Reduced Message Text in VR

[Taz1004]

This is another one I've been using which I haven't shared yet.  Some may find it useful.

By default, on screen text is too large for me in VR.  Often overlays on my cockpit if the message is long.  This mod reduces the font.  Also makes comm menu to be smaller.

They look too small in the comparison below but they look right in VR.

 

Reduced Text Font

 

With comm menu

 

ADJUSTMENTS:

• Onscreen message font sizes are adjusted by line 148, 255, 340, 462 of gameMessages.dlg.  Default font size is 20.
• Comm menu fonts are adjusted by line 49 of CommandMenu.lua

 

NOTES:

• Passes IC
• Even with this mod installed, it doesn't change the font size in 2D.  This only affects VR.

 

INSTALL:  Files go into main DCS install path.  Mod Manager recommended.

 

DOWNLOAD

Edited April 9, 2023 by Taz1004

[zildac]

@Taz1004 Thanks! This is really useful, it's especially annoying in Through the Inferno for example where there are regular messages re AWACS etc

[KCOOL]

Is this also working for aircraft, ground and missile names over those units?

[Muellerman]

Thanks a lot for this mod!!!!! I always wondered, why nobody else is complaining about this huge text size in VR. Especially when playing TTI. With this mod it is still readable and the text messages do not occupier the whole view! Absolutely awesome!

[Hiob]

@Taz1004

Hi Taz, do you know if there is a similar way to increase the font-size of the telemetry overlay (ctrl+pause)? ty

[MAXsenna]

3 minutes ago, Hiob said:

@Taz1004
Hi Taz, do you know if there is a similar way to increase the font-size of the telemetry overlay (ctrl+pause)? ty

Have you tried Intel's Present Monitor?

Edit: Never mind, I have no idea how it looks in VR.

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk
 

Edited November 17, 2023 by MAXsenna

[Hiob]

2 minutes ago, MAXsenna said:

Have you tried Intel's Present Monitor?

Edit: Never mind, I have no idea how it looks in VR.

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk
 

 

I wasn't thinking of VR in particular tbh, but I would prefer a "mod" over a third party application.

[MAXsenna]

I wasn't thinking of VR in particular tbh, but I would prefer a "mod" over a third party application.

Sure! Though I looked elsewhere for that exact reason. The text/number size.

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

[Hiob]

2 minutes ago, MAXsenna said:

Sure! Though I looked elsewhere for that exact reason. The text/number size.

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk
 

Well I use Afterburner/Riva for that. But the ingame telemetry would be sufficiant most of the time IF I could effing read it.....

[MAXsenna]

Well I use Afterburner/Riva for that. But the ingame telemetry would be sufficiant most of the time IF I could effing read it.....

Yeah, but it's so ugly! To be honest I haven't really tried to tweak it. I use VoiceAttack to enable/disable everything. Might look into it again!

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

[zrad]

When ED added the scrollable radio/command window, CommandMenu.lua received a substantial increase of lines of code, until Taz updates his download, I would recommend everyone go find their vanilla version and modify their font size themselves. 
 

If you currently install this mod (as of writing this) and you lose that feature, this is why. 

[speed-of-heat]

the line to change in commandmenu.lua is still line 49 , the value of 1.75 to 1

[zildac]

Here's a fix:

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3335205/

[Tweaker_Vincent]

I have some issues with the subtitles AND tasks within the DCA f18 rising squall campaign. Without any modding, the subtitles overlap the tasks (upper right corner). Is there an option to fix this? Maybe cut off the subtitles so more lines are used?

[MoleUK]

On 4/9/2023 at 4:28 AM, Taz1004 said:

This is another one I've been using which I haven't shared yet.  Some may find it useful.

By default, on screen text is too large for me in VR.  Often overlays on my cockpit if the message is long.  This mod reduces the font.  Also makes comm menu to be smaller.

They look too small in the comparison below but they look right in VR.

 

Reduced Text Font

 

With comm menu

 

ADJUSTMENTS:

• Onscreen message font sizes are adjusted by line 148, 255, 340, 462 of gameMessages.dlg.  Default font size is 20.
• Comm menu fonts are adjusted by line 49 of CommandMenu.lua

 

NOTES:

• Passes IC
• Even with this mod installed, it doesn't change the font size in 2D.  This only affects VR.

 

INSTALL:  Files go into main DCS install path.  Mod Manager recommended.

 

DOWNLOAD

@Taz1004 Sorry for the ping, but just incase you haven't gone inactive:

I've been using this since you first put it up as it's so damn useful.

But I've had to reduce the text font size even further to try and reduce the size some of the server spam can take up on the screen. And even then it's not really enough.

I noticed in the gameMessages.dlg file there's also some values for line heights and some H/W/X/Y values. Has anyone tried altering these to see if we can get the initial messages to appear further up? That way they wouldn't obstruct the view quite as badly. I'd much rather just look up to read the messages than have them overlap right in front of my face.

