The tech forum seems to be the right place to ask this, so let me know if this should be moved to a different location.

I have made some modifications to the Fallout4.ini and Fallout4Prefs.ini files to work better with my 2560x1080 monitor and set the file to read only. Every time I launch the game I notice that it replaces them with default ones and clears the read only flag. Is there a trick or shortcut to avoiding this? I am playing this through Steam in case that matters.

Troubleshooting Steps

1.) Searched the entire Steam folder for a hidden/backup copy of these files (Fallout4.ini and Fallout4Prefs.ini), but no spare/hidden copy appears to exist in my Steam folders - so this shouldn't be Steam causing this.

2.) I thought this might be Nexus Mod Manager (NMM) doing this, but launching Fallout 4 by itself is enough to cause this, so it isn't an NMM created issue either.

2.) I am seriously considering replacing the Medium.ini, High.ini, Ultra.ini, and Fallout4Default.ini in the root of the \Fallout4 game dir to see if this will solve the issue.

Suggestions?

Never set my inis to read only and they never get overridden for some reason. Anyways, until someone smarter comes along maybe try turning Steam Cloud off.

Do you have Steam running before hitting the game launcher or launching the game through NMM?

I have Steam running before hitting the game launcher. I know on Fallout 3 and FNV that if you didn't have Steam already running it would replace your .ini files with defaults. I will try the executable directly and see if that makes a difference. If push comes to shove I might have to invoke Sysinternals' Process Explorer.exe and have it take a registry and file system trace to see where these default files keep coming from (Steam Cloud?).

-K

What is the filepath of the ini files you're making changes to?

The default save game path.. c:\users\koinonos\documents\my games\fallout 4 - fallout4.ini and fallout4prefs.ini.

Ok if for whatever reason setting them to read only doesn't protect them, bypass the launcher completely by running Fallout4.exe directly.

That worked. That would suggest that Nexus Mod Manager (NMM) has a bug where it is invoking the fallout4launcher.exe which does overwrite the .ini files. FO3 and FNV's launcher would do the same thing which is why nobody invokes the launcher if you need to modify the .ini files for widescreen monitors instead of invoking fallout4.exe directly. I'll go flag this as a possible NMM bug over at Nexus.

If you make changes to the ini and prefs templates in the root install directory, then the derived files should reflect those changes when the launcher recreates them.

So, since you can isolate this and repeat this, try this.

1. Make back up copies of the ini and prefs files in the root install directory (Steam Apps or your Steam Library Folder)

2. Make the changes to the existing, not the back ups, files in the root directory

3. Delete the INI and Prefs files in My Documents/My Games/Fallout 4 or just move them out of the folder. The launcher will recreate them, from the default templates

4. Use the Launcher or NMM and see if the changes you made to the root files sticks.

Please note, if you hose the default templates, you will have to revalidate or repair or possibly reinstall the game,hence making the back up copies. 99% sure a Revalidation will sort this if you don't have backups to use.