Can't read the text

Distant Worlds is a vast, pausable real-time, 4X space strategy game which models a "living galaxy" with incredible options for replayability and customizability. Experience the full depth and detail of large turn-based strategy games, but with the simplicity and ease of real-time, and on the scale of a massively-multiplayer online game. Now greatly enhanced with the new Universe release, which includes all four previous releases as well as the new Universe expansion!

Moderators: Icemania, elliotg

Post Reply
badken
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2010 9:02 pm
Contact:

Can't read the text

Post by badken »

I bought the game today, and I haven't been able to get past the beginning of the tutorial because the text in the game is barely readable. Look at the word "technology" in this screen capture. The letters are pretty much all fuzzy and run together.

Image

I really want to play this game... from all the descriptions I've read it sounds great, but if I can't read the screens, I'm not going to get very far.

My monitor is a SyncMaster P2350, 23" 1920x1080 resolution. I've tried adjusting ClearType settings, but it doesn't seem to help. Running the game at a lower resolution only makes it blurry--the text is about the same size on screen. The minimum it lets me use is 1360x768.

Please provide an option to scale up UI elements at higher resolutions! I don't want my $40 purchase to be a complete waste. :(
User avatar
jfpOne23
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2010 12:41 am

RE: Can't read the text

Post by jfpOne23 »

Hang Tough Ken! If you read some of the other posts on the forum, you will see that there is a plan in place to make the text more readable (many others have mentioned this issue).
User avatar
lordxorn
Posts: 768
Joined: Sun Dec 06, 2009 6:18 am

RE: Can't read the text

Post by lordxorn »

I can read your image just fine.
User avatar
BigWolfChris
Posts: 665
Joined: Wed Mar 31, 2010 4:26 pm
Contact:

RE: Can't read the text

Post by BigWolfChris »

ORIGINAL: lordxorn

I can read your image just fine.

But some aren't blessed with perfect vision, I'm fortunate to be able to read the text within the game fine (running 1920x1200 myself), but some people will find the font and it's size to small or squished together
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X 8 Core @3.7GHz
2x16 GB Vengeance LPX 2666MHz RAM
MSI RTX 2070 Armor 8G
SSD Drive
User avatar
jfpOne23
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2010 12:41 am

RE: Can't read the text

Post by jfpOne23 »

Considering there are so many different font types out there, this one was definitely a bad choice. But at least it's not Red :-)
User avatar
lordxorn
Posts: 768
Joined: Sun Dec 06, 2009 6:18 am

RE: Can't read the text

Post by lordxorn »

I guess your right, I agree though the text could be more user friendly.

I have -4.50 contacts, so if you consider that a blessing, I feel sorry for you. [:D]
badken
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2010 9:02 pm
Contact:

RE: Can't read the text

Post by badken »

Whether you have good vision or not is not an issue. The text is poorly rendered and hard to read. Here's a 2X zoomed version of one line:

Image

It almost looks as if it was rendered at a smaller size and the bitmap was stretched to get smearing that bad. Also, not to be a font dork, but narrow fonts don't work well at small sizes. The uprights in the letters tend to run together so it is more difficult to discern individual letters.

At any rate, thanks @jfpOne23 for the info about a potential fix. I tried searching the forum but could only find a couple of threads regarding the text, one from some beta testers. My search-fu is weak and puny.
User avatar
DivePac88
Posts: 3119
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2008 9:50 pm
Location: Somewhere in the South Pacific.

RE: Can't read the text

Post by DivePac88 »

[:D]

Image
Attachments
glasses3.jpg
glasses3.jpg (21.13 KiB) Viewed 497 times
Image
When you see the Southern Cross, For the first time
You understand now, Why you came this way
User avatar
JonathanStrange
Posts: 114
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 12:48 am

RE: Can't read the text

Post by JonathanStrange »

Heh. Cruel but heh. I got to get me some of those.
The opinions expressed by JonathanStrange are solely those of JonathanStrange and do not reflect the opinions of Matrix Games, the forum members of Matrix Games, the forum moderators, or JonathanStrange.
User avatar
DivePac88
Posts: 3119
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2008 9:50 pm
Location: Somewhere in the South Pacific.

