Configuring a game through a custom .ini file

[Cyber Akuma]

I have tried reading all over the Wiki for help on this, as well as Googling it, but can't come up with any answers. They mostly expect you to either use commandline (and even that is not clearly explained) or just the GUI.

Thing is, neither of those are an option for me. I purchased some games on Steam that seem to just use ScummVM to play them. Ok, fair enough.... the issue is that the default settings (which they don't give you any configuration options for) are utterly abysmal. Toonstruck for example, by default it runs at fullscreen at 1:1 original size..... needless to say if you have a modern monitor, it's pretty annoying to have about 75% of your screen be a black border with the gameplay in a tiny postage card in the middle of the screen. I have NO idea why they thought this would be a good idea and not run it windowed.

Anyway, I noticed that Steam launched the game by running a .bat file that just points ScummVM to an .ini file, and that file has all the configurations for the game in it. Trying to pass commandline options through Steam does not work, seems editing the .ini file is my only route. By adding the line "fullscreen=false" in the .ini file I was at the very least able to make it run in windowed mode.... but it's still rather hard to play on a modern screen with the game window that small, so I have been trying to find out how to scale it to at least 2x original size too. And that is what I can't figure out how to do, I have been pouring through the Wikis, Googling about it... and nothing. I can't figure out what commands I need to use in the .ini file itself to scale the game.

Mind you, I don't want to add filtering, I am fine with just a standard pixel-doubling even if that will make the visuals look more piexlated, I just want to find out what commands to use in the .ini file to scale a game. All the guides I found tell you how to do it through commandline or the GUI instead.

[Raziel]

Taken from the readme

5.3) Graphics filters

ScummVM offers several anti-aliasing filters to attempt to improve visual quality. These are the same filters used in many other emulators, such as MAME. These filters take the original game graphics, and scale it by a certain fixed factor (usually 2x or 3x) before displaying them to you. So for example, if the game originally run at a resolution of 320x200 (typical for most of the SCUMM games), then using a filter with scale factor 2x will effectively yield 640x400 graphics. Likewise with a 3x filter you will get 960x600.

They are:

1x - No filtering, no scaling. Fastest.
2x - No filtering, factor 2x (default for non 640x480 games).
3x - No filtering, factor 3x.
2xsai - 2xSAI filter, factor 2x.
super2xsai - Enhanced 2xSAI filtering, factor 2x.
supereagle - Less blurry than 2xSAI, but slower. Factor 2x.
advmame2x - Doesn't rely on blurring like 2xSAI, fast. Factor 2x.
advmame3x - Doesn't rely on blurring like 2xSAI, fast. Factor 3x.
hq2x - Very nice high quality filter but slow. Factor 2x.
hq3x - Very nice high quality filter but slow. Factor 3x.
tv2x - Interlace filter, tries to emulate a TV. Factor 2x.
dotmatrix - Dot matrix effect. Factor 2x.

To select a graphics filter, select it in the Launcher, or pass its name via the '-g' option to scummvm, for example:

scummvm -gadvmame2x monkey2
Note #1: Not all backends support all (or even any) of the filters listed above; some may support additional ones. The filters listed above are those supported by the default SDL backend.

Note #2: Filters can be very slow when ScummVM is compiled in a debug configuration without optimizations. And there is always a speed impact when using any form of anti-aliasing/linear filtering.

Note #3: The FM-TOWNS version of Zak McKracken uses an original resolution of 320x240, hence for this game scalers will scale to 640x480 or 960x720. Likewise, games that originally were using 640x480 (such as Curse of Monkey Island or Broken Sword) will be scaled to 1280x960 and 1920x1440.

To set it permanently in your .ini file you have to find the variable gfx_mode= and set it something from above. (e.g. gfx_mode=2x)
If said variable is under the [ scummvm ] section it will be globally used for all the games you play.

Good luck

[Cyber Akuma]

That worked, thank you.

I had to put the "gfx_mode=" line under the game's settings, seems like it was not working if I put it under the general ScummVM settings, even though that was where I put the fullscreen setting. (Strangely, this behavior seemed to persist even when I tried loading the Steam files of the game in the latest version of ScummVM myself manually. It would ignore the global scaling settings and still run it at 1x unless I manually set the game to override global ScummVM settings and do 2x).

