While waiting for vector support maybe let's use higher quality images for cardsets (with first new builds)?

[jan-kleks]

Before creating PySolFC 2.1 builds for various systems, I suggest taking into account the fact that currently used cardsets are extremely small, and they look really, really bad on modern screens. To temporarily alleviate this issue and to avoid negative user feedback (while waiting for proper vector support), we might simply ship PySolFC with at least one additional (which could be used as the default one) higher resolution cardset. I mean something like this guy did here (ignore the card backs s/he suggested, just focus on the cards). AFAIK, these seem to be cardsets which are in the public domain, we might need to ask him/her about this.

But PySolFC definitely looks much better this way... Some time ago I talked to shlomif on IRC that PySolFC needs a major graphical overhaul, taking care of (even if temporarily) the most serious issue, i.e. small cardsets could be a step in the right direction.

[Alucard648]

With my small screen (1024*768) 2.0 cardsets were fine for me.

[jan-kleks]

@Alucard648 Yeah, they look absolutely fine on small screens, but the point is that more and more people use Full HD or even 4K displays.

[hairspring]

@jan-kleks While it would be good to have choice, don't imagine everyone with a full HD display wants larger cards. My wife completely rejected the idea when I offered to do work on this for her. She likes having a smaller window on her full HD screen because it means she doesn't have to move the mouse as far.

The only time she wanted rescaled cards was several years ago, a short period when she had to run on a 1024x768 display. I made a SMALLER cardset to overcome the problem of a game going off the edge of the monitor!

@Alucard648 I guess it varies with different games, some may fit 1024x768, but some don't.

[jan-kleks]

@hairspring Hopefully, proper vector support would fix all these problems with different resolutions (small and large). Okay then, so maybe not as a default cardset as I suggested in my original post, but I still think it would be nice to ship at least one cardset for people who would like to play with big cards in full HD, as a temporary measure. I have already suggested to @shlomif that this could be achieved by simply resizing our default cards (because of their simple pixelated look, they should scale nicely).

BTW, welcome back hairspring. :)

[hairspring]

@jan-kleks Yes, vector support would be great, I think I suggested it years ago on SourceForge... but I'm good at suggesting things without implementing them! :(

nice to ship at least...

Absolutely. Choice is good! :)

BTW, welcome back hairspring. :)

[blush] Wow, you remember me! I feel all warm and hugged! :) Thanks.

I've been very remiss, have been watching from the wings all this time, but priorities haven't yet allowed me to contribute. To explain... one day my wife said "Did you know you have 48 PCs around the house?". Admittedly I do tend to hoard old items that need repair and I loathe those that just take stuff to the council tip.

But 48? Clearly she was exaggerating. I did my own count. And returned, somewhat sheepishly, to admit that, though her figure was wrong, it was a little over 50! So instead of programming, such spare time as I've had has been occupied refurb'ing and selling on ebay and ebid.net. The task continues.

I've been very happy to see the progress on PySol, this group certainly has attitudes and ideals that I admire. E.g. this week it's pleasing to see that both Python 2 and 3 are still in the frame, and I loved Shlomif's link to Joel's article -- just because Z works, that doesn't invalidate the need for ctrl+Z, the principle of least surprise.

I'll be back! :)

[rexx790]

Hi Jan
Totally agree that larger cardsets are a must for modern day computers.
I use a 32" monitor and a resolution of 1920x1080. This is a common setup these days and the small cards are a joke. I am the creator of the cardset you have linked in your opening post, and having full screen cards make pysol look better than any other card game out there. I can't help with coding or vector support but i can help with cards if needed.

[cardset]

In my opinion, the first cardset when pysol opens should be impressive or many people close the game and go away, looking for another game with nicer gfx.

For example the dondorf set, from pysolfc.
Nice, historical, but small and no rankings on it.
And very hard to play with it.

and here is a dondorf set i use

or if you want a bigger one:

[joeraz]

Regarding hi-res cardsets, this is something I am actively working on improving support for. The next release (which I'm working on preparing) will have a number of features that enhance the display when using higher resolution cardsets, including adding a Hi-Res Cardsets category. The first of these new high resolution cardsets, "Neo" is now available to download on SourceForge as part of the latest version of the minimal package, and as part of the PySolFC-Cardsets-2.1 Preview release: https://sourceforge.net/projects/pysolfc/files/PySolFC-Cardsets/PySolFC-Cardsets-2.1PRE/.

Here's a screenshot showing the updates in action in Windows:

I plan to make this cardset the default eventually. However, I'm not yet ready to do so for two main reasons:

• Currently, I only have the Neo cardset, which is a French type. I'm working on building a Neo Matrix and can probably piece together a Neo Tarock or Hanafuda cardset from public domain pictures from the internet. However, some of the remaining cardset types are pretty obscure. I'd like to have at least one high resolution cardset of each type.
• Higher resolution cardsets are dependent on Auto-Scale being enabled to display properly. There are still a few games that have images or text overlapping when Auto-Scale is used, especially when Auto-Scale is reducing the cardset size. I've been able to fix a few of them, but can't say I've been able to check or fix every single game. And similarly, I want to see if there are any other features that may have other display issues as a result of using higher resolution cardsets. I want to give this a few releases so this can be tested more extensively - dated cardsets may be an issue, but a broken display would be even worse.

Since this is one of the most commented on issues with PySol, I figured it was worth a little mention of what I'm up to. If anyone's interested in helping out with this, let me know.

[joeraz]

This has been completed as of 2.15.