Window Scale Guide

From Homecoming Wiki
Revision as of 03:54, 10 June 2009 by imported>SekoiaBot (historical) (Robot: Cosmetic changes)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Player Guide Notice

This article is a Player Guide. The Homecoming Wiki takes no responsibility for the content within.

Questions and concerns should be posed to the authors of the article using the article's talk page.

Overview

This is a guide to the Window Scale slash command.

Slash Command

/window_scale window_name scale

The argument window_name is the name of the window to be scaled, such as Health or Chat. The argument scale is a decimal number between .64 and 1.99.

See also /window_scale.

Forum post

Rescaling the User Interface

Rescaling all of the Graphical User Interface (GUI or just UI) can be done with a slider found in Menu/Options/Graphics/User Interface/Window Scale. All the windows in the UI can be shrunk to 64% of their standard size or magnified to 199% of their standard size.

Changing the scale value rescales proportionally all the texts and graphics in the window and proportionately rescales the maximum and minimum sizes of windows that can be manually resized through clicking-and-dragging their borders.

Note that changing this value and then exiting the Options Window by the Save button will change every window to this value, even if they've already been individually rescaled to some other value (see below). If you do not change the value of the slider, and you have individually resized windows, and then choose Save, the value set on this universal slider is ignored -- the slider has to be changed and then saved in order to reset all windows to the new value.

Note that the scale of the Health window is attached to the value of the slider bar. If you change scaling of the Health window individually, then the value of this slider will change, and then the next time you choose Save to exit from Options, all the window will be reset to the new value. In other words, individually scaling Health will eventually lead to resetting all the windows to the same scale value. So, set your Health window scale first, and then save it under options, and then go rescale the rest of the windows to your preferences.


Rescaling Individual Windows

The problem with rescaling all the windows with the slider is that some windows don't scale well, e.g., if you shrink everything to 80%, then the text in the mission window will run off the window and disappear, or the pop-up 'color commentary' windows when you enter a mission are formatted horribly in that the 'OK' button hovers over the text.

Luckily, individual windows are scalable individually with this command:

/window_scale windowname scale

Where windowname is the name of a window, and scale is a number between .64 and 1.99 (64% and 199%).


The Scale Argument

Previously, the maximum scale size was 154% (1.54). It was changed sometime ago to 199% (1.99). Not sure when since the change wasn't documented on the official site.

Note that once you get to the extremes of the scale, you're basically either trying to make the window as large or as small as it can be. The command /windowscale can take an 'overshoot' argument. If you use .5 or .1, it will scale the window down to the minimum of 65%. And if you use 2 or 10 in the argument, it will scale up the window to the maximum size of 199%.

Bug: Did you catch that in the previous paragraph where it was claimed that the minimum window scale was 65% and not the expected 64%? While you can still get the windows down to 64% with the slider in the Menu/Options/Graphics window, the /windowscale command will only go down to 65%. In other words, there is no difference between the arguments of .65 and .64 as there had been before -- a very minor bug indeed.


The Windowname Argument

Window Name Lists

KEY
O=opens
C=closes
S=scales
*= scales only through the Status window
**=scales only through the Chat window

