Ja2_Options.INI guide¶

Ja2_Options.INI is the master switchboard of 1.13. It is a plain text file of roughly 4,800 lines, split into 55 [Sections], and almost every headline feature of the mod — NCTH, the food system, drop-all, backgrounds, the strategic AI — has its on/off switch or tuning knobs in here. This page is a guided tour: where the file lives, how to edit it safely, what each section does, and a closer look at the settings players actually change.

Everything below (key names, defaults, value ranges) is taken from the current file in the 1dot13/gamedir repository, which is what ships with the "Latest" releases. In current releases the file on disk is named Ja2_Options.INI — capitalization doesn't matter on Windows, and the community calls it Ja2_Options.INI either way.

Older installs differ

On the old stable r7609, several of these switches (NCTH, drop-all, backgrounds, the food system and more) were options on the New Game screen instead; r8610 moved them into this file. See New game options for what is still on that screen today — including maximum squad size, which is not an INI setting.

How to edit the file¶

The file lives in your game folder at Data-1.13\Ja2_Options.INI. If you play a mod that uses its own data folder, edit that mod's copy instead (for example Data-AIM\ for AIMNAS) — see Configuration overview for how the data folders stack.

Open it with any plain text editor. Notepad works; something with search like Notepad++ is much more comfortable at this file size. 1.13 also ships an INI Editor.exe in the game folder, and the file's own header recommends it for its longer setting descriptions — but the previous community documentation advised against the bundled editor because it caused problems for some users, so a text editor is the safer choice.

A few rules the file itself spells out in its header:

Every setting has a built-in minimum, maximum and default. A value outside the valid range generates a warning at startup and the game falls back to a sane value, so a typo won't break anything permanently.
If you delete a line, the game silently uses the default for that setting.
You cannot add new settings — that requires changing the game's code.

Back up first, and change limits before a new campaign

Make a backup copy of the file before editing. Most settings can be changed between sessions, but the [System Limit Settings] section explicitly warns that changing limits such as MAX_NUMBER_PLAYER_MERCS mid-campaign can make your savegames unloadable. If a save breaks after an edit, restoring your original values makes it loadable again.

Not everything lives in this one file anymore. Newer feature areas have their own INIs in Data-1.13\, and Ja2_Options.INI refers you to them in its comments: Skills_Settings.INI (traits and skill tuning), Morale_Settings.INI, Mod_Settings.ini, RebelCommand_Settings.ini, AI.ini, Item_Settings.ini and others. NCTH's math lives in CTHConstants.ini and action point costs in APBPConstants.ini — see the Configuration overview.

The sections at a glance¶

In file order:

