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Larger and more readable fonts with UI adjustments
Submitted by:
Submitted by yeneko on 2019-05-16 03:23.
Last modified:
2019-06-04 15:07
Larger and more readable fonts with UI adjustments
This is yet another Font and UI mod for the original Neverwinter Nights. It makes all fonts larger and much more readable, adjusting the UI when necessary.
Why use this UI mod?
- It is very minimalistic, only tweaking the UI in a few places and when absolutely necessary to make more room for text, and it can be easily combined with other UI mods.
- IMO these fonts look nicer and are more readable than those provided by other mods, nevermind the original ones. Each font has been manually edited to enhance contrast and form.
- The fonts are consistent among different panels and screens (size differring of course).
- The mod provides optional packages to configure the UI to suit your taste and screen size.
Requirements:
- Neverwinter Nights with v1.69 Critical Rebuild official patch, plus the "Shadows of Undrentide" and "Hordes of the Underdark" expansions. (The Enhanced Edition of the game is reported to be compatible)
Considerations:
- The (optional) MDL file "ctl_chrsht_lstbx" gets rid of the tiny icons beside status modifiers in the character status box, to make more space for text. If you want them back simply delete that file, but I can't guarrantee those icons will align on your screen using these fonts.
- A few Extended-ASCII, non-English letters -Š, Ž, Œ and Ÿ- are only implemented in the Big16 font (used in chat, log, dialogue) - though lowercase Ÿ is fully supported. I had to add and adapt these letters manually, each within a very narrow space, so compromises had to be made to avoid going out of bounds (I hope you like the ligature! :).
Installation:
- (Enhanced Edition only) Set "UI Scaling" in-game option to 1.
- (All editions) Check the "Use High Resolution Font" in-game option.
- Drop the files provided in the mod's "override" folder into the game's override folder.
Additional files:
Files in folders with names in the form opt_* are to be dropped into your game's override directory should you wish to use them. Files within src_mdl_ascii are simply the ascii source counterparts of the compiled ones the mod provides by default.
- opt_cleaner_UI/: These files make the UI cleaner for single player (see After1Bis.png or opt_cleaner_UI_after.jpg). If your resolution is not 1050p you'll have to edit two parameters to make the ChatLog align with the QuickBar (see instructions in Readme_Cleaner_UI.txt file).
- opt_dialog_box_[smaller|larger]/: These files make the dialog box wider or narrower than default. You can use the "Smaller" version for lower res screens or for panels at the center of the screen (out of Inventory, Map, Character Sheet, Journal) not to overlap with dialogue, and the "Larger" version for higher res screens and to allow more text to display horizontally.
Version History:
- 1.0 to 1.1.1: See changelog in the package's readme file.
- 1.1.2 : Minor update. Adjusted shape and position of some symbols in Big16 and Galahad fonts, to enhance clarity.
Numbers in Floaty font are now more properly aligned.
Upper and lowercase forms of the new symbols added in last update are now more distinct.
Files:
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 largerreadablefonts_wuiadj_v112.zip (2902) | 147.12 KB |
Yeneko, these look great in the screenshots. Well done ! Don't think I'll be able to use them as I'm on a Mac and when I tried it they make the game's menu options gibberish ( something to do with the way the Mac displays fonts?) but I'm sure others will love them.
Hi! Thanks! That's strange, do other font mods cause the same issue for you? Perhaps try redownloading the mod (i had forgotten to include one unrelated file at first, but this is in case the download got corrupted) and only add the galahad TGA and TXI files in the override folder. If that doesn't work and you so wish, we could check how Mac does fonts and see if there's a workaround.
Thanks for the swift reply, Yeneko.
Game menu settings are scrambled but I think in game it is working although the size is a little off ( i'm sure I can play around with that.) I've provided link to two screenshots.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3t537tbhhuhum95/AAC0j1wVdboKZdB6dLCysCCla?dl=0
edit : All issues resolved by scaling down the UI to 1. Looks great ! Screenshots removed and replaced by another. See below.
