View Full Version : New Font?
This new font looks good but now the names are VERY blurry from far away. I changed to graphic or aspect ratio and names are now blurry and hard to read until my character is very close to them. This is sad. A blurry game, albeit just the font is blurry, is just hard to enjoy as much as a clear precise game.
Has anyone else noticed this change or had similar or different results?
VoiceMemo
05-10-2011, 12:57 PM
Please change the font back, On the screen yes it is slightly easier to read, but when you look at the party list or the target or the friendslist the font is very hard to read on widescreen monitors.
Dekoda
05-10-2011, 12:59 PM
A way to turn it on or off would be nice >< I'm not a big fan, either.
I second Dekoda.
My name looks ridiculous. It looks like M e yi. :<
Yeah, it definitely difficult to see at a distance.
Best part of this is they changed the format for the .dds while responsible for names and menus, so you cannot even change it back :(
psyko_573
05-10-2011, 01:10 PM
A way to choose between the new and old font would be super, this new font has started giving me a terrible headache in under an hour of being online. Way too blurry both from far away and in the small font in the menus.
Tsukino_Kaji
05-10-2011, 01:14 PM
My name seems fine. Turn up your screen resolution.
KigenAngelios
05-10-2011, 01:18 PM
I have to admit I'm not not a fan of this new font and would love a way to toggle between the 2, this one is hideous.
Raksha
05-10-2011, 01:18 PM
Yeah, it definitely difficult to see at a distance.
Best part of this is they changed the format for the .dds while responsible for names and menus, so you cannot even change it back :(
NOOOOO rog save us from terrible fonts, i'd even take Comic Sans over this crap
Bwelch
05-10-2011, 01:36 PM
New HD name font is perfect. I'm really liking it.
NOOOOO rog save us from terrible fonts, i'd even take Comic Sans over this crap
We'll see.
Seriha
05-10-2011, 05:21 PM
The font on names hasn't bothered me much, but dang, some numbers are outright unreadable in the inventory menu without getting up close.
Tsukino_Kaji
05-10-2011, 05:33 PM
The font on names hasn't bothered me much, but dang, some numbers are outright unreadable in the inventory menu without getting up close.You need a bigger screen. lol
Gennadi
05-10-2011, 05:43 PM
omg omg omg i think ima quit now omg omg
Tsukino_Kaji
05-10-2011, 05:48 PM
omg omg omg i think ima quit now omg omgCan I have your stuff?
RushLynx
05-10-2011, 09:52 PM
You need a bigger screen. lol
I have a fairly large monitor at 1280x1024 and while names are fine, just different... I, too, am have a bit of an issue seeing the numbers... instead of it being immediately legible it takes a second glance... For some reason names seem to be in bold print but numbers are not... they need to make the numbers bold too...
Volkai
05-10-2011, 10:03 PM
New font is great. Nice and sharp.
I have a fairly large monitor at 1280x1024 and while names are fine, just different... I, too, am have a bit of an issue seeing the numbers... instead of it being immediately legible it takes a second glance... For some reason names seem to be in bold print but numbers are not... they need to make the numbers bold too...
I think the font's fine. I think it's only 'hard' to read since we're so used to the old font.
I really hated the new font at first, but it grew on me pretty quickly.
My inventory screen is near impossible to read the numbers (ie 61/80) the numbers are faded and look like they are barely even there. makes me want to cry lol
You might need glasses then.
I wasn't wearing my glasses last night when I logged on, and once I adjusted to seeing a new FFXI font for the first time in 5 years, I could read it just fine.
Netheos
05-11-2011, 12:52 AM
The new font is great. Much easier to read everything. I was kind of curious why the didn't modify the LS logo or the M logo. Next to the really nice font, the pearl looks well, trashy.
Anethia
05-11-2011, 01:16 AM
I see a lot of QQ in this thread. I like the new font personally. It's much easier to read than the old font.
Seriha
05-11-2011, 01:17 AM
You need a bigger screen. lol
1440x900. Maybe not the biggest out there, but not small. And, well, lolno at buying a new monitor just for XI.
RAIST
05-11-2011, 01:24 AM
I think it has to do with your resolution and field depth or something. I'm running on a 23" monitor with native 1920/1080 resolution. Running it 1:1 ratio (1920/1080 backgorund/foreground) and have the drawdistance set really high. I can read NPC and player names all the way across the field just fine now. They used to get kinda mushy before.
It seems almost like they have AA applied now or something, maybe it's from the thin black border on them--it's kinda funky. They are still a bit blurred at the edge of the field, but I can still kinda read them when I know who they are already. Before, they were blurred beyond any form of recognition.
I think they did some more tweaking in there with this update--seems like the lighting in my moghouse was a bit crisper too.
