[Resolved] UI Font is messed up on non-standard resolution of 4096x2160

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coffee_fiend
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[Resolved] UI Font is messed up on non-standard resolution of 4096x2160

Post by coffee_fiend »

I play on an computer with a 4k display TV as a monitor. I am not totally sure why the display has some extra width over native 4k but since it is there I use it.
The problem is the interface font is messed up when compared to playing at the normal 4k resolution of 3840x2160.

It makes all the text harder to read and some of the finer text is really hard to read.

Is there any way to fix this?

Also I had a much older version of space age installed until recently and that version did NOT have this problem. The issue appeared after the game updated to 2.0.72 and 2.0.73.

I would include a screenshot but for some reason when I take a screenshot the font gets blurred slightly so it looks almost smooth.

How do I get the font smooth again in this resolution?

What is interesting is that the font looks fine when Factorio is not in the foreground. If I have another window in front of even a small part of the Factorio screen, the font looks fine though a tiny bit less sharp than I would like is all. Unfortunately this rule applies to even taking screenshots it seems because windows is popping up a tiny sort of window control at the top of the screen when I activate the screenshot tool. This keyboard does not have a print screen button so I am stuck with the windows screenshot tool unless there's another way to take a screenshot that I don't know about.
Last edited by coffee_fiend on Thu Jan 29, 2026 10:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Twinsen
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Re: UI Font is messed up on non-standard resolution of 4096x2160

Post by Twinsen »

coffee_fiend wrote: Wed Jan 28, 2026 12:33 am when I take a screenshot the font gets blurred slightly so it looks almost smooth.
This sounds very suspicious. A screenshot is a screenshot. Sounds like something in the OS, driver or screen "enhancing" the game.
Try messing around with the UI scale in-game, display density/display scale in your OS or disabling any fancy gamer features on your driver or screen.

Let us know if it you figure something out, it could be something to do with how we handle display density.
This might be related 132569
coffee_fiend
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Re: UI Font is messed up on non-standard resolution of 4096x2160

Post by coffee_fiend »

I think that linked issue is the same issue really.

Basically the fonts with vertical lines in particular are a bit messed up.
I have the UI scale set to 100% but it wants to default to 200% and looks ok at 200% but way too large.

If I hit "alt-enter" to go into window mode, the font looks fine again though a tiny bit blurry.

but if I hit "alt-enter" again or set the graphics setting to "full screen" the font problem returns.

I had an auto hot key script to force a window into borderless full screen but it doesn't seem to work anymore so I can't try that and see if it might make a difference.

I guess I'll try updating my video drivers right now and see if it helps but I'm not optimistic.

But basically the issue seems to just be in full screen and guess if I have the game in the back ground it is no longer treated as "full screen" or something.
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Re: UI Font is messed up on non-standard resolution of 4096x2160

Post by coffee_fiend »

For completeness: The issue was resolved by adding Factorio to the Nvidia app and explicitly telling it to disable image scaling.

Here's post from the other thread


Mine is set to 100%
But the game wants it to be 200%. But that makes the interface way too big for me to enjoy.
I didn't used to have the font issue at these settings though. So that shouldn't really be the issue.
Do you have any Graphics overlay, or upscaling technology active?
None. I play Factorio raw rather than through say steam with its overlay.
Anything strange in Nvidia control panel?
Nothing I see as strange.
Could you try in the Nvidia App (if you have it installed) resetting the config for Factorio to all defaults?
The Nvidia app doesn't even list Factorio for me. I guess I could add it and try but I really doubt that will help.
...
and....
You were right!

I didn't have it in the nvidia app at all. So I added it and it defaulted to some weird 85% scaling value. So I turned off scaling there in the brand new entry and lo and behold it looks good again.
It was setting the scaing to "85% (3482 x 1836)"

Just to be thorough I tried to re-enable that setting and it definitely causes the problem.

Just to be infuriating though the Nvidia app then tells me it can optimize the game settings and when it does it "TURNS OFF SCALING!"
Which never should have been on! Weird

Seriously what is up with that? Why would Nvidia do that that to a game it doesn't even have listed?

But regardless that did the job for me at least.

Now we just need to see if it helps khjxiaogu.
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