RE: Fonts are killing me

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RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/5/2011 5:42:13 PM

Nalim27

Posts: 39
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+31. Fonts need to have configurable size.

(in reply to Missouri_Rebel)

Post #: 31

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/5/2011 5:55:57 PM

DasTactic

Posts: 1083
Joined: 10/10/2005
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This isn't an ideal solution but does work on Windows. I found this while doing the videoing. :)

ZoomIt is a screen zooming app that will allow you to easily zoom in and out. I just changed the hot-key to Ctrl-Alt-1 and it will zoom in at your cursor and will pan around following your cursor. Works for both windowed and full-screen on my Windows 7 Pro 64 bit system.

(in reply to Nalim27)

Post #: 32

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/5/2011 6:53:10 PM

Wolfe1759

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From: Shropshire, UK
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Although I have a 1920x1080 monitor I have found that playing in 1440x900 (changing my desktop resolution prior to launching DW) works best for me.

If there was a way to select resolution from within the game rather than having to manually adjust it each time I play it would be an advantage.

_____________________________

"In War: Resolution. In Defeat: Defiance. In Victory: Magnanimity. In Peace: Goodwill." - Winston Churchill

(in reply to DasTactic)

Post #: 33

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/5/2011 8:38:05 PM

Wicky

Posts: 102
Joined: 4/1/2010
From: Linz, Austria
Status: offline

+1 several other games suffer from the same so what I did was, unburry my old 19" CRT to play these games on.
Fonts that don't scale well with higher resolution are still quite common in strategy games.

(in reply to Missouri_Rebel)

Post #: 34

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/5/2011 9:10:14 PM

Gelatinous Cube

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As I play at 1300-something x 968 on a 42'' HDTV converted to be a monitor, the font sizes actually work out really well for me. That, by itself, is a good argument to introduce some font changes.

+whatever number we're at

(in reply to Wicky)

Post #: 35

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/6/2011 12:13:14 AM

FirstPappy

Posts: 744
Joined: 9/12/2000
From: NY, USA
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1920 x 1080 here.

+31 1/2

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Post #: 36

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/6/2011 2:21:30 AM

Byeohazard

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1920x1080

+100,000 rep!!!!

My eyes aren't bad but oh man...get those fonts larger!!!! That would get me excited as much as a new expansion!

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currently playing: Panzer Corps
learning Distant Worlds

(in reply to FirstPappy)

Post #: 37

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/6/2011 10:03:30 AM

Darkspire

Posts: 1986
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From: My Own Private Hell
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Probably a silly question but ill ask

Has anyone checked there GFX card settings?
Even if you have not set up a profile for DW the default profile for your card might have anti-aliasing on as default which sometimes can cause font problems, there a number of settings on later cards that can really muck up screen fonts.
Just have a sneaky suspicion that DW was meant to be an online browser game which would explain some of the UI shortcomings.

Darkspire

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(in reply to StarWolf)

Post #: 38

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/6/2011 9:02:05 PM

WoodMan

Posts: 1345
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Hey guys my new screen arrived today

I'm finally widescreen (get with the times Woody) and can confirm that the text in the game has not changed at all from my old 1280x1024 resolution monitor. Just letting you know that the screen size shouldn't have any impact on the text size, at least it doesn't on my computer.

Another thing you might want to check: Control Panel>Appearance and Personalization>Display>Adjust Clear Type Text>Turn on Clear Type Text

It was already on by default in mine, so I'm guessing this won't help, but it looks like it makes a big difference so its worth checking.

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Post #: 39

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/6/2011 11:33:07 PM

StarWolf

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I'm already using cleartype so that's not the issue for me at least. That does make me wonder if the game fonts would look better with cleartype turned off. The way cleartype works that is certainly a possibility for the very thin font which doesn't really have a lot of pixels to work with. It may actually be screwing that one up. But, if they are using bitmaps for the fonts in game, then cleartype will ignore them anyway, I believe.

I'll need to play with the antialiasing settings on a new GPU profile for GW as well, though the way that works is kind of similar to cleartype except it doesn't just smooth fonts but all graphics. If they do use a bitmap font then antialiasing may work where cleartype wouldn't.

