screen magnifier

DRG · #1 January 23rd, 2015, 01:44 PM

The next patch ( yes, there will be another patch released this year for both games...) contains further changes that make screens easier to read. This was accomplished by increasing the contrast between the text and the background and it sounds simple enough but it makes a BIG difference especially after using the changes for awhile then loading a version of the game without the changes

so THIS

becomes THIS

I cannot read anything on any screen WITHOUT my glasses unless the fonts are at leastTHIS BIG and the old screens worked for me but these ones definitely work better and we hope they will work better for everyone else as well but out of curiosity I looked at the Magnifier tool that is included with win8.1 and what follows *MAY* apply to other version of the magnifier but IDK..... but they do apply to anyone running the game with win8.1 who may still have difficulty reading the text on some screens.

The first step is setting it up. If it's not set up correctly it won't work correctly

1/ Press the windows key and '+'....... that turns Magnifier ON. You can move the Icon that appears to wherever make you happiest on the screen. I put it at the bottom right

2/ Click on the OPTIONS Icon and set the "how much the view changes" slider to 100%. This is important to maintain a clear font.

3/ While in Options set Tracking to "Follow the mouse pointer" and click OK at the bottom of the screen. It would be MOST EXCELLENT if Microsoft added a "Centre on screen" option as well but they don't ( but it would be very handy with this game ). NOW SET "VIEWS" TO FULL SCREEN

4/ Start either winSPMBT or winSPWW2. You can have Magnifier on or off when starting the game. To turn it ON see 1/ above. To turn it off at any time in game or not, simply press the window key and ESC on your keyboard.

5/ The secret to making this work well with the game is setting the "how much the view changes" slider to 100% AND putting your cursor IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SCREEN when you use the function and this is why I say it would be nice to have a "center on screen" option

6/ With Magnifier set up like this you can zoom in and out but pressing the Windows key and either '+' or '-' and if the cursor is in the middle of the screen anyone can double the size of the screens in the example above with a quick press of two keys on the keyboard and they will fill your screen. You can also do it while playing if you like

cbreedon · #2 January 23rd, 2015, 06:38 PM

A thank you from us old guys :-)

scorpio_rocks · #3 January 23rd, 2015, 10:04 PM

Just to clarify:

The windows magnifier also works like this under Win 7

RightDeve · #4 January 24th, 2015, 09:19 AM

THERE IS going to be a PATCH this year???????

Dion · #5 January 24th, 2015, 08:52 PM

New patches are always appreciated! Lets just hope it doesn't require a patch to fix the patch, like the last one.

DRG · #6 January 25th, 2015, 11:07 AM

Given the problems that developed were unplanned and , from our POV, minor but we acted on them right away and given that the alternative was to ignore the problem for another year.. or two..... yeah I guess you should hope it doesn't require a patch to fix the patch because only a game crasher would qualify this time around.

But hey, thanks for reminding everyone we fixed a problem instead of ignoring it when ignoring it was definitely an option at the time

Don

Warhero · #7 January 25th, 2015, 02:52 PM

Nice to hear about coming patches

. Don could you reveal what things they will include? Just bug fixes? New OOB/icons? Maybe some game code changes?

Warhero

shahadi · #8 January 25th, 2015, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warhero

Nice to hear about coming patches

. Don could you reveal what things they will include? Just bug fixes? New OOB/icons? Maybe some game code changes?

Warhero

Yeah, I second Warhero, "...game code changes?" are we going to see an AI IFV/AFV that can Opty & Reaction Fire on infantry units?

DRG · #9 January 25th, 2015, 07:43 PM

When we are done doing what we want to do and we've tallied up what's been done and after I've written up the list, I will post it then release the patches, not before . You see more of what we've done with those screenshots than I normally reveal no matter what else has been done. Don't make me regret saying anything. I only brought up the magnifier because I dug into it and it related to the screen changes and GOD HELP anyone who thinks this would be a good time to swamp us with "bright ideas". The code work is already locked down. You may recall we declared a sabbatical after the last release and that was going to be "the plan" but a bit of work here and a bit of work there and this and that and we have enough to make a worthwhile consolation patch

That might be in a month, or two, or three or more..... IDK, a lot of random factors impact that date

Mobhack · #10 January 25th, 2015, 07:53 PM

And please don't derail a thread talking about something completely off-topic for the thread. This thread is about the Windows magnifier - which seems as if it may be a useful device for those of us with old & rheumy eyes.

If you want to discuss something completely different in future - then start a new topic thread for that.

cheers
Andy