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Options

Choose Options on the main menu to open kat5200's configuration. It is a tabbed window; the tabs across the top are:

  • System (Machine) — system type, RAM, TV standard, OS/BIOS, BASIC, SIO patch, attached media, controller ports, and POT tuning.
  • Graphics (Video) — renderer backend, window/scaling, the NTSC artifacting filter, palette, and shader bundles.
  • Sound (Sound) — enable/disable audio, frequency, buffer size, and volume.
  • Input (Input) — per-player controllers, the keyboard, UI controls, and analog tuning.
  • Misc (Misc) — the Setup window, Configuration (start-up behavior, throttle, factory reset), Palette import, Create Media, Log, the debugger, and the Manual.

Page names vs. tab names

Some pages keep their historical filenames (Machine, Video) while the GUI tab is labelled System and Graphics respectively. The page describes the matching tab.

Global vs. per-ROM settings

kat5200 no longer uses named, user-managed profiles in the GUI. Instead, most configuration tabs (System, Graphics, Sound, Input) offer two save buttons:

  • Save — write the change to your global defaults (the All profile).
  • Save for ROM only [*] — write the change only for the currently selected ROM, leaving your global defaults untouched.

Always press a Save button after changing settings; unsaved changes are only temporary. When you launch a ROM that has its own saved settings, those override the global values for that session. ROM-specific settings are marked with an asterisk (*). To revert a ROM to the defaults, use Clear Custom Settings in the Launcher.

How settings are saved

Changes are written to kat5200.conf (TOML) in your config directory. Internally, kat5200 tracks exactly which fields changed and saves only those, so editing one option will not disturb unrelated settings. Per-ROM overrides are stored in that ROM's profile file. Nothing is persisted until you press a Save button.