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Font size? - 5/24/2014 1:20:24 AM   
rich12545

 

Posts: 1705
Joined: 10/31/2000
From: Palouse, WA
Status: offline 		I've been looking at this game since it came out and now I might be ready to buy. The main thing holding me back is being able to comfortably read what's on the screen. Too many game designers think everybody has superb vision and make the font small on a 1920x1080 screen (which is probably the most popular around). I've looked at a few screenies and think I'd have a tough time.

So I'm wondering if the font size is adjustable? Or are there mods that increase it?
Post #: 1
RE: Font size? - 5/24/2014 1:23:11 AM   
elliotg


Posts: 3597
Joined: 9/10/2007
Status: offline 		We've attempted to improve this in several areas: The Selection Panel at bottom-left can be enlarged, the Research screen has larger text, the Empire Summary screen is clearer, etc.

Admittedly some of the text might still be small for some.

We're willing to try and improve this further though, if there's specific places where players feel the need for bigger text.

Thanks
Elliot

(in reply to rich12545)
Post #: 2
RE: Font size? - 5/24/2014 1:42:08 AM   
PaulWRoberts

 

Posts: 897
Joined: 4/22/2001
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: rich12545

I've been looking at this game since it came out and now I might be ready to buy. The main thing holding me back is being able to comfortably read what's on the screen. Too many game designers think everybody has superb vision and make the font small on a 1920x1080 screen (which is probably the most popular around). I've looked at a few screenies and think I'd have a tough time.

So I'm wondering if the font size is adjustable? Or are there mods that increase it?


+1

(in reply to rich12545)
Post #: 3
RE: Font size? - 5/24/2014 2:35:27 AM   
OzoneGrif_slith


Posts: 378
Joined: 12/2/2010
Status: offline
quote:

if there's specific places where players feel the need for bigger text.

The log on top of the screen could use some enlargement maybe.

It's one of the most important part of the interface, because you have to check everything that's going on, especially since the "popups" on the right of the screen are often overrided by another popup appearing at the same moment.

(in reply to PaulWRoberts)
Post #: 4
RE: Font size? - 5/24/2014 3:04:30 AM   
FireLion1983

 

Posts: 149
Joined: 4/18/2014
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: OzoneGrif

quote:

if there's specific places where players feel the need for bigger text.

The log on top of the screen could use some enlargement maybe.

It's one of the most important part of the interface, because you have to check everything that's going on, especially since the "popups" on the right of the screen are often overrided by another popup appearing at the same moment.


One of the amazingly great features of Universe is the ability to now tailor the popups. Sooo useful for really seeing what you WANT and NEED to see.

(in reply to OzoneGrif_slith)
Post #: 5
RE: Font size? - 5/24/2014 6:23:32 AM   
Breet

 

Posts: 25
Joined: 5/23/2013
Status: offline 		Could a solution to this be some type of UI Scale slider

(in reply to FireLion1983)
Post #: 6
RE: Font size? - 5/24/2014 6:30:07 AM   
Gelatinous Cube


Posts: 696
Joined: 10/26/2011
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Breet

Could a solution to this be some type of UI Scale slider


Yes, something. Anything. In order to get it to the point where I can play without giving myself a headache or needing some kind of magnifying glass I have to really screw with my display settings. All of it just needs to be way bigger.

_____________________________

Can Poland Into Space?

(in reply to Breet)
Post #: 7
RE: Font size? - 5/24/2014 7:08:35 AM   
Spidey


Posts: 411
Joined: 12/8/2013
Status: offline 		I, for one, can simply not read much of anything in 1920 by 1080 resolution. So I use 12noon Display Changer to run the game in 1360 by 768 and while it does make the screen a bit small to work with, it also means I can read absolutely everything without straining my eyes.

(in reply to Gelatinous Cube)
Post #: 8
RE: Font size? - 5/24/2014 10:05:42 AM   
Osito


Posts: 875
Joined: 5/9/2013
Status: offline 		My eyesight is not great, and I have been critical of the fonts in the past, but I honestly think it's ok at 1920x1200 and at 1920x1080. The sidebar on the left could still be improved, as could the messages at the top of the screen, but that is not a gamebreaking flaw. I think everything else is pretty much ok at those resolutions.

Obviously this is going to vary from person to person, as Spidey has a different experience (and also a solution).

Osito

(in reply to rich12545)
Post #: 9
RE: Font size? - 5/24/2014 10:35:12 AM   
Spidey


Posts: 411
Joined: 12/8/2013
Status: offline 		To be honest, I don't think it's the size of the font as much as the lack of clarity. The anti-aliasing makes it grey on black and the font itself is a bit gnarly to begin with. At 1920x1080 on what I recall to be a 22" monitor, I can read the text if I want to, but I really do have to want to read it and it will cause a headache within 20-30 minutes.

Fortunately, everything displays just fine at down-scaled low res and then I can in fact read stuff casually, without the splitting headaches.