Great! I was scratching my head on why one worked but not the other. To be honest, I didn't even know this would be compatible with the Enhanced Edition (I made it with and for the original one) but if it is then all the best! Any issues, suggestions, ideas, let me know :)
No, looking great.
I've added your HUD tweak and it's also fine. There is a slight issue with the positions of the various boxes ( inventory, player character etc. ) . It may just be me but I'm unlikely to have many of these open at the same time. However, the Inventory overlaps the map box and also sometimes the edge of the current dialogue box. That may be because I'm using 1920 X 1080 and isn't really an issue other than aesthetically.
These are the two most likely for me to have open at the same time. In the original game the map is more left hand side below dialogue box. Would it be better leaving it there ? Especially as you have cleared the bottom left hand corner by moving the other box central bottom. Screenshot of what I'm getting below.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zewgefogy5hvdzu/Screenshot%202019-05-16%20at%2015.31.59.png?dl=0
Btw, by "Use Large Font" I assume you mean check the box for "High Resolution font" ?
The four UI components: Map, Character Sheet, Inventory, Journal can each take a Left, Center or Right position on the screen, at the top. While I'm pretty sure you can't open the four of them at the same time, when three of them are open none should overlap... unless a paticular map is very large and enlarged, or you were playing at a very low res (which is not the case).
However, enlarging the dialog box did come with a downside: it will overlap with any of the above that may lie at the center of the screen. In 1080p there seems to be enough space for dialogue, so what we can do is decrese the size of the dialog box to make room for something at the center of the screen. Try these files: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Asr5B0FIfFLVil73Q3_OKVIKOdcf
I don't think there's anything we can do about the map (my mod does not change anything about it, and the game handles its placement). But we can tweak the position of the HUD to align in 1080p screens:
Start the game and check it out. The chatBar should be more closely aligned with the quickBar at the bottom. Keep playing with those two values until you get the exact values you need. Always add or subtract the same amount to each of the two position fields above.
Thanks, Yeneko. Played about with the HUD and got it lined up ( 5.6 did it for me if its any use for others. )
However, the One Drive link isnt working. It was last night but I was away from my computer. Says the link may have expired or file is no longer there?
Oops I was getting rid of old stuff a while ago and must've deleted that. Here it is again: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Asr5B0FIfFLVil_GVXACAo8Owdhh
I'm glad you could make it work well! Thanks for sharing the value. I updated some things in the mod, but the files you modified are the same so there's no need to update those. Happy gaming!
Got it, thanks. Everything now looking spot on. Much better size for dialogue box. Still tons of room.
Great stuff but how could this be compared to say Carcerians work with the Baldurs gate +42 other font selections? With that many selections of fonts I'd just pick one from its archive that was easy to read too.
Well, these are not just new fonts. They have been generated out of the same font family so they are consistent among different panels and screens, and they are condensed so that the horizontal space they require is smaller. Each of them has been manually edited to enhance legibility - among other things Galahad and Floaty are larger than the game would actually allow, a tweak which if not done right may end up causing chopped/missing text and such, so it took some work to pull off. I practically enlarged Galahad as much as it is possible while not causing problems or going out of bounds (or requiring overriding the whole user interface). Additionally, the dialog boxes are larger so more text fits into them, and a couple other parts of the UI are tweaked as well to adapt to the new fonts. Finally, I also provide some other UI tweaks for those who may wish to adapt them to their screens.
Thanks for the reply it seems like you put alot of work into this then. I will give it a try.
Great, hope you like it!
Awesome work, I love the log on the mid of the bar screen!
Thanks! I've added instructions to make it align in screen sizes other than 1050p. I'd like to provide pre-configured files for 1080p, but I myself cannot test that. Any issues, recommendations, ideas, let me know! :)
You're welcome, enjoy! Same here x)
Let's face it, all us Nwn players are getting old... :D
Excellent mod, 10/10.