It would be helpful if we knew what environment the game was originaly designed to run in (cleartype/no cleartype or anitialiasing/no antialiasing) so we can try to optimize the display of the fonts. Some people are not seeming to have an issue on their systems even at higher resolutions so maybe we just need to figure out what the difference is.

(in reply to WoodMan)

Post #: 40

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/7/2011 8:44:46 AM

Darkspire

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quote:

ORIGINAL: StarWolf
It would be helpful if we knew what environment the game was originaly designed to run in (cleartype/no cleartype or anitialiasing/no antialiasing) so we can try to optimize the display of the fonts. Some people are not seeming to have an issue on their systems even at higher resolutions so maybe we just need to figure out what the difference is.

This sounds familiar to the Galactopedia problem, with it working on some systems and not others, at least the fonts work on mine

Darkspire

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(in reply to StarWolf)

Post #: 41

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/7/2011 10:15:33 AM

lancer

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G'day,

1900 x 1200 Widescreen. Fonts are sharp and clear. My eyes aren't that young.

I have a decent graphics card. Perhaps that makes the difference?

Cheers,

Lancer

(in reply to Darkspire)

Post #: 42

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/7/2011 12:55:02 PM

Bingeling

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Graphics card should not matter at all on a computer able to run this thing. You probably have a decent screen and you sit close to it. Distance helps a lot.

I don't have issues either. Good glasses, and a 24 inch monitor with 1920x1200. It is a desktop, and I sit at desktop distance which is key in seeing all.

We live in a world where you can not assume that everyone sit that close to the screen. Or that everyone got good glasses ;-)

(in reply to lancer)

Post #: 43

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/7/2011 1:05:50 PM

feelotraveller

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I'm one of those feeble old men.

Even at 1280x800.

Mind you I've got a 15 inch laptop LCD screen to look at.

The worst for me are the cost and maintenance numbers at the top of the design details screen. Makes me dizzy sometimes. Perhaps also the scrolling messages but I tend to just use pop-ups or the log so that doesn't bother me quite as much.

(in reply to Bingeling)

Post #: 44

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/7/2011 10:01:29 PM

lancer

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G'day,

quote:

Graphics card should not matter at all on a computer able to run this thing. You probably have a decent screen and you sit close to it. Distance helps a lot.

I sit one metre back (3 feet for the yanks) from the 1900 x 1200 screen and find everything readable. I'm in my 40's and don't wear glasses.

I have a Dell 'Ultra-Sharp' LCD screen so perhaps it's a screen quality issue on the higher resolutions.

Cheers,
Lancer

(in reply to feelotraveller)

Post #: 45

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/7/2011 10:43:29 PM

Neotheone

Posts: 100
Joined: 12/4/2011
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Wolfe

Although I have a 1920x1080 monitor I have found that playing in 1440x900 (changing my desktop resolution prior to launching DW) works best for me.

If there was a way to select resolution from within the game rather than having to manually adjust it each time I play it would be an advantage.

Yeah but that screws my desktop icons up when I go back to 1920x1080 and I have to re-arrange everything again so that's rather inefficient. Needs ingame resolution adjustments down to 1024x728 or even the good old 800x600.

(in reply to Wolfe1759)

Post #: 46

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/7/2011 10:46:29 PM

Neotheone

Posts: 100
Joined: 12/4/2011
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quote:

ORIGINAL: lancer

G'day,

quote:

Graphics card should not matter at all on a computer able to run this thing. You probably have a decent screen and you sit close to it. Distance helps a lot.

I sit one metre back (3 feet for the yanks) from the 1900 x 1200 screen and find everything readable. I'm in my 40's and don't wear glasses.

I have a Dell 'Ultra-Sharp' LCD screen so perhaps it's a screen quality issue on the higher resolutions.

Cheers,
Lancer

wait it's coming http://www.hark.com/clips/ddkxhtybzc-my-ladee-frickin-dah

< Message edited by Neotheone -- 12/7/2011 10:47:47 PM >

(in reply to lancer)

Post #: 47

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/9/2011 12:38:31 AM

StarWolf

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Joined: 11/30/2011
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Darkspire
Has anyone checked their GFX card settings?
Even if you have not set up a profile for DW the default profile for your card might have anti-aliasing on as default which sometimes can cause font problems, there a number of settings on later cards that can really muck up screen fonts.