(in reply to Osito)
Post #: 10
RE: Font size? - 5/24/2014 11:09:40 AM   
gldavis

 

Posts: 10
Joined: 1/11/2013
Status: offline 		My eye sight is horrible (I have a genetic eye disease) and I play this game all the time. Since it starts in full screen windowed, I can use the windows built-in magnifier, set to full screen mode (on windows 7 hot key is windows button and the +(keypad). I only need to do this when reading certain windows and pause the game while doing so. The expander button for the info box on the lower right was a welcome addition sometime back, it made that element a whole lot easier to read.

(in reply to Spidey)
Post #: 11
RE: Font size? - 5/24/2014 11:18:14 AM   
Locarnus


Posts: 287
Joined: 5/30/2010
From: Earth, Sol
Status: offline 		If you dont want to change your resolution on your normal desktop, just create a new user, call it DW Timesink and have a different resolution on that profile.

Consider the time to switch users before playing to be an extended loading time for a great niche game...

< Message edited by Locarnus -- 5/24/2014 12:19:24 PM >

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Post #: 12
RE: Font size? - 5/24/2014 11:46:46 AM   
towerbooks3192


Posts: 337
Joined: 8/12/2012
Status: offline 		Not sure if it is a font size issue and I posted this months back in the technical forum. Any way to fix display in windows 8.1? I am having these problems where screens would not display at times despite disabling DPS scaling like on the research tab above would not show % when the percentage is on 2 digits and some words overlap on that tiny screen on the side and I have to expand it.

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et ignobiles oblivio

(in reply to Locarnus)
Post #: 13
RE: Font size? - 5/24/2014 11:57:31 AM   
mbar


Posts: 492
Joined: 3/17/2010
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Locarnus

If you dont want to change your resolution on your normal desktop, just create a new user, call it DW Timesink and have a different resolution on that profile.

Consider the time to switch users before playing to be an extended loading time for a great niche game...


Nice tip, thanks! But +1 for larger text. I was playing the pre-warp tutorial wishing the text was bigger.

(in reply to Locarnus)
Post #: 14
RE: Font size? - 5/24/2014 12:31:33 PM   
Spidey


Posts: 411
Joined: 12/8/2013
Status: offline 		Another way to fix the resolution is 12noon Display Changer, which is very non-invasive and temporarily changes resolution off a shortcut without messing up the desktop. And once you quit DW, the resolution goes back to what it used to be automatically. I'm not sure it's "better" than a new user account, but at least it lets you keep having full access to everything else on your system with minimal issues.

(in reply to mbar)
Post #: 15
RE: Font size? - 5/24/2014 12:42:23 PM   
PaulWRoberts

 

Posts: 897
Joined: 4/22/2001
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Spidey

Another way to fix the resolution is 12noon Display Changer, which is very non-invasive and temporarily changes resolution off a shortcut without messing up the desktop. And once you quit DW, the resolution goes back to what it used to be automatically. I'm not sure it's "better" than a new user account, but at least it lets you keep having full access to everything else on your system with minimal issues.


Can you tell me how this works? I downloaded but I'm afraid it's not intuitive.

EDIT: Ah, I found some documentation online. Unfortunately, it won't change DPI, which is what I really want to do.

< Message edited by Paul Roberts -- 5/24/2014 1:50:17 PM >

(in reply to Spidey)
Post #: 16
RE: Font size? - 5/24/2014 2:31:21 PM   
OzoneGrif_slith


Posts: 378
Joined: 12/2/2010
Status: offline
quote:

One of the amazingly great features of Universe is the ability to now tailor the popups.

The popup system is flawed though, because when two popups appear at the same time, the first one is removed. The game should stack popups. Unless that's done, popups will remain dangerous to trust.

< Message edited by OzoneGrif -- 5/24/2014 3:31:55 PM >

(in reply to PaulWRoberts)
Post #: 17
RE: Font size? - 5/24/2014 8:13:18 PM   
CyclopsSlayer


Posts: 583
Joined: 2/11/2012
Status: offline 		@1920x1080 I have to lean into the screen to see some features. But even with my nose on the screen it is hard to clearly make out the Tech completion percentages.

(in reply to OzoneGrif_slith)
Post #: 18
RE: Font size? - 5/24/2014 10:07:56 PM   
Darkspire


Posts: 1986
Joined: 6/12/2003
From: My Own Private Hell
Status: offline 		I run a program called Magnifier on a second monitor, works fine with DW and makes reading things a lot easier, you can scale the size of the magnified screen, scale the zoom etc. Just move the mouse pointer over the magnifier to bring up the options.

Magnifier

Darkspire

Main screen with zoom



Main screen with zoom options brought up on the second



_____________________________

Darkspires's File Repository

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Post #: 19
RE: Font size? - 5/24/2014 10:20:26 PM   
PaulWRoberts

 

Posts: 897
Joined: 4/22/2001
Status: offline 		I do think gray-on-black is part of the problem.

If the game is much more moddable now, does that include fonts and display colors?

(in reply to Darkspire)
Post #: 20
RE: Font size? - 5/25/2014 3:14:48 AM   
rich12545

 

Posts: 1705
Joined: 10/31/2000
From: Palouse, WA
Status: offline 		I play SPWW2 and SPMBT. Great games. At 1920x1080 I can barely see the font. So I play at 1024x768 and it works fine. But this is a windows conversion of an old dos game. I'm thankful to be playing it at all.