[scummvm]
fullscreen=false
versioninfo=1.7.0
lastselectedgame=toon
aspect_ratio=true
themepath=.\ScummVM\

[toon]
platform=pc
savepath=.\Toonstruck
gameid=toon
gfx_mode=2x
language=en
path=.\Toonstruck
guioptions= lang_English
description=Toonstruck (DOS/English)

I have to admit though, I don't see where in that part of the readme you quoted it's mentioning the .ini command of "gfx_mode=", it looks like it's only mentioning commandline options to me.

[Raziel]

Hehe, correct.
No mention of an .ini file...that will be "covered" in 8.0 in the readme (not very thoroughly though)

It is known that the readme needs overhauling...the Season of Docs project would be a great starting point.
Hope ScummVM gets someone

[Cyber Akuma]

I see.

Thank You, this was all a great help.

[criezy]

Another setting that could be interesting for you is the stretch mode (e.g. stretch_mode=fit, other valid values include center or pixel-perfect). This controls how the display is scaled to the window or screen. For example center will add black bands on all side, while fit stretches the display to the window/screen while preserving the aspect ratio (so you may still have either horizontal or vertical black bands, but not both). The pixel-perfect mode is in-between the two and only does integer scaling (e.g. x3, x4, x5). The stretch mode was however introduced in ScummVM 2.1.0, and it looks like you have an older version (your ini file mentions 1.7.0), so it may not be available for you.

Also doesn't Ctrl+F5 bring the ScummVM menu with the option to Return to the Launcher? That would allow you to access the settings using the ScummVM GUI, which might be easier than editing the ini file by hand.

[Cyber Akuma]

Yeah, sadly it's using an older version of ScummVM for the Steam version that does not have those features, and was never updated, and it does not have any scaling modes.

Thanks for the tip about Control+F5, that worked, I was able ot kick the game back into the launcher. Yeah, it's 1.7.0 as the ini states, a 2014 build, and is lacking the stretching options. Though it does still have aspect ratio correction at least so I enabled that. I wouldn't be surprised if whoever owns the rights to publish this on Steam just spent a few minutes licensing and tossing any version of ScummVM they could manage at the time and never touched or updated it again.

Game still looks.... off. I mean, I knew it would look pixelated, nothing can be done about that, but it still feels like it's running at the wrong aspect ratio or scaled wrong or something, it feels like sprites are missing edges or something. Maybe it was just like that:

https://imgur.com/a/VZ3oXO0

[ZvikaZ]

Yeah, sadly it's using an older version of ScummVM for the Steam version that does not have those features, and was never updated, and it does not have any scaling modes.

Thanks for the tip about Control+F5, that worked, I was able ot kick the game back into the launcher. Yeah, it's 1.7.0 as the ini states, a 2014 build, and is lacking the stretching options. Though it does still have aspect ratio correction at least so I enabled that. I wouldn't be surprised if whoever owns the rights to publish this on Steam just spent a few minutes licensing and tossing any version of ScummVM they could manage at the time and never touched or updated it again.

Game still looks.... off. I mean, I knew it would look pixelated, nothing can be done about that, but it still feels like it's running at the wrong aspect ratio or scaled wrong or something, it feels like sprites are missing edges or something. Maybe it was just like that:

https://imgur.com/a/VZ3oXO0

I'm not familiar with this game. However, there are more scaling options - just play with them.
Personally, I prefer "HQ3X", but it's probably a matter of taste.
Also, have you tried turning on "Aspect ratio correction"?

[Cyber Akuma]

I'm not familiar with this game. However, there are more scaling options - just play with them.
Personally, I prefer "HQ3X", but it's probably a matter of taste.
Also, have you tried turning on "Aspect ratio correction"?

Yes, I tried turning on Aspect Ratio Correction, it's shown checked in those screenshots I posted. Didn't seem to make a difference one way or the other.

I don't want to really modify or edit the original visuals in anyway with filters beyond just integer scaling, I was just wondering if the game really did have the sprites look like this or if something is scaling wrong.

Namely, in the last image in that Imgur gallery I posted, the sprite of the purple character looks odd. Parts of him have a black outline around them, common for cartoon character sprites, and other parts do not. I have seen this effect usually when something is not stretched/scaled correctly, which is why I am wondering if the game really was like that originally or something is being scaled wrong.

The backgrounds themselves seem fine (so far), it's mostly the sprites that look this way.