Finally found UI Scaling for 4k and 1440p

[frstr0]

Prelude: I've searched it for days here and on egosoft forum. Only "this is no possible" was found.
So I started investigating modding, and replaced main .lua files with my corrections to enlarge UI elements -- and it worked, after some mistakes and fixes. But after deeper learning a simple thing comes up that allows it all without changes for each menu.

The fix: just add <uiscale>2.0</uiscale> to config.xml in next to your saves (e.g. C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Egosoft\X Rebirth\<SomeRandomId>\).
Now most of the smallest UI elements will be scalled up 2x, it applies to conversation and comms menus, and to the object rectangles, distance text and mission hints.

So this scalling applies to those items that were most hard to scale when I did it manually, BUT it does not apply to Options Menu (not a big deal), to Main Menu (this is bad, but I have a manual fix for this) and for some info table in the top right corner (I'm not sure but this is probably Event Monitor, and should be quite easy to fix manually).

If this is helpful to anyone (having that big mod community, I'm almost sure this must be known to modders, but why it can't be googled??), I can share manual modifications for those menus as well. Also there is a way to enable UI Scaling menu in the game, though it does not give any benefits comparing to just modifying the config file (which is easier actually for non-modders).

I guess I'll post this in the workshop discussions as well, as this is would require modding for certain menus.

[Benzin]

Thanks for sharing!
It would be a good idea to put it on the workshop, so others can use it :)

[frstr0]

Not sure it is possible to put this in the workshop, as this requires modifications for internal xpl files, though I've fixed all other elements that were too small now. It seems that this topic is not much of an interest for people, so I won't package it into something (this would require research, as I'm not familiar with the process).

Though if anyone actually suffers from small UI as I did and needs this, ping me here and I'll share what I have.
Disclaimer: I did not test this much and I'm only at the beginning of the game progress, so there could be potential issues.

[jelf]

Thanks for sharing this is great.
Just wondering would you mind sharing the manual fix for Main Menu and Event Monitor as well?
Thank you.

[frstr0]

All the additional fixes I've made are in https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sW4WDU1sVmG_-CcJkNKy-NAwk0XtX0ED/view?usp=sharing
You need to unpack this ui folder next to game exe. The idea is that the files inside this folder replace stock files from cat arcvhes. The only question here if that replace is enabled by default in your installation of the gamte or not, I don't remember if I had to enable that manually or not.

[frstr0]

oh, and btw I played in 4k, so not sure it will work well in 1440p. If that is the case for you, you can manually try to find my changes (by comparing wih the stock files from extracted cat files) and adjust them further. I did not play this game for some months, so don't plan any fixes further.

[jelf]

Originally posted by frstr0:

All the additional fixes I've made are in https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sW4WDU1sVmG_-CcJkNKy-NAwk0XtX0ED/view?usp=sharing
You need to unpack this ui folder next to game exe. The idea is that the files inside this folder replace stock files from cat arcvhes. The only question here if that replace is enabled by default in your installation of the gamte or not, I don't remember if I had to enable that manually or not.

Thank you a lot for the reply!
I'm using 4k as well so I suppose your files would work.

Sorry if I trouble you too much but I have just got two more questions:

Does this conflict with any mods because I have installed tons of mods, and what kind of mod would it conflict with?

Also, is there a way to adjust the selection boxes of target ships? After editing the scale to 2 they seem to be too large now, but I want to keep the other elements (especially those with text) large?

Thank you!

[jelf]

I'm trying to compare your edited files and those extracted from the .cat and .dat files (extracted by the official tool), but somehow I can open your .xpl files with notepad++ but if I open those extracted they are in gibberish.

[jelf]

Also, I don't really know how to enable this... and there doesn't seem to be much information from google...

[frstr0]

You do not need to compare to xpl actually, because they are compiled versions of the plain text files. I have to rename my files to xpl because the game wants compiled version of the file and at the same time it works perfectly fine with non compiled files.

I had a number of mods, and they worked fine. My modifications were minor, though took several weeks to find the place where they should be done.

As for how to enable, i'll need to google that too, because i don't remember now. But instead of prioritizing these files you can pack them to cat file with the number bigger than the biggest among cat files, and it should load then.

Selection boxes -- i did not find a way to fix, but it did not bother me much with bigger fonts in place

[jelf]

Originally posted by frstr0:

You do not need to compare to xpl actually, because they are compiled versions of the plain text files. I have to rename my files to xpl because the game wants compiled version of the file and at the same time it works perfectly fine with non compiled files.

I had a number of mods, and they worked fine. My modifications were minor, though took several weeks to find the place where they should be done.

As for how to enable, i'll need to google that too, because i don't remember now. But instead of prioritizing these files you can pack them to cat file with the number bigger than the biggest among cat files, and it should load then.

Selection boxes -- i did not find a way to fix, but it did not bother me much with bigger fonts in place

Thanks a lot I got it working. It looks much better now!

[frstr0]

:) good to hear that

[giamma]

Hi,
i trying to use your modded files for info table and menus. I use 1440p resolution but is unreadable...too small, so i forced to use 1080p. The option <uiscale>2.0</uiscale> works great for dialogue, but info table is unreadable. I use projector and i am 15ft from screen, i can't read anything at 1440p, 4k totally impossible.
I tryed to use your files simply unpack them in root folder, but no changes. I tryed to unpack in extensions dir and enable inside game, but no changes... can you help? I don't use any mods, i manually create the extensions dir.

[giamma]

Done!
I am able to activate your files with egosoft modding tool and use the methods of faking patch(create new cat/dat files).
Thank you for sharing your search and works. Fantastic now in 4k and even better in 1440p.

[frstr0]

That's nice it worked for you too:)

[Philomel_D8]

Should I use the "X Catalog Tool"(from here[forum.egosoft.com]) to save as the unpacked ui files to 10.cat + 10.dat, and copy & paste those two files to the game base folder?
But it's not working.
The game ui still very small.
I don't know where I was wrong.
Please help me. Thanks!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1crDEVyBSgiEB6CAA_-HYxZflTwQQna-9/view?usp=sharing
(This is the sceenshot of X Catalog Tool with ui files)