Just noticed a small issue when playing, Yeneko. I'm playing as a sorceror and my quickbar, since it is smaller, no longer lets me know the numbers of each spell I have left. Was this deliberate or just a by product of the smaller bar?
Not deliberate, that's a bug! These files should fix it: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Asr5B0FIfFLVimAPPK5swS24GBqK
I'll add that fix to next update. Any issues with the files please let me know. Thank you very much for the feedback!
EDIT: This bug is fixed in version 1.1.0, and the older 1.0.1+hotfix.
Perfect, thanks.
Just great , I always looked for something like this.
I've a small glich in dialogs, if the number of the dialog option has two digits, then it's not displayed correct.
Hi! Thank you very much for the rating and feedback.
I can't seem to find a set of replies that goes into the double digits, could you please check if this fixes the problem?: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Asr5B0FIfFLVimHvaI3lHwult4B3
It's based on the "medium" (default) size of the dialog panel.
EDIT: This bug is fixed in version 1.1.1.
Hello & thanks. I'll check the fix soon.
In "Pretty good Charakter creator" is a smithy, where double digit dialog options are used.
Fixed the issue properly now and integrated it with the main package, thank you for the hint I really needed that! :)
Feedback: Your fix helps a lot. The dot at wide numbers, such as 20, 22, 23 etc. still isn't visible, but that really dosn't matter.
Is it possible to give the 1 a bit more spacing at the right side (maybe 2 or 3 pixels)?
Thanks again.
That should be corrected in the proper fix integrated into the main package (v1.1.1) - the space is wider now than in that provisional hotfix, which should make sequences like "22." or "99." fit well.
Try version 1.1.1 if you haven't already, just in case what you were seeing was affected by the bug. Even then, I do notice the number 1 specifically being slightly more "right-adjusted" than it should (this technically also occurs with the original fonts, though it's less noticeable as the fill less space). I will test adjusting its position, to see if I can get it just right while not causing problems. For now, try this: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Asr5B0FIfFLVimLMkAaX_8zLbBWC . It adjust the position of the number by one pixel, which shouldn't break anything :P
Thank you for the feedback!
I don't know the value for 1080p in the current version of the mod, sorry. It was reported to be 5.6 for one of the files in a former version (the values in each file to be modified used to differ back then, now it is the same for both files), yet it should be very close (the delta is around 0.005). Perhaps someone can share them.
You mean their icons, as diplayed in each button in the spell bar, or something else?
OK.. I'll wait for "Input". Yes, If i activate a a buff i can hardly recognise If its active or not..
That's why I use CaGUI and Colored Icons combined with your Fonts (Fonts only), there the activated Status of spells/buffs etc. is much better visible. The combination of CaGUI and Colored Icons from same Author with your Fonts is great!
Ahh I see what you mean. Colored Icons should work with this mod in its entirety. If any text becomes invisible using these fonts with CaGUI, send me a screenshot and we'll see if we can make it all work well!
Thank you!! I didn't realize the reply below was yours. I'm glad you could make it all work well. I'll add those values to the description of the package above so users with 1080p screens can more readily configure it
Could you let me know where to find these two addons you mention above? Can't find them on the Vault.
Sorry, asking arkadius85 about CaGUI and coloured icons.
Thanks.
It's on Steam Workshop. Don't know if it works if you didn't get NwN EE from steam though.
TR
Thanks, Tarot. I did get NWN from Steam and I've subscribed to the package. Anyway, I'm not sure I'll use it. I'll need to read up on it but didn't really like the borders it creates although I'll need to play the game to see how the colouring works.
(Replied to the post instead of the user above..!)
OK, so "hiding" the chatbar isn't a good idea imho.. Maybe you could just put it between the chat main window and the icons bar.. in the Module "The Prophet" in act 2 you have to "talk" a text, so that is not possible.. else - it's great
Wow! This is simply fantastic! Many thanks for the nice job.
