4K resolution - UI too small

[LameLefty]

So here's a problem I've run into (and admittedly it's a good problem to have!) ... At long last I've gotten a new machine. The new machine can easily handle playing at 4K with good results, but the problem I'm having is that I just can't read the text at such a high resolution! Even with the UI set at 200%, I basically can't read most of the text in any of the UI elements. Is there any way in a hidden .cfg somewhere to increase the text size beyond the sliders in the Settings menu?

[Waxing_Kibbous]

If you are brave and want to play around (I'd do this with a separate install first) in the settings.cfg there is a line: UI_SCALE = 1 that I assume is the one you want to experiment with.

[LameLefty]

Hmm, well my settings.cfg file already had that line set to UI_SCALE=1.5

Just for giggles I set it to 2.5. That did indeed expand the game's built-in UI elements but it seriously screwed up the Navball - a large black circle covered the center of the ball and the orbital velocity text box wasn't positioned properly. Eh, I'll go back to playing at 1080p unless I can figure out a better solution. Thanks anyway!

[Tyko]

I'm playing at 1440 with some UI elements scaled and it works well. Remember you can adjust the size of many UI elements in "settings" from within the game (press ESC and look for settings button)

[Ruedii]

If you can't see the settings to adjust the UI you can use the config file. 

Edit settings.cfg in your favorite text editor.  It's a standard JavaScript/ECMA-Script variable declaration format.

You can also set values that would normally be out of range of the settings in there as well, if need be.
You can also adjust the size of each class of UI item relative to the other ones.

Personally I wish Unity and other programs (on all platforms) would obey the DPI cues from monitors and the OS.  However, that's just wishful thinking and won't solve your system.

[LameLefty]

On ‎1‎/‎4‎/‎2017 at 5:09 PM, Tyko said:

I'm playing at 1440 with some UI elements scaled and it works well. Remember you can adjust the size of many UI elements in "settings" from within the game (press ESC and look for settings button)

 

3 hours ago, Ruedii said:

If you can't see the settings to adjust the UI you can use the config file. 

Edit settings.cfg in your favorite text editor.  It's a standard JavaScript/ECMA-Script variable declaration format.

You can also set values that would normally be out of range of the settings in there as well, if need be.
You can also adjust the size of each class of UI item relative to the other ones.

Personally I wish Unity and other programs (on all platforms) would obey the DPI cues from monitors and the OS.  However, that's just wishful thinking and won't solve your system.

As noted in the first suggestion and my subsequent reply, I've adjusted everything that can be adjusted as large as it will go in the menu already, and editing the settings.cfg was suggested by the first reply.

But thanks anyway.

[Tyko]

5 minutes ago, LameLefty said:

 

As noted in the first suggestion and my subsequent reply, I've adjusted everything that can be adjusted as large as it will go in the menu already, and editing the settings.cfg was suggested by the first reply.

But thanks anyway.

Sure, with regards to the navball getting whacky with resizing, I noticed that a lot of changes require a restart of the game before they look right. The Navball is one example. Orbits and orbital markers are another.

[Ruedii]

On 1/5/2017 at 6:34 PM, Tyko said:

Sure, with regards to the navball getting whacky with resizing, I noticed that a lot of changes require a restart of the game before they look right. The Navball is one example. Orbits and orbital markers are another.

Yes, this is listed as a known-issue, upstream, wontfix, if I recall.
Squad had determined that it would be too difficult to fix this, so presented a warning instead.
 

On 1/5/2017 at 6:28 PM, LameLefty said:

 

As noted in the first suggestion and my subsequent reply, I've adjusted everything that can be adjusted as large as it will go in the menu already, and editing the settings.cfg was suggested by the first reply.

But thanks anyway.

As a note, you may just want to lower your resolution.  If your monitor isn't 50 inches, you won't really notice that much difference.
I usually recommend not going over 1080p with most games.  That tends to be more than enough.

Edited January 7, 2017 by Ruedii

[TheNamelessPoet]

On 1/6/2017 at 10:20 PM, Ruedii said:

Yes, this is listed as a known-issue, upstream, wontfix, if I recall.
Squad had determined that it would be too difficult to fix this, so presented a warning instead.
 

As a note, you may just want to lower your resolution.  If your monitor isn't 50 inches, you won't really notice that much difference.
I usually recommend not going over 1080p with most games.  That tends to be more than enough.

I have a relatively unique situation.  My monitor IS 50".  It's my TV and its across the room 

It is pretty much the only game I seem to struggle with which is 1 reason why I stopped playing.  So at this time there is no real fix to playing in 4k yet huh?

[sal_vager]

17 hours ago, TheNamelessPoet said:

I have a relatively unique situation.  My monitor IS 50".  It's my TV and its across the room 

It is pretty much the only game I seem to struggle with which is 1 reason why I stopped playing.  So at this time there is no real fix to playing in 4k yet huh?

Just the workarounds mentioned above, either override the setting in the settings.cfg or use a lower resolution, I can ask Squad to support it properly in future.

[Ruedii]

On 1/11/2017 at 0:43 PM, TheNamelessPoet said:

I have a relatively unique situation.  My monitor IS 50".  It's my TV and its across the room 

It is pretty much the only game I seem to struggle with which is 1 reason why I stopped playing.  So at this time there is no real fix to playing in 4k yet huh?

Well, if you aren't close to it, you probably won't notice lower resolution.

You probably should go with 1080p instead.

Most TVs have decent upscaling filters.

Edited January 13, 2017 by Ruedii

[LameLefty]

On ‎1‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 11:43 AM, TheNamelessPoet said:

I have a relatively unique situation.  My monitor IS 50".  It's my TV and its across the room 

It is pretty much the only game I seem to struggle with which is 1 reason why I stopped playing.  So at this time there is no real fix to playing in 4k yet huh?

Well, I have a 15.6" 4K display about 20 inches from my face. I'd love to use a native 4K output, and frankly the game looks amazing in 4K ... except for that tiny, tiny UI. The KSP elements - when scaled up to 200% - are still too small. They need at least a 400% option simply to match for a 4K display, obviously, but the native Unity elements such as used by MechJeb and several other mods will always be too small unless/until Unity offers scalable text (I don't guess it does?). 

On ‎1‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 4:51 AM, sal_vager said:

Just the workarounds mentioned above, either override the setting in the settings.cfg or use a lower resolution, I can ask Squad to support it properly in future.

Bless you, sir. You are a prince among men. Kerbals. Whatever.

On ‎1‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 6:26 PM, Ruedii said:

You probably should go with 1080p instead.

That's ultimately what I've done. 1920 x 180 with 8X AA and all the bells and whistles turned up is still better than the mostly bare-bones 1440 x 900 of my ancient MacBook Pro that I had been using for KSP most of these last almost 4 years.

 

[Ruedii]

On 1/5/2017 at 6:34 PM, Tyko said:

Sure, with regards to the navball getting whacky with resizing, I noticed that a lot of changes require a restart of the game before they look right. The Navball is one example. Orbits and orbital markers are another.

Yeah, also you probably should downscale the navball anyway, after you upscale everything else.  There is an individual option for it.  I think it glitches out if you set it above 200% (i.e. 2.0 scale in the settings.)

For example you could set the scale of the UI to 400% (i.e. 4.0) and the scale of the Navball, and anything else that glitches above 200% to 50% (i.e. 0.5) since these two values are multipled, it would set all the items that don't glitch at 400% to 400% and the ones that do to 200%.