U41 font?

colossalvoids · March 11

Wonder if anyone else sees any differences in font after the update and if that's even intended as it puts pretty heavy strain on eyes, at least on my resolution. Can't upload a SS at the moment so wondering if I'm not alone there for now.

ZOS_GinaBruno · March 11

It is intended, yep. Here's the patch note for reference:

UI Font Rendering
The game now uses a new UI font rendering system. This allows for future improvements to the game and provides small enhancements in some specific situations, such as nameplates and chat bubbles.

Addon creators can find a new tool, slugfont.exe, in the game directory that allows them to update their use of custom fonts to be compatible with the new system. Addons that make use of custom fonts will instead use default fonts until they receive an update, and fonts included with the game will continue to work without requiring an update. Instructions are provided in slugfont_readme.txt.

colossalvoids · March 11

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Hey @colossalvoids. Where are you noticing the change in font?

Hey, pretty much everywhere font is used be it in-game menus, attribute bars, login screen etc.

Read up it's a rendering tool so obviously scaling didn't changed a thing, but overall it looks more "blocky" in a pixelated way, the very edges of the font. Attribute bar wise I'm not sure what else is there to it, as it's really hard to read currently, maybe some font shadow is lacking as it blends in with "reflection" whites there. That's all I'm able to communicate without a proper screenshot.

Cobble123 · March 11

It’s like the washed-out font version linux UI’s use. Blurry as heck.

Veryamedliel · March 11

wish I could see that font change.. but alas.
Stuck waiting for almost 30 min on an email, which doesn't server any purpose as nothing has changed.

Guess I'll just be a good boy and wait..

code65536 · March 11

I don't think they're referring to custom fonts, but rather subtle changes in the rendering itself.

For example, if you pixel-peep at the text on a nameplate, the older text is a bit "fuzzier", whereas the new one is "sharper"; there was a softer anti-aliasing before.

Another good place to compare is when reading a lorebook. The new text appears to have a lighter weight ("weight" in the typographic context is how thin or bold the lines are).

These are all with the default fonts, so nothing to do with addons or custom fonts. Just subtle changes to how the font is rendered by the change in the engine.

ZOS_GinaBruno · March 11

Screenshots would definitely help, if you are able to post them. In the meantime, what resolution are you playing in?

colossalvoids · March 11

So, did looked up recent screenshots for an old looks to compare. Here is how ability / resource bar font was rendered before the upd41:

And after:

Pretty much what @code65536 said.

g0thiCiCecReaM · March 11

The fonts are super hard to read, especially when you use custom UI scaling. I have the scale reduced due to the fact that so many windows cover up so much information, especially when you have your gear open, you can't see what's equipped when also having tooltip comparison windows showing.

1920x1080

I can't read summoned companion names. Changing the scale helps a tiny bit but not much. I wear progressive lenses, when I switch to my normal pair (single vision) for close up reading it actually gets worse (it shouldn't and didn't before). I changed the font size in the chat window just to make it actually readable again in this screenshot. It appears a bunch of people are complaining in zone chat about the font as well this morning.

g0thiCiCecReaM · March 11

Here's another example, the font in the bars and companion was clearly readable before the patch, now it's pixelated.

If you look at the health/stam/magicka bars, those numbers were perfectly fine before the patch, now they're hard to read at all.

You also can't actually read the companion name, you just kinda know what the pattern of the letters looks like to know what is summoned.

The quest tracker font is hard to read (probably due to background and transparency, might not be *as* bad if I had the window a little opaque).

Some of the fonts are ok, but most of them are not.

Aurielle · March 11

Font rendering is fine on my end, unchanged. I have a 1440p monitor.

And here's a screen shot pre-patch:

Font looks identical to me.

supersonic_kitten · March 11

If someone can recommend some font addons it would be great. I didn't have any problem with the default font before, but after the update I noticed the the font has become extremely hard to read for me (I have vision related issues).

For me the issue is that it's extremely sharp and thin. 1920x1080p monitor.

colossalvoids · March 11

A good menu to illustrate annoyance, where you have quite a few progress bars filled up:

Yeah, forgot to mention that it's 1366x768 so on 1080p monitor and higher it won't be an issue most probably, or lesser so.

code65536 · March 11

Aurielle wrote: »

Font rendering is fine on my end, unchanged. I have a 1440p monitor.

That's because you have a 1440p monitor with matching UI scaling, looking at "thicker" text.

The changes are subtle and deal with how the new engine handles anti-aliasing.

So for thicker text, such as what you screenshotted, the changes are far less pronounced and are just along the the edges of each letter. And you'll see it as the new text being slightly sharper.

But for thin text, particularly for people with lower resolutions, the changes to the edges due to how the anti-aliasing is computed affect a proportionally greater portion of the text, hence why the changes there are a bit more pronounced, mostly in the form of the text looking like it had shed some weight; the nominal weight of the text hasn't been changed, just the apparent weight due to the anti-aliasing changes along the edges.

agen.fi · March 11

At 1440p haven't seen any changes in game fonts.

CristiC · March 11

Chat, especially guild chat is really hard to read, even with glasses, which I never wear. Guess I will need this irl addon from now on. With every patch, this game loses something, now it's the fonts turn.

colossalvoids · March 11

CristiC wrote: »

Chat, especially guild chat is really hard to read, even with glasses, which I never wear. Guess I will need this irl addon from now on. With every patch, this game loses something, now it's the fonts turn.

