Bigger fonts mod
 

Its not the best, have some glithes but it works:

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/5192/biggerfonts.jpg



GO to folder: The Camo Workshop\WinSPWW2\Game Data\Fonts

Back up SPFONT4 file, and delete it, copy SPFONT6 file,
Rename "Copy of SPFONT6" file to SPFONT4

:)

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

Is that going to "bleed" over when you have screens with more information showing in the menu bar area?

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

There are few glitches but nothing game breaking. It enlarges only few types of text, not all.

Makes easier to see casualties message, which is great for me.

I could make better fitting-looking font, but I have no idea what is Steel Panthers .dat font and how to make it.

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

SP font's start out as grids with the appropriate characters entered in each box in the correct order then converted to a data file with a DOS based program we are still trying to locate.

It certainly isn't a prefect solution ( the screen shot displayed shows it at it's best, other screens ..not so good but still readable.

However, given the problem is limited to a few people if it works for you.....go for it.

I will note this down for later. Changing that particular screen you show to that font might be doable.

Don

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

That is GREAT. I can't thank you enough.

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

Try this, you will find it still gives a bigger font for the screens you are having trouble with but it's less bold and in some ways a bit less intrusive.

Create a new subfolder of FONTS and copy ALL the ORIGINAL font files in there as back up. Name that folder "Original Fonts"

Create another sub folder of fonts. Name unimportant, and copy SPFONT1.dat into it then rename it SPFONT4.dat then copy that to the original FONT folder

Don

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

Yep, I see what you mean. Sharper and not so bold. It is better. Thank you.

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

Just for fun, try this one I just built. It's an intermediate font half way in size between the existing SPFONT4 and SPFONT1 which will give you a slightly bigger font on a lot of screens without any bleed over

Don

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

Ok I tried it and prefer your original SPFONT1 replacement. There is some bleed over in the scenario description but I just read around it.

For me this font is just right. Maybe for the next patch there will be a way to make the window bigger with this font but in the meantime, as far as I'm concerned, the problem is solved.

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

OK....... HUMOUR me here.

It took me 6 hours to get the Getfont DOS program to work on my win95 box copying files back and forth on a 3.5 floppy yesterday so while I've got it fresh in my mind ...........

The attached version adds one pixel of width to many of the characters which I think makes that font bigger and more readable and still keeps it from bleeding into places it shouldn't. This one will probably be a new spfont5.dat for the next version used to increase font sizes in some screens but that all depends on how it works out in testing

To give a comparison the first scenario in MBT is titled "WinSPMBT Tutorial Scenario"


In the stock spfont4.dat that title is 123x7 pixels wide and high on screen

The one I sent yesterday is 123x8 pixels wide and high on screen

This one is 130x8 pixels wide and high on screen

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

Attached is a further refinement. This one spaces the fonts one pixel further apart on numbers, most capitols and lower case vowels. The overall effect is less crowding of the letters making the text a bit easier to read.

This version will make "WinSPMBT Tutorial Scenario" 145x8 pixels wide and high on screen which is about 17% wider and 14% taller than the original font. So far the only place this doesn't quite fit as a replacement for spfont4 is in the preference screen when you get more than 9999 points so this font does most of what using spfont1 does as a replacement without 99% of the problems.

If anyone other than the two(2) guys who have complained the fonts on those screens are too small could give me some feedback on how this looks to people who DO NOT have a problem reading the existing fonts I would appreciate it.

Make a copy of your existing font folder then extract this one to the original FONTS folder. Play the game for awhile then let me know if this seems too big or hard to read or what ever. If you like it, Great.... let me know and you can leave it in, if you don't like it, that's fine, let me know anyway ( we need the feedback )then copy the original spfont4.dat from your back up folder into the FONTS folder and that will restore the original.

I am not planning at this time of replacing spfont4 with this ( for those confused by all this spfont4 is used , among many other places, to display the scenario names , once you put this in you instantly see where the old one was used ). As of now this is intended to be a new font we could use on some screens so FEEDBACK IS IMPORTANT now rather than later. However, there MAY be people who find this more pleasing to read than the standard so once again ----FEEDBACK IS IMPORTANT.


Don

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

Don, this is the best yet. Could be a shade larger but still very readable, no problem. It also enlarged the font in some windows like hq and encyclopedia where the other one didn't (I'm not sure why that difference). Anyhow I'll be using this one. Thank you for your continued work on this.