Distant Worlds is a new game. Really, it's the dev's responsibility to provide fonts that are easily readable at popular resolutions. It's not up to players to try to find a fix. Apparently this is nothing new. The dev has been aware of the problem and it still exists. Looks like a nice game but I guess I'll pass. I want to get enjoyment from a game, now anxiety. Thanks to everybody for your answers. You just saved me $50.

(in reply to PaulWRoberts)
Post #: 21
RE: Font size? - 5/25/2014 10:58:09 AM   
DrWolfsherz


Posts: 16
Joined: 6/1/2013
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Paul Roberts
I do think gray-on-black is part of the problem.


THIS! On Wide-Gamut Screens it is horrible!
Please let us change the font-colour. This would actually help a LOT!

(in reply to PaulWRoberts)
Post #: 22
RE: Font size? - 5/25/2014 11:09:01 AM   
Bingeling

 

Posts: 5186
Joined: 8/12/2010
Status: offline 		Readability depends on screen size, resolution, distance to screen, eyesight...

There was a nice little post on the Steam forum by Rakilonn, but I am not sure how to link there. Anyways:

quote:

How To : Improve the fonts (Windows 7)
Fonts in the game appear to be affected by ClearType (which is not so surprising).

So to improve how the fonts are displayed go to Start -> Control panel -> Display -> Ajust ClearType text

And select what you like the most.

Here are 2 screenshots made with differents ClearType settings at 1920x1200
http://i.cubeupload.com/11nHQq.png


From the screenshot it seems to help quite a bit.

(in reply to DrWolfsherz)
Post #: 23
RE: Font size? - 5/25/2014 11:41:51 AM   
Osito


Posts: 875
Joined: 5/9/2013
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: elliotg

We've attempted to improve this in several areas: The Selection Panel at bottom-left can be enlarged, the Research screen has larger text, the Empire Summary screen is clearer, etc.

Admittedly some of the text might still be small for some.

We're willing to try and improve this further though, if there's specific places where players feel the need for bigger text.

Thanks
Elliot



I find the fonts ok at 1920x1200, but they could be improved.

I think the parts that need most work are:

1 the toolbar running down the left hand side (and the information that pops out when you click on the toolbar);
2 The message log at the top of the screen; and
3 The cashflow information at the top right.

Thanks,

Osito

(in reply to elliotg)
Post #: 24
RE: Font size? - 5/25/2014 10:29:27 PM   
Lego

 

Posts: 1
Joined: 5/25/2014
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: towerbooks3192

Not sure if it is a font size issue and I posted this months back in the technical forum. Any way to fix display in windows 8.1? I am having these problems where screens would not display at times despite disabling DPS scaling like on the research tab above would not show % when the percentage is on 2 digits and some words overlap on that tiny screen on the side and I have to expand it.

I have the same problem and with a resolution of 2880x1800 fonts are absolutely tiny in some places.

(in reply to towerbooks3192)
Post #: 25
RE: Font size? - 5/26/2014 1:02:01 AM   
Ohsirus

 

Posts: 1
Joined: 5/26/2014
Status: offline 		Please FIx the Fonts, as everyone has noted they are wayy too little and I can't enjoy a good play thru from all the squinting.

(in reply to Lego)
Post #: 26
RE: Font size? - 5/26/2014 1:16:25 AM   
Franky007


Posts: 133
Joined: 3/10/2005
Status: offline 		If i am not mistaken, the font (xnb files) are Binary data file created with XNA Game Studio Express.
These are Bitmap fonts.
I tried to find tools to edit them, but without success!
Maybe Elliot could give us a hint on how to edit them?

(in reply to Ohsirus)
Post #: 27
RE: Font size? - 5/26/2014 2:51:31 AM   
FireLion1983

 

Posts: 149
Joined: 4/18/2014
Status: offline 		I upped my fonts from small to medium in windows and the galactopedia and research button have adjusted, but I think that's it.

(in reply to Franky007)
Post #: 28
RE: Font size? - 5/26/2014 5:04:51 AM   
zakblood


Posts: 22687
Joined: 10/4/2012
Status: offline 		something to try and works also in windows 8.1

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3617868

altering the font size that is :)

(in reply to FireLion1983)
Post #: 29
RE: Font size? - 5/26/2014 7:45:26 AM   
Garravesh

 

Posts: 3
Joined: 5/26/2014
Status: offline 		Just purchased the game last night from STEAM.

After 20 minutes or so I was suffering a headache and eye strain from all that squinting.

The FONT, for me, is too small.


Places like your MONEY9top right side), and the reports box on the top of the screen are just plain painful to try and look at.


Many pleasant folks have recommended changing fonts, lowering resolution but to no real success.


I would recommend increasing the font size by about 20% in those specific areas or better yet all around.


The bottom left hand corner has a box you can increase in size..that is splendid.

(in reply to rich12545)
Post #: 30
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