2.4 Emulation settings

On AmigaOS and compatibles, Malibu comes with a settings program that allows you to fine-tune the Scala emulation. You can start the settings program from the Plugins menu in the Hollywood GUI or from Workbench. The settings program will write your settings to the file malibu.ini. On AmigaOS and compatibles this file is stored in the same directory as the main malibu.hwp executable. On the other platforms, the malibu.ini is stored in the following locations:

• – Windows: Malibu will look for malibu.ini in the directory %APPDATA%/AirsoftSoftwair/Hollywood/Preferences, e.g. C:/Users/andreas/AppData/Roaming/AirsoftSoftwair/Hollywood/Preferences.

• – macOS: Malibu will look for malibu.ini in the directory ~/Library/Application Support/AirsoftSoftwair/Hollywood/Preferences.

• – Linux: Malibu will look for malibu.ini in the directory ~/.hollywood-mal/preferences

Since Malibu comes with a dedicated settings program only on AmigaOS, you have to edit malibu.ini directly if you want to configure emulation options on non-Amiga platforms. To do that, just create a file named malibu.ini in the correct location (see above) and add the desired options to it. Below, all options that can be configured in the settings program on AmigaOS and compatibles are described. At the end of the description of each option, you will find the key to set in the malibu.ini settings file so that you can enable or disable certain options by manually editing malibu.ini. For example, to enable script looping you would add the following line to malibu.ini:

Loop script=True

The following things can be configured:

Emulation options:

• – Loop script: If you check this box, every Scala script you start will be looped when it reaches the end. The key for this setting is Loop script. Defaults to True.

• – Emulate pause commands at page end: Most Scala scripts have pause commands at the end of each page. If you check this box, they will be emulated. Unless you have a very fast Amiga, you do not need to check this box because Malibu will start preparing the next page automatically when it reaches the end of a page. And this takes mostly longer than the original pause command. So you should only check this box if you have a very fast Amiga and scripts run too fast. The key for this option is Emulate pause end. Defaults to True.

• – Emulate pause commands during page: If you check this box, pause commands that occur during a page is displayed, will be emulated. It is recommended that you check this box. The key for this option is Emulate pause page. Defaults to True.

• – Emulate pause accurately: If this option is activated, Malibu will try to emulate Scala's pause commands as accurately as possible. Enabling this option can lead to timing problems because Hollywood's transition effects aren't exactly as long as Scala's wipes. That's why it is turned off by default. The key for this option is Accurate pause. Defaults to False.

Animation options:

• – Play animations: If you check this box, animations will be played. Please note that you should also select "Play animations from disk" because animations require a lot of memory especially because they all have to be converted to 24-bit, e.g. a 640x480 animation in 16 colors with 100 frames would take up around 90 megabyte if loaded into memory (!!). Therefore you should really also select "Play animations from disk". The key for this option is Play anims. Defaults to True.

• – Play animations from disk: If you check this box, Malibu will play all animations directly from disk. This is a bit slower but saves a lot of memory. Recommended. The key for this option is Play anims from disk. Defaults to True.

Transition effect options:

• – Picture transition speed: This combo box allows you to specify a speed setting that will be used for all picture transitions. The key for this option is BGPic FX speed. A value of 0 means slow, 1 means normal, and 2 means fast. Defaults to 1.

• – Default picture transition: Hollywood does not support all Scala transition effects. The transition you choose here will be displayed when Malibu cannot find an equal Hollywood transition for the required Scala transition. The default setting for this is 'random transition'. The key for this option is Default BGPic FX. It must be set to the integer value of a Hollywood transition effect increased by one. To use a random effect, set it to 0 which is also the default.

• – Object transition speed: This combo box allows you to specify a speed setting that will be used for all object transitions. The key for this option is Object FX speed. A value of 0 means slow, 1 means normal, and 2 means fast. Defaults to 1.

• – Default object transition: This is the same as 'default picture transition' except that the transition effect you specify here will be used for object transitions. The key for this option is Default object FX. It must be set to the integer value of a Hollywood transition effect increased by one. To use a random effect, set it to 0 which is also the default.

Export options:

• – Save script to: If you enter the name of a filename here, Malibu will automatically save a copy of the Scala script that has been converted to a Hollywood script here. This allows you to make some manual modifications in the script. The key for this option is Save script. Defaults to the empty string which means that Malibu shouldn't save the Hollywood script it generated from the input Scala script.

Miscellaneous options:

• – Enable quit with ESC: If you check this box, you will be able to quit any time by pressing the escape key (useful in full screen mode when the window has no close gadget). The key for this option is Enable escape quit. Defaults to True.

• – Show busy pointer when working: If you check this box, Malibu will indicate its busy state by showing the busy pointer. On slower systems it can be useful to check this box. The key for this option is Show busy pointer. Defaults to False.

• – Hide pointer all the time: Check this box if you do not want the pointer visible at all. Useful for presentations. The key for this option is Hide pointer. Defaults to False.

• – Allow relative paths: Scala always uses absolute path definitions for external data. This has the drawback, that scripts do not run on other systems without modifications because every file name is addressed absolutely, e.g. dh0:Apps/Scala/Scripts/Demo.iff. If you check this box, Malibu will first look if the file is present in the current directory and load it from there. Otherwise it will try the full path. The key for this option is Try relative path. Defaults to True.

• – Substitute Intellifonts: If this option is selected, Malibu will replace all Intellifonts with a default font. This can be useful if you're running Malibu on a system which doesn't support Compugraphic Intellifonts (such as Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux). The key for this option is Replace intelli fonts. It defaults to True on non-Amiga systems and to False on Amiga systems.

• – Never fail because of missing fonts: If you select this option, Malibu will automatically substitute missing fonts. It's not recommended to set this option because if you do you won't be notified about missing fonts and so you don't have a chance to find and install those fonts. So this option is really only useful for temporary testing purposes. The key for this option is Never fail on fonts. Defaults to False.

• – Emulate font antialiasing: Select this option to enable font antialiasing. Note that this isn't a true vector-based antialiasing but just an approximation based on blurring so it doesn't look too good. That's why it is disabled by default. The key for this option is Emulate antialias. Defaults to False.