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

If they were any larger they would be spfont1

The original is a 7 pixel font without an "engraved" shadow
SPfont1 is a 9 pixel font WITH an "engraved" shadow
This last one is an 8 pixel font without an "engraved" shadow


I've built other versions that are variations on earlier tests that are "engraved" with a shadow line . The effect of that on the version you like is to make it closer to spfont1 and with all it's disadvantages on many screens becasue the shadow adds width to the font. I've tried other version with the shadow using the first two tests and they fit the game better and space the letters a bit further apart but the end result isn't as readable becasue of the shadow. However, on some backgrounds and in some cases the shadow is desirable and adds a nice effect to the font but not all cases so I've tucked those away for possible limited use.

I will try a version of spfont1 wihout the engraved shadow and see how that looks but for most screens 9 pixels is not really as good a choice for a limited replacement of spfont4 as the last 8 pixel example I provided is

Don

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

OK..... attached is a version of SPFONT1.dat set up as spfont4.dat without the shadow line and this would be of use to someone who just HAS to have a bigger font for most of these screens

In some ways this one works better on the preferences screen than the last example but for the scenario list it tends to pile the scenario names on top of one another so I would normally reject if for use on that screen. However, it does look good in the HQ menu screen so I may end up naming it SPFONT9.dat and using it for that in the next version of the game.


Don

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

This little bit extra is better and I think it's now as good as it's going to get. I really appreciate this.

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

Other than the overlap in the scenarios list, the only other thing I noticed was in purchase and deployment where the units, formations, mines/DT/trench/BW, and remaining air strikes information at the bottom has the titles overrunning the numbers.

The font looks fine to me but then I never had any problems with the old font either. If I notice anything else over the next couple weeks I'll post it.

This is in windowed mode using (full screen) desktop resolution 1600x900 with the CD version and the font from SPFONT4v3.zip.

Brian

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

Just noticed at long campaign creation, difficulty level hardest description no longer fits in the box.

Brian

PS: the 0/-5/-10/-20 % repair point normal, hard, harder, hardest progression is too insignificant a progression for experienced players. I'm pretty sure I'd have plenty of repair points left over to buy an occasional extra 750 support points even at -50% repair points. It'd be nice if that difficulty selection also affected the rate at which units gained experience.

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

Been away is it still the font in post 11 you want feedback on or would you prefer it on one from a later post? Off topic a bit but also something occured to me the other day seems strange that windows taskbar on autohide mucks up Desktop Display Mode when I have several other things that dock & act like it without causing any problems whatsoever. Probably most common is Winamp which hides very inteligently so guessing its because microsoft dont impliment it properly. Right off topic if your still using Windows media player people stop its rubbish virtually any free player is better Winamp the afformentioned for example works far better & puts less of a load on your computer meaning SP plays smoothly.

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

Just to give a feedback:
SPFONT4v3.zip works best for me.
SPFONT4v4.zip is too large.

Tested Windowed Mode at 1280x768.

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

SPFONT4v3.zip is best for me also.
It fits best into the available space without overlapping.
I play with 1280x1024.

Tanks for that mod!:up:

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

Yes, many thanks for this mod. Much better than standard font.
Probably you can include the font as a standard in the next patch.

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

My feedback is that I prefer version 3 of the font. Version 4 is too big on the scenario screen as you say, and even on the other ones I think it looks uglier. I run at desktop resolution which is 1600x900 for me. I was originally very discouraged because the text was so small it was almost unreadable to my mature eyes.

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

There will not be a change to the game this time around for those fonts. To do this "right" requires extensive adjustments to the placement of the text on screen and we had too much on our plates this time around to deal with an issue near and dear to only 3 or 4 dozen players so if you have installed the fix when the new patch is extracted you will keep those same altered fonts you DLed

However, next year we will be doing some reorganization of the game screens and those new fonts and the required changes to the code will be included


Don

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

This mod is a very good short-term solution to let us wait with comfort for a better one in future.

PS. As always I'm waiting curiously for the changelog.

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

v3 is more beautiful, but I use v4 as it is more readable on my monitor.
I use a 1920x1080, but 21.5" only, so I set DPI to 144 ('normal'+50%)
640x480 non-combat screens are really small on my monitor..

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

So in this post, did "next year" refer to the 2013 update v6?

Re: Bigger fonts mod
 

It is on the list for this year and so are a lot of other things and I hope to get them all done....... if not, you have this temp mod