Darkspire was right on the money. This did it for me. I created a DW profile in my Nvidia gfx card control panel and then tried a bunch of different antialiasing settings. After much trial and error, I found that using the below settings makes the really small thin font much sharpter and clearer to read. Makes all the difference for me. Those that are having similar problems might give this a try:

Antialiasing - Mode = Enhance the application setting
Antialiasing - Setting = 2x
Antialiasing - Transparency = Supersampling

I think it might be helpful at some point if the developer ccould put antialiasing options into the in-game options and start with some defaults so that there is a common starting denominator for all systems that run the game. it would probably go a long way toward helping a lot of the font issues. Sure, they may still be small fonts, but at least folks will be able to read them without having to do what I did to fix them.

(in reply to Darkspire)

Post #: 48

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/9/2011 8:24:55 AM

myros

Posts: 289
Joined: 7/1/2004
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The font size has been one of the things keeping me from this game. Have had some eye problems the past few years which leave really small text harder to read than normal. It seems a few games recently have had this problem (shogun2 was another with some text just tiny), and developers show zero concern on how design descions like this impact real people. Its to bad as this seems to be an interesting game.

Hey Devs, adjustable font sizes 'for the win'.

Oh and also a geniune bundle with the game+expansions and a decent price would help ;)

And while Im at it (lol, sorry) get your game on Steam, this self fullfilling "niche" philosophy is just losing you money Im sure. Lots of indy titles are selling well on steam.

Anyway, hope you address the font issue some day.

(in reply to StarWolf)

Post #: 49

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/9/2011 11:13:34 AM

Gelatinous Cube

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I do have to say that if DW was on Steam, I'd have bought it much sooner. Only reason I even noticed it was because I picked up Armada in the cobwebbed section of a gamestop and noticed an ad for DW inside.

(in reply to myros)

Post #: 50

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/9/2011 12:35:26 PM

Darkspire

Posts: 1986
Joined: 6/12/2003
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quote:

ORIGINAL: StarWolf

quote:

ORIGINAL: Darkspire
Has anyone checked their GFX card settings?
Even if you have not set up a profile for DW the default profile for your card might have anti-aliasing on as default which sometimes can cause font problems, there a number of settings on later cards that can really muck up screen fonts.

Darkspire was right on the money. This did it for me. I created a DW profile in my Nvidia gfx card control panel and then tried a bunch of different antialiasing settings. After much trial and error, I found that using the below settings makes the really small thin font much sharpter and clearer to read. Makes all the difference for me. Those that are having similar problems might give this a try:

Antialiasing - Mode = Enhance the application setting
Antialiasing - Setting = 2x
Antialiasing - Transparency = Supersampling

I think it might be helpful at some point if the developer ccould put antialiasing options into the in-game options and start with some defaults so that there is a common starting denominator for all systems that run the game. it would probably go a long way toward helping a lot of the font issues. Sure, they may still be small fonts, but at least folks will be able to read them without having to do what I did to fix them.

Im glad ive done something right for a change

If only someone would sort out the Galctopedia id buy Legends today, ive recoded about 25% of the Galactopedia now (using frames and CSS) so i can at least see it on a second monitor, not sure how much new content is in Legends but i would expect my 25% to drop to at least 10%, ill get on with coding the rest of it when i can stop bringing Morrowind into 2011 with new textures and meshes (Oblivion and Skyrim are better looking but there just built for console users, too dumbed down IMHO)

Darkspire

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(in reply to StarWolf)

Post #: 51

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/9/2011 2:29:07 PM

feelotraveller

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Gelatinous Cube

I do have to say that if DW was on Steam, I'd have bought it much sooner. Only reason I even noticed it was because I picked up Armada in the cobwebbed section of a gamestop and noticed an ad for DW inside.

Well each to their own. If DW was on Steam I would never have bought it, ever.

(in reply to Gelatinous Cube)

Post #: 52

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/9/2011 2:34:57 PM

StarWolf

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quote:

ORIGINAL: feelotraveller
Well each to their own. If DW was on Steam I would never have bought it, ever.

