fractint parmfile=_m-cop~1.frm I hav been doing it the other way around (putting formulas into parameter files) for quite awhile, mainly kuz fractint does not display formulas that begin like this: frm:Invisible {; empty formula } Instead, it displays the parameter bit, and only the parameter bit, which is like asking you to cause a bunch of errors when fractint tries to interpret a parameter set as a formula. So, I do not understand this tradition of prefixing a formula with frm. It works when you use the file as only a parameter file. The formula is invisible in the t/formula/F6... screen, so the formula is unusable until you remove the frm: prefix. The parameters are not invisible, but the file is not a par, so you can't get to those parameters without an explicit commandline option, anyway. So, I recommend doing it the other way around: no "frm:" prefix, put the formula in the parameter file. That way, people can play with the formula without changing the file, first. Just run it "fracint formulafile=noise.par"; no changes.