1440x900. Maybe not the biggest out there, but not small. And, well, lolno at buying a new monitor just for XI.
My monitor is 1600x900, and I had no problems reading the new font once I adjusted to reading it. And as I said earlier, I wasn't even wearing my glasses.
@Netheos: Agreed. The font does look a little wonky next to the LS pearls. I'm hoping this is just the Dev Team's first step in adding some new high-res textures to the PC version of the game. With a few registry tweaks, FFXI's graphics and artistic style still hold up really well for a game of its age.
Seriha
05-11-2011, 02:02 AM
Decided to yoink a screenshot (http://home.comcast.net/%7Eclg2001/FFXI/FontNum.gif) before the servers go down. This is 100% the size of the window area. 2s, 8s, and 6s have a sort of fuzziness to me on their lower ends. And while not shown here, a 7 on an equip window, like with ammo, is difficult to discern from a 1. I'm thinking the fact the numbers are being italicized is part of the issue next to their actual size.
RAIST
05-11-2011, 02:08 AM
may be your dot pitch or something...even on my old laptop from 2009, those numbers are clear to me at 1024/768 resolution.
Netheos
05-11-2011, 02:11 AM
Decided to yoink a screenshot (http://home.comcast.net/%7Eclg2001/FFXI/FontNum.gif) before the servers go down. This is 100% the size of the window area. 2s, 8s, and 6s have a sort of fuzziness to me on their lower ends. And while not shown here, a 7 on an equip window, like with ammo, is difficult to discern from a 1. I'm thinking the fact the numbers are being italicized is part of the issue next to their actual size.
Yeah, those numbers are clear as day to me.
Seriha
05-11-2011, 02:43 AM
And how far do you guys sit from your monitor? I tend to play in two ways. First is obviously just sitting normally, which puts my eyes about 28 inches away from my monitor. Other is leaning back and more to the side, with my feet propped up and my keyboard on my lap. This probably adds another 12 inches and certainly contributes to the fuzziness. In the first position, it does get clearer if I lean in about 6 inches or more, but it's also a pretty unnatural position to play in for sustained time. The fact I cropped the image also eliminates other visual distraction from the game, as looking at the menu within Valkurm during the day and deep in some cave at night can alter our perception of things some.
Personally, I've always felt myself a more visual person so I pick up on finer details which has always helped with my drawing and critiquing. I'm not doubting it's fine for some, but it's possible they're not seeing flaws I am.
Chiibi
05-11-2011, 02:45 AM
O.o; its VERY clear to me... it might have something to do with how you're sitting.
The numbers in the SS also look crystal clear to me, and I play the game in the exact same positions you do (although I prefer sitting upright if I really need to pay attention to something).
Sagian
05-11-2011, 02:50 AM
I'm not sure why some people are having issues with the font. On my screen they are crisp and clean, even from a distance. In fact, I am able to read names from a distance which I wouldn't have been able to read with the old font.
There is a kerning/spacing problem though. "Myname" looks like "M y n a m e". Tighten it up and it will be perfect!
Romanova
05-11-2011, 02:55 AM
The font is clear to me and I like it but...
Whenever people/npcs/myself are moving past say about 15~ yalms away, the name does a weird flicker. The flicker makes it difficult to see the names of mobs from a distance that was fine to see on the old font (only because of no flickering). Others have been reporting this so I know this isn't just my game/computer.
If they get rid of the flicker I would be very satisfied. ^^
RAIST
05-11-2011, 02:56 AM
I often sit several feet away from my system while doing mindless magian crap and watching TV. Did this last night--sicking carbuncle on mandies for the new NPC Genkai. Pulled my chair over in front of the TV like I am now--can just barely reach to my keyboard with my foot--so almost 4 feet from my monitor. I dind't notice any fuzziness last night in the foreground--really only text in the back of my draw distance range.
Acer H233H 23" monitor, .265 pitch, at 1920/1080 in 1:1 config at 16:9 ratio
(not using the Acer driver, just the built-in XP SP3 P&P driver it installed by default)
ATI HD4850 with 9.1 drivers, overclocked to the teeth.
Seriha
05-11-2011, 03:01 AM
The spacing is probably what's letting you read names from farther off more clearly.
Anyway, as for my issue, it just seems like where the lower legs of 2s meet the base, the inner angle bleeds in a bit toward the base. For 8s and 6s, at like 7 o'clock at their rounded bottoms, the white also diminishes and creates a similar dark bleed like with the 2s. This is mainly an issue with the left side of the numbers with them tilting right, that's why I'm believing it's the fault of the italics. I might've been willing to believe it was monitor and possible pixel burn/death, but I see no flaws in other images and moving the pic around to different points on my screen as well as my own vantage point isn't changing my perception of it any. Annoying case of "cannot unsee" maybe, but I'm not really looking forward to having to get used to variable blurs.
