SDF Font Rendering - Test Release
Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2018 6:23 am
I'm trying a limited test release for new font rendering tech in Daggerfall Unity. I've completely overhauled the way text is rendered in game to make it faster, use less memory, and look nice and smooth at high resolutions. Here's the rundown.
Windows
PreAlpha 0.5 #128 26-Aug-18 (get 64-bit)
Linux
PreAlpha 0.5 #128 26-Aug-18
Mac
PreAlpha 0.5 #128 26-Aug-18
Please let me know your feedback and if any problems are encountered. Once I'm confident nothing is broken with text, I'll drop another round of Live Builds.
- You can now choose between classic or SDF (signed distance field) font rendering. Classic rendering looks just like old-school Daggerfall, and SDF rendering uses a new font type that looks much better at high resolutions. If you're playing in HD, you probably want to enable SDF font rendering.
- Both styles of fonts are now drawn by a GPU shader. Previously intensive tasks such as restricting text render area are now very cheap and efficient.
- You can enable SDF font rendering on the startup page or toggle at any time using Shift+F11.
- You can supply replacement SDF atlases in StreamingAssets/Fonts. SDF font atlases need to be prepared in a special way before they can be used. I'll write up an article about this soon.
- Most classic UIs have baked-in text. Only dynamically rendered text will appear at SDF quality.
- Exterior automap uses a legacy way of presenting fonts for nameplates. This will need to be updated at some point to support SDF fonts.
- SDF fonts have to render characters in the same positions as classic, which can lead to letters looking a bit squished or stretched. I've done as much as possible to limit the the effects of this while maintaining the layout defined by books, quests, etc. exactly as classic.
- Translation mods use custom fonts. Users playing with translations should continue using classic fonts until a converted SDF version is available.
Windows
PreAlpha 0.5 #128 26-Aug-18 (get 64-bit)
Linux
PreAlpha 0.5 #128 26-Aug-18
Mac
PreAlpha 0.5 #128 26-Aug-18
Please let me know your feedback and if any problems are encountered. Once I'm confident nothing is broken with text, I'll drop another round of Live Builds.