[BUG] Display issues with the panel / level select screen size

[Tygerboi]

I'm not sure whether this is actually a bug, but is there any way to increase the size of the skills/map panel underneath each level to fill the entire width of the screen when in high-res full-screen mode, or at least to make it larger, as it appears to be very small at the moment.  The option to increase the panel zoom level only has 1x.  If I set it to low resolution and increase the panel zoom to 3x it's about the right size, but everything obviously looks pretty awful compared to the high res mode.

Additionally, it would be nice to be able to optionally display skill labels underneath the skill icons for clarification for new players (e.g. my teenaged daughters, or even myself when it comes to the new skills).

[WillLem]

is there any way to increase the size of the skills/map panel underneath each level to fill the entire width of the screen when in high-res full-screen mode, or at least to make it larger, as it appears to be very small at the moment

What's the screen resolution of your computer's display? And, are you using SLX in Full Screen or Windowed mode?

If Full Screen, the panel should display almost the full width of a 1920 x 1080 screen in hi-res. In Windowed, if you hit "Reset Window" in the config menu, this should auto-size the window so that it displays the panel to the full width of the window (again, even in hi-res).

If you have manually made the window smaller than the default size (i.e. the size when hitting "Reset Window"), then the panel may not be able to zoom to full size, in which case you may need to choose not to show the minimap if you want the panel to display larger. At present, there's really no other way around this - we discussed it at length before I settled on dropping 2 skill buttons (there were 16 at one point!). We could drop another 2, but before making a decision like that it would be far better to assess your specific case.

So, some screenshots and knowledge of your screen's size and resolution would help me to diagnose your specific issue and advise accordingly.

N.B. At some point in the future, I plan to enable auto-resizing of the skill panel to fit the window, but this probably won't happen for a while as it's not a simple task. In the meantime, let me know what you're working with and I'll do my best to help.

Additionally, it would be nice to be able to optionally display skill labels underneath the skill icons for clarification for new players (e.g. my teenaged daughters, or even myself when it comes to the new skills).

I've replied to this in a separate [SUG] topic here.

[WillLem]

Please also see my previous reply regarding your screen resolution.

This would be great too in the level info screens before you start playing the levels, where it shows all the available skills for that level, as the skill icons appear very small in this window.  Is there any chance that they could be made larger, say double the size?  In low res, if there are many, they could potentially be shown in multiple rows on this screen, if they aren't already?

Would you be happy to share a screenshot so I can see what you mean?

Also, try this:

1) If SuperLemmix is open, close it and navigate to your SuperLemmix directory
2) Right-click on SuperLemmix.exe and choose Properties from the context menu
3) Go to the Compatibility tab in the Properties dialog
4) Under Settings, click the Change high DPI settings button
5) In the High DPI settings dialog, under High DPI scaling override, check Override high DPI scaling behaviour
6) In the Scaling performed by dropdown, choose Application
7) Click OK, Apply, OK
8) Open SuperLemmix (N.B. at this point, the SLX window may appear much larger or smaller than usual - don't worry, the next steps should fix this)
9) Press F2 to open the Config Menu
10) In the Graphics tab, click the Reset Window button, Apply, OK

If that doesn't work, try a different high DPI setting and see if that works. You may also want to head into the Windows display settings (right-click on the Desktop, click Display settings from the context menu) and try a different screen scaling if you find you generally have difficulty with things appearing too small on the screen. I have my display set to 150%, and that's about right for my vision (which is pretty bad!) - however, I regularly test SLX with multiple different screen resolutions/scalings to check for compatibility and to make sure features work correctly.

If you've tried the above and are still having issues, then some screenshots and knowledge of your system's display settings would definitely help.

[Tygerboi]

is there any way to increase the size of the skills/map panel underneath each level to fill the entire width of the screen when in high-res full-screen mode, or at least to make it larger, as it appears to be very small at the moment

some screenshots and knowledge of your screen's size and resolution would help me to diagnose your specific issue and advise accordingly.

[WillLem]

Well, from the screenshots alone, it looks like the Level Select screen is being displayed correctly - the icons aren't supposed to be much bigger than that. The recently-added tooltip hints should help with these in the meantime, and I'll look at what can be done to improve the Level Select screen in general (a full overhaul isn't completely out of the question, but it may take some time).

Meanwhile, from the in-game screenshot it looks likely that your laptop's display has a max resolution of 1280 x 768. With that being the case, unfortunately it simply isn't wide enough to fit the full panel on the screen at 2x zoom in hi-res. Most laptops nowadays have a standard resolution of 1920 x 1080, and that's what I'm working to with SLX. We could consider reducing the number of possible skill types to 12 instead of 14 - and, I did in fact consider this for some time, but concluded that it would be a relatively drastic change to make for the sake of supporting older screen resolutions.

Definitely do double-check your laptop's display settings; it's possible that you may be able to go to a higher resolution, and this is what you'd need to do. If this isn't an option, then as a workaround for now you can head to the Config menu (F2 from the main menu screen), go to the Graphics tab, and un-check "Show Minimap". This will increase the size of the panel buttons considerably, and you can use the Zoom In/Out function to quickly move to another part of the level.

