buggnubg - Bugs: bug #46604, Using larger fonts on Windows...

 
 

bug #46604: Using larger fonts on Windows machines (including Windows 10)

Submitter:  Tom Martin <tom_martin>
Submitted:  Fri 04 Dec 2015 08:43:31 PM UTC
   
 
Originator Name:  Tom Martin Item Group:  * Other bug
Category:  * Graphical User Interface Release:  * 1.00 - 1.05Pre
Privacy:  Public Operating System:  * Win 8.1
Severity:  3 - Normal Open/Closed:  Open
Assigned to:  None Priority:  5 - Normal
Status:  None
* Mandatory Fields

Add a New Comment Rich Markup
   

Thu 10 Dec 2015 12:56:14 AM UTC, comment #2: 

I may have made Winaero Tweaker seem like a bear of a program to use.  For GNUBG just use its Message Font feature.  It's very easy and avoids the below complications.

 Tom Martin <tom_martin>
Tue 08 Dec 2015 09:24:54 PM UTC, comment #1: 

I've discovered a small problem with the Winaero Tweaker I recommended.  If you use it for anything that has a size setting (scrollbars, title bars, menus, etc.), once you reboot or logoff/logon that setting will get increased by the amount of scaling that Windows normally does for your PC.  So if the size was 60, it will change to 90 if you have 150% scaling.  The workaround is to set the size low enough that it's increased to the proper size (e.g. use 40 so that it's 60 after logging on later).  Even if you don't touch the size settings, changing the fonts for anything with a size setting (title bars, menus, icons) will cause the above behavior.

Automatic scaling is something Microsoft has been struggling with for years and I want to clarify a couple things I wrote in my initial post.  First, there are two levels of scaling that can happen.  You can disable the more advanced version (internally known as "DPI virtualization") by changing the executable setting as I described.  But the scaling introduced with XP will always occur since there seems to be no problems with that method since its scope is modest. 

When initially implemented in Vista the newer scaling produced fuzzy displays on 120 DPI screens so MS turned it off by default.  Beginning with 8.1 it was turned on for displays of greater than 120 DPI (125%) and for Windows 10 it's now on for anything above 100% (96 DPI).  So if you're now on Windows 10 and things look fuzzy in places, you may want to disable scaling for those applications. 

One complication I've heard about is if you import a custom theme.  I've read that these retain the scaling settings in use when they were created.  If this is a problem for you, just create a new theme.

Finally, note that the scaling of the 2D backgammon board makes it smaller than usual on many machines, so disabling it gets you a bigger board.

These workarounds seem adequate but it might not be too difficult to programmatically resolve.  The "DPI aware" flag needs to be set and the icons enlarged for high-resolution displays.

 Tom Martin <tom_martin>
Fri 04 Dec 2015 08:43:31 PM UTC, original submission:  

Although this is a continuation of the notes in #41877, I created a new entry since this is an issue for all Windows machines beyond XP. I think this describes everything you need to know to use a different font without making GNUBG go crazy.

As described in the initial entry, the text of GNUBG can be hard to read due to the size of the default Windows font.  Microsoft no longer provides a way to change this but at least one utility is available that will do so.  For Windows 10, the Windows 8 Font Changer utility no longer works and you'll need to use the Winaero Tweaker or some other utility.

One advantage of using this tool is that you can change the type of font as well as its size.  The number of available fonts seems to have been drastically reduced in Windows 10 but there are still a few fonts available with serifs and you can always install others.

Cambria 10 initially worked well but it caused GNUBG to occasionally hang up when scrolling through a saved game.  The problem is that Windows does not know how to properly scale text that's significantly different than the system default.  It enlarges the icons very well but whatever it does with the text causes GNUBG to hang up.

This scaling occurs automatically for all high resolution screens.  You can check this via Settings/System/Display.  If it says something higher than 100% you can override it for individual programs by right-clicking on the executable, selecting Properties then Compatibility, then checking "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings".  Once you restart GNUBG all should be well except that the icons on its third line will be smaller since no scaling is occurring.  If this is unacceptable you'll need to select a smaller font size that Windows scaling can handle.

Similarly if no scaling was being done or GNUBG still malfunctions even after disabling it you'll need to use a smaller font.  But you're unlikely to have a problem with scaling out of the picture.

 Tom Martin <tom_martin>

 

(Note: upload size limit is set to 16384 kB, after insertion of the required escape characters.)

Attach Files:
   
   
Comment:
   

No files currently attached

 

Depends on the following items: None found

Items that depend on this one: None found

 

Carbon-Copy List
  • -email is unavailable- added by tom_martin (Submitted the item)

    •  

    There are 0 votes so far. Votes easily highlight which items people would like to see resolved in priority, independently of the priority of the item set by tracker managers.

    Only logged-in users can vote.

     

    No changes have been made to this item

    Back to the top

    Copyright © 2024 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
    Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.
    The Levitating, Meditating, Flute-playing Gnu logo is a GNU GPL'ed image provided by the Nevrax Design Team.
    Page source code

    Powered by Savane 3.14-f13d.
    Corresponding source code