Working Window Names in WDW.txt

Window
Name
Description Opens Closes Scales
City of Heroes-star-icon25x25.png status The main game window containing the health bar, endurance bar, experience meter, and applied buffs. Always open, can not be closed. Alias: health S
actions The Action Window may be opened by clicking "Action" at the bottom of the Target Window. This window is similar to the context menu displayed by right-clicking on a target. O C S
auction The Auction window. Use the slash commands /auctionhouse, /ah, /wentworths, or /blackmarket to toggle this window open and closed. C S
badge The Badges window. O C S
chat The main Chat window. Alias: chat0. The slash command /chat may also be used to open and close this window. O C S
chat0 The main Chat window. Alias: chat. The slash command /chat may also be used to open and close this window. O C S
chat1 Custom Chat Display 1. O C S**
chat2 Custom Chat Display 2. O C S**
chat3 Custom Chat Display 3. O C S**
chat4 Custom Chat Display 4. O C S**
clue The Clues window. Alias: clues O C S
clues The Clues window. Alias: clue O C S
combatmonitor The Combat Monitor window. Use the slash command /monitorattribute to open the window, and /stopmonitorattribute to close. S
combatnumbers The window that opens after clicking "Combat Attributes" at the top of the Powerlist window. O C S
compass The navigation window. Alias: nav. The slash command /nav may also be used to open and close this window. O C S
compose The email composition window (to write/send a new email). WARNING! Avoid using this command to send emails. It has the potential to lock up the email system so that global emails can not be sent on that character. O C S
contact The Contacts window. Alias: contacts O C S
contactdialog The dialog window that opens after calling a contact. C S
contact The Contacts window. Alias: contacts O C S
contacts The Contacts window. Alias: contact O C S
costume The costume selection window (can be opened from anywhere). Alias: costumeselect O C S
costumeselect The costume selection window (can be opened from anywhere). Alias: costume O C S
defeat The window that pops up when your character dies. The slash command /release may be used to close this window (and go to the hospital). S
email The Email window. O C S
enhancements The window that opens after clicking "Enhancements" at the top of the main power tray window. O C S
friend The local/server Friends window. Alias: friends O C S
friends The local/server Friends window. Alias: friend O C S
group The window that opens after clicking "Team" at the top of the Chat window. Alias: team O C S
health The main game window containing the health bar, endurance bar, experience meter, and applied buffs. Always open, can not be closed. Alias: status S
info The Information window that opens after right-clicking on an entity or object and selecting "Info". Use the slash command /info or /link_info to open the window. C S
insp The Inspirations window. Aliases: insps, inspiration, inspirations O C S
insps The Inspirations window. Aliases: insp, inspiration, inspirations O C S
inspiration The Inspirations window. Aliases: inspirations, insp, insps O C S
inspirations The Inspirations window. Aliases: inspiration, insp, insps O C S
league The League window. O C S
lfg The Team-Up Teleporter window that opens after clicking "LFG" at the top of the Chat window. O C S
lfgdialog The window that appears when a task force or trial is initiated asking to accept or decline. Use the slash commands /lfg_event_response or /lfg_remove_from_queue to answer and close this window. S
map The Map window. The slash command /map may also be used to open and close this window. O C S
mission The window that opens after clicking "Missions" at the bottom of the Nav window. O C S
missionmaker The AE editor ("Create A New Mission") window. (WARNING! Don't use with /windowshow, /show, or /toggle - messes up entire UI until game restart.) C S
missionreview The window that contains the "Finished" button and appears after completing an Architect Entertainment (AE) mission. The window for the last completed mission may be opened even after clicking the "Finished" button or otherwise closing the window. There may be a time limit for this. O C S
missionsearch The Mission Architect search window. The slash commands /missionsearch, /architect, /missionmake, or /mmentry may also be used to open this window. O C S
nav The navigation window. Alias: compass. The slash command /nav may also be used to open and close this window. O C S
options The Options window. O C S
pet The Pets window. O C S
power The main power tray window. Aliases: powers, tray. The slash command /tray may also be used to open and close this window. O C S
powerlist The window that opens after clicking on "Powers" at the top of the main power tray window. The slash command /powers may also be used to open and close this window. O C S
powers The main power tray window. Aliases: power, tray. The slash command /tray may also be used to open and close this window. O C S
razertray A custom power tray window designed for the Razer Naga gaming mouse. Opens and closes only through Menu→ Options→ Controls tab→ Razer Naga Mouse Tray. S
recipe The window that opens after clicking "Recipes" at the top of the main power tray window, after clicking on a workshop table, after clicking on an empowerment station, and after clicking on a merit vendor. Alias: recipes O C S
recipes The window that opens after clicking "Recipes" at the top of the main power tray window, after clicking on a workshop table, after clicking on an empowerment station, and after clicking on a merit vendor. Alias: recipe O C S
salvage The window that opens after clicking "Salvage" at the top of the main power tray window. O C S
sg The window that opens after clicking "Supergroup" at the top of the Chat window. Aliases: super, supergroup, sg O C S
store The window that opens after clicking on a store NPC to buy/sell inspirations, enhancements, etc. The slash command /interact can be used to open Store windows. C S
super The window that opens after clicking "Supergroup" at the top of the Chat window. Aliases: supergroup, sg O C S
supergroup The window that opens after clicking "Supergroup" at the top of the Chat window. Aliases: super, sg O C S
target The Target window. The slash command /target may also be used to open and close this window. O C S
team The window that opens after clicking "Team" at the top of the Chat window. Alias: group O C S
tray The main power tray window. Aliases: power, powers. The slash command /tray may also be used to open and close this window. O C S
tray1 Additional floating power tray 1. The slash command /shownewtray may also be used to open the next additional floating power tray window (in sequence). O C S
tray2 Additional floating power tray 2. The slash command /shownewtray may also be used to open the next additional floating power tray window (in sequence). O C S
tray3 Additional floating power tray 3. The slash command /shownewtray may also be used to open the next additional floating power tray window (in sequence). O C S
tray4 Additional floating power tray 4. The slash command /shownewtray may also be used to open the next additional floating power tray window (in sequence). O C S
tray5 Additional floating power tray 5. The slash command /shownewtray may also be used to open the next additional floating power tray window (in sequence). O C S
tray6 Additional floating power tray 6. The slash command /shownewtray may also be used to open the next additional floating power tray window (in sequence). O C S
tray7 Additional floating power tray 7. The slash command /shownewtray may also be used to open the next additional floating power tray window (in sequence). O C S
tray8 Additional floating power tray 8. The slash command /shownewtray may also be used to open the next additional floating power tray window (in sequence). O C S
vault The salvage storage window that opens after clicking "Vault Reserve" at the top or bottom of the Salvage window. O C S


