Multiple configuration files

I used to use WinUAE in the following way:

I keep all hardware- and host-related settings in C:\Users\Public\Documents\Amiga Files\WinUAE\Configurations\default.uae. Game-specific settings (i.e. NTSC/PAL, hard disk images) are kept in game-specific configuration files, i.e. D:\Games\Apidya.uae, which consist of only one to four lines. Until WinUAE 2.7.0, launching WinUAE by double-clicking on Apidya.uae would cause WinUAE to first use all settings from default.uae, then process Apidya.uae to modify and add settings for this game as needed.

This does not work anymore since WinUAE 2.8.0. According to winuaebootlog.txt, WinUAE does read default.uae. But it seems to forget everything and revert back to default settings once it reads Apidya.uae.

Why was this changed? Or is there something else to keep in mind? It's very cumbersome to keep complete configuration files for each game.

[Toni Wilen]

Can you find which was last working 2.8.0 beta? Download links are still working in 2.8.0 beta thread. (http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=72080)

The last 2.8.0 beta that was working correctly was beta 16. The problem starts appearing in beta 17.

Given this description in the post containing that version:

- Command line (or icon doubleclick) loaded config didn't reset previously loaded config (default.uae, if it existed)

... apparently the new behavior is by design. I'm not sure whether there actually were people who've had problems before, but this new design choice basically prevents anyone from using multiple (partial) config files incrementally, i.e. one for host settings, one for game settings. People who don't do that, but just keep several complete config files created with WinUAE's "save button", should not need resetting the previously loaded config since such config files will contain the entirety of parameters anyway.

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by NRS

The last 2.8.0 beta that was working correctly was beta 16. The problem starts appearing in beta 17.

Given this description in the post containing that version:


... apparently the new behavior is by design. I'm not sure whether there actually were people who've had problems before, but this new design choice basically prevents anyone from using multiple config files incrementally, i.e. one host-specific, one game-specific.

Ah, that change. Old behavior caused unexpected side-effects, you copied your config to another system and it suddenly worked differently due to different default.uae. Many config entries are not saved if they contain default values to keep size of config file smaller. Any config with default value changing is not good idea when default.uae changes.

Keeping old config needs some new option. Not sure what is the best way to do it..

In that case I propose adding a new command line option: in addition to the old -f for "reset to defaults, then load config", a new -fp (or something like that) for "load partial config (without resetting to defaults)".

[Toni Wilen]

If it only needs to work from command line, what about if there are multiple -f's only first -f resets config before loading it?

"-f default.uae -f myconfig.uae [-f evenmoreconfig.uae]"

That's probably the simplest solution, yeah. I would only need to add the first "-f default.uae" to the .uae file association in the Windows Registry. Let's do it that way.

To make it more transparent, I would also recommend that when settings are reset to default, a line indicating such is output to winuaebootlog.txt.

[Toni Wilen]

http://www.winuae.net/files/b/winuae.zip updated with -f command line parameter handling change. Does it work as expected?

Almost. NTSC/PAL and hardfile settings from myconfig.uae now work as designed. However, the setting "gfx_filter_keep_autoscale_aspect" in myconfig.uae still is ignored, with the setting in default.uae always taking precedence.

Edit: apparently, that is not the only option with a problem. "cdimage0=" also seems to be affected, being ignored when specified in myconfig.uae.

[Toni Wilen]

Should be fixed now. Same url.

Works nicely now. Thank-you very much.