MAMEWorld Forums - EmuChat - Re: Doubt about NVRAM files

> Does it make any difference having NVRAM enabled? I see that some games generate
> NVRAM files while others do not. What's the purpose of these files?

You can do that?

*looks up NVRAM on the INI and notices the nvram_save option*

Oh look at that, we indeed can. I'm always deleting those files while carefully avoiding the ones I want to keep. Now I can disable them by default and enable them individually if I need them.

As stated previously you can think of NVRAM files as the INI files of a system. It stores system settings, timed unlocks and in some cases you could avoid long system initializations that occur when you boot a game for the first time. It's important also for cartridge based systems if you want to keep your progress saved on those with an internal battery like the Zelda and Pokemon games.

The beauty of nvram_save now that I've tested it is, if you turn it off any previous .nv files are still read and kept as read only.

BTW, some systems don't generate .nv files because they don't have Non-volatile Random Access Memory. Before that they used to store configurations using dip switches and I think those are saved by MAME on the .cfg files.