In-game UI so large that it is unusable

[mjk-gh]

While the lobby UI is scalable, the in-game UI does not seem to be (I tried various in-game window configs in the lobby ("Borderless", "Fullscreen", ...) to no avail). Every icon and menu is so ridiculously large that it renders the game practically unusable. That includes the loading screen (where some progress is shown in the lower middle, like "Finalizing models" etc.). See image attached at the end of this bug report -- which ironically shows the "Accessibility" tab being ... drumroll ... inaccessible. 🤦‍♂️️

Software:

• Current BAR AppImage v1.1861.0
• Devuan (Chimaera = current stable version), 64 bit
• Xorg X server: package "xorg"/"xserver-xorg": 1:7.7+22, package "xserver-xorg-core": 2:1.20.11-1+deb11u6
• fvwm3 1.0.5
• $ xdpyinfo | grep dots resolution: 96x96 dots per inch

Hardware:

• Ryzen 5 2400G with Radeon Vega Graphics
• Monitor with 1200 x 1920 (portrait orientation)

[badosu]

On settings -> interface there's a ui scale slider.

If you can't find it normally, you can try /option uiscale 0.8 on chat

[mjk-gh]

Thanks for the hint, but that slider (residing in the tab "Lobby") only changes the lobby UI scaling, the game UI stays unchanged.

[badosu]

I don't understand, I'm talking about the settings widget.

In case the settings widget is inaccessible please try typing in chat in-game /option uiscale 0.8 (maybe try lower levels)

[WatchTheFort]

@mjk-gh Badosu is referring to the in-game settings, whose button is visible in the upper right corner of your screenshot. On the graphics tab, there is a slider for interface scale, try and see if adjusting that solves your issue.

[badosu]

In any manner, would be interesting to try and replicate this environment to better detect and set scale configurations.

[mjk-gh]

@WatchTheFort Aaaah, now I understand! Well ... the graphics tab is invisible (and its content only partially visible), that's why I did not try any sliders in it.

After hitting Enter, /option uiscale 0.5, Enter, much of the in-game UI scaled down to a more usable level.

However, there are many things that seem unimpressed by the uiscale command:

• Loading screen (after clicking "Start game" in single-player skirmish mode), so the nice hints are cut off left and right
• In-game:
  • Changes dialog
  • Keys dialog (additional bug: the dialog appears under the build-command(?) icon-matrix on the left)
  • Settings dialog
  • All hover texts (over build-command icon, over stuff in the top menu, ...)

A few screenshots from after the uiscale command:

Loading screen:

In-game, settings dialog:

In-game, keys dialog:

[WatchTheFort]

@Ruwetuin Does anything jump out at you why certain widgets aren't obeying the UI scaling?

[Ruwetuin]

a lot only take screen height into account and expect width is at least a bit wider than height. This way the ui doesnt blow up on ultrawide screens. And nobody plays like the screenshot above.

[mjk-gh]

And nobody plays like the screenshot above. Not if a game looks like this, indeed. ;-)

I know of a few casual gamers with portrait orientated monitors, as that format is perfect for a lot of tasks (editing text, chatting, surfing the web with its forums etc.). Portrait mode is just fine for RTS and various simulation games. The only drawback is that it is not well suited for an FPS, at least not if you are focused on competitive play.

Games like

• Warzone 2100
• Mindustry
• OpenTTD
• 0ad
• Tribal Trouble (you need to fiddle a bit, though, to get this old game to work in a modern linux environment)
• Urban Terror (some texts appear a little stretched, but still readable)
• Unknown Horizons
• and IIRC also a few Spring RTS engine games

work like a charm in portrait mode.

[SethDGamre]

Review requested: should we support portrait orientation?

[WatchTheFort]

@icexuick rmlui might handle this with CSS layouts, but do we plan on supporting portrait orientations?