MacType not working in Nightly Chatterino & window outline issue

[Void48]

Checklist

• I'm reporting a problem with Chatterino
• I've verified that I'm running the most recent nightly build or stable release
• I've looked for my problem on the wiki
• I've searched the issues and pull requests for similar looking reports

Describe your issue

The window outline in the Nightly version of Chatterino is more pronounced in both the unfocused and focused states. I think the outline in the Stable version of Chatterino looked better, as it remained consistent in both states. Especially, the left window border is noticeably more visible when the window is focused in the Nightly version. (See screenshot.)

Also, the window in the Nightly version must be resized carefully to have the chat line separator appear correctly, whereas this issue does not occur in the Stable version.

Lastly, MacType doesn't work in the Nightly version, though it works fine in the Stable version. When using the MacType Process Manager, I can see that MacType is injecting but the font doesn't change.

(I'd like to quickly mention that I really appreciate all the Chatterino contