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[Justin Hopewell]

Hey there. I know there's a few posts about font sizes already, but after reading them, I'm still having trouble understanding what I need to do to to increase the font size.

I have a bit of an odd setup. I've been using my 65" TV as my computer monitor for several years and occasionally run into an issue where font sizes in games are just way too small to read from my couch. I can usually mitigate this by lowering the resolution of a game until everything is readable enough.

For reference, I'm currently running Windows 8 with resolution set to 1600x900.

Within the options in Cogmind, I only have three font choices, 12pt Cogmind, 14pt Cogmind, and 12pt Crisp (plus two unavailable 10 pt sizes). In one of the other posts here, I saw something about lowering the map sizes down, then restarting the game, which would open up some larger font sizes. However I tried lowering the map sizes down to 50 and 50, restarting, and I still have the same 12/14/12 font sizes, with no new options.

I'd like to play the game in fullscreen, with bigger fonts, but if I have to play in windowed mode to get larger fonts I'm willing to do that also.

What can I do to increase the font sizes?

Thanks,
Justin

[Kyzrati]

Cogmind's standard fonts can certainly be tough read at a distance, depending on how the pixels translate to your TV.

With 900p the largest font you'll be able to use in a fullscreen setup is size 14. It's limited by your resolution.

A popular alternative that seems to be working for many with readability issues is to use the fonts coming with Alpha 2, which have been pre-released here. There are six additional size 14 fonts there, some of which are likely more readable than what you currently have available.

So while you won't be able to increase the size above 14 (for that you'd need a higher resolution screen--1080p would give you two extra sizes, 16 and 18), you can increase the readability of what's there. (A 900p screen is one of the more unfortunate intermediate resolutions because it has enough area to fit a full size 15 font, but all fonts and tilesets are even-width only.)

My suggestion is to download and install those fonts as instructed, delete your /user/cogmind.cfg file, start up the game which will automatically calculate the largest font size and optimal map dimensions, then you can switch to one of the other new size 14 fonts in the options menu and see if that helps. Let me know!

[Justin Hopewell]

Those new fonts were just big and readable enough to let me play, though I still had to squint a bit. I understand its a limitation that probably isn't solvable due to the way the game was built.

Seems like a very cool game. I'll probably just have to wait until I set this thing back up on a desk to really get deep into it.

Thanks for the help and the quick responses today, and good luck with the game.

[Kyzrati]

The UI (and by extension even the mechanics!) is designed to require a minimum grid size, so the range of "acceptable configurations" can vary wildly by player depending on personal preferences and hardware.

Cogmind will continue to expand and improve for up to another year, so hopefully you'll have a suitable setup by then. (That said, I'm also always willing to give refunds to anyone who wants one!)

[Kyzrati]

Justin: Today I had an idea which I could use to make your fonts a bit larger. You'd lose the crisp quality of both the text and sprites (are you using sprites?), but who knows, on a TV it honestly might not even be that noticeable.

Want me to put together a quick patch you could try? (It'll probably just take 10 minutes or so.)

[Justin Hopewell]

Sure, I'm willing to give it a shot when I get home from work tonight. Let me know when you have it ready, and thanks!

Edit: Also, I don't know if this is useful to you or not, but it's a 1080P TV. I just lower windows resolution down to 16:9 to make everything more readable.  I'm not super knowledgeable about resolutions,  but I believe a lot of games I play auto adjust the resolution when I play a game, and then switch it back to my windows resolution when I exit the game.

[Kyzrati]

Sorry, you got back to me when it was 1 AM over here

Well, if you can set your desktop resolution to 1080, it will give you a much bigger font than you've been using. (Ideally, to more easily set the right dimensions in this case you'd want to either delete your config file and restart in the new mode, or, to keep any other settings changes you've made, manually edit mapWidth and mapHeight to "0" and fontSet to "AUTO" which recalculates the ideal font and map size for the current resolution.)

Cogmind doesn't detect resolution changes based on output mode--it uses whatever the resolution is at startup. In fact, based on what you've said it's quite possible you'll get much bigger fonts if you follow the above steps and start the game after the TV is already connected (unless that's what you were doing earlier). You should be able to use size 18 fonts on that screen!

In case you'd still prefer to use 900p, I can put together an intermediate font which for that resolution. I'll take care of this shortly (need to finish breakfast first).

[Kyzrati]

Okay, whoops. My bad. I just went to work on this makeshift font and realized it's literally impossible to do the way the engine is set up. There's apparently a good reason I didn't include a 900p-optimized font in the first place :/

However, seeing that your TV is 1080p, as long as your computer reads it as such then using my previously described method should get you a much bigger font! Let me know if you need a more detailed explanation of what needs to be done.

[Justin Hopewell]

Well I actually tried running the game in 1080 after I got the new fonts, but increasing the resolution to 1080 made everything smaller, of course. So when I set it to the largest font size in 1080, it was really about the same size as the largest font in 900.

[Kyzrati]

Thanks for getting back to me.