Section	What lives there
`[System Limit Settings]`	Program limits: max mercs, vehicles, people per sector
`[Data File Settings]`	Data sources: XML profiles vs `PROF.DAT`, externalized enemy drops, XML tilesets
`[Backgrounds]`	Merc backgrounds on/off, alternative IMP background pools
`[Recruitment Settings]`	IMP creation points/costs, A.I.M./M.E.R.C. availability, special recruits
`[Financial Settings]`	Mine income, salary raises, selling items, militia training costs
`[Troubleshooting Settings]`	Deadlock delay, autosaves, cheat mode
`[Graphics Settings]`	V-sync, turn animation speed-up, load screens, radar map modes
`[Sound Settings]`	Weapon volume, silenced-shot threshold, ambient sounds
`[Tactical Interface Settings]`	Tactical UI: CtH readout, NCTH cursor styles, goggle swapping, militia command
`[Tactical Difficulty Settings]`	Enemy CtH/equipment/resistance bonuses, drop-all, stat gain speed
`[Tactical Vision Settings]`	Sight range, day/night brightness, tunnel vision
`[Tactical Tooltip Settings]`	How much enemy tooltips reveal
`[Tactical Gameplay Settings]`	Combat rules: NCTH toggle, weapon holding, interrupts, close combat
`[Tactical Enemy Role Settings]`	Enemy special roles (e.g. officers with the squadleader trait)
`[Individual Militia Settings]`	Settings for individual militia
`[Tactical Cover System Settings]`	The cover display shown with `End`
`[Tactical Suppression Fire Settings]`	Suppression severity and side effects
`[Tactical Weather Settings]`	Rain and lightning
`[Environment Hazard Settings]`	Sector-dependent hazards
`[Tactical Weapon Overheating Settings]`	Global overheating tuning
`[Tactical Zombie Settings]`	Zombie behavior and difficulty
`[Corpse Settings]`	How fast corpses rot and vanish
`[Tactical Food Settings]`	The food and water system
`[Disease Settings]`	Diseases and the strategic disease layer
`[Dynamic Opinion Settings]`	Mercs forming opinions of each other
`[Dynamic Dialogue Settings]`	Mercs talking to each other
`[PMC Settings]`	A private military contractor that rents out militia
`[Tactical Fortification Settings]`	Building fortifications
`[Strategic Gamestart Settings]`	Game start time, first arrival sector
`[Strategic Interface Settings]`	Map screen UI, Extreme Iron Man save prompts
`[Strategic Progress Settings]`	How game progress is calculated, progress-gated events
`[Strategic Event Settings]`	Drassen counterattack, city offensives, mine shutdown
`[Strategic Gameplay Settings]`	Reinforcements, repairs, prisoners, Skyrider, transport groups
`[Morale Settings]`	Team morale modifiers
`[Laptop Settings]`	Laptop screen tweaks
`[Bobby Ray Settings]`	Bobby Ray's store and shipments
`[Item Property Settings]`	Global damage/range modifiers, armor coverage, attachment drops
`[Strategic Enemy AI Settings]`	The queen's army on the strategy map
`[Strategic Additional Enemy AI Settings]`	The Arulco Special Division (enemy vehicles by budget)
`[Enemy Helicopter Settings]`	Enemy troop-deploying helicopters
`[Raid Settings]`	Night raids by bloodcats, zombies, bandits
`[Militia Training Settings]`	Militia amounts, costs, elite training
`[Militia Volunteer Pool Settings]`	Limited volunteer pool for training
`[Militia Strategic Movement Settings]`	Plotting militia movement on the map
`[Militia Strength Settings]`	Militia strength in combat and autoresolve
`[Militia Equipment Settings]`	Militia equipping from sector inventories
`[Militia Resource Settings]`	Resource costs for militia
`[Intel Settings]`	The intel resource for espionage
`[Shopkeeper Inventory Settings]`	Tony's availability, faster Bobby Ray shipments
`[Strategic Assignment Settings]`	Non-combat assignment efficiency
`[Clock Settings]`	Game speed behavior
`[Overhead Map Settings]`	The "mark remaining hostiles" feature
`[Tactical AI Settings]`	Enemy tactical AI toggles
`[Mini Events Settings]`	Random strategic popup events
`[Rebel Command Settings]`	The Rebel Command (A.R.C.) strategic layer

The rest of this page walks through the sections with the settings people change most.

The Drassen counterattack and other campaign events¶

[Strategic Event Settings] is small but infamous. TRIGGER_MASSIVE_ENEMY_COUNTERATTACK_AT_DRASSEN (default TRUE) lets the queen send a huge force to retake Drassen shortly after you capture it — the file's own comment warns "this will make the beginning of the game MUCH HARDER if enabled". Turning it off is the single most common tweak for new players; see Starter tips for how to survive it if you leave it on, and the early game walkthrough for the details.

Right below it, AGGRESSIVE_STRATEGIC_AI (default 2) extends the same idea to the rest of Arulco: 0 disables counterattacks, 1 allows Drassen-style counterattacks on all cities, and 2 additionally enables major offensives at high game progress (the thresholds are GAME_PROGRESS_OFFENSIVE_STAGE_1 = 65 and GAME_PROGRESS_OFFENSIVE_STAGE_2 = 85 in [Strategic Progress Settings]).

The same section also has WHICH_MINE_SHUTS_DOWN (default -1 = random; 0 = no mine ever runs dry; 2–6 pick a specific mine) and ENABLE_CREPITUS (default TRUE), which controls whether the sci-fi creatures can appear at all in Sci-Fi mode.