RAIST
05-11-2011, 03:04 AM
could be your graphics card/driver/settings as well. Forget what it was, but I remember on the old G-Force line I had ages ago, there was a feature you toggled that sharpened 3d text.
Seriha
05-11-2011, 03:27 AM
GTX285, but I would think if it was my card, it'd convey to the screenshot, too. I'll try tinkering with settings, but obviously won't know if it does any good until servers are back up.
Sagian
05-11-2011, 03:33 AM
GTX285, but I would think if it was my card, it'd convey to the screenshot, too. I'll try tinkering with settings, but obviously won't know if it does any good until servers are back up.
I would think that the fact that it doesn't convey to the screenshot means that it's not an issue with the font either.
Do you have a different refresh rate set when playing the game?
RAIST
05-11-2011, 03:37 AM
yeah, the screen shot is not taken by the card itself--you are saving the raw data as presented byt the game's engine to the OS's API layer. It is more an issue with how it is getting rendered on your particular system.
I think the font's fine. I think it's only 'hard' to read since we're so used to the old font.
I really hated the new font at first, but it grew on me pretty quickly.
It has started to grow on me a bit too.
Sagian
05-11-2011, 03:56 AM
yeah, the screen shot is not taken by the card itself--you are saving the raw data as presented byt the game's engine to the OS's API layer. It is more an issue with how it is getting rendered on your particular system.
^ This.
The HUD elements are rendered to a set of prioritized 2D planes which then get projected into 3-space using an oblique (non-perspective) transformation. Different cards and drivers could be getting slightly different results for these calculations, causing some to lose pixel information.
Numbers are fine, but names are unreadable for me after around 40', on a 1600x900 monitor, with bg res set the same. They used to be readable up to 50' with comic sans :(
Atomic_Skull
05-11-2011, 09:33 AM
^ This.
The HUD elements are rendered to a set of prioritized 2D planes which then get projected into 3-space using an oblique (non-perspective) transformation. Different cards and drivers could be getting slightly different results for these calculations, causing some to lose pixel information.
FFXI doesn't render the 3D scene directly to the framebuffer. It renders it into a texture which is placed on a 2D plane "behind" the other HUD elements. If the resolution of this texture is different than the screen resolution it gets resized to fit. The only HUD elements that are actually a part of the 3D scene are the character/monster names and the linkpearl icon. All other UI elements are rendered separately.
RAIST
05-11-2011, 09:46 AM
They changed something with this tweak though.. names don't go awol on me now when I change fillmodes like they were doing before. names past a certain distance used to get all weird--turn to hash lines and stuff, sometimes just disappear completely. Now they stay intact all the way to the back of the draw distance.
Atomic_Skull
05-11-2011, 10:42 AM
They changed something with this tweak though.. names don't go awol on me now when I change fillmodes like they were doing before. names past a certain distance used to get all weird--turn to hash lines and stuff, sometimes just disappear completely. Now they stay intact all the way to the back of the draw distance.
I like how you admit openly to using cheat tools on SE's forum.
Reported btw.
RAIST
05-11-2011, 10:46 AM
Do you have a CD/DVD burner and software to burn them? Then you are a pirate......nevermind that you have a legal right to make one personal use backup copy of any media you have purchased and still have the original source copy.
This has been beaten to death countless times in various media: Mode of use for a tool determines if you are breaking the rules, not the existence of the tools themselves.
I like how you admit openly to using cheat tools on SE's forum.
Reported btw.
Yeah, come on raist. Next time you have to end those kinds of posts with "or so i've heard".
RAIST
05-11-2011, 12:08 PM
Yeah, come on raist. Next time you have to end those kinds of posts with "or so i've heard".
meh...it's a case of the pot calling the kettle black...for all the layman knows, it could be a trick with a video card driver (which, by the way is possible on older video cards). So, Atomic has knowledge of a tridck that is not exsactly common knowledge...needs to take a look in the mirror.
I don't do anything with my system that can't be done in the game...I just choose to use features available on my system because they fix graphics issues with the game is all. Love how I can be called a cheater for making my game look decent.
Atomic_Skull
05-11-2011, 12:59 PM
meh...it's a case of the pot calling the kettle black...for all the layman knows, it could be a trick with a video card driver (which, by the way is possible on older video cards). So, Atomic has knowledge of a tridck that is not exsactly common knowledge...needs to take a look in the mirror.
I don't do anything with my system that can't be done in the game...I just choose to use features available on my system because they fix graphics issues with the game is all. Love how I can be called a cheater for making my game look decent.
I don't use windower and never have. I'm not about to risk getting banned on an account I've put 9 years into. I know of those things but I would never be stupid enough to use them.