Guess with enough feedback rendering tool could be made more selective in it's application, will see if they'll look into it or would make some accessibility option for people still noticing issues with higher rez.

Aurielle · March 11

code65536 wrote: »

Aurielle wrote: »

Font rendering is fine on my end, unchanged. I have a 1440p monitor.

That's because you have a 1440p monitor with matching UI scaling, looking at "thicker" text.

The changes are subtle and deal with how the new engine handles anti-aliasing.

So for thicker text, such as what you screenshotted, the changes are far less pronounced and are just along the the edges of each letter. And you'll see it as the new text being slightly sharper.

But for thin text, particularly for people with lower resolutions, the changes to the edges due to how the anti-aliasing is computed affect a proportionally greater portion of the text, hence why the changes there are a bit more pronounced, mostly in the form of the text looking like it had shed some weight; the nominal weight of the text hasn't been changed, just the apparent weight due to the anti-aliasing changes along the edges.

Thin text looks fine to me as well. *shrug*

Perhaps people just need to make adjustments to their UI scaling until it works for them again on their resolutions.

supersonic_kitten · March 11

I hope if anything we can have an option to choose between the text rendering options. bc as it is it's quite painful, and it affect in-game chat and every single non-thick text, which there is a lot of in this game.

g0thiCiCecReaM · March 11

It appears to only be affecting addons with custom fonts. Everything else looks ok as far as I can tell. I played around with stuff and it all appears to be addon related.

Addons that I know of with custom fonts:
1. pChat
2. Master Merchant
3. AUI

I may try doing the font conversion and see if it helps at all before the addons get updated.

agen.fi · March 11

Some add-ons shows icons of item bit smaller than before, but it is because of add-on.

agen.fi · March 11

Survey maps have changed font too

code65536 · March 11

Aurielle wrote: »

Thin text looks fine to me as well. *shrug*

Again, it's because you're on 1440p.

So am I, BTW, and I think that the changes are mostly fine as well. But the people here who are complaining about it being different aren't going crazy, either.

So, here is a pixel-peeping comparison of old-vs-new, on 1440p. Right-click on the image to open it in a new tab to see it at full resolution. The top-left and bottom-right are the old engine, and the other two are the new engine. Ignore the slightly different background color, because the background is partially translucent and the two screenshots were taken with slightly different background scenes.

Pay special attention to the vertical line in the lowercase "d" or the left-most edge of the at-sign. Notice how the older one had more "solid" pixels compared to the new one. The changes are, again, quite subtle, and at the 1440p resolution that I have, you have to resort to pixel-peeping to really point out the difference.

But for people at 1080p, these changes are more pronounced.

Also, the text on the older image took up 121x17 pixels, whereas it's 119x18 on the new one. So actually, I think the changes are are probably more the result of how the new engine handles hinting (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Font_hinting).

Blutengel · March 11

My chat box just hurts to look at.

godchucknzilla · March 11

The chat text is very blurry compared to the last version of the game

1920X1080

Tried all three anti aliasing can we get a revert of this change as it has made the game worse?

Ulvich · March 11

This font is really bad on the eyes. If I wasn't wearing glasses I wouldn't be able to see it. It really needs to be revered back to the way it was and left along before we all start getting headaches from having to quint. I have the font jacked up all the way and it's still hard on my eyes.

Aurielle · March 11

code65536 wrote: »

Aurielle wrote: »

Thin text looks fine to me as well. *shrug*

Again, it's because you're on 1440p.

So am I, BTW, and I think that the changes are mostly fine as well. But the people here who are complaining about it being different aren't going crazy, either.

So, here is a pixel-peeping comparison of old-vs-new, on 1440p. Right-click on the image to open it in a new tab to see it at full resolution. The top-left and bottom-right are the old engine, and the other two are the new engine. Ignore the slightly different background color, because the background is partially translucent and the two screenshots were taken with slightly different background scenes.

Pay special attention to the vertical line in the lowercase "d" or the left-most edge of the at-sign. Notice how the older one had more "solid" pixels compared to the new one. The changes are, again, quite subtle, and at the 1440p resolution that I have, you have to resort to pixel-peeping to really point out the difference.

But for people at 1080p, these changes are more pronounced.

Also, the text on the older image took up 121x17 pixels, whereas it's 119x18 on the new one. So actually, I think the changes are are probably more the result of how the new engine handles hinting (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Font_hinting).

Well, that sucks for people who play at 1080p. Hopefully there will be a fix soon for people who play at that resolution.

But on a related note, If anyone playing ESO on a 1080p monitor has a computer that can handle it and the funds for a new monitor, I highly recommend upgrading to 1440p.

1080p is a relic of the past. My enjoyment of gaming went up significantly when I made the switch.

HatchetHaro · March 11

Yeah, new font rendering system just makes everything way less readable now, and genuinely looks worse.
The text just looks crunchier and a bit blurrier, and smaller fonts with lower weights look way thinner. Text is not consistently aligned with pixels, so each line of text looks different and in general blurrier.

Pre-U41:

U41:

code65536 · March 11

Yea, now that I've pixel-peeped more, I'm leaning towards this being a result of a change in how text is being hinted, rather than a change in the AA.

Marronsuisse · March 11

I see what you mean.

Here's an example, new shot on bottom... the magicka bar is especially hard to read now. (Right click > open image in new tab to see full rez, if the forums shrink it down.)

I don't have any add-ons that affect fonts.

bruta · March 11

the new font is terrible, thanks a lot dev bro