[linux native] comically large nametags (and buttons)

[sapphic420]

e.g. when beamMP is run via a podman container (nixOS host), nametags are almost as large as the screen. could be a DPI issue (because X11 has its own scaling settings - remember, BeamNG.drive.x64 is an X11 binary). this issue applies both to wayland (xwayland) and X11. i did not attempt to install (new) font packages yet (but do have fontconfig).

interestingly, some ui apps CAN see my host’s fonts (such as input telemetry), while the rest of the interface uses baked fonts with disabled hinting and aliasing (as expected from host settings). BUT! if you look closely, nametags are using their own fonts (!) that do not respect my font settings! horrid.

(cropped image. native resolution is 1280x800 @ 16:10)

(full resolution. nevermind the broken playerlist ui, that is the least of the problems LOL, but please fix)

have a closer look at the buttons - small text, large ui. but then look at the toggle and my mouse cursor in comparison. that does not scale well. the rest of the interface is fine (including imgui). ■■■■■■■ vue. they should make beamng TUI because this interface is just so ■■■■■■■ ■■■■

this problem can be mitigated by binding a key to disable nametags (controls > beammp) or toggling nametags off completely (settings > multiplayer > nametags)

nametag scaling would have been an amazing feature… but perhaps i should install some missing packages to my container first. what could they be, implying that my “system” is completely barebones (excluding drivers)?

this is half a beammp and half a beamng issue, but im too lazy to post this on the beamng forums. i just seriously cant be bothered…

P.S. cannot be reproduced on arch (no container)

[heisenberg6]

this is exactly the issue im facing.

[sapphic420]

there are 4 fonts that beamNG appears to be using (at least in my cache and for resolution of 1280x800):

arial 14 (ansi).uft
arial bold 15 (ansi).uft
lucida console 47 (ansi).uft
lucida console 79 (ansi).uft

this last one is suspiciously ■■■■■■■ LARGE!!!

implying that perhaps installing ttf-ms-win10-auto & ttf-lucida-fonts (arch) or corefonts & vista-fonts xorg.fontbhlucidatypewriter75dpi (or ...100dpi) (nixOS) cannot be avoided (may contain UNFREE, as in proprietary, license!)…

will try this once i get free time

P.S. maybe literally just renaming the file to a different size could work, but that is absolutely insane, and i think it will be overwritten anyway…

[heisenberg6]

somehow i “fixed it” but now their just really small.

[sapphic420]

oh, that is a beamNG issue now. the font size is dependant of your DPI as well as the resolution. for example, on a steam deck the fonts are ■■■■■■■ huge, because the resolution is only 1280x800, but an incorrectly set up (X11, as the game is) DPI (Xft.dpi - multiples of 96, where 192 is a scale of 2, which is, btw, independant of wayland), will make them comically large - see font list above. now, when you use a high res monitor (2K, 4K, 8K), you may find that now they are very ■■■■■■■ small! this is especially true for VR users, who have also reported the same issue - that the nametags are NOT EVEN VISIBLE.

there are two ways THAT I CAN THINK OF (im not struggling with this issue, so…) to fix this:

1. obviously, DPI - the Monitor section in xorg.conf. so, there are good news and bad news. the good news is that this is the best (although not the easiest) way. the bad news is that you will not be able to fix this on wayland, because xwayland does not allow to change any scaling. so, you will have to launch the game in an X11 session anyway (with properly set up DPI settings, ofc!).

2. easiest way: BECAUSE xwayland doesnt allow changing scaling, you can change the resolution yourself - either in the game or… your monitor. if the latter is not possible, just get a LESS high resolution monitor LMAO

ironically, perhaps the first step is enough to fix the large nametags, too. but try downloading the font packages first (see above)

…and how did you manage to fix the issue, please do share