Same here. I hate Steam.

(in reply to feelotraveller)

Post #: 53

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/9/2011 2:39:15 PM

Gelatinous Cube

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Steam enables countless small developers to put things where gamers will actually buy them, as opposed to never get a chance to play them because they've been consigned to Matrix.com and the back shelves of a few gamestops (the few that even carry PC games any more).

I can't stand DRM, but Steam doesn't require you to use it. SotS2, for example, only requires Steam to install and update. Steamworks is never required for it. I used to hate what I thought Steam stood for (i.e. the "industrialization" of the gaming industry) but being a strategy game fan I can't help but notice the good that they have done for indie developers.

(in reply to StarWolf)

Post #: 54

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/9/2011 2:47:46 PM

Cauldyth

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I've got nothing against Steam, but it's a shame that it's so dominant that people won't notice, or won't want to buy, games which aren't on Steam. It makes for a very unpleasant situation for everyone. I use Steam regularly, but it's not where I find out about games, and I'll happily buy games that aren't on it.

Also, developers can't just snap their fingers and say "I want to sell on Steam." Steam can actually reject you. Anyone play SPAZ? Steam rejected them initially.

(in reply to Gelatinous Cube)

Post #: 55

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/9/2011 2:52:20 PM

Webbco

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Without wanting to continue off-topic too much

, I have used steam a huge amount over the past few years and have found it to be a good service. However, I read this post by Iain McNeil in the Matrix general Discussion forum:

"On the Steam arguments we're not convinced that the Steam audience is a good match for the majority of the catalogue. Take in to account also that Steam take 30%, you have to customise your code to use their system which is a significant amount of work for the number of games we're talking about and Steam absolutely require you to slash your prices. Overall you have to sell a lot more copies to just stand still in terms of revenues. It is not teh alm dunk that everyone thinks it is. It also fragments the community which has an intagible cost but something we are very aware of and reluctant to do.

Another thing to bear in mind is Steam get 200 submissions a week and only 1 person allocated to review them. I'd guess only about 1% of the games people try to get on steam actually get on steam. The vast majority are never looked at or rejected. I'm guessing the majority of our line up would slide to the "dont even review category :)""

...So I can understand the hesitancy of putting DW on there.

(in reply to Gelatinous Cube)

Post #: 56

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/9/2011 2:53:55 PM

Cauldyth

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Thanks for the quote. Sheds a lot of light on things!

< Message edited by Cauldyth -- 12/9/2011 2:54:28 PM >

(in reply to Webbco)

Post #: 57

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/9/2011 2:57:03 PM

feelotraveller

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There are better options than Steam. Gamestop is better (used to be Impulse). Gamersgate is even better again, no client software installed. Funnily enough, DW is available on Gamersgate.

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Post #: 58

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/9/2011 2:57:54 PM

Cauldyth

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Plus, I'm happy to play with pre-release patches. I'm guessing that would be more difficult or impossible with a Steam game.

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Post #: 59

RE: Fonts are killing me - 12/9/2011 3:32:15 PM

Gelatinous Cube

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Well, there is a lot of truth in that quote.

Personally, I don't think you can sell DW like you would sell a regular game anyway. DW is a hobby. It's a build-your-own-space-opera kit. I could play with this for as long as a kid could play with Lego blocks. While I firmly believe that Steam would vastly increase the number of people that play this game, I am not convinced that they would understand initially what they were buying. This is something that is best enjoyed with LOTS of free time and a very open mind. Much more so than, say, the latest $5 Indie title on steam (which might be fantastic, but won't entertain me for years).

Conclusion? DW (and all the really good games that matrix sells, like Panzer Corps) are games that tackle entertainment from the hobbyists mindset. It takes some love. If putting them on steam would cheapen the game in the end by allowing less flexibility than before, then I suppose staying off Steam is a good idea. For DW. For most other indie games that aren't on this kind of scale, it is a fantastic launching point for a developer.

< Message edited by Gelatinous Cube -- 12/9/2011 3:34:42 PM >

(in reply to Cauldyth)

Post #: 60