This file is important to Rise of Nations for various configuration and game control. The same file is used for both Rise of Nations and also for the Thrones and Patriots expansion.
It's precise location depends on two things, your operating system and your patch version of Rise of Nations. For most players, running the latest patch on Windows XP you will find it here:
C:\Documents and Settings\(YourName)\Application Data\Microsoft Games\Rise of Nations\rise2.ini
Here is detailed information on each of the settings. Often the settings are on/off types and these are represented witn 0=Off and 1=On.
Windowed Width=1280
The horizontal screen resolution that the game runs in. Rise of nations only supports certain fixed resolutions and not all of these are available to everone's system. It depends on your graphics card, monitor and drivers. RoN does not support a resolution less that 1024 x 768, so don't even bother trying 800 x 600.
Windowed Height=1024
The horizontal screen resolution that the game runs in. Rise of nations only supports certain fixed resolutions and not all of these are available to everone's system. It depends on your graphics card, monitor and drivers. RoN does not support a resolution less that 1024 x 768, so don't even bother trying 800 x 600.
FullScreen=1
By setting this to 0, RoN will run in a window on your system if your desktop resolution is higher than your in-game resolution.
VSync=1
This setting synchronises the update of a new frame of RoN graphics with the Vertical Sync signal to your monitor. This ensures that each frame of graphics is displayed all at the same time. There is a small frame-rate penalty for this, in so far as you can only ever get a frame rate equal to your screen refresh rate. Note, this will NOT improve your system performance if you are running slow, it will only allow you to achieve a higher number or frames per second to give you bragging rights on a faster system. A down side to setting this off is that you may experience "tearing" of the display where you see half of one frame and half of the previous.
AllowAllResolutions=0
RoN usually filters out the screen resolutions that it thinks you cannot use so you can;t select them in the options screen. Setting this on will display them all. However, doing this and selecting a resolution that you can't use can cause damage to your monitor, so use with care.
IgnoreMinimizeOnTabOut=0
When you use Alt-Tab in game, you will switch to another Windows application, or the Desktop, and RoN will run minimised while you do this (it won't pause). Enabling this setting will prevent this.
ConfigDatabase=BHGVidCardConfig.txt
ESCKeyGoesToMenu=1
ClickDragTiming=5
ClickDragLowSensitive=20
ClickDragHighSensitive=64
ClickDragRightSensitive=6
SkipIntroMovies=0
When you start RoN, there are three movies that play as part of an introduction, a couple of logos for Microsoft and Big Huge Games and then the proper intro. Changing this setting to 1 will bring the RoN menu up straight away.
ForceHardwareCursor=0
This setting was added to fix some cursor problems that may be experienced.
ForceGDICursor=0
Similar to ForceHardwareCursor, may be useful if you are having cursor problems.
ForceBWCursor=0
Similar to ForceHardwareCursor, may be useful if you are having cursor problems. This one will give you a black and white cursor.
Don't Allow Texture Compression=0
SYS_grade_override(A-F or AUTO)=AUTO
When RoN starts it profiles your system and decides what features to use and what to downgrade. Changing this setting away from AUTO will force RoN to use a predetermined level ranging from F=Lwest to A=Highest. Changing this setting to one higher than your system can cope with can cause you serious performance problems.
Changing this setting below a C will force low detailed terrains.
MEM_grade_override(A-F or AUTO)=AUTO
When RoN starts it profiles your system and decides what features to use and what to downgrade. Changing this setting away from AUTO will force RoN to use a predetermined level ranging from F=Lwest to A=Highest. Changing this setting to one higher than your system can cope with can cause you serious performance problems.
Changing this setting below a C will ive you low unit detail and units that do not upgrade appearance as you advance in ages..
Changing this setting below a C will make all your buildings the same art-set.
CPU_grade_override(A-F or AUTO)=AUTO
When RoN starts it profiles your system and decides what features to use and what to downgrade. Changing this setting away from AUTO will force RoN to use a predetermined level ranging from F=Lwest to A=Highest. Changing this setting to one higher than your system can cope with can cause you serious performance problems.
A setting of A or B will give you animated backgrounds to menus
A setting of C or D will give you a slideshow background to menus
A setting of E or F will give you a static background to menus
GPU_grade_override(A-F or AUTO)=AUTO
When RoN starts it profiles your system and decides what features to use and what to downgrade. Changing this setting away from AUTO will force RoN to use a predetermined level ranging from F=Lwest to A=Highest. Changing this setting to one higher than your system can cope with can cause you serious performance problems.
Changing this setting below a C will remove any pixel and vertex shading support your system has.
TEXTURE_grade_override(FULL, HALF, QUARTER, AUTO)=AUTO
Console Coord Mode=0
Console Name Mode=2
Sound Enabled=1
UseVTUNEDLL=0
TestDelayRenderAMin=0
TestDelayRenderBMin=0
TestDelayRenderAMax=0
TestDelayRenderBMax=0
Force Profile Menu=0
Current Player=War
The profile to use when loading RoN, and usually the last one selected.
EnableGraphicsToggles=0
UseNetworkSimulator=0
ForceStaticCursor=0
Similar to ForceHardwareCursor, may be useful if you are having cursor problems.
ForceAGPVBs=0
This setting forces RoN to use the AGP features of your system. RoN should do this but BHG added this setting in patch 3 as there were some motherboards where RoN was not behaving as it should. Don't set this to 1 if you haven't got an AGP graphics card, though this is unlikely.
UseAltColors=0
Setting this to 1 will tell RoN to use a different colour set for the players if you also configure the relevent xml data file.
BackVidAsSlideShow=0
When RoN starts it profiles your system and decides what to use as a backdrop for your menus. A slide show is the middle setting aand changing this setting to 1 will force this.
ForceLowCPUBackgroundVid=0
When RoN starts it profiles your system and decides what to use as a backdrop for your menus. A static picture is the lowest setting aand changing this setting to 1 will force this.
RebuildBalance=0
TPModsDirectory=.\Mods
Tells RoN where to look for game modifications to Thrones and Patriots, relative paths for this setting is from your Thrones and Patriots folder
ScenarioDirectory=\Scenarios
Tells RoN where to look for scenarios
StandaloneScriptsDirectory=Stand-alone Scripts
Tells RoN where to look for scripts
DefaultScenarioDirectory=.\scenario\Custom\
Tells RoN where to look for custom scenarios
DefaultScriptDirectory=.\scenario\Scripts\
Tells RoN where to look for scenario scripts
GameFrameTestDelayMin=0
GameFrameTestDelayMax=0
RenderMinimap=1
StartConsole=0
StartReveal=0
StartPaused=0
PlaybackContinue=0