Font size and resolution

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Font size and resolution

Cpt. Spaulding
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Post by Cpt. Spaulding » Fri Sep 18, 2020 11:16 am

Hi there,
is there any possibility to change the Font size outside of XWA hacker, which is not working for me (don't know why, even admin mode in Win 10 doesn't allow it to work).
I have installed everything according to the actual recommendation and play in 2560x1440 or 3840x2160 resolution and the font res and size is very hard to read (can add a pic of it later).
Is there a hook i can use to adjust it? I know i can adjust it a little bit using the 2D text renderer in ddraw.cfg right? But that didn't solve my problem.
Or is it still recommended to use the additional font.dat that are posted here in the forum (http://www.xwaupgrade.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=11182; but I would assume some improvement of the native font is already implemented in the new effects by Blue Max, Dynamic Cockpits and/or in XWAUCP 1.6)?
Thank you in advance. :)

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blue_max
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Post by blue_max » Fri Sep 18, 2020 5:11 pm

Make sure you've got the new Text Renderer enabled by going to DDraw.cfg and checking that you have "Text2DRendererEnabled = 1".

Then, select a font from your system. Verdana seems to work fine for a lot of people.

Next, try lowering down the in-game resolution (leave your desktop resolution alone). Usually, the lower the in-game resolution, the bigger the font will look. Try 1280x1024 or 1024x768, for instance.

What error message are you getting when using xwahacker?

Cpt. Spaulding
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Post by Cpt. Spaulding » Fri Sep 18, 2020 7:08 pm

Thank you Blue Max. XWA Hacker does not even start. No error message. It's the version 3.2: Also running as admin doesn't help and also not placing the XWA exe in the same folder as the XWA hacker...

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JeremyaFr
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Post by JeremyaFr » Fri Sep 18, 2020 7:14 pm

Did you download the GUI version of XwaHacker?

Cpt. Spaulding
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Post by Cpt. Spaulding » Sat Sep 19, 2020 7:44 pm

Thank you Jeremy! With the GUI version it works (despite the additional options of XWAHacker but i think that are all things that can be solved by the hooks).
Anyhow look at the pic:

https://ibb.co/sRMn5qc

Is that the "normal" look you get of the font at high res (3840x2160 in my case)?

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blue_max
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Post by blue_max » Sun Sep 20, 2020 6:22 pm

Make sure you're got "Text2DRendererEnabled = 1" in your DDraw.cfg.

I think that problem may happen if your in-game resolution is too high (the resolution that you can modify with xwahacker). I think it's better to set the resolution to 1920x1080 with xwahacker and then let the game scale up to your desktop's resolution. Can you take a screenshot of the xwahacker window so that we can see your current settings?

Cpt. Spaulding
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Post by Cpt. Spaulding » Mon Sep 21, 2020 9:29 pm

Thank you Blue Max. My res set in XWAhacker is indeed only 1920x1080 (see pic:https://ibb.co/gDtxSML).
But in game it is currently 3840x2160 as i have set this via the hooks.ini (after the hint of Jeremy). So i think the hook overrides the XWAhacker doesn't it?
So shall i lower it in the hooks.ini as well to 1920x1080? Will the game then still scale up to my desktop's resolution whichg is 3840x2160 (LG B7D TV)?^

Edit: this is how the font looks at 1920x1080 (XWA settings as above but AutRes in hooks now disabled): https://ibb.co/k8ccHNq. Still not very sharp or is that normal?

Cpt. Spaulding
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Post by Cpt. Spaulding » Mon Sep 21, 2020 10:01 pm

Think i now resolved it. XWHacker settings are as above (1920x1080), but I re-enabled AutoResolution again, and now it correctly overtook the TV resolution (3840x2160) is very sharp in game and also the FPS however increased.

See here: https://ibb.co/XLXM1cD

Thank you for the support. :)

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blue_max
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Post by blue_max » Mon Sep 21, 2020 10:17 pm

Yes, the settings in hooks.ini override xwahacker, so I would keep in-game resolution to 1920x1080 by disabling AutoResolution in hooks.ini.

To be honest with you, I feel like the font is still a bit small, but if it works for you then that's fine. Would you mind sharing your final settings for the benefit of others that might stumble on this thread?

Cpt. Spaulding
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Post by Cpt. Spaulding » Tue Sep 22, 2020 6:38 am

Hi Blue Max, no problem to share it:

XWA Hacker: Settings as in this pic: https://ibb.co/gDtxSML
Hooks.ini:

Code: Select all

IsAutoResolutionEnabled = 1
ResolutionWidth = 3840
ResolutionHeight = 2160
But I'm again a little bit lost now, that you say font is still too small and i should lower res to 1080p. :? ;)
Wouldn't this result again in this https://ibb.co/k8ccHNq which was not so sharp?
What shall i type in the width and heights in the hooks.ini if i disabled AutRes? Should it be 0 also? So that it should look like that:

Code: Select all

IsAutoResolutionEnabled = 0
ResolutionWidth = 0
ResolutionHeight = 0
?
Will this do the trick to XWAhacker setting res to 1080p and my TV will scale it up to 2160p automatically?
And/or is there any other method to increase the size of the font?
Sorry for the additional questions... :D

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JeremyaFr
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Post by JeremyaFr » Wed Sep 23, 2020 12:44 pm

Cpt. Spaulding wrote:
Tue Sep 22, 2020 6:38 am
What shall i type in the width and heights in the hooks.ini if i disabled AutRes? Should it be 0 also?
Hello,
When AutoRes is disabled, the width and height settings are ignored.

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blue_max
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Post by blue_max » Wed Sep 23, 2020 5:24 pm

Cpt. Spaulding wrote:
Tue Sep 22, 2020 6:38 am
But I'm again a little bit lost now, that you say font is still too small and i should lower res to 1080p. :? ;)
Well, I'm not saying that you should, only that you can make the font bigger -- if that's what you want. If you're happy with your current setup, then you can keep it.
Will this do the trick to XWAhacker setting res to 1080p and my TV will scale it up to 2160p automatically?
Yes, if you have the in-game resolution set to 1920x1080, then it should automatically scale up to whatever you're using as display. However, now that I know that you're using a TV, I'm afraid that your font may not look so sharp when scaled (which was probably the original problem).

If you want to test other font sizes, you can *decrease* the in-game resolution in xwahacker. For instance, try restoring the default 1280x1024 resolution settings and use that one. Just make a backup copy of your XWA directory first in case you want to go back. Like I said, if you're happy with your current settings, then, by all means, feel free to keep them :)

Cpt. Spaulding
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Post by Cpt. Spaulding » Wed Sep 23, 2020 9:35 pm

Thank you! Now tested it with disabled auto resolution and it’s a further improvement. Think I will keep it or maybe go to the golden middle of it meaning 1440p. ;)

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