RAIST
05-11-2011, 01:06 PM
Never said I was using Windower--you just assumed that. That isn't the only tool that can access the registers to toggle graphics features off. Tools like ATT and 3D Analyze are system level tools, and have nothing to do with what program you are running--they work directly with control registers and DirectX/driver features. There are others I've used in the past, but they are grossly outdated and for chips no longer in production (S3, 3dfx, etc.)--some were even dos utilities you had to run trhough batch files or directly from the command line.
I don't use windower and never have. I'm not about to risk getting banned on an account I've put 9 years into.
I lol'd.
1234567890
Chocobits
05-11-2011, 11:06 PM
I actually like the font, the grainy look of the old one that I was never able to completely fix with registry resolution tweaks etc bothered me. It seems to have been amateurishly designed though. The spacing of letters is not consistent at all. My name appears like this:
C h o c o bit s. "C" space "h" space "o" space "c" space "o" double space o.O "b" "i" "t" double space again o.O "s".
Please run the font through an image editor again and l2font.
Glamdring
05-11-2011, 11:23 PM
After analyzing all of the various bug reports, complaints about game play systems, the relevance of certain jobs and the path that jobs are taking into the future, we have come to the conclusion that the Type font used in the game was the issue. We have changed the type font. Please do not comment on any issues that existed prior to the Type Font change, they have all been resolved with the use of the new Type Font.
Thank you,
The Management
Raksha
05-11-2011, 11:25 PM
http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/1364/ffxi20110510230948.png
This is what I get when I try to read names at a distance, some people have said that turning up the graphics would fix this, how does one go about doing that?
Cerelyn
05-11-2011, 11:38 PM
I love this new HD font.
There is a soloution to the "blurry" some of you speak of I believe. Its called XI View
Raksha
05-11-2011, 11:55 PM
I love this new HD font.
There is a soloution to the "blurry" some of you speak of I believe. Its called XI View
Except it hasnt been updated yet. And SE changed the way they do the fonts now so it isn't easy to change back.
RAIST
05-12-2011, 12:08 AM
http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/1364/ffxi20110510230948.png
This is what I get when I try to read names at a distance, some people have said that turning up the graphics would fix this, how does one go about doing that?
http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Graphics
Raksha
05-12-2011, 12:15 AM
http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Graphics
Ok so what do I have to change to be able to read names again? Screen resolution?
EDIT: hmm when i try to change my screen resolution the game changes it back, any ideas?
Sagian
05-12-2011, 12:33 AM
FFXI doesn't render the 3D scene directly to the framebuffer. It renders it into a texture which is placed on a 2D plane "behind" the other HUD elements. If the resolution of this texture is different than the screen resolution it gets resized to fit. The only HUD elements that are actually a part of the 3D scene are the character/monster names and the linkpearl icon. All other UI elements are rendered separately.
I wasn't really talking about the 3D scene, since I don't consider any element of it (including names and icons) as part of the HUD.
Menu boxes, text windows, buff icons, clock, compass, text, etc. are first written to a 2D plane, then that plane is projected using a z-coordinate to establish what-appears-in-front-of-what. So, text isn't actually written in the menu boxes - it's written in front of them - but it uses a non-perspective transformation so that things with a larger z-coordinate do not appear scaled by distance.
It's that last bit that has caused problems with HUD elements and different cards and drivers all the way back to FFVII, especially with fonts. I can't say for certain if that is actually what is happening here, but I can safely say "I see a pattern."
Except it hasnt been updated yet. And SE changed the way they do the fonts now so it isn't easy to change back.
XI view was updated shortly after the servers went down. Except for the names, which were left the same. And it actually is not the all that hard to fix for the new format. I put something together for my comic sans.dat in less than 2 hours, most of which was figuring shit out, and i could do a new one is probably 30 minutes. However because of SE's shitty job spacing the letters, and also using an italic font, the spacing between letters looks atrocious. See http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll220/ffxiRog/img_20110511_004959.jpg for what i mean.
Cerelyn
05-12-2011, 05:12 AM
Except it hasnt been updated yet. And SE changed the way they do the fonts now so it isn't easy to change back.
It was patched on may 9th but ok
Raksha
05-12-2011, 06:02 AM
It was patched on may 9th but ok
Yes but it uses the new font, am I missing something here? I dont know anything about xi view.
--== DOWNLOADS ==--
XI View V1.06 - (1.41 MB) - Patched for 5/9/11. Currently using new SE default HD font text for on screen data such as damage and names.
EDIT: Ok well jacking the resolution and background to 1680 x 1050 made the font legible from a distance, but now the chatbox and macro bar is way too small. Why is it so difficult to play a game that doesnt look retarded? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this new font was the worst idea any one has ever had in the history of the world (yes including snuggies). Shit worked fine for 9 years, if you're gonna change it give ppl the option to switch back, ffs.