I'm also considering adding "Nudge Left/Right" hotkeys, which would quickly jump the screen left or right. Now that "Show Minimap" is optional, it seems like it might be a worthwhile feature.

[Tygerboi]

Hi again,

OK, I have double-checked my laptop screen resolution and the highest it will go is 1366x768.  The next step below that is 1280x720, then 1024x768.  I run it in 1366x768 all the time.  I do not have any issues within Windows with anything being too small.  I tried the executable file 'compatibility settings' DPI modifications that you suggested, but  unfortunately that made no difference, even after "resetting windows" in SLX settings.

It isn't so much that the in-game icons are too small for me to see them clearly, it's more that there seemed to be a lot of empty space to the left, and right of the minimap.  I have found during gameplay that the small size of the icons makes it much easier to click the wrong one by mistake when skills have to be selected very quickly (without using the pause key).  There is a minor issue with clarity of the icon graphic when they're too small, but with enough time I would no doubt become familiar enough with them for this not to be too much of an issue.  Although that could take a while with all the extra skills available

I have tried, as you suggested, turning off the minimap, which definitely filled the entire width of the panel/screen.  The two attached screen photos show the results.

The first photo has the map off and the default zoom level set to 1x, for both 'zoom' and 'panel'.  The main level area is then too small (zoomed out, although this can be adjusted with my mouse scroll wheel) but the panel is filling the entire width of the screen, now almost too large, if anything.

The second photo is with the default zoom level set to 2x for 'zoom' and 1x for 'panel' - changing the panel zoom has no effect.  This is the most ideal way for me to configure this that I can find, after a bit of experimentation.  The panel still feels a little too big, but much better than it was in my earlier photos, with the minimap enabled.  I will probably stick with this from now on, on this laptop, unless future modifications to SuperLemmix require tweaking these settings.

I do appreciate that my laptop is now a little long in the tooth and doesn't support 1920x1080, which would be ideal.  I will have to look into upgrading it soon.

I will also try playing SLX on my desktop PC - which is older, but I have a really good 1080p IPS monitor, and run Windows 10 in 1920x1080.  I expect that I'll get more favourable results on that.

[WillLem]

OK, I have double-checked my laptop screen resolution and the highest it will go is 1366x768.

Ah yes, I meant to say 1366 x 768 rather than 1280 x 720. The issue is the same, though - it can manage 3x zoom in low res but only 1x zoom in hi-res (which is the same size, but higher resolution, as 2x zoom low-res).

And indeed, the DPI settings won't make any difference if it's a screen res issue.

I have tried, as you suggested, turning off the minimap, which definitely filled the entire width of the panel/screen.  The two attached screen photos show the results.

Thanks for sharing these, it's good to see how things look on different machines. I can of course simulate 1366 and other resolutions on my machine, but it's still good to have an actual comparison.

I do appreciate that my laptop is now a little long in the tooth and doesn't support 1920x1080, which would be ideal.  I will have to look into upgrading it soon.

I was careful not to outright suggest that you buy a new laptop, since that's a pretty naff support response! But yes, if you can treat yourself sometime, go for it

I will also try playing SLX on my desktop PC - which is older, but I have a really good 1080p IPS monitor, and run Windows 10 in 1920x1080.  I expect that I'll get more favourable results on that.

Almost certainly!

In the meantime though, one of the jobs on my list is to look at dynamic resizing of the skill panel so that it always matches the width of the game window. I've wanted to do that ever since I began with SLX, and now that it's been brought to my attention by someone who actually uses the program I'll definitely bring it up the priority list.

[Tygerboi]

Well, thanks again for all of your support and advice.  It makes a refreshing change to have such positive technical support interaction instead of just a standard dismissive response (or even no response) that I have often had from tech support teams in the past.  You obviously have the same philosophy as I did as a former IT field/servicedesk technician; you actually want to try and help people resolve their issues instead of just running through a script (like a certain UK-based ISP/home media provider that shall remain unnamed).  I've also had a similarly high quality of service from the Zynga support team in relation to Words With Friends on Android, but you have beaten even them!      I shall now get back to actually playing and enjoying SuperLemmix.


Oh, just one more thing:  will there ever be a port of SLX for the Amiga, so that the Lemmings can return to their ancestral homes? 
That might sound like a daft question, given that Amigas stopped being produced about 30 years ago, but there is still a very active online community, and many companies selling Amiga hardware upgrades, new games, etc.  I bet an AGA-chipset-based Amiga (A1200/A4000) with a few of the low-cost contemporary RAM, CPU and CF/SD 'hard drive' upgrades would easily be able to do justice to SuperLemmix.  Distributed as a 'WHDLoad' hard drive installer package rather than on floppy disks, of course.

[WillLem]

Thanks for your kind words @Tygerboi, much appreciated

Oh, just one more thing:  will there ever be a port of SLX for the Amiga, so that the Lemmings can return to their ancestral homes? 

Good question. It would be great to see SLX running on the Amiga, for sure!

At the very least, ROM hacking the original to add fast-forward, direction select and other more basic features might go down quite well in the Amiga community as long as it doesn't completely break the game like some of the other modern features do.

Then again, a full-fledged modern clone like SuperLemmix on the Amiga would be something to behold! Are the modern ones capable of running Windows programs?