Everything shouldn't get smaller. The problem is the game currently has no way to detect and readjust to a new resolution without the player either changing the map size manually, using the AUTO/0 settings described earlier, or deleting the config file and letting the game do it itself. Changing to a new resolution and running it on the old settings doesn't work. It needs to be run fresh after the new 1080p is set, and you'll definitely get much larger fonts--you might very well still find the new ones small, but they'll be 28.5% larger than what you had. Sorry it's not so straightforward as it is in most games, but they use GPU scaling and Cogmind does not, which makes it a little more complicated in this case. I will try to find a solution eventually.

Well I actually tried running the game in 1080 after I got the new fonts,

Did you follow the steps to reset the config after doing this? And if so, is your TV set as the primary desktop/output device? (That's another requirement, since the library used cannot identify secondary monitors.)

[guest353]

[EDIT] Scrolled down the forums, read a random post, it made sense. DPI scaling was screwing things up a bit. Disabled that for Cogmind, new realms of possibility open up

I use a 42" TV for my PC screen, complicated even further by running AMD's VSR so processing 1440p but displaying 1080p.

Font 14/X11B is the only real acceptable font whereby it is in Windowed mode, readable and Cogmind fits all on one screen with standard gaps either side so I can watch what's happening below.

I have also had to set the Map to 80 wide by 50 tall to facilitate this.

Disappointingly the Crisp font isn't accessible at Size 14. It is by far the most easily readable font for me and my situation.

[Kyzrati]

Hm, thank you for the information. That's two reports of DPI scaling still being an issue after Alpha 1b, even after supposedly addressing the issue as Microsoft says it should be :/

About the Crisp font, and others, due to pixel ratios, unfortunately not all fonts are available at all sizes, because they would be distorted and look bad.

Crisp could theoretically be provided at all sizes (as could all fonts), but it would no longer be "crisp" because it would appear fuzzy, as in the attached image (a size 14 conversion of Crisp). Or would you actually prefer that anyway? (I could make one for you.)

[guest353]

Hm, thank you for the information. That's two reports of DPI scaling still being an issue after Alpha 1b, even after supposedly addressing the issue as Microsoft says it should be :/

About the Crisp font, and others, due to pixel ratios, unfortunately not all fonts are available at all sizes, because they would be distorted and look bad.

Crisp could theoretically be provided at all sizes (as could all fonts), but it would no longer be "crisp" because it would appear fuzzy, as in the attached image (a size 14 conversion of Crisp). Or would you actually prefer that anyway? (I could make one for you.)

I'll have to get back to you on that one

After setting Cogmind's .exe to disable DPI scaling I had to go in and change settings. Now I'm using 20/All Caps and 90x50 map size.

At this moment in time I'd probably go for a size 22 font but considering I only picked up Cogmind yesterday it deserves some practice and customising before I just right in and request some personalisation

[Kyzrati]

Oh right, once you get around the automatic DPI scaling it should fit a much bigger font for your resolution. Size 22 is an odd one, since it would be for 1320p, when there's already a size 24 for 1440p.

[guest353]

Oh right, once you get around the automatic DPI scaling it should fit a much bigger font for your resolution. Size 22 is an odd one, since it would be for 1320p, when there's already a size 24 for 1440p.

I get options from size 12/Cogmind through to 20/Cased with 2 size 10 options greyed out. No option for size 24.

[Kyzrati]

It's limited by the resolution you start up in, and your current map dimension settings.

If you can start in 1440p fullscreen (not windowed), size 24 is available. You can also erase your map dimensions from the config file and the game will optimize them automatically for that case. Again, assuming the default display resolution is 1440p.

Sizes go all the way up to 48 if you have a 2880p monitor

[PuercoPop]

Are there any plans to allow larger font sizes on lower resolution. It really strains my eyes to plain in less than 18 pts

[Kyzrati]

There haven't been, but I may create an alternative mode that slightly increases the character size even on lower resolutions by reducing on-screen information. Note that this theoretical mode would also significantly reduce interface usability--certain actions would become more tedious or even impossible. Very much not sure about that mode yet, but it's something I promise to at least explore before 1.0.

In the meantime, remember to try the alternative fonts since some are more readable than others (the default is actually less readable, selected purely because it's the most thematic).

[Noetherian]

I am very new to Cogmind. I am playing on a Windows 7 Laptop with 1600 x 900 resolution.

The game is essentially unplayable with the default 14pt Cogmind font due to eye strain.

I changed the font to 14pt Dina and the game is playable, but only barely.

I would definitely appreciate it if (sometime between now and 1.0) you looked into whether it is possible to make the interface work with a bit less on-screen information and slightly larger text sizes.

[Kyzrati]

Thank you for commenting.

I am certainly considering it, probably to be explored sooner rather than later (I raised its priority just this morning). If it is at all possible it will be done!

For now all I can suggest to help, if even alternative fonts don't suffice, is to use a larger screen when possible. 900px happens to be the most unfortunate resolution because it's technically large enough for a size 15 font, but fonts must be an even dimension so it gets dropped to 14. 960px is where size 16 becomes available, and then of course the sizes go all the way up to 36 (higher is possible, but no one's approached me with a monitor exceeding 2160px, yet ).