[BUG] GUI Elements Not Scaling Correctly
agris
Member Posts: 581
Current Behavior: The GUI art for full screen 1920x1200 takes up a larger proportion of the screen area than the interface rendered in full screen 1280x1024, and is not scaled correctly. Using portrait area (L x H) as a metric for determining interface element size, portraits in the 1920x1200 screen are 150% larger by area than the 1280x1024 portraits, despite 1920x1200 having only 76% more area than 1280x1024.
It is possible the wrong chat log, portrait bar and option bar interface elements are being used, as the 1920x1200 interface lacks crispness and appears to be made of lower DPI art assets than the 1280x1024 interface. This imbalanced proportion of gameplay screen to interface elements can be seen clearly when comparing two images. The first image is full screen 1280x1024 (desktop res), while the second is full screen 1920x1200 (desktop res).
Note the proportion of the entire screen occupied by all interface elements at 1280x1024:
Compared the above image to how much of the screen is occupied by the interface at 1920x1200:
Expected Behavior: The GUI art scales with resolution, so that the proportion of the screen covered by the chat log, portrait bar and options bar is not greater at higher resolutions. Currently, improper scaling negates any benefit of playing at a higher resolution and is actually detrimental due to the lack of interface art fidelity and decreased viewable gameplay area.
Details:
1920 x 1200 is 76% more screen area than 1280x1024, as such one would expect all interface elements to increase in size by 76%, such that the total screen area occupied by the interface remains the same. I believe the root of the problem is the differing aspect ratios (4:3 vs. 16:10) and that the interface is being sized based on the difference in screen WIDTH (1.5x) rather than area.
It is possible the wrong chat log, portrait bar and option bar interface elements are being used, as the 1920x1200 interface lacks crispness and appears to be made of lower DPI art assets than the 1280x1024 interface. This imbalanced proportion of gameplay screen to interface elements can be seen clearly when comparing two images. The first image is full screen 1280x1024 (desktop res), while the second is full screen 1920x1200 (desktop res).
Note the proportion of the entire screen occupied by all interface elements at 1280x1024:
Compared the above image to how much of the screen is occupied by the interface at 1920x1200:
Expected Behavior: The GUI art scales with resolution, so that the proportion of the screen covered by the chat log, portrait bar and options bar is not greater at higher resolutions. Currently, improper scaling negates any benefit of playing at a higher resolution and is actually detrimental due to the lack of interface art fidelity and decreased viewable gameplay area.
Details:
1920 x 1200 is 76% more screen area than 1280x1024, as such one would expect all interface elements to increase in size by 76%, such that the total screen area occupied by the interface remains the same. I believe the root of the problem is the differing aspect ratios (4:3 vs. 16:10) and that the interface is being sized based on the difference in screen WIDTH (1.5x) rather than area.
Post edited by agris on
3
Comments
Couldn't help my self but your portraits are awesome. Especially the one of Kurt Russell.
If you want a taller playing area, you need a taller, more narrow monitor. It would be even worse with 1080p, so at least you dodged that bullet.
Personally, I would prefer smaller UI elements and a larger game area on a PC (with keyboard shortcuts), but since I will be playing on an iPad, I need a good touch interface which means decent sized buttons.
Re-read my original post. It isn't that the vertical area is diminished (even though it is relative to the top image), it's that the UI elements are scaled incorrectly such that the interface takes up MORE of the screen at higher resolutions than lower and when you play in, say 1920x1200, it's obvious that the art used in the interface is lacking definition when compared to lower resolutions like 1280x1024. Aspect ratio doesn't account for any of that.
It's incredibly distracting to the point where I'm not really interested in playing the game. I just wish we could get some word on whether it's a bug or a "feature".
There hasn't been a lot of hate for the scaled GUI to be honest, but this is always something we can revisit if it turns out it's something people want.
I believe the issue isn't that the UI is scaled, but the manner. If the portrait bar / option bar / combat log were scaled such that the same proportion of the 'game window' were available as in lower resolutions, then it would be much less bothersome. The 1920x1200 UI occupies about 50% more proportional screen space than the 1280x1024 interface.
Just to be clear, I'm talking about the in-game viewable area, with world art and characters. Not menus.
EDIT: thanks @Nateryl / @TrentOster
In your particular case, I get the impression that what you're looking for is basically the unscaled UI as I was talking about (that Trent has now shared). I *think* the right way to approach this, maybe, might be an option in the graphics menu, with like a kind of hybrid scaling if we can, so that the game window and bars aren't scaled, but then things like the inventory menu/journal/etc and the like are?
As I've said a few times in other threads, we're not afraid to talk about this stuff with the community and we're committed to doing on-going work here.
EDIT: the lack of scaling looks really good in the main gameplay window, but yea the inventory etc could still use the scaling.
Big picture mode is for people who want the small side bars. I don't really want it changed by default.
There's a Redmine ticket for it - https://support.baldursgate.com/issues/32726 - feel free to add your arguments there.