RE: Can't read the text

Post by DivePac88 »

No seriously this time badken, here is an early post on your subject; http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2414021
Image
When you see the Southern Cross, For the first time
You understand now, Why you came this way
Texashawk
Posts: 208
Joined: Sat Dec 09, 2006 3:50 am

RE: Can't read the text

Post by Texashawk »

For our older gamers, isn't this the Cyberstorm font? :-)
Lifetime "You Magnificent Bastard!" callouts: 5
Lifetime slaps across the face by a female: 2
Lifetime games that hold my attention longer than a month: 3
User avatar
Zakhal
Posts: 1415
Joined: Thu Jan 04, 2001 10:00 am
Location: Jyväskylä, Finland

RE: Can't read the text

Post by Zakhal »

ORIGINAL: DivePac88

[:D]

Image
Another option is to buy big enough screen for 1080p[:D]
Image
"99.9% of all internet arguments are due to people not understanding someone else's point. The other 0.1% is arguing over made up statistics."- unknown poster
"Those who dont read history are destined to repeat it."– Edmund Burke
forsaken1111
Posts: 281
Joined: Tue Mar 30, 2010 6:30 am

RE: Can't read the text

Post by forsaken1111 »

I hate to sound like a jerk or something, but I can read the image you posted just fine. It is perfectly legible in fact. Perhaps you need some sort of corrective lens, or you should run it at a lower resolution so the text is larger and, hopefully, more legible for you?

I don't have perfect vision, but I do have 'normal' 20/20 vision and I can read what you posted fine.
User avatar
ilovestrategy
Posts: 3614
Joined: Sat Jun 11, 2005 8:41 pm
Location: San Diego
Contact:

RE: Can't read the text

Post by ilovestrategy »

I can read it just fine but the font is kind of squished. I had to concentrate a bit to read it and I have 20/20 vision. Good resolution, bad font. 
After 16 years, Civ II still has me in it's clutches LOL!!!
Now CIV IV has me in it's evil clutches!
Image
forsaken1111
Posts: 281
Joined: Tue Mar 30, 2010 6:30 am

RE: Can't read the text

Post by forsaken1111 »

Yeah, maybe the difference is that I run a resolution of 1920x1080 so it looks fine on my monitor but different on yours.
PDiFolco
Posts: 1195
Joined: Mon Oct 11, 2004 8:14 am

RE: Can't read the text

Post by PDiFolco »

ORIGINAL: lordxorn

I can read your image just fine.
What you see depends on *your* res and monitor, not his ... If he has a high res and a small screen he won't read it well !
PDF
vils
Posts: 227
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2002 10:00 am
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

RE: Can't read the text

Post by vils »

Anti-aliasing to teh max, change game profile for the .exe in your graphic card forceware, it should make text and everything else smooth as babyskin ;)

In fact, maximize all setting there, the game stuttering is not caused by the gpu, atleast on my system and i have an old 8800gtx
Take Command! - Lewis E. Lyle
User avatar
Malevolence
Posts: 1801
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2010 11:12 am

RE: Can't read the text

Post by Malevolence »

On my system (1680x1050 on 22" widescreen) the fonts are barely readable in some UI windows. I agree the tutorial, options screen, and bottom left summary boxes are some of the worst areas for me to read. GALACTOPEDIA text was actually quite easy to read (the main text, not the tree view). If you look at the screen shots in the manual, you can see how hazy the text comes out. It actually looks like that on my screen.

I also note that tables (like colonies, designs, etc.) don't allow you to adjust column width. The cursor flashes as if you can for a split second, but then you can't hold it to adjust.


Nicht kleckern, sondern klotzen!

*Please remember all posts are made by a malevolent, autocratic despot whose rule is marked by unjust severity and arbitrary behavior. Your experiences may vary.
PDiFolco
Posts: 1195
Joined: Mon Oct 11, 2004 8:14 am

RE: Can't read the text

Post by PDiFolco »

ORIGINAL: vils

Anti-aliasing to teh max, change game profile for the .exe in your graphic card forceware, it should make text and everything else smooth as babyskin ;)

In fact, maximize all setting there, the game stuttering is not caused by the gpu, atleast on my system and i have an old 8800gtx
Fine for font fuzziness, but of no use if the issue is sheer small size of a 3 pt character at 1600+ res on a small screen ! [:'(]
The game doesn't eat up GPU anyway, it's 2D [:)]
PDF
User avatar
lordxorn
Posts: 768
Joined: Sun Dec 06, 2009 6:18 am

RE: Can't read the text

Post by lordxorn »



Love your sig picture ilovestrategy, my lil bro is emo so I posted it on his FB if you don't mind. lol
Post Reply

Return to “Distant Worlds 1 Series”