Drop-all and loot¶

Loot behavior is split between [Tactical Difficulty Settings] and [Item Property Settings]:

Setting	Default	Effect
`DROP_ALL`	`0`	`0` = normal drop chances, `1` = enemies drop everything, `2` = drop everything but normally-undroppable items arrive severely damaged
`MILITIA_DROP_EQUIPMENT`	`0`	`0` = militia never drop gear, `1` = only when killed by non-mercs, `2` = always
`CIVILIANS_DROP_ALL`	`FALSE`	Civilians (including faction NPCs like Kingpin's goons) drop everything
`NPC_AUTORESOLVE_DROP_ALL`	`FALSE`	Items can also drop from autoresolve battles
`ATTACHMENT_DROP_RATE`	`10`	% chance each attachment drops with a dead NPC's gun
`MAX_ENEMY_ATTACHMENTS`	`6`	Max attachments enemies can get on randomly-generated guns
`MAP_ITEM_CHANCE_OVERRIDE`	`0`	Overrides each map's item spawn chance (`0` = use map values, up to `100`) — mainly for modders

Related: in [Data File Settings], USE_EXTERNALIZED_ENEMY_ITEM_DROPS = 1 makes enemy drops come from the EnemyWeaponDrops.xml family of files (see XML files) whenever drop-all is off.

NCTH and combat rules¶

[Tactical Gameplay Settings] is the largest section in the file and changes the rules of tactical combat for everyone, friend and foe alike. Its headline switch is the very first key: NCTH = FALSE — set it to TRUE to play with the New Chance to Hit system instead of the classic (OCTH) model. The fine-tuning constants for NCTH live in a separate file, CTHConstants.ini.

Other frequently discussed settings in this section:

REDUCED_INSTANT_DEATH = FALSE — when TRUE, gun or knife damage that would kill a merc outright is reduced so they fall into a coma instead. The comment is honest: "Activating this makes the game easier." Recommended for players who hate sudden deaths.
IMPROVED_INTERRUPT_SYSTEM = TRUE — the 1.13 interrupt rules (was a New Game screen option before r8610).
ENHANCED_CLOSE_COMBAT_SYSTEM = TRUE — reworked hand-to-hand and stealing rules.
ALLOW_ALTERNATIVE_WEAPON_HOLDING = 3 — firing rifles from the hip / pistols one-handed; 3 is "scope mode" behavior, 0 turns the feature off.

In [Tactical Interface Settings] two related toggles change how much the game tells you: INACCURATE_CTH_READOUT = TRUE makes the CtH bar and F feedback only as precise as the merc is skilled, and HIDE_BULLET_COUNT_INTENSITY = 75 makes mercs lose track of how many bullets are left in the magazine during turn-based combat (0 disables this). INVENTORY_MANIPULATION_COSTS_AP = FALSE charges APs for moving items around in combat when enabled. For NCTH players, IMPROVED_NCTH_CURSOR (default 0, options 1 and 2) gives cleaner crosshair readouts, and ADDITIONAL_NCTH_CURSOR_INFO (default 0) can show enemy armor and weapons when you hold Alt.

Backgrounds and IMP creation¶

[Backgrounds] governs the merc background system: ENABLE_BACKGROUNDS = TRUE gives every merc a background with bonuses, penalties and abilities. ALTERNATIVE_IMP_CREATION = FALSE and REDUCED_IMP_CREATION = FALSE switch your IMP's background choices to an alternative rule set (choices filtered by your selected skills/traits/disabilities) and a smaller curated pool, respectively. The data itself is in Backgrounds.xml.

[Recruitment Settings] shapes your IMP and the merc market:

Setting	Default	Effect
`IMP_INITIAL_POINTS`	`500`	Total attribute points for IMP creation
`IMP_MIN_ATTRIBUTE` / `IMP_MAX_ATTRIBUTE`	`35` / `85`	Attribute floor (before dropping to 0) and ceiling
`IMP_PROFILE_COST`	`3000`	Cost of creating an IMP
`DYNAMIC_IMP_PROFILE_COST`	`FALSE`	Each additional IMP costs proportionally more
`MERCS_CAN_BE_ON_ASSIGNMENT`	`0`	`0` = vanilla, `1` = all mercs available at game start, `2` = nobody ever leaves on other assignments
`MERCS_CAN_DIE_ON_ASSIGNMENT`	`TRUE`	Unhired A.I.M./M.E.R.C. mercs can die while away
`SLAY_STAYS_FOREVER`	`FALSE`	Lets Slay stay on your team indefinitely
`EARLY_REBELS_RECRUITMENT`	`3`	When rebels become recruitable (`3` = vanilla)

There are no INI settings for the number of IMP slots anymore — the file notes that any profile with <Type>6</Type> in MercProfiles.xml is an IMP slot.

