (non-zero  enables).
191              For  compatibility  reasons  with  Boom,  a  range of values are
192              accepted.
193
194       music_card
195              Selects whether in-game music is enabled (non-zero enables). For
196              compatibility reasons a range of values are accepted.
197
198       pitched_sounds
199              If  enabled  by  this  variable, this enables `pitching' (making
200              pitch adjustments to the playing sounds) for 16 bit sound cards.
201
202       samplerate
203              The samplerate for soundmixing and timidity. The  sound  quality
204              is  much  better  at higher samplerates, but if you use timidity
205              then higher samplerates need much more CPU power. Useful  values
206              are 11025, 22050, 44100 and 48000.
207
208       sfx_volume
209              Sound effects volume. This is best adjusted in the game.
210
211       music_volume
212              Music volume. This is best adjusted in the game.
213
214       mus_pause_opt
215              Selects  what  PrBoom  does to the music when a games is paused.
216              0=stop the music, 1=pause the music (stop it playing,  but  when
217              resumed  resume  it at the same place - not implemented), 2=con‐
218              tinue playing.
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220       sounddev, snd_channels, soundsrv, musicsrv
221              These variables are no longer used by PrBoom, but are  kept  for
222              compatibility reasons.
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224

COMPATIBILITY SETTINGS

226       These  are settings that let you choose whether the normal game mechan‐
227       ics are used, or whether various quirks, bugs and  limitations  of  the
228       original Doom game are emulated.
229
230

VIDEO SETTINGS

232       screen_width, screen_height
233              For versions of PrBoom which support high-res, these specify the
234              default screen or window size for  PrBoom.  These  settings  are
235              ignored  and  preserved  by  versions  of PrBoom which do not do
236              high-res (they assume 320x200).
237
238       use_fullscreen
239              If set, this causes PrBoom to try to go full  screen.  Depending
240              on  your video driver and mode, this may include changing screen
241              resolution to better match the game's screen resolution.
242
243       use_doublebuffer
244              Use double buffering to reduce tearing. On some machines this is
245              even  faster  than  the  normal method, but on others this makes
246              problems, so you have to try out which setting works best.
247
248       translucency
249              Causes PrBoom to display certain objects as translucent.
250
251       tran_filter_pct
252              Selects how translucent objects are when they  are  translucent.
253              Play with this and see for yourself.
254
255       screenblocks
256              Selects  a  reduced  screen  size  inside the PrBoom window (the
257              player's view is surrounded by a border). Normally this is unde‐
258              sirable,  but  it  can help speed up the game. Can be changed in
259              the game with the +/- keys, this variable is  just  to  preserve
260              that setting.
261
262       usegamma
263              Selects  a  level of gamma correction (extra screen brightening)
264              to correct for a dark monitor  or  light  surroundings.  Can  be
265              selected  in  the  game with the F11 key, this config entry pre‐
266              serves that setting.
267
268

OPENGL SETTINGS

270       If you are knowledgeable about OpenGL, you can tweak various aspects of
271       the GL rendering engine.
272
273       gl_nearclip
274              The near clipping plane *100.
275
276       gl_colorbuffer_bits
277              The bit depth for the framebuffer. (16, 24 or 32 bits)
278
279       gl_depthbuffer_bits
280              The bit depth for the z-buffer. (16, 24 or 32 bits)
281
282       gl_tex_filter_string
283              A  string,  one  of  the  following: GL_NEAREST or GL_LINEAR (no
284              mipmapping),  or  one  of  GL_NEAREST_MIPMAP_NEAREST,   GL_NEAR‐
285              EST_MIPMAP_LINEAR,       GL_LINEAR_MIPMAP_NEAREST,       GL_LIN‐
286              EAR_MIPMAP_LINEAR with mipmapping.
287
288       gl_tex_format_string
289              One of the following strings: GL_RGBA - means format selected by
290              driver (not so good), GL_RGBA2 - means 2 bits for each component
291              (bad), GL_RGBA4 - means 4 bits for each component (like  GL_RGBA
292              on  most cards), GL_RGB5_A1 - means 5 bits for each color compo‐
293              nent 1 bit for the alpha channel (default), GL_RGBA8 -  means  8
294              bits  for  each  component  (best quality, but only a little bit
295              better than GL_RGB5_A1 and slower on most cards)
296
297       gl_drawskys
298              If 0, disables drawing skies, which  may  be  needed  with  some
299              problematic 3D cards.
300
301       gl_sortsprites
302              Experimental option, possibly faster but less reliable.
303
304

MOUSE SETTINGS

306       This  section  specifies  settings for using a mouse with PrBoom. There
307       are several settings that control button  bindings  (what  action  each
308       button  causes  in  the  game);  these are easiest set from the in-game
309       menus, these config entries are to preserve the settings between games.
310
311       use_mouse
312              Enable or disable the use of a mouse with PrBoom.
313
314       mouse_sensitivity_horiz, mouse_sensitivity_vert
315              Sets the sensitivity of the mouse in PrBoom. Easier set from the
316              in-game menus.
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318

KEY BINDINGS

320       These  specify  the  keys  that  trigger various actions in PrBoom. The
321       codes used for keys are internal to PrBoom, though many keys are repre‐
322       sented  by their ASCII codes. It is easiest to modify these via the in-
323       game menus (OPTIONS->SETUP->KEY BINDINGS). These  config  file  entries
324       preserve the settings from this menu between game sessions.
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326

JOYSTICK SETTINGS

328       There  are the trigger variables here, which are calculated during joy‐
329       stick calibration (the values received from the kernel  driver  outside
330       of  which  movement  is caused in the game). Also there are the button-
331       bindings, again best adjusted using the in-game menus.
332
333       use_joystick
334              This selects the number of the joystick to use, or 0 selects  no
335              joystick.  You  have to have the relevant device files (/dev/js0
336              etc) and the kernel driver loaded.
337
338

CHAT MACROS

340       These are pre-written text strings for quick transmission to players in
341       a  network  game (consult your Doom documentation). Easiest set via the
342       in-game menus (OPTIONS->SETUP->CHAT MACROS).
343
344

AUTOMAP SETTINGS

346       These are settings related to the automap. These are easiest  set  from
347       within the game.
348
349

HEADS_UP DISPLAY SETTINGS

351       These  are  settings  related to the heads-up display, that is messages
352       received while playing and the heads-up display of your current  status
353       obtained by pressing + while the view is full-screen in PrBoom. See the
354       Boom documentation for details. All controlled  best  from  within  the
355       game.
356
357

WEAPON PREFERENCES

359       Here  are the settings from the Weapons menu in the game (OPTIONS->SET‐
360       UP->WEAPONS).
361
362

ALSO SEE

364       prboom(6), PrBoom's documentation (including the Boom and MBF  documen‐
365       tation) and your Doom documentation.
366
367

AUTHOR

369       See the file AUTHORS included with PrBoom for a list of contributors to
370       PrBoom.   This  config  file  reference   written   by   Colin   Phipps
371       (cph@moria.org.uk).
372
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375
376                                     local                         BOOM.CFG(5)
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