A Mask Settings File (.msf) file is a mask file for a partial reconfiguration region.The .msf file includes important information about which parts of the FPGA core logic and routing must be reconfigured during partial reconfiguration. There is one .msf file for each partial reconfiguration revision and region combination. The .msf and SRAM Object File (.sof) are converted into a Partial-Mask SRAM Ojbect File(.pmsf) in the Convert Programming Files dialog box.
The Quartus® Prime Standard Edition software automatically generates .msf files when compiling a reconfigurable revision;one .msf file for each region in the design.If the associated LogicLock region is assigned a name, the name of the .msf file is in the following format: <revision_name>.<region_name>.msf.Otherwise, the .msf filename is auto-generated in the following format: <revision_name>.<xNyM>.msf, where (N,M) are the coordinates of the lower-leftmost block in the partial reconfiguration region.