common settings for many cores about main_mister

[wickerwaka]

I don't know if having them in the INI solves any problems and probably would create more confusion.

I do like the idea of the core config data being plain text instead of a blob of binary data. All the information is in the confstr to do it and it would make the config data more resilient to core changes. The CPU and diskspace costs aren't significant. If people did want to manage settings with some external script then it would be more practical with text than binary.

[sorgelig]

Do you mean, user is ready to play the arcade core but too lazy to enter OSD settings once?
MiSTer doesn't allow to manage the same settings from both INI and OSD. Settings are controlled in either one place or another, not both.

Besides that, there are already enough problems with settings. Users download packs with many settings pre-made, then come to me to complain that something misbehaves while it's simply some settings are changed.

It's better if core would load in default fail-safe settings at beginning, and if something is not right, then user will adjust. It's not a problem to adjust the settings in core you supposed to use.

[jotego]

I think that the user experience would be better if they adjust settings for their TV once for as many cores as possible.

A general way of being able to modify core settings in the ini file looks like a very convenient extension for everyone. Including people making download packs.

Thank for sharing your thoughts on this. I'll keep an eye open in case this is re-considered in the future.

[sorgelig]

Yes and no. Sometimes options get renamed or values added/deleted. This will give confusion too. While in blob, names aren't matter.

[birdybro]

Regarding the cfg/blob discussion, couldn't you do it instead like this for instance --> https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Arcade-Joust2_MiSTer/blob/master/Arcade-Joust2.sv#L214-L224

...
[2]Orientation=Horz
[5:3]Scandoubler FX=None
[9:8]Aspect ratio=[ARC1]
...

The names would be ignored by parsing, it's merely there for the user, just the status bits are considered by the program and the corresponding value.