[Pand]

On 6/1/2025 at 11:03 AM, MoleUK said:

But I've had to reduce the text font size even further to try and reduce the size some of the server spam can take up on the screen. And even then it's not really enough.

I noticed in the gameMessages.dlg file there's also some values for line heights and some H/W/X/Y values. Has anyone tried altering these to see if we can get the initial messages to appear further up? That way they wouldn't obstruct the view quite as badly. I'd much rather just look up to read the messages than have them overlap right in front of my face.

I was having the same issue, it's not the gameMessages.dlg file you want to update.  You want to add/update the gameMessages.lua file on line 58.  By default it takes your main view width and uses half the screen for the game messages bounds.  I modified that to be 1/3 of the main view.  Adjust as appropriate.

Scripts/UI/gameMessages.lua

	if HMD.isActive() then
		width = main_w / 3
	else
		width = 600
	end

Either add/update the file into your existing mod zip, or you can use my updated zip that is mod manager ready.  Hope this helps!  Cheers.
 

Taz1004_UI_TextSize_Pand.zip

Edited July 24 by Pand

[MoleUK]

1 hour ago, Pand said:

I was having the same issue, it's not the gameMessages.dlg file you want to update.  You want to add/update the gameMessages.lua file on line 58.  By default it takes your main view width and uses half the screen for the game messages bounds.  I modified that to be 1/3 of the main view.  Adjust as appropriate.

Scripts/UI/gameMessages.lua

	if HMD.isActive() then
		width = main_w / 3
	else
		width = 600
	end

Either add/update the file into your existing mod zip, or you can use my updated zip that is mod manager ready.  Hope this helps!  Cheers.
 

Taz1004_UI_TextSize_Pand.zip 8.99 kB · 1 download

Cheers, that's a good tweak to have available.

[omohat]

16 hours ago, Pand said:

I was having the same issue, it's not the gameMessages.dlg file you want to update.  You want to add/update the gameMessages.lua file on line 58.  By default it takes your main view width and uses half the screen for the game messages bounds.  I modified that to be 1/3 of the main view.  Adjust as appropriate.

Scripts/UI/gameMessages.lua

	if HMD.isActive() then
		width = main_w / 3
	else
		width = 600
	end

Either add/update the file into your existing mod zip, or you can use my updated zip that is mod manager ready.  Hope this helps!  Cheers.
 

Taz1004_UI_TextSize_Pand.zip 8.99 kB · 6 downloads

Thank you so much for this - works perfectly!

We've finally been freed from the tyranny of VR text size boxes 

[Col_Mustard]

Hi all,

Firstly, thanks for this fix Taz, it's such a great QoL change for multiplayer. 

Unfortunately this is preventing me from using my communication menu via the binds I've set on my HOTAS and I'm not sure how to fix it. 

The mod is installed, or enabled, via OvGME. I have binds set for opening the command menu, cycling between the next or previous items, and selecting an item. The bind to open the command menu works fine, but once the menu is open I am unable to cycle between or select any items. The text remains white instead of turning yellow when you are cycling through the list. 

nullI'm using the dial on the VKB STECS ATEM. It is not an axis, and registers as buttons. You can twist it left or right, depress it, and click it fwd, aft, left and right (it's basically a dpad. I had a look through the lua file to see if there was anything in there I can edit to fix this but haven't been able to figure it out. 

At the end of the day it's not a dealbreaker, I might set some binds on my keyboard other than backslash and the F buttons to see if that works.

Cheersnull

[speed-of-heat]

Taz isn't around, but you might have to make the changes manually to the files, as the original fix will break some of the changes to the comms menu 

[zildac]

I haven't been on for some time, but I was using this MOD: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3335205/

It states it does support scrollable comms menu functionality, and I never noticed any issues, but YMMV I have not flown for a number of months/updates.

Also note the comment regarding manual editing of some "overlooked" values:

"Super appreciate your amendment to the mod to get the scrollable radio support!
Just a quick heads up you missed some font size changes in the gameMessages.dlg. In Taz's mod they're all set to 12, in your mod all but one are set to 20. That keeps the text font quite large.
I went ahead and changed the files in mine and it worked as usual" 

[Col_Mustard]

Actually, I have just found this. 

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3335205/

Will test it out. 

edit: lol Taz beat me to it. And yeah found some of the text was still large, fixed it up in note pad. 

Edited 11 hours ago by Col_Mustard

[zildac]

6 minutes ago, Col_Mustard said:

Actually, I have just found this. 

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3335205/

Will test it out. 

edit: lol Taz beat me to it. And yeah found some of the text was still large, fixed it up in note pad. 

Not Taz, but glad you got it sorted

[MAXsenna]

Not Taz, but glad you got it sorted

Hope Taz is all well.

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