Well, lately I was suprised by people who've been here for a long time asking for things that can be easily done by editing preferences.txt So I thought that maybe a beginners guide would be in order. Since it's for beginners I'm posting it here not for example in workshop. What you'll find below is just a seed from which a proper guide will grow in time. There are one or two options effects of which are unclear to me so I'd gladly apprectiate any help.
THE GUIDE
Preferences.txt is located in your main RTW directory and inside you'll find some game settings that cannot be changed via the in-game menus. It can be edited by notepad or any other text editor, just remember to write in CAPITALS. The settings usually have two possible switches - TRUE or FALSE. For the time being I'll concetrate on things you cannot change in-game. Let's have a look at some examples (stuff in italics are comments):
USE_TRIPLE_BUFFER: You should try this out, setting to TRUE may improve your frame rate but it may also increase GPU's memory load (thas decreasing frame rate). So the effects on performance (good/bad/none) depend on your system spec.
FOG_OF_WAR: it can be also toggled by ingame console (press~then typ "toggle_fow" and enter) but if you just hate FOW you can set it to FALSE here
EVENT_CUTSCENES:do you hate those camera zooms when during the battle a general dies or ram breaks the gates etc.? if yes then set it to FALSE and you'll never see them again
DISABLE_BACKGROUND_FMV:Would you prefer a static image as a backround for RTW menus instead of those animations? If yes than set it to TRUE
DISABLE_ARROW_MARKERS:If you don't like the green arrows under currently selected unit and would like to go back to the STW/MTW style than set this to TRUE
LABEL_CHARACTERS:On the Campaign Map when you move a cursor over a character/army you see his/general's name. If you want them to be visible all the time (like settlements) set this to TRUE
LABEL_SETTLEMENTS:If you want the name of towns/cities be visible only if you move cursor over them set this to FALSE
MINIMAL_UI:When set to TRUE switches battle interface to similiar to the one from STW/MTW. You'll be able to see more of the battlefield at once but remeber that minimal interface has some problems in RTW
FIRST_TIME_PLAY:You've just installed the game and do not wish to play the Prologue but go straight for the campaign? If yes than set this to FALSE
CAMPAIGN_MAP_SPEED_UP:You want to watch AI movement on campaign map but it takes so much time? Then set this to TRUE
UNIT_USE_SHADERS:Your graphic card is not that new, worked ok before 1.2 patch now you've got problems? try changing this to FALSE, might help
CAMPAIGN_MAP_CAMERA_SMOOTHING:If you prefer the way campaign map scrolled before 1.2 patch then set this to FALSE
UNLIMITED_MEN_ON_BATTLEFIELD: The game has a build-in limit of 10,000 men at the same time on the battlefield. Setting this to TRUE will turn this limit off, but remember you'll still have the limit of number of units.
UNIT_SIZE:This number refers to number of men in "typical" infrantry unit (e.g. Hastatii, Scutarii, Militia etc...) other units get a propotion of this one (e.g. Warband + 50%) it can be changed in-game but then you can only choose between - small (20), normal (40) large (80) huge (160) here you can enter different numbers (but don't use things like 25, 37 etc.) so for example if small is too small but normal too big - enter 30.
ALWAYS_LOGFILE:if set to TRUE the game will create different logfiles covering many aspects of the game. They will be located in a folder "persistent_logs" in your RTW directory. This is mostly usful to modders, other users can forget about it.
SUPPLY:To my knowledge it does nothing. If you have a look at game files you'll see that units besides money upkeep have food upkeep, this didn't make it to the final version of the game, should it have this would have probably turn it on/off
EDIT_SETTLEMENT_NAMES:if set to true, it will allow to edit city names in-game just like in BI.
More to come...