Money¶

[Financial Settings] is where you tune the economy. MINE_INCOME_PERCENTAGE = 100 scales all mine income (down to 1%, up to absurd values). SELL_ITEMS_WITH_ALT_LMB = TRUE lets you sell items from the sector inventory with Alt + left-click, with SELL_ITEMS_PRICE_MODIFIER = 10 as the price divisor (10 = you get 10% of value). MERC_LEVEL_UP_SALARY_INCREASE_PERCENTAGE = 25 controls how fast salaries rise on level up. For an extra economic layer, MINE_REQUIRES_WORKERS = FALSE ties mine income to town population working the mine when enabled.

Food, disease, zombies and raids¶

Several optional "survival" systems are off by default:

FOOD = FALSE in [Tactical Food Settings] enables the food and water system: mercs digest food hourly, and starving mercs suffer morale, energy and eventually stat and health loss. ALWAYS_FOOD = FALSE controls whether food items exist in the world even with the system off; FOOD_DECAY_IN_SECTORS = TRUE makes food rot over time.
DISEASE = FALSE in [Disease Settings] adds illnesses (defined in Disease.xml) caught from swamps, people or corpses, plus a strategic plague layer (DISEASE_STRATEGIC = TRUE once diseases are on).
[Tactical Zombie Settings] configures the undead if you play with them: ZOMBIE_DIFFICULTY_LEVEL = 3 (1 "Night of the Living Dead" through 4 "28 Days Later"), ZOMBIE_RISE_BEHAVIOUR = 0 (whether corpses can rise repeatedly), and ZOMBIE_ONLY_HEADSHOTS_WORK = FALSE for purists.
[Raid Settings] lets undefended towns be attacked at night: RAID_BLOODCATS, RAID_ZOMBIES and RAID_BANDITS are all FALSE by default, with the file warning "THIS WILL MAKE THE GAME HARDER!!!".

Iron man saves and autosaves¶

The iron man variants themselves (Save Anytime / Iron Man and friends) are chosen on the New Game screen, but [Strategic Interface Settings] controls how Extreme Iron Man behaves: EXTREME_IRON_MAN_SAVING_HOUR = 0 is the hour of the game day when saving is allowed, and EXTREME_IRON_MAN_SAVING_TIME_NOTIFICATION = 1 sets what happens then (0 = open the save screen, 1 = pause the game, 2 = do nothing).

For everyone else, [Troubleshooting Settings] has AUTO_SAVE_EVERY_N_HOURS = 12 (game-hours between autosaves, 0 disables) and AUTO_SAVE_ON_ASSERTION_FAILURE = TRUE, which tries to save when the game hits an internal error — useful for bug reports. The same section holds CHEAT_MODE = FALSE and the emergency ENABLE_EMERGENCY_BUTTON_NUMLOCK_TO_SKIP_STRATEGIC_EVENTS = FALSE, which when enabled lets you hold Num Lock to skip a strategic event that hangs the game.

Bobby Ray and the shops¶

[Bobby Ray Settings] and [Shopkeeper Inventory Settings] cover shopping:

Setting	Default	Effect
`STEALING_FROM_SHIPMENTS_DISABLED`	`FALSE`	Set `TRUE` so nobody (hello, Pablo) pilfers your Drassen shipments
`CHANCE_OF_SHIPMENT_LOSS`	`10`	% chance an entire Bobby Ray shipment goes missing
`BOBBY_RAY_MAX_PURCHASE_AMOUNT`	`30`	Max units of one item per order
`FAST_BOBBY_RAY_SHIPMENTS`	`FALSE`	Faster deliveries
`CHANCE_TONY_AVAILABLE`	`80`	% chance Tony is at his San Mona shop (`100` = always home)

The store's quality and quantity sliders are New Game screen options, not INI settings.

Strategic AI knobs¶

[Strategic Enemy AI Settings] changes how the queen's army plays the map game. NEW_AGGRESSIVE_AI = FALSE enables an AI capable of assembling massive multi-group attacks on important sectors — Drassen-counterattack-style events for every city. ENEMY_INVESTIGATE_SECTOR = FALSE makes nearby garrisons come looking when you take a city sector, and REASSIGN_PENDING_REINFORCEMENTS = FALSE keeps (when left off) enemy groups en route to a sector you just captured coming instead of turning around.

