Playing on a 4k Monitor

[bigsykedaddy]

Originally Posted by khanable [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

This is 3440x1440, which isn't 4k. Going to assume it's a 34" panel, which doesn't have too dense of a pixel/inch ratio (so UI elements at normal desk-sitting position are probably OK for most people).

People are using the term "4k" when the 4k resolution is really only a part of the problem. I think the issue is going to boil down to pixels/inch of the display and the viewing distance from the display.

The more common situations is as follows (at least as far as I can tell):

1) People using a high resolution with small physical screen size that sit within a meter of the screen (typical desk setup). An example would be a 28" monitor with a native 3840×2160 resolution ("4k"). EQ can absolutely run at that resolution, but the UI elements are very small as the pixels/inch is vastly more dense than a typical 1080p monitor of approximately the same size. Another example would be a baller af gaming laptop with a 15" 4k screen.. having an even more dense pixel/inch ratio (though I suspect the viewing distance would be shorter here, but same concept).

2) People using a 4k TV or other large display (50" or whatever size) at a viewing distance of a few meters. The issue here is more about the UI being small due to distance, rather than physical screen size. People sitting about a meter (typical desk settings) from a 43" with this resolution probably don't have too much of a problem with the UI elements.

There isn't really a 1-size fits all solution to this, as some pixel/inch ratio and viewing distance combinations may need a 2x UI scale, others may need a 1.5x, etc. I think for 90% of the people out there, using a 2x UI scale is going to be perfectly fine. As someone else pointed out, simply scaling the UI isn't going to solve all the issues. You'll need a larger font. I think the best route to go here is to find an open source clone of Arial and use FontForge to scale it 200% and then manually adjust the kerning, right & left side bearings, ascent, and descent of the font so that it doesn't look like balls (I've started researching this but it is so fucking boring oh my god). The next step, IMO, would be to start scaling the UI elements by 200% - don't have to worry about scaling the actual artwork used in the UI just yet, as the client is smart enough to autoscale them for now (they'll be blurry, but meh). Once that is fully working a revamp of the images used in the UI can be done (and you'll need to update the animations file to make use of the new dimensions).

It's a lot of work, and it's something I've been toying with here and there.. just throwing some more ideas at this discussion.

Yeah in my case I have two 27" monitors that run at 3840 x 2160 so the font is too small. I am also going to work on this when I finally have some free time. I hope I can fix it for those of us who play on monitors at least.