Preferences File Format
The following information is not based on any proprietary knowledge or restricted documentation—it was entirely derived from observation, experiment, and public information, thus it may be inaccurate or incomplete.
PRELIMINARY
Analyzed by Calezane. Documented by Greg Noel.
The prefs file contains the initial startup information for the game. On OS X, the file is kept in ~/Library/Preferences and on a Classic system the file is kept in /System Folder/Preferences. The name of the prefs file varies with the native language of the game engine; that is, a game engine whose native language is English will use The Sims Prefs for the filename while a native German game engine will use Die Sims Prefs. This filename does not change even if a different language is subsequently selected for actual gameplay.
The format of the prefs file is a string of four bytes.
| Preferences File Format | ||
| Offset | Size | Value |
| 0 | 1 | Show prefs dialog |
| 1 | 1 | Screen resolution |
| 2 | 1 | Game language |
| 3 | 1 | unknown |
The first byte of the file determines whether the preferences dialog is shown upon startup. A value of zero suppresses the dialog; a value of one causes it to appear. It is not known what happens for other values.
The second byte is the selected screen size. Zero is 800x600, one is 1024x768. It is not known if other values are possible. (This value may only choose the scale factor; when playing on a 23" cinema display, which does not have a 1024-pixel display width, the game still fills the screen.)
The third byte is the language in which the game will be played. This byte defaults to the native language of the game engine, but can be changed by holding down the shift-L key when starting the game, which brings up a menu to choose the language. (This escape key may only work in Livin' Large™ and above; it was not in the original game.)
The purpose of the fourth byte is unknown. Changing it has no noticable effect on the startup. It's speculated that it's for the "play in main screen" option, which is always grayed out on the Macintosh.
(((Other preferences live in UserData/Options.iff, which is updated every time you play the game.)))
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The Sims™ is a trademark of Maxis and Electronic Arts.
This page was last modified Thursday, 25-Mar-2004 19:48:38 UTC.
