Update: HUD text update

[Kavawuvi 7,026]

The console and chat now use system fonts, but there are still a few more in-game things that should be updated.

 

Today I've updated HUD text as well as names above heads.

 

 

 

 

This is best played with Jesse's HUD as seen in the above screenshots.

 

There are a few things left to do:

• Add a font for names above heads, since it's typically smaller than even the regular font
• Update the name you see when staring at a player, maybe?
• Update the scoreboard, maybe?
• Update the postgame carnage report, maybe?
• Update the F2 screen, maybe?

 

All-in-all, I've already covered most of the stuff you'll see in-game.

 

And, of course, here's a 4K screenshot for the people who really want to see those pixels.

 

Unfortunately imgur does not like really big images and made it into a jpeg. Oh well I guess.

 

 

EDIT (2020-08-10 @ 06:41 UTC): Someone reported an issue with the fonts not being on when initially installed. Add "hud_text_enabled=1' to below [font_override] in the chimera.ini file as well as set 'enabled=1' to enable the whole thing. I've also re-uploaded Chimera with the modification in place.

[Vuthakral 1,709]

Is there any consideration for custom UIs over in Custom Edition maps which make use of their own fonts at all? I'd imagine some stuff might start to look out of place if something is designed to use a sharper or more angular font but it gets overwritten by a standard font.

[Kavawuvi 7,026]

6 hours ago, Vuthakral said:

Is there any consideration for custom UIs over in Custom Edition maps which make use of their own fonts at all? I'd imagine some stuff might start to look out of place if something is designed to use a sharper or more angular font but it gets overwritten by a standard font.

Menus are not currently affected by this feature, so you can use your universal UI, although your console may still be replaced.

 

As for HUD text in custom maps, the only consideration I've given thus far is the option to not enable font overrides.

 

I did consider disabling font overrides if the font in the map isn't stock. In fact, there are a few ways to do it (SHA-256 the pixel data, check if it's in loc.map, etc.), and assuming it's completely accurate, then the map will now always look as intended by the author, whether a Bungie map or custom map.

However, the author can now give you a shitty or even broken console font. This is present in some maps, as tool.exe's font quality is awful and nobody has ever heard of Invader, so now your font is not only low resolution, but it's trash quality AND the cursor is invisible, so going around with the left and right arrow keys is screwy. Custom console with font overrides basically makes you immune to these memes.

Also, having the chat font change between games between a vector font and a bitmap font is a little jarring, too, considering some fonts don't even support certain characters and Chimera has scrollback, basically resulting in the past being 'rewritten' in a sense.

 

Lastly, some maps use better renders of the existing font. Ironically you'd get a lower quality version of the font, instead, since there's no way to differentiate between a custom font and a remastered font. For example, here's the gamespy font (used for displaying names above heads):

 

The one on the left was made with invader-font. The one on the right is the one that came with Halo PC. The source fonts are (to our knowledge) the same, but again, tool.exe's font rasterization is terrible, while invader-font uses FreeType which is not terrible. You'd still get something better than the original font, but it wouldn't be nearly as good as having a vectorized font. And, of course, mixing vectorized fonts with bitmap fonts isn't great which is why I've recommended using a map that has Jesse's HUD.

[Vaporeon 189]

Holy menus.

Edited August 11, 2020 by Vaporeon