Are Configuration settings intentionally persisted in savegames?

[janosgy]

Question

Several user-facing options (notably volume and mute) are stored both in the global config (open-ig-config.xml via @LoadSave) and inside each savegame (@LoadSaveGame). Loading a save overwrites the in-memory Configuration from the save XML, so older saves restore their old audio/settings.

Is this intentional?

Observed behavior

1. Change volume/mute in options.
2. Start a new game → current settings are kept.
3. Load an older save → volume/mute (and other @LoadSaveGame fields) reset to whatever was stored in that save.

Mechanism

In Configuration.java, fields annotated with @LoadSaveGame are written/read as attributes on the save’s <world> element via saveProperties / loadProperties. GameWindow.restoreSettings() applies them on load (including music volume/mute).

Fields currently restored from savegames (@LoadSaveGame)

Audio / voice

• musicVolume, muteMusic
• effectVolume, muteEffect
• videoVolume, muteVideo
• classicalMusic, stargazerMusic
• buttonSounds
• computerVoiceScreen, computerVoiceNotify
• satelliteDeploy
• subtitles

Gameplay

• reequipTanks, reequipBombs
• autoBuildLimit, autoBuildForNewPlanets, aiAutoBuildProduction
• autoRepair, autoRepairLimit
• researchMoneyPercent
• automaticBattle
• slowOnEnemyAttack
• timestep
• spacewarFreeformMovement

UI / display

• showBuildingName
• radarUnion
• animateInventory
• autoDisplayObjectives
• quickRNP
• scaleAllScreens
• showStarmapLists, showStarmapInfo, showStarmapMinimap, showStarmapScroll
• buildingTextBackgrounds
• allowWeather
• customCursors
• dayNightCycle

Controls

• classicControls
• swapMouseButtons

Global-only examples (not restored from saves)

Language, UI/movie scale, fullscreen/window geometry, tooltips, fonts, intro, tile caches, most AI debug/balance toggles, multiplayer host/join, profile name.

Possible directions

• Keep as is
• Keep machine/user prefs (especially audio) global-only and stop loading them from saves.
• Load them from saves but do not overwrite the live config / apply them only as game-state where that makes sense.

Happy to help with a PR when preferred behavior is clear.

[akarnokd]

I'm not sure why I ever designed it as such.

You can remove the per save part and simply keep it as global settings.