INI file

INI files are used to configure software. Sword of Moonlight uses INI files to track in game optional settings.

All INI files share a few things in common. Sections headings enclosed in square brackets, settings that are assigned values using an equal sign, and commentary identified by lines beginning with a semicolon:

[Config]
device=2
width=640
height=480
;dual analog with inverted look
analogMode=-2

In addition to game settings, SOM files work just like INI files, and the SomEx project and Excellector use INI files to to configure extensions.

Modern Sword of Moonlight INI specification

There is a lot of diversity in the wide world of INI files. Originally Sword of Moonlight used the INI file reading and writing APIs provided by the Microsoft Windows operating system, as they were sufficient for setting up very basic in game settings. Modern day extended Sword of Moonlight requires added and more consistent functionality in addition to a cross-platform implementation.

Processing and preprocessing

The INI file should be read top to bottom omitting no duplicates. In general it is not necessary to flag a setting or section as a duplicate, as any duplicate settings should overwrite previously established settings, again from top to bottom, and any duplicate sections should simply determine the application of the settings therein.

Preprocessors, or readers, should strip out or separate commentary, expand existing environment variables, and trim spaces from the sides of equal signs and the end of lines, or in the case of assignments that span more than one line, trim spaces from the end of the last line.

Note: that trimming should be done prior to environment variable expansion so that the information content of the variables themselves is not inadvertently trimmed away.