diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index cbd3bfaaf..21cd91b79 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -23,15 +23,11 @@ To run with preset hyper-parameters just run:
 
 `$ python train.py`
 
-To try other hyper-parameters:
+To try other hyper-parameters, you can change them in the config file. If you want to provide your own:
 
-`$ python train.py --dropout=0.8 --hidden_size=120` etc...
-
-It will automatically check if parameters in checkpoint_dir match, if not it will
-make a new directory inside checkpoint_dir to train the new network
-
-The modifiable hyper-parameters are:
+`$ python train.py --config_file="path_to_config"`
 
+Descripton of hyper parameters:
 
 |   Name               | Type          |     Description                            |
 | :-------------------:|:-------------:|:-------------------------------------------|
diff --git a/sample.py b/sample.py
index 728702488..6290ea96a 100644
--- a/sample.py
+++ b/sample.py
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@
 Written by: Dominik Kaukinen
 '''
 import tensorflow as tf
-from tensorflow.models.rnn import rnn, rnn_cell, seq2seq
 from tensorflow.python.platform import gfile
 import numpy as np
 import sys
@@ -18,16 +17,18 @@
 import util.dataprocessor
 import models.sentiment
 import util.vocabmapping
+import ConfigParser
 
 flags = tf.app.flags
 FLAGS = flags.FLAGS
 flags.DEFINE_string('checkpoint_dir', 'data/checkpoints/', 'Directory to store/restore checkpoints')
 flags.DEFINE_string('text', 'Hello World!', 'Text to sample with.')
+flags.DEFINE_string('config_file', 'config.ini', 'Path to configuration file.')
 
 def main():
 	vocab_mapping = util.vocabmapping.VocabMapping()
 	with tf.Session() as sess:
-		model = loadModel(sess, vocab_mapping.getSize())
+		model = load_model(sess, vocab_mapping.getSize())
 		if model == None:
 			return
 		max_seq_length = model.max_seq_length
@@ -90,14 +91,53 @@ def loadModel(session, vocab_size):
 		model = None
 	return model
 
-'''
-Restore training hyper parameters.
-This is a hack mostly, but I couldn't find another way to do this.
-Ultimately, I don't think is that bad.
-'''
-def restoreHyperParameters():
-	path = os.path.join(FLAGS.checkpoint_dir, "hyperparams.npy")
-	return np.load(path)
+def load_model(session, vocab_size):
+	hyper_params = read_config_file()
+	model = models.sentiment.SentimentModel(vocab_size,
+		hyper_params["hidden_size"],
+		1.0,
+		hyper_params["num_layers"],
+		hyper_params["grad_clip"],
+		hyper_params["max_seq_length"],
+		hyper_params["learning_rate"],
+		hyper_params["lr_decay_factor"],
+		1)
+	ckpt = tf.train.get_checkpoint_state(FLAGS.checkpoint_dir)
+	if ckpt and gfile.Exists(ckpt.model_checkpoint_path):
+		print "Reading model parameters from {0}".format(ckpt.model_checkpoint_path)
+		model.saver.restore(session, ckpt.model_checkpoint_path)
+	else:
+		print "Double check you got the checkpoint_dir right..."
+		print "Model not found..."
+		model = None
+	return model
+
+def read_config_file():
+	'''
+	Reads in config file, returns dictionary of network params
+	'''
+	config = ConfigParser.ConfigParser()
+	config.read(FLAGS.config_file)
+	dic = {}
+	sentiment_section = "sentiment_network_params"
+	general_section = "general"
+	dic["num_layers"] = config.getint(sentiment_section, "num_layers")
+	dic["hidden_size"] = config.getint(sentiment_section, "hidden_size")
+	dic["dropout"] = config.getfloat(sentiment_section, "dropout")
+	dic["batch_size"] = config.getint(sentiment_section, "batch_size")
+	dic["train_frac"] = config.getfloat(sentiment_section, "train_frac")
+	dic["learning_rate"] = config.getfloat(sentiment_section, "learning_rate")
+	dic["lr_decay_factor"] = config.getfloat(sentiment_section, "lr_decay_factor")
+	dic["grad_clip"] = config.getint(sentiment_section, "grad_clip")
+	dic["use_config_file_if_checkpoint_exists"] = config.getboolean(general_section,
+		"use_config_file_if_checkpoint_exists")
+	dic["max_epoch"] = config.getint(sentiment_section, "max_epoch")
+	dic ["max_vocab_size"] = config.getint(sentiment_section, "max_vocab_size")
+	dic["max_seq_length"] = config.getint(general_section,
+		"max_seq_length")
+	dic["steps_per_checkpoint"] = config.getint(general_section,
+		"steps_per_checkpoint")
+	return dic
 
 def tokenize(text):
 	text = text.decode('utf-8')
diff --git a/train.py b/train.py
index 4141d8f29..82550b3cf 100644
--- a/train.py
+++ b/train.py
@@ -43,9 +43,10 @@ def main():
 	vocabmapping = util.vocabmapping.VocabMapping()
 	vocab_size = vocabmapping.getSize()
 	print "Vocab size is: {0}".format(vocab_size)
-	path = "data/processed/"
+	path = os.path.join(FLAGS.data_dir, "processed/")
 	infile = [f for f in os.listdir(path) if os.path.isfile(os.path.join(path, f))]
 	#randomize data order
+	print infile
 	data = np.load(os.path.join(path, infile[0]))
 	for i in range(1, len(infile)):
 		data = np.vstack((data, np.load(os.path.join(path, infile[i]))))
@@ -103,7 +104,7 @@ def main():
 					loss += test_loss
 					test_accuracy += accuracy
 				normalized_test_loss, normalized_test_accuracy = loss / len(model.test_data), test_accuracy / len(model.test_data)
-				checkpoint_path = os.path.join(path, "sentiment{0}.ckpt".format(normalized_test_accuracy))
+				checkpoint_path = os.path.join(FLAGS.checkpoint_dir, "sentiment{0}.ckpt".format(normalized_test_accuracy))
 				model.saver.save(sess, checkpoint_path, global_step=model.global_step)
 				writer.add_summary(str_summary, step)
 				print "Avg Test Loss: {0}, Avg Test Accuracy: {1}".format(normalized_test_loss, normalized_test_accuracy)
diff --git a/util/hyperparams.py b/util/hyperparams.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fa3061a00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/util/hyperparams.py
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+'''
+This is the main logic for serializing and deserializing dictionaries
+of hyperparameters (for use in checkpoint restoration and sampling)
+'''
+import os
+import pickle
+
+class HyperParameterHandler(object):
+    def __init__(self, path):
+        self.file_path = os.path.join(path, "hyperparams.p")
+
+    def saveParams(self, dic):
+        with open(self.file_path, 'wb') as handle:
+            pickle.dump(dic, handle)
+
+    def getParams(self):
+        with open(self.file_path, 'rb') as handle:
+            return pickle.load(handle)
+
+    def checkExists(self):
+        '''
+        Checks if hyper parameter file exists
+        '''
+        return os.path.exists(self.file_path)
+
+    def checkChanged(self, new_params):
+        if self.checkExists():
+            old_params = self.getParams()
+            return old_params["num_layers"] != new_params["num_layers"] or\
+                old_params["hidden_size"] != new_params["hidden_size"] or\
+                old_params["max_seq_length"] != new_params["max_seq_length"] or\
+                old_params["max_vocab_size"] != new_params["max_vocab_size"]
+        else:
+            return False