sopwith.cfg(5)

💖 sopwith.cfg — the config file for SDL Sopwith 💖

okay bestie, welcome to sopwith.cfg(5), aka the File Formats Manual page for the little text file that holds all your Sopwith settings. yes it's a man page. no it's not boring. let's go 🦋

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✨ NAME ✨

sopwith.cfg — the configuration file for SDL Sopwith, fr fr.

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

So. sopwith.cfg is literally the configuration file for sopwith(6). All the settings living inside it are usually tweaked in-game through the options menu (iconic behavior honestly), but the file is where they actually live.

Where does it live, you ask? Normally in your home directory, at ~/.local/share/SDL Sopwith/default.cfg. Yes, that whole path, spaces in the folder name and all — it's giving chaos but we respect it 💅

Want it somewhere else? You can override that path with the XDG_DATA_HOME environment variable (peep the XDG Base Directory Specification, iykyk).

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🎀 FILE FORMAT 🎀

It's a plain-text file, no cap. It's just a list of configuration options and their values, separated by whitespace. One option per line, one line per option, that's the whole vibe.

Example time, look:

integer_value                1
integer_value2               1

Lines that start with # are comments and get ignored entirely. Invalid lines or comments in the file will throw a warning at you, but otherwise they're just ignored — no drama, no crash 🙈

Some options are keyboard key bindings, and those get stored as integer values containing the keyboard scan code of the key you're binding. Booleans are also just integers: zero usually means "false", and a non-zero value means "true". periodt.

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👑 CONFIGURATION VARIABLES 👑

• vid_fullscreen — if 1, the game runs full screen instead of in a window. Default is 0.
• conf_solidground — if 1, the ground shows up as a solid white block, which reproduces the visual appearance of "Sopwith 1". If 0, the ground is drawn as a line, reproducing the visual appearance of "Sopwith 2". Default is 0.
• conf_video_palette — the video palette used for display. Valid values are 0 (CGA 1), 1 (CGA 2), 2 (CGA 3), 3 (Mono Amber), 4 (Mono Green), 5 (Mono Grey), 6 (Tosh LCD 1), 7 (Tosh LCD 2), 8 (Tosh LCD 3), 9 (IBM LCD), 10 (Tandy LCD), 11 (Gas Plasma) or 12 (Atari).
• conf_hudsplats — if 1, "splats" are shown on the screen when the plane takes damage: splatted birds are shown on the screen after a bird strike; windscreen "cracks" are shown if the plane is hit by bullets, and the whole screen turns magenta after flying through an ox. This feature was added by the original author of Sopwith in the "Network Edition" release. Default is 0.
• conf_wounded — if 1, planes can take a single unit of damage without crashing. Your plane becomes slower to turn when wounded. This feature was added by the original author of Sopwith in the "Network Edition" release. Default is 0.
• conf_animals — if 1, oxen and birds appear in the game. These were added in "Sopwith 2" but were not present in the original "Sopwith 1". Default is 1.
• conf_harrykeys — if 1, the key_pullup and key_pulldown controls turn your plane relative to the screen, rather than your plane. It is a common point of confusion that the direction of turning appears to "reverse" when the plane is flipped / flying towards the left. Default is 0.
• conf_big_explosions — if 1, oil tanks produce a huge explosion when destroyed. This reproduces the behavior found in both "Sopwith 1" and "Sopwith 2", but the magnitude of the explosion was dialed back significantly in the "Network Edition" release. Default is 1.
• conf_medals — if 1, medals are sometimes awarded to the player on return to base. Some details can be found in the "MEDALS" section of sopwith(6). The medals do not have any effect on gameplay. Default is 1.

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🌈 KEY BINDINGS 🌈

These settings decide your in-game controls, bestie. Heads up: these are keyboard scancodes, so the binding does not change with your keyboard layout. However, the name shown for the key in the in-game options menu should match your current keyboard layout. The values here are scancodes from the USB standard for HID devices. slay 💅

• key_accelerate — key to accelerate the plane. Default is "X" on a US layout keyboard.
• key_decelerate — key to decelerate the plane. Decelerating too much may cause the plane to stall. Default is "Z" on a US layout keyboard.
• key_pullup — key to pull up (aim the plane towards the sky). Default is "," on a US layout keyboard. Note that conf_harrykeys may change the behavior of this key binding.
• key_pulldown — key to pull down (aim the plane towards the ground). Default is "/" on a US layout keyboard. Note that conf_harrykeys may change the behavior of this key binding.
• key_flip — key to flip the plane upside down. Default is "." on a US layout keyboard.
• key_fire — key to fire the machine gun. Default on a US layout keyboard is the spacebar.
• key_dropbomb — key to drop a bomb. Default is "B" on a US layout keyboard.
• key_home — key to autopilot the plane home to base. Default is "H" on a US layout keyboard.

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🙈 HIDDEN SETTINGS 🙈

These are the "hidden settings", and the name is accurate: you cannot edit them in-game via the options menu, so editing the configuration file is the only way to change them. very main character of them honestly ✨

• snd_tinnyfilter — if 1, a filter is applied to the sound output so that it sounds more like a tinny PC speaker that's inside a metal PC case. Default is 1.
• conf_missiles — enable missiles and starbursts (flares). This is a feature that was originally added by the author of Sopwith in the "Network Edition" release, but has been hidden as it significantly changes the gameplay in a way that doesn't fit the game's theme and also isn't particularly fun.
• key_missile — fire missile, if conf_missiles is enabled. Default key is "V" on a US layout keyboard.
• key_starburst — launch starburst (flare) if conf_missiles is enabled. Default key is "C" on a US layout keyboard.

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🫶 SEE ALSO 🫶

sopwith(6)

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okay that's the whole page, we ate and left no crumbs 🍓💜 this was sopwith.cfg(5) from the File Formats Manual — mwah, go play Sopwith, ily bye ✨🎀