[WoW] Game Text Almost Unreadable

I haven't been boxing since MoP came out. Rather, I've been away from multiboxing in order to level my characters to 90. But, when I launched ISBoxer for the first time since MoP was introduced, the game's font resolution in my slave window (I dual box) is very poor. Not so in the primary window. The font in the primary is crisp and clear.

I run the slave and primary windows on separate monitors.

OTOH, when I manually launch the two characters (not using Inner Space), the text in each window is just fine -- crisp and clear.

I've tried adjusting the graphics parameters in-game to no avail.

I'm sure I'm missing something, but I've tried throwing the kitchen sink at this problem with no joy. Suggestions?

Thanks,

[edit] Also, when I enable swapping, the fonts display correctly when the secondary window swaps over to the primary. Upon swapping back, they display poorly.

Michael

[lax]

Do your monitors have different resolutions?

When Instant Swapping is enabled in your Window Layout, this synchronizes the rendering resolutions with the main window size. This makes swapping instant, but if you're moving the windows between 2 Regions that have a different aspect ratio, it is going to look bad in the non-main region -- as you have described.

You can improve the view by re-sizing the Region (in your Window Layout) on the second monitor, so it is smaller than the whole monitor, but the same aspect ratio as the main screen.

You can use the whole screen in this scenario and make the view perfect by disabling Instant Swapping, however then a) Mouse Broadcasting will be off because of the different resolutions, and b) swapping will be slower if that is important to you.

Do your monitors have different resolutions?

Yes! But, note...

1. The resolution of the monitor on which the primary WoW game window is displayed is set to 1920x1200. However, game's resolution is 1920x1160 (set by Inner Space).

2. The resolution of the monitor on which the secondary WoW game window is displayed is 1680x1050 and the game window's resolution is 1920x1160 (also set by Inner Space).

When Instant Swapping is enabled in your Window Layout, this synchronizes the rendering resolutions with the main window size. This makes swapping instant, but if you're moving the windows between 2 Regions that have a different aspect ratio, it is going to look bad in the non-main region -- as you have described.

First, just to make sure I'm not missing something, the selection choice in the Regions configuration menu is labled Windows Swapping Behavior and its choices are true or false. Is your reference to "instant" swapping something other than Windows Swapping Behavior?

Second, I prefer to run with swapping disabled. I don't like the windows jumping between screens. I only enabled swapping to see if it had an effect on the resolution ofthe text.

You can improve the view by re-sizing the Region (in your Window Layout) on the second monitor, so it is smaller than the whole monitor, but the same aspect ratio as the main screen.

How exactly do I do this? The ISBoxer Region menu doesn't indicate the aspect ratio when/while adjusting the regions. FYI, both of my monitors have a 16:10 Aspect Ratio (tho' one (the secondary) is a 22" and the other is a 24").

Finally, when making these changes, upon exporting the changes to Inner Space, ISBoxer will often, but not always, display the following warning/info popup:

* The ideal resolution for the game to be configured in based on your Window Layout is 1920x1160. The game has a different resolution configured."

I can click Yes or No with no discernible effect.

Thanks, Lax, for your suggestions.

Michael

[lax]

Yes! But, note...

1. The resolution of the monitor on which the primary WoW game window is displayed is set to 1920x1200. However, game's resolution is 1920x1160 (set by Inner Space).

2. The resolution of the monitor on which the secondary WoW game window is displayed is 1680x1050 and the game window's resolution is 1920x1160 (also set by Inner Space).

This confirms the problem: Both windows are configured to 1920x1160, but on the smaller screen that 1920x1160 is going to be resized to 1680x1050 (different aspect ratio!). Inner Space is setting it to 1920x1160 in both windows due to the Instant Swapping setting.

If you are "avoiding the taskbar" on the main monitor, then you're not filling the full 1920x1200, you're actually filling 1920x1160. Which is not the same aspect ratio as 1920x1200 and 1680x1050. So actually based on what you just said I would say that you could most easily solve this problem by removing the "Avoid taskbar" feature of your Window Layout, which will put the res at the full 1920x1200, same aspect ratio as 1680x1050.

First, just to make sure I'm not missing something, the selection choice in the Regions configuration menu is labled Windows Swapping Behavior and its choices are true or false. Is your reference to "instant" swapping something other than Windows Swapping Behavior?

The Instant Swapping check box applies to your entire Window Layout, and is just beneath the "Swap Hot Character to main region" drop-down box in the main settings for your Window Layout (not the Regions editor), and is labelled "Use Instant window swapping (synchronizes game resolutions)".

You can improve the view by re-sizing the Region (in your Window Layout) on the second monitor, so it is smaller than the whole monitor, but the same aspect ratio as the main screen.
How exactly do I do this? The ISBoxer Region menu doesn't indicate the aspect ratio when/while adjusting the regions. FYI, both of my monitors have a 16:10 Aspect Ratio (tho' one (the secondary) is a 22" and the other is a 24").

Right, well, 1920/1160=1.6551724137931034482758620689655 -- which is going to be fairly difficult to precisely match. However, it happens to work out that 1680x1015 perfectly matches the Aspect Ratio with 1920x1160. So, if you want to keep the "Avoid Taskbar" make your second screen's region exactly 1680x1015.

You are right that I could probably help with the Aspect Ratio in the Regions editor. I'll make a note of that.

Finally, when making these changes, upon exporting the changes to Inner Space, ISBoxer will often, but not always, display the following warning/info popup:

* The ideal resolution for the game to be configured in based on your Window Layout is 1920x1160. The game has a different resolution configured."
I can click Yes or No with no discernible effect.

ISBoxer is making an incorrect assumption about what needs to be in the file, it has no effect because of your windowed/fullscreen mode setting in the game; ISBoxer is able to override it anyway in this case. This does need to be fixed in ISBoxer, thanks for reminding me.