**ShowPlay Reference Manual, Chapter 1 (Introduction): ParameterSettings**
===== Parameter Settings -- Set parameters and initialize a Showplay real-time paradigm =====
The parameter settings portion of the paradigm parameter file ([[jvs:cigal:showplay:manual:chapter1:ppf|PPF]]) is all the text before the 'return' statement.  These parameters are in the form of standard CIGAL commands and will be executed as a command file.

The first line in the parameter list should be:
    showplay 0
in order to properly initialize ShowPlay.  If the parameters and [[jvs:cigal:showplay:manual:chapter1:stimulustable|stimulus table]] are contained in the same file. The last line in the parameter specifications should be:
    return
followed by a blank line before the first line of the table.

Any valid CIGAL command can appear after the "showplay 0" line.  Typically this section will set Showplay data variables, such as:
    sbackcolor = "black"
    stextcolor = 'white'
    t_r = 2000

For a list of Showplay data variables, see [[jvs:cigal:showplay:manual:chapter3|Control Variables]].

**See Also:**\\
[[jvs:cigal:showplay:manual:chapter1:ppf|Paradigm Parameter File]], [[jvs:cigal:showplay:manual:chapter1:stimulustable|Stimulus Table]],
[[jvs:cigal:showplay:manual:chapter3|Control Variables]],
[[jvs:cigal:showplay:manual:chapter1:defaultparameters|Default settings]]

[[jvs:cigal|CIGAL Home]], 
[[jvs:cigal:manual|CIGAL Manual]], 
[[jvs:cigal:showplay|ShowPlay Home]], 
[[jvs:cigal:showplay:manual|ShowPlay Manual]], 
[[jvs:cigal:showplay:manual:chapter1|Introduction Topics]], 
[[jvs:cigal:showplay:manual:help|Manual Help]]