[Strategic Additional Enemy AI Settings] adds the Arulco Special Division (ASD_ACTIVE = FALSE): a second strategic AI with its own budget that buys, fuels and deploys helicopters, jeeps, tanks and robots — explicitly "not recommended for new players". [Enemy Helicopter Settings] and the related ASD_* cost/time keys tune it. STRATEGIC_TRANSPORT_GROUPS_ENABLED = FALSE in [Strategic Gameplay Settings] adds lootable enemy supply convoys.

[Strategic Gameplay Settings] is also home to the prisoner system (ALLOW_TAKE_PRISONERS = TRUE, ENEMY_CAN_SURRENDER = TRUE), Skyrider hot drops (ALLOW_SKYRIDER_HOT_LZ = 2), advanced repair (ADVANCED_REPAIR = TRUE), and two campaign-content toggles: ENABLE_ALL_TERRORISTS = TRUE (all terrorists appear in one campaign) and ENABLE_ALL_WEAPON_CACHES = FALSE (all hidden weapon cache sectors are filled).

Where did ALLOW_REINFORCEMENTS go?

The old ALLOW_REINFORCEMENTS key is no longer in this file — battlefield reinforcement permission moved to TableData\DifficultySettings.xml (the <AllowReinforcements> tag). The INI still tunes the details via MIN_DELAY_ENEMY_REINFORCEMENTS, RND_DELAY_ENEMY_REINFORCEMENTS and the matching militia keys in [Strategic Gameplay Settings].

Tactical AI knobs¶

[Tactical AI Settings] near the end of the file is a compact list of enemy behavior toggles, most of them self-explanatory one-liners: AI_TACTICAL_RETREAT = FALSE (enemies may flee a lost battle), AI_NEW_MORALE = TRUE, AI_BETTER_COVER = TRUE (avoid sight lines, corpses and crowds), AI_MOVEMENT_MODE = TRUE, AI_PATH_TWEAKS = TRUE (avoid gas, deep water and light at night), AI_SHOOT_UNSEEN = FALSE (fire at remembered positions) and AI_YELLOW_FLANKING = FALSE. Deeper AI tuning lives in the separate AI.ini.

Militia¶

Militia behavior is spread across six [Militia ...] sections; the ones most players touch are in [Militia Training Settings]: MAX_MILITIA_PER_SECTOR = 20, NUM_MILITIA_TRAINED_PER_SESSION = 10, MILITIA_BASE_TRAINING_COST = 750 (in [Financial Settings]) and ALLOW_TRAINING_ELITE_MILITIA = FALSE, which unlocks training the dark-blue elites. ALLOW_TACTICAL_MILITIA_COMMAND = TRUE in [Tactical Interface Settings] enables giving militia direct orders in battle. The volunteer pool, strategic movement, equipment and resource sections are newer optional layers — see Militia for how they play.

Newer optional systems¶

A quick roll call of feature switches added in the GitHub era, each heading its own section near the end of the file:

RESOURCE_INTEL = TRUE ([Intel Settings]) — an intel currency earned from interrogations, spying and photographs, spent on enemy information.
DYNAMIC_OPINIONS = TRUE and DYNAMIC_DIALOGUE = FALSE — mercs form evolving opinions of each other, and (if enabled) hold voiced conversations.
PMC = TRUE ([PMC Settings]) — a contractor that lets you hire militia guards.
FACTORIES = FALSE ([Strategic Gameplay Settings]) — captured facilities can produce items.
MINI_EVENTS_ENABLED = FALSE — random two-choice popup events during the campaign.
REBEL_COMMAND_ENABLED = FALSE — the A.R.C. laptop page for directing the rebel movement; further settings in RebelCommand_Settings.ini.

If a section here isn't covered in depth on this page (suppression fire, weapon overheating, fortifications, weather...), the comment blocks inside the file itself are genuinely good documentation — every key has an explanation and valid range right above it. For a curated "just tell me what to set" list, see Recommended settings. If something is still unclear, ask at the Bear's Pit forum or the 1.13 Discord (see Links).

Sources¶

Ja2_Options.INI (Data-1.13, current) from the 1dot13/gamedir repository — all section names, key names, defaults and comment quotes.
GitHub API listing of 1dot13/gamedir (repository root and Data-1.13/) — companion INI file names.
"Jagged Alliance 2 v1.13 — Recommended Settings" and "Play Guide" from the previous (r8741-era) starter documentation — INI editor caveat, r8610 New Game screen migration, ALLOW_REINFORCEMENTS move to DifficultySettings.xml.