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The client reads its configuration from two files at startup: client_default.cfg, the read-only defaults shipped with the game, and client.cfg, the per-user file that overrides them. Both use the NeL config file syntax: Variable = value; lines, with strings quoted, and { } braces for lists.

client_default.cfg ships next to the client executable and holds the complete set of defaults, including metadata the in-game configuration tool needs (slider ranges and quality presets, below). It is looked up in the current directory, then the startup path. Don't edit it as a user — it is replaced by updates.

client.cfg is the user's file. It only needs to contain the variables the user wants to override; everything else falls through to the defaults. On first run the client creates it (detecting a suitable screen resolution); the in-game configuration tool writes changed values back to it when SaveConfig is enabled. Its location is platform dependent (next to the executable, or in the user profile directory on installed builds).

All variables are read once at startup by CClientConfig::setValues() (client_cfg.cpp — the authoritative, complete list of variables). Three behaviors matter:

• A variable missing from both files falls back to the compiled-in default, with a Default value used for 'X' warning in the log.
• Variables read with the _DEV macros exist only in development builds (FINAL_VERSION compiles the read out entirely) — e.g. ForceWaterReflections. Setting them in a retail client does nothing.
• The config file is watched: when it changes on disk, or when the in-game tool applies a change, the affected values are re-read and updateFromClientCfg() (main_loop_utilities.cpp) applies whatever can change live — most graphics quality settings take effect immediately without a restart.

The game configuration window (data/gamedev/interfaces_v3/game_config.xml) binds interface widgets directly to config variables through the DDX system (interface_v3/interface_ddx.cpp). Conventions, using MaxWaterReflections as the example:

• A <param ... type="cfg" widget="sbint" link="MaxWaterReflections" realtime="true"/> entry binds a slider to the variable; realtime applies it live through updateFromClientCfg().
• Integer and float sliders read their range from companion variables in client_default.cfg: MaxWaterReflections_min, _max, _step.
• The quality preset buttons (Low/Medium/Normal/High) read _ps0 … _ps3 companions (MaxWaterReflections_ps0 = 0; etc.). Only variables registered in the preset list (CfgPresetList in login.cpp) participate in presets; others keep their value when a preset is applied.
• Widget labels are translation keys (e.g. uiFxMaxWaterReflections) resolved from the translation data.

Curated reference of the commonly tuned variables, by category. It is deliberately not exhaustive — client_cfg.cpp and client_default.cfg remain the canonical list — but covers what players and developers usually touch. Variables marked dev are _DEV reads, absent from retail builds.

Variable	Meaning
FullScreen	Fullscreen (1) or windowed (0)
Width, Height	Resolution; 0 on first run auto-detects
Depth, Frequency	Color depth and refresh rate (fullscreen)
Driver3D	"Auto", "OpenGL", "Direct3D", "OpenGLES", "OpenGL3" (or 0–4)
WaitVBL	VSync
Contrast, Gamma, Luminosity	Display color adjustments
InterfaceScale	UI scaling factor

Variable	Meaning
LandscapeThreshold	Landscape tessellation precision (higher = finer geometry)
LandscapeTileNear	Distance up to which detail tiles are rendered
Vision	View distance
MicroVeget, MicroVegetDensity	Micro-vegetation on/off and density (percent)
HDEntityTexture	High-definition character textures
DivideTextureSizeBy2	Halve all texture resolutions (low memory)
AnisotropicFilter	Anisotropic texture filtering level
SkinNbMaxPoly, FxNbMaxPoly	Polygon budgets for skinned characters and FX
NbMaxSkeletonNotCLod	Number of characters rendered fully before impostor LOD
CharacterFarClip	Distance beyond which characters are not rendered

Variable	Meaning
Shadows	Dynamic shadow maps for characters
FXAA	Fullscreen antialiasing
Bloom, SquareBloom, DensityBloom	Bloom post-effect and its shape/strength
MaxWaterReflections	Water planes with a realtime planar reflection per frame, largest on screen first (default 3; 0 disables, water falls back to its envmap)
MaxWaterReflectionTextures	Reflection render target textures per eye; reflected planes tile into shared textures, and shrink to fit when the budget is full (default 1; -1 = as many as needed — not exposed on the slider)
ForceWaterReflections	dev — treat every water surface as reflection-enabled regardless of the per-shape artist flag; the quickest way to evaluate a zone's water before re-exporting shapes

Variable	Meaning
SoundOn	Master sound toggle
DriverSound	Sound driver: "Auto", "OpenAL", "XAudio2", "FMod", "DirectSound"
MaxTrack	Number of simultaneous audio tracks
SoundForceSoftwareBuffer	Force software mixing
MusicVolume, SoundSFXVolume, SoundGameMusicVolume	Volume levels

Variable	Meaning
StartupHost	The login web server the client connects to (e.g. "https://core.ryzom.dev") — this is the variable to change to point a client at a different shard; the login flow then supplies the shard list and patch location
StartupPage	Login page path on that host (e.g. "/login/r2_login.php")
Application	{ "<app name>", "<executable>", "<path>" } — the application identifier sent at login and the client the patcher restarts
LanguageCode	Interface language ("en", "fr", "de", …)
PatchWanted	Whether the client patches itself at startup — set to 0 on developer builds, or the patcher will overwrite your locally built client and data
PatchUrl	Manual patch server override — normally unnecessary, since the login server tells the client where to patch from
SaveConfig	Write changed settings back to client.cfg on exit
AllowDebugCommands	Expose the debug category of interface actions/macros in retail builds
MovieShooterMemory	Memory budget for the movie shooter capture tool (0 = disabled)

• Client Commands — several config-adjacent facilities are commands rather than variables
• NeL config files — the underlying file format and API
• Console variables — engine-level variables inspectable at runtime