PHost reads two configuration files: pconfig.src and shiplist.txt. These files are intended to contain the game-specific parameters and the ship-list specific parameters, respectively.

Both files are plain-text files. PHost looks for them in the game directory only. The files are structured in sections, where each section contains a series of assignments. Comments can be included almost anywhere by using the character # (number sign): everything from the # up to the end of the line is ignored. Blank lines are ignored as well. Case is ignored.