Additional Working Window Names

Window
Name
Description Opens Closes Scales
arenalist The Arena window. Use the slash command /arenalist to open the window. S*
chansearch The chat channel search window. O C S*
contactfinder The window that opens after clicking the "Find Contact" button at the bottom of the Contacts window. O C S*
convertenhancement The window that opens after clicking "Convert" at the top of the Enhancements window. C S*
customwindow A Custom Window can have any name. Use /custom_window_toggle to open and close a custom window once configured. Its size can be individually configured by grabbing and dragging the custom window's edges with the mouse. S*
cvg The Custom Group Creator window (custom villain group) that opens after clicking on the "Edit Custom Group" button in the Mission Architect→ Mission 1 Settings→ Custom tab. C S*
enhancement Internal window name for the enhancement management screen. Use /manage to open it. Will always open in full screen, and can not be closed with a slash command. The window name is not configurable.
help The Help window. The slash command /helpwindow may also be used to open and close this window. O C S*
incarnate The Incarnate window. O C S*
missionsummary The window that opens after clicking the "more" button on a mission in the Mission window. C S*
petition The petition support window. The slash command /petition may also be used to open this window. O C S*
playernote Use the slash command /playernote or /playernotelocal to open the Playernote window. Attempting to open the window using /window_show produces only a partial window, avoid it. C S*
quit The Quit game window. O C S*
salvageopen The window that opens after right-clicking and opening a Super Pack salvage item. Use the slash command /salvage_open to open the window (and consume one of your super packs). S*
search The player Search window. The slash command /search may also be used to open this window. O C S*


Miscellaneous

Other Slash Commands That Take The Windowname Argument


Subwindows and Docking

Subwindows docked to a parent window will scale to the parent window (and not the other way around). If a subwindow is undocked (click the blue button) from its parent window, then the two can be rescaled independently of each other. Redocking an undocked subwindow forces it to take the scaling of the parent window.


Exceptions and Anomalies

The following windows cannot be scaled individually, instead they will take on the scaling of the Health window, even though they are not docked with it.

  • Help (Menu/Help)
Can also toggle its display with the hide/show/toggle commands
  • Consignment House
Cannot be made to show with any command, must click a Consignment agent.
  • Support, Bug, Petition
Can only be made to display with the /support, /bug, or /petition commands or going through Menu/Support in the Health window.
  • Menu
Can only be made to display with /menu command, the backslash shortcut, or clicking on the Menu item in the Health window.
  • Arena
Cannot be made to show with any command, must click an Arena terminal.

Examples

So, to make the pet window at scale 75%:
/window_scale pet .75

Or to make the power tray 120%:
/windowscale tray 1.2


Text Size, Chat, and Font Size.

The text in rescaled windows scales proportionately with the window; that is, tiny windows give you tiny text and huge windows give you huge text... almost. Unfortunately, it's not exact and that can throw the text wrapping off and the placement of graphics within the windows. So, you might wind up missing a few letters or words of the text, or have a graphic hide some of the text. Usually, this isn't noticeable until you get beyond a 15% magnification or reduction.

The Chat windows are unique in that you can alter the size of the font in the Chat windows independently of scaling of the window. Now, keep in mind that scaling Chat windows up or down will proportionately scale the size of the font. But you have further scaling of the font with the Menu/Options/General/Chat/Font Size Slider. You can choose font sizes from 5 to 20.

So, let's say you want a small Chat window to keep track of your healing, but you don't want it to take up a lot of space. Do this:

  1. Shrink chat to its minimum with /windowscale chat .64.
  2. Open up a new Tab Chat Window, add a tab which keeps track of healing.
  3. Undock the window, place it wherever you want.
  4. Manually reduce the size of the window by dragging the borders. There, a tiny little window that keeps track of healing.

However, you will probably find that the text for all the chat windows is now too small to read... so, you go into Options and increase the font size to a size that's legible. You can also increase the size of your regular chat windows by dragging the borders so that they're much larger than the tiny healing-tracking window. Shrinking all of chat first, rather than just that one subChat window, gives you the ability to resize any chat windows to a smaller footprint that would be allowed at the normal scale level.

Luckily, no matter what scale your chat windows or font, the text wrapping in a chat window doesn't ever chop off any words or letters (OK, maybe just a tiny bit of a letter).

Scaling v.Resolution -- 3D v 2D

The 3D game graphics and the 2D GUI can not only be scaled separately from each other, but their resolution can also be resolved differently.

If you choose a high resolution setting under Options/Graphics/Screen/UI_Resolution, both the 3D graphics and the 2D GUI will take on that higher resolution. This will shrink the GUI, but with the information provided above, you now know how to rescale the GUI back to a larger size (although, the menu window never rescales, unfortunately). Higher resolutions provide more and crisper detail to both the 3D graphics and the 2D GUI... but what if that puts too much strain on your graphics card or CPU? Well, there is a slider in Options/Graphics/3D_Resolution_Scaling to lower the 3D resolution which does not lower the 2D GUI. This allows for crisp, high resolution 2D graphics while lowering the 3D graphics load on your computer.


See Also

/window_resetall This will reset all window options to their default scale, size, and color.

/chat Toggles the chat window. c

/tray Toggles the tray window (no default key, but backslash y will work)

/target Toggles the target window. t

/nav Toggles the navigation window. n

/map Toggles the map window. m

/menu Toggles the menu. backslash

/powers Toggles the power inventory. p