Introduction
Most settings in Surreal64 CE can be configured in the Launcher menus, while others require you to edit specific INI Files. The Launcher is divided into two subsets: The main Launcher and the In Game Menu (or IGM for short).
When you first start Surreal64 CE, you are presented with the main "Launcher" which allows you to configure and launch a specific rom. The Launcher can do much more, but that summarizes its main purpose. After you select a rom and launch it, the Launcher will exit and the selected emulator will start the chosen rom. Once you are "in-game", you can access the In Game Menu by pressing Right Thumbstick down.
The IGM allows you to configure some additional settings along with being able to save and load game states, take screenshots, exit back to the rom list or even shutdown the XBOX.
Some settings are only available in the INI files and are not currently accessible through the Launcher or the IGM. Almost all of the emulator and plugin settings fall under this category along with some of the main Surreal64 CE settings used to set up the paths to the required files. Under most circumstances, only people looking to specialize their installation will want or have to edit these files. A complete list of INI settings are available in the Settings section of this wiki.
Using the Launcher
The Launcher provides an easy to use GUI to allow you to directly launch a rom with a set Emulator/Plugin configuration, and to adjust a game's specific emulation settings. The Emulator Settings are accessible through the Surreal Menu by pressing 'X' at the Rom List.
Adjusting Emulator Settings
In order to tweak and modify plugin configurations, some basic knowledge about emulation and the N64 is needed. There are 2 types of emulation that you should be aware of. HLE, and LLE. High Level Emulation emulates the behavior of the device, while Low Level Emulation provides accurate hardware emulation. For the XBOX, HLE is the route to take if you desire to play a game at full speed. LLE is useful for everything else that doesn't work.
Audio & the RSP Plugin
Audio is processed by the Reality Signal Processor (RSP) in the Nintendo64. This behavior is provided by the audio plugin, but Surreal can also be configured to use an RSP plugin as an alternative to Process Audio Lists. RSP A-Listing can be provided by the Hacktarux & Azimer HLE RSP plugin (M64Plus) and in Jabo's LLE RSP Plugin.
For using plugins like Basic Audio, Enabling RSP Audio can keep games in sync without a heavy performance hit. Jabo's LLE RSP plugin should be your choice for needed stability.
To get the best audio with the smallest hit in performance, you can use the RSP plugin from Mupen64Plus with your favorite audio plugin. Turning on 'Enable RSP Audio' will process audio lists from Azimer's HLE audio code from within the RSP plugin. Try using the Audio MusyX plugin with and without RSP A-Listing.