If I may, there is one small isseu I found and which you might want to address (if a fix is at all possible): the shaded numbering in the two addtional in-game quickbars, which anybody can access by pressing the CTRL and SHIFT keys, is slightly off to the right for some numbers = SHIFT-2 to SHIFT-12 (more so for 10, 11 and 12) as well as CTRL-12 to be precise. My laptop's resolution is 1366 by 768. Not sure if that's just me.
In any case, thank you very much. This is such a relief for my eyes!
Hi! You're welcome, and thanks to you! :)
I just checked that, and indeed the Shift-1X's are going slightly out of the box when they appear, due to lack of space. The situation remains the same when lowering my resolution to 1366x768 - is it the same case or is it more pronounced on your screen? It's worth noting that even in the unmodded game, its "High Resolution" Font is at times overlapping the boundaries when pressing Shift (and causing some glitches below for some reason).
There's simply not enough room inside those boxes in those cases, and beside overriding the whole quickBar (messy and out of scope) or using smaller fonts (haha) there's not much I can do through this mod... But we can solve it through other means - making the strings "Shift-" and "Ctrl-" be "S-" and "C-" respectively. If you're on version 1.69, backup your dialog.tlk file within NWN's directory, and place this one in its place: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Asr5B0FIfFLVimPbaa-vfk0GoP7P?e=8uGqw8 With that the whole string should remain within bounds.
Thank you so much, yeneko, for the in-depth explanation and for providing this alternative! Indeed, I am on version 1.69 and using the edited dialog.tlk file you provided seems to be doing the job quite nicely. All the best to you!
*EDIT: Sorry I have one last quick question for you= The 'dialog.tlk' file you have shared above was created from version 1.69 (critical rebuild) without the 1.71 community patch intalled on top, correct? Should that be the case, I will try my best to reproduce what you did for my 1.71 dialog.tlk file with a TLK editor. Just to make sure and thanks again.
I'm glad it worked well! Thank you for the rating! Yes, only the 1.69 critical rebuild. I used Killer TLK Editor, the values to modify are near the bottom of the stack, search for "Shift-" with case matching
My pleasure and thank you for your advice. Works great!
In my case, this fixed the horrible UI bug in which the chat bar (along with other aspects of the menu) would flicker like a strobe light if you positioned your cursor in certain parts of the screen. Thank you so much! I can actually play this game again.
You're welcome, and thanks for the rating! Any further feedback you may have is appreciated.
Hi Yeneko. Using your UI changes all the time but today I tried MP and came across a problem. I don't seem to have any way of chatting to other players in MP. The Talk bar has gone. Now, I've never played MP before so I could be stupid here but in your screenshots it is just above the quickbar and on mine it isn't there. Which file should control this and what have I done wrong?
Thanks. Really enjoying your changes.
Hi Jimdad! I just read your messages. I think what's going on is that some servers are applying their own resource files and overriding these UI changes. The /override directory which this mod uses is itself overridden by pretty much anything, so what you could try is to generate a hak pack with these files and activate it as a patch, which should not be overridden by the server. There's an executable shipped with NWN called nwhak, open it and add all the files of this mod except for the fonts, build the hak file and activate it (you may have to create the patches .ini file). Here's hoping it works!
Thanks for the reply, Yeneko. I'm not sure that it is just some internet servers that are the only issue here. If I start a MP game of my own by Creating Internet/LAN game the Chat Entry bar is still missing (while the other boxes and fonts are fine with your changes - just moved) and I haven't changed any settings. If I take your files out entirely the Talk bar comes back. I had a good look and can't actually see where it could go (there is no space between the Quickbar and the box above ( not sure what its called - the one that tells what has happened , paused etc.) without bumping into the other boxes in the middle.
Do you get a Talk bar if you start a simple MP game with your changes in place? Could it not be that it doesn't draw the Talk bar because there is no space? If so, would it be possible to keep the Talk bar in the bottom left by narrowing its width so it doesn't bump into the middle quickbar/box above ?
If none of this is possible I'll try your suggestion of the patch although I'm wary of tampering with the .ini file - as I know nothing
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