5.12 Video Parameters
VIDEO=xxx
Set the initial video mode (and bypass the informational screens). Handy
for batch runs. (Example: VIDEO=F4 for IBM 16-color VGA.) You can
obtain the current VIDEO= values (key assignments) from the "select
video mode" screens inside Fractint. If you want to do a batch run with
a video mode which isn't currently assigned to a key, you'll have to
modify the key assignments - see "Video Mode Function Keys" (p. 36).
ASKVIDEO=yes|no
If "no," this eliminates the prompt asking you if a file to be restored
is OK for your current video hardware.
WARNING: every version of Fractint so far has had a bigger, better, but
shuffled-around video table. Since calling for a mode your hardware
doesn't support can leave your system in limbo, be careful about leaving
the above two parameters in a command file to be used with future
versions of Fractint, particularly for the super-VGA modes.
ADAPTER=hgc|cga|ega|egamono|mcga|vga|ATI|Everex|Trident|NCR|Video7|Genoa|
Paradise|Chipstech|Tseng3000|Tseng4000|AheadA|AheadB|Oaktech
Bypasses Fractint's internal video autodetect logic and assumes that the
specified kind of adapter is present. Use this parameter only if you
encounter video problems without it. Specifying adapter=vga with an
SVGA adapter will make its extended modes unusable with Fractint. All
of the options after the "VGA" option specify specific SuperVGA chipsets
which are capable of video resolutions higher than that of a "vanilla"
VGA adapter. Note that Fractint cares about the Chipset your adapter
uses internally, not the name of the company that sold it to you.
VESADETECT=yes|no
Specify no to bypass VESA video detection logic. Try this if you
encounter video problems with a VESA compliant video adapter or driver.
AFI=yes|8514|no
Normally, when you attempt to use an 8514/A-specific video mode,
Fractint first attempts to detect the presence of an 8514/A register-
compatible adapter. If it fails to find one, it then attempts to detect
the presence of an 8514/A-compatible API (IE, IBM's HDILOAD or its
equivalent). Fractint then uses either its register-compatible or its
API-compatible video logic based on the results of those tests. If you
have an "8514/A-compatible" video adapter that passes Fractint's
register-compatible detection logic but doesn't work correctly with
Fractint's register-compatible video logic, setting "afi=yes" will force
Fractint to bypass the register-compatible code and look only for the
API interface.
TEXTSAFE=yes|no|bios|save
When you switch from a graphics image to text mode (e.g. when you use
<F1> while a fractal is on display), Fractint remembers the graphics
image, and restores it when you return from the text mode. This should
be no big deal - there are a number of well-defined ways Fractint could
do this which *should* work on any video adapter. They don't - every
fast approach we've tried runs into a bug on one video adapter or
another. So, we've implemented a fast way which works on most adapters
in most modes as the default, and added this parameter for use when the
default approach doesn't work.
If you experience the following problems, please fool around with this
parameter to try to fix the problem:
o Garbled image, or lines or dashes on image, when returning to image
after going to menu, <tab> display, or help.
o Blank screen when starting Fractint.
The problems most often occur in higher resolution modes. We have not
encountered them at all in modes under 320x200x256 - for those modes
Fractint always uses a fast image save/restore approach.
Textsafe options:
yes: This is the default. When switching to/from graphics, Fractint
saves just that part of video memory which EGA/VGA adapters are
supposed to modify during the mode changes.
no: This forces use of monochrome 640x200x2 mode for text displays
(when there is a high resolution graphics image to be saved.) This
choice is fast but uses chunky and colorless characters. If it turns
out to be the best choice for you, you might want to also specify
"textcolors=mono" for a more consistent appearance in text screens.
bios: This saves memory in the same way as textsafe=yes, but uses the
adapter's BIOS routines to save/restore the graphics state. This
approach is fast and ought to work on all adapters. Sadly, we've
found that very few adapters implement this function perfectly.
save: It should work on all adapters in all modes but it can be slow.
It tells Fractint to save/restore the entire image. Expanded or
extended memory is used for the save if you have enough available;
otherwise a temporary disk file is used. The speed of textsafe=save
will be acceptable on some machines but not others. If this method
is too slow, try the other textsafe modes. The speed depends on:
o Cpu and video adapter speed.
o Whether enough expanded or extended memory is available.
o Video mode of image being remembered. A few special modes are
*very*
slow compared to the rest. The slow ones are: 2 and 4 color modes
with resolution higher than 640x480; custom modes for ATI EGA Wonder,
Paradise EGA-480, STB, Compaq portable 386, AT&T 6300, and roll your
own video modes implemented with customized YOURVID.C code.
If you want to tune Fractint to use different "textsafe" options for
different video modes, see "Customized Video Modes, FRACTINT.CFG"
(p. 157). (E.g. you might want to use the slower textsafe=save approach
just for a few high-resolution modes which have problems with
textsafe=yes.)
EXITMODE=nn
Sets the bios-supported videomode to use upon exit to the specified
value. nn is in hexadecimal. The default is 3, which resets to 80x25
color text mode on exit. With Hercules Graphics Cards, and with
monochrome EGA systems, the exit mode is always 7 and is unaffected by
this parameter.
TPLUS=yes|no
For TARGA+ adapters. Setting this to 'no' pretends a TARGA+ is NOT
installed.
NONINTERLACED=yes|no
For TARGA+ adapters. Setting this to 'yes' will configure the adapter to
a non-interlaced mode whenever possible. It should only be used with a
multisynch monitor. The default is no, i.e. interlaced.
MAXCOLORRES=8|16|24
For TARGA+ adapters. This determines the number of bits to use for color
resolution. 8 bit color is equivalent to VGA color resolution. The 16
and 24 bit color resolutions are true color video modes.
PIXELZOOM=0|1|2|3
For TARGA+ adapters. Lowers the video mode resolution by powers of 2.
For example, the 320x200 video resolution on the TARGA+ is actually the
640x400 video mode with a pixel zoom of 1. Using the 640x400 video mode
with a zoom of 3 would lower the resolution by 8, which is 2 raised to
the 3rd power, for a full screen resolution of 80x50 pixels.
VIEWWINDOWS=xx[/xx[/yes|no[/nn[/nn]]]]
Set the reduction factor, final media aspect ratio, crop starting
coordinates (y/n), explicit x size, and explicit y size, see "View
Window" (p. 34).
FASTRESTORE=yes|no
If YES, resets viewwindow to "no" prior to restoring a gif file.
Otherwise, images saved in full view will be drawn in reduced view if
viewwindows has been set to "yes" previously. Also, when YES, bypasses
the warning when restoring a gif in a video mode other than the one in
which the gif was saved. Default is NO. Feature will be useful when
cycling through a group of gifs in autokey mode. When combined with
askvideo=no, allows loading images with the last successfully used video
mode. This is handy when viewing 1600x1200 images when you only have
1024x768 available.
VIRTUAL=yes|no
With a suitable video adapter it is possible to set virtual screen modes
using the "View Window" (p. 34) options. With certain video adapters
it may be necessary to disable the check for virtual screen modes if
this check prevents Fractint from loading correctly. The default is
"yes". Setting this to "no" disables the check for and the ability to
use virtual screen sizes.