1920x1080 resolution, UI suggestions? *need help*

mrgoochio

Dalayan Beginner
Hey guys, I'm running off of a 46" LCD screen and from where I sit, its really difficult to read any of the text and UI on the screen besides the chatbox (fixed with /chatfontsize 6, although i wish I could use chatfontsize 7.. that would be perfect) Anyway, I've been looking for custom UIs designed for higher resolution but I can't find anything. I dont even need a custom UI, I have no problem using the original but I cant find any information on scaling it so its larger on my screen? Can anyone suggest anything I can do? I've tried changing the screen resolution to something smaller but the display doesn't let me use much else besides the native resolution (1920x1080) and if I want to dualbox its a moot point because the screen is smaller anyway.. Anyway, can someone suggest something I can do? It really isn't enjoyable to play like this
 
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Short of a customized UI I think the simplest thing to do to (assuming readability trumps all else on your list your needs) would be to run full screen in a wide aspect resolution lower than that of your monitor's native res. When patching, uncheck the use of EQW so that EQ runs full screen, once in game goto options Alt+O, the display tab, display modes and chose something wide but lower than native, e.g.1680x1050.

The net effect should be a 1680x1050 screen magnified about 11%, so it uses your whole monitor. Might be a little fuzzy, as 1:1 pixel representation will be lost (it'll be more like 1:1.14)

That may not be exactly what you're after but I'm not sure how else to make the existing UI physically easier to read without customizing the UI.

actually that is the only thing that i have found that helps at all.. the thing is, this 46" samsung LCD tv has trouble displaying resolutions outside of its native and usually turns into a powersave mode from not being able to display.. Additionally, it hinders my ability to twobox as ill have to switch through fullscreen games.. was hoping there was a way to rescale the original UI which would be absolutely perfect as most modern games can (EQ isn't THAT ancient! :() anyway, ill just have to figure something else out I guess
 
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Well, it largely depends on the UI writer. Unfortunately, the majority of UI writers are not well-versed in programming and didn't really take inheritance into consideration - although it's possible to use inheritance, albeit limited, in SIDL.

Even if the UI writer had used inheritance (I'll admit, even I don't use much of it) SIDL isn't very accommodating of it, which is why I don't really even use it much. SIDL DOES provide for relative positioning, but the relative positioning more oft than not fails miserably, thus most positions in an UI piece are hard-coded. Every time you changed a font size, you'd also have to change surrounding element's placement. Turning this from having -any possibility of a simple solution.

I'd be capable of undertaking to make a Large-Type version of any UI you want. However, It'd be a time consuming endeavor, and I wouldn't undertake it out of the goodness of my heart. PM me or send a tell to Yulanaia/Viniece/Osunaia/Chikaraia/Gnaia/Sogunaia/Chiyunaia in game if you want to discuss costs.
 
I'm assuming most UI's available out there were made by people in their 20's with 20/20 vision, heh. Probably not a lot of big-font UI's but you could look around.

Ultimately, you may want to familiarize yourself with enough SIDL to make this change yourself; on the bright side, it may not be that bad when it's all said and done.

Trying to mentally parse the entire contents of an EQ UI all at once is too overwhelming, IMO; there's quite the mountain of crap you can customize in there. All you really care about are font sizes, so that lets you ignore tons of irrelevant stuff. Given the nature of XML, it may also be possible to leverage just a few strategically placed changes in order to propagate a font size change across the majority of the UI. And if that's the case the task may not be so daunting as it seems at first.

There are likely quite a few elements throughout the UI definition that display text and therefore have a font size. However, if all such elements inherit from a base element (like if for example "STR_Label" and "STA_Label" both inherit from just plain "Label"), rather than editing each and every single different label throughout the entire UI, perhaps editing the base "Label" from which they all derive could be a shortcut to your goal. If this is the case, the only real work to do would be locating the correct base elements for all text-rendering types in the UI (such as "Label", or whatever else). You may be able to hack together a big-font UI without actually having to change very much data... if it's structured this way.

I'm speculating based on my knowledge of similar systems. Short of getting some pointers from someone who's actually authored an EQ UI, you'd have to snoop around in there, find out what you're up against; EQ installs SIDL documentation at {your eq folder}\uifiles\default\AboutSIDL.doc

Good information, and to add: I am 20 years old with 20/20 vision with no need of glasses. Reading items from the couch on a 46" LCD tv at 1920x1080 is possible, but I wont be able to do it for long before my eyeballs feel like theyre going to fall out. I've played EQ from release until about planes of power and I'm just trying to find a way to play SoD again.. I honestly think I was one of the youngest if not youngest players to play EQ at the time.. at least on my server anyway. 1999? I was 10 or 11 years old when I started at EQ's release if i recall.. hehe a bit off topic but fun to talk about
 
Well, it largely depends on the UI writer. Unfortunately, the majority of UI writers are not well-versed in programming and didn't really take inheritance into consideration - although it's possible to use inheritance, albeit limited, in SIDL.

Even if the UI writer had used inheritance (I'll admit, even I don't use much of it) SIDL isn't very accommodating of it, which is why I don't really even use it much. SIDL DOES provide for relative positioning, but the relative positioning more oft than not fails miserably, thus most positions in an UI piece are hard-coded. Every time you changed a font size, you'd also have to change surrounding element's placement. Turning this from having -any possibility of a simple solution.

I'd be capable of undertaking to make a Large-Type version of any UI you want. However, It'd be a time consuming endeavor, and I wouldn't undertake it out of the goodness of my heart. PM me or send a tell to Yulanaia/Viniece/Osunaia/Chikaraia/Gnaia/Sogunaia/Chiyunaia in game if you want to discuss costs.

I really appreciate the offer to help, but I am trying a different solution. I have moved a desk infront of my 46" screen about twice as far as you would normally sit from a monitor (my normal monitor, which is now stolen by my brother, is 24"..) It has worked out for me for a few hours last night.. i sat there with a gigantic screen infront of me with only keyboard and mouse on a tiny desk in the center of my living room after rearranging the furniture. looks ridiculous but is pretty incredible.. this will have to do until i figure out another solution
 
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