6.3 Customized Video Modes, FRACTINT.CFG
If you have a favorite adapter/video mode that you would like to add to
Fractint... if you want some new sizes of disk-video modes... if you
want to remove table entries that do not apply to your system... if you
want to specify different "textsafe=" options for different video
modes... relief is here, and without even learning "C"!
You can do these things by modifying the FRACTINT.CFG file with your
text editor. Saving a backup copy of FRACTINT.CFG first is of course
highly recommended!
Fractint uses a video adapter table for most of what it needs to know
about any particular adapter/mode combination. The table is loaded from
FRACTINT.CFG each time Fractint is run. It can contain information for
up to 300 adapter/mode combinations. The table entries, and the function
keys they are tied to, are displayed in the "select video mode" screen.
This table makes adding support for various third-party video cards and
their modes much easier, at least for the ones that pretend to be
standard with extra dots and/or colors. There is even a special "roll-
your-own" video mode (mode 19) enabling those of you with "C" compilers
and a copy of the Fractint source to generate video modes supporting
whatever adapter you may have.
The table as currently distributed begins with nine standard and several
non-standard IBM video modes that have been exercised successfully with
a PS/2 model 80. These entries, coupled with the descriptive comments in
the table definition and the information supplied (or that should have
been supplied!) with your video adapter, should be all you need to add
your own entries.
After the IBM and quasi-pseudo-demi-IBM modes, the table contains an
ever-increasing number of entries for other adapters. Almost all of
these entries have been added because someone like you sent us spec
sheets, or modified Fractint to support them and then informed us about
it.
Lines in FRACTINT.CFG which begin with a semi-colon are treated as
comments. The rest of the lines must have eleven fields separated by
commas. The fields are defined as:
1. Key assignment. F2 to F10, SF1 to SF10, CF1 to CF10, or AF1 to AF10.
Blank if no key is assigned to the mode.
2. The name of the adapter/video mode (25 chars max, no leading blanks).
The adapter is set up for that mode via INT 10H, with:
3. AX = this,
4. BX = this,
5. CX = this, and
6. DX = this (hey, having all these registers wasn't OUR idea!)
7. An encoded value describing how to write to your video memory in that
mode. Currently available codes are:
1) Use the BIOS (INT 10H, AH=12/13, AL=color) (last resort - SLOW!)
2) Pretend it's a (perhaps super-res) EGA/VGA
3) Pretend it's an MCGA
4) SuperVGA 256-Color mode using the Tseng Labs chipset
5) SuperVGA 256-Color mode using the Paradise chipset
6) SuperVGA 256-Color mode using the Video-7 chipset
7) Non-Standard IBM VGA 360 x 480 x 256-Color mode
8) SuperVGA 1024x768x16 mode for the Everex chipset
9) TARGA video modes
10) HERCULES video mode
11) Non-Video, i.e. "disk-video"
12) 8514/A video modes
13) CGA 320x200x4-color and 640x200x2-color modes
14) Reserved for Tandy 1000 video modes
15) SuperVGA 256-Color mode using the Trident chipset
16) SuperVGA 256-Color mode using the Chips & Tech chipset
17) SuperVGA 256-Color mode using the ATI VGA Wonder chipset
18) SuperVGA 256-Color mode using the EVEREX chipset
19) Roll-your-own video mode (as you've defined it in YOURVID.C)
20) SuperVGA 1024x768x16 mode for the ATI VGA Wonder chipset
21) SuperVGA 1024x768x16 mode for the Tseng Labs chipset
22) SuperVGA 1024x768x16 mode for the Trident chipset
23) SuperVGA 1024x768x16 mode for the Video 7 chipset
24) SuperVGA 1024x768x16 mode for the Paradise chipset
25) SuperVGA 1024x768x16 mode for the Chips & Tech chipset
26) SuperVGA 1024x768x16 mode for the Everex Chipset
27) SuperVGA Auto-Detect mode (we poke around looking for your adapter)
28) VESA modes
29) True Color Auto-Detect (currently only Targa+ supported)
Add 100, 200, 300, or 400 to this code to specify an over-ride "textsafe="
option to be used with the mode. 100=yes, 200=no, 300=bios, 400=save.
E.g. 428 for a VESA mode with textsafe=save forced.
8. The number of pixels across the screen (X - 2 to 2048)
9. The number of pixels down the screen (Y - 2 to 2048)
10. The number of available colors (2, 4, 16, or 256)
11. A comment describing the mode (25 chars max, leading blanks are OK)
NOTE that the AX, BX, CX, and DX fields use hexadecimal notation
(fifteen ==> 'f', sixteen ==> '10'), because that's the way most adapter
documentation describes it. The other fields use standard decimal
notation.
If you look closely at the default entries, you will notice that the IBM
VGA entries labeled "tweaked" and "non standard" have entries in the
table with AX = BX = CX = 0, and DX = some other number. Those are
special flags that we used to tell the program to custom-program the VGA
adapter, and are NOT undocumented BIOS calls. Maybe they should be, but
they aren't.
If you have a fancy adapter and a new video mode that works on it, and
it is not currently supported, PLEASE GET THAT INFORMATION TO US! We
will add the video mode to the list on our next release, and give you
credit for it. Which brings up another point: If you can confirm that a
particular video adapter/mode works (or that it doesn't), and the
program says it is UNTESTED, please get that information to us also.
Thanks in advance!