I tried downloading this a while back (four or so months ago?) and it was unplayable at the time, so I uninstalled.

I just tried redownloading it yesterday. Still unplayable.

Why?

The font size is LITERALLY one millimeter in height. I can. Not. Read. That. I can't even read it if I press my nose to my monitor. The default size of the windows desktop icon's text is two millimeters, and that's barely readable on my 14" monitor.

Is there a solution?

If not, well... kay, I know this is still in development, may I suggest as one of the upcoming feature changes/fixes, a readable font be included.

(This is not me saying "Wah, wah, do it for me 'cuz I want you to!" it's me saying "Hey, I'm pretty sure there's a lot of people like me who have the same issue, and you'll probably reach a larger audience if folks with slightly less than perfect eyesight can play too. If you don't change it, eh, s'fine, won't be the end of my world, but there'll be less money to be made that way.)

o_ô

Did I just play against you in soldat today? Wierd, I could swear the guys name was similar to yours.

Also what text is small for you exatcly? The tutorial and Lua console fonts are rather small, but everything else is pretty alright.
If you suspect you have it show differently, can you post a screenie of the texts that is too small to read?

Go to options and enable 2x window.

Ok. I'm not really sure how to describe what text it is that's small. I start, say, a skirmish game, pop through all the menus, get into the game, have some sort of blocky thing I can place. Once I place that, I have this list on the right hand side that's clickable. ALL the text in there is unreadable.

The text that scrolls during initial startup? That's really small too. I'd say of all the text in the game, only the initial warning of it being a development build and the initial menu have any text that's actually readable, and that's on the small-end of acceptable.

Changing resolutions does not fix the issue at all, and clicking the 2X button just makes my screen flash purple for a split second while the window vanishes and repositions itself lower on my screen. The window itself doesn't change in size, and there's no perceivable difference in anything inside the window. Text size definitely doesn't change.

And I have no idea what soldat is, sorry.

I have a screenshot attached (there's a tutorial?) but I suspect that the text size is more related to simple design decisions not anticipating someone running this game on a 14" (diagonally) monitor running at 1152x864 desktop resolution.

(And just in case someone starts claiming I'm running odd things at odd resolutions, every single other game in the entire history of mankind, from the original Starflight on up to TF2, Portal, Bioshock, 'n Crysis run just fine, and are perfectly readable. BTW, running a GeForce 9500 with the 185.85 drivers, in case you're curious, but it doesn't matter anyhow.)

If it's an issue that's forcing you into unplayability, I'd recommend that you replace the base.rte/skins/ smallfont.bmp files to include larger lettering.

Also, I play on a 17 inch monitor at 1440x900 resolution, and have never had a problem. Quite seriously, have you had your eyes checked recently?

Ayup. And I'm nearsighted. I have to replace my glasses about once every year. Been doing that for quite a while. The size of that text in that screenshot is one half the size of pretty much any other standard default text on my screen, such as the size of the text in the address bar of Firefox or the title bar or the tabs across the top. One half the size is too small.

At this point, replacing the font with larger text and then testing the result seems like a little bit too much work for what I can see is six minutes left on this demo. Apparently I've spent too much time trying to play it with unreadable font? And therefore not really worth my time. But I'm a fan of indie development, and thought I'd slide in here and let folks know of the issue. It's quite possibly an issue for a large number of people who try the game, but most never bother saying anything about it, either because of the development warning and an assumption of the developers already being aware of the issue, or folks just not really wanting to bother.

Hmm.

I guess, then, you're either going to have to use a screen magnifier program or replace the font files.

And see, that seems odd, since no other game, program, software, or other anything requires me to use a magnifier of any kind. The issue is with this particular game's design.

And that's about all that there is to it, I'm afraid. The game has rather miniscule fonts, and it's not the most user friendly design choice, no. But the only way to get around it is to make text bigger or complain enough for Prom to whip up new fonts and Data to implement them. This is unlikely to happen.

The problem is caused by your small screen with a high resolution. This can be fixed by lowering your desktop resolution or playing CC in fullscreen with a resolution lower than that of your desktop. The 2x window doesn't work because the window would be bigger than your desktop, which CC doesn't like.

Er, yes, you've restated the problem that I already stated.

I would have the same issue if my monitor was a 20" monitor running 1600x1200. (If I'm doing the math right.)

The true issue is not my monitor or resolution, but is instead the design decision to make the game unreadable on monitors that are displaying a high pixel-per-inch resolution.

This is a game we're talking about. It's going to be played by gamers. Usually, gamers are the crowd that sport the highest end graphics hardware available in order to achieve the highest pixel-per-inch ratio they can.

If a game is unplayable at high pixel-per-inch ratios, and the only fix is to lower the resolution on the monitor in order to play, most folk will instead choose not to play. Especially if this is the only program in existence that requires that sort of change.

If the designers of Cortex Command wish to be the forerunners for attempting to force a change in gaming industry standards in an attempt to force everyone to downgrade their graphics, well... I'd wish them the best of luck, except I wouldn't want them to succeed. I like pretty games, and my games look prettier at higher resolutions. But if that's their goal, they're going about it the right way.

I suspect instead, however, that they simply don't realize the issue with their font choice.

It's not an issue with my computer, it's an issue with the game design.

(Though thanks for the tip about the 2x thing. Tomorrow I'll attempt an even smaller resolution followed by a punching of the 2x button, see if that helps.)

Imo, i am not sure whats up with this, i run 2 24 inch screens, and i got no problem reading things at fullscreen

His font is the normal size. He just can't read it.

2x window should help, and I feel it looks better anyway.

Are you running at 4096x1536 or higher? (2048x1536 per monitor?) If you're lower, of course you don't have the issue I have. (That's assuming you have 4:3 monitors. If your monitors are widescreen I'd have to recrunch the numbers based on whatever aspect ratio you have.)



In order for me to use a 2x window on an 1152x864 screen, I have to reduce the game's resolution to 512x384 or smaller (as running it at 640x* means that when it goes 2x, it attempts to make it a 1280x* window, which won't fit inside the 1152x864 resolution I have my monitor set to), something it seems the game refuses to do. The smallest resolution it accepts as an option is 640x400. If I select any of the smaller options, the 'Resolution Change Requires Restart!" warning doesn't pop up, the resolution doesn't change, and restarting doesn't change the resolution.

So apparently even 2x is an option unavailable to me.

So wait, your monitor has a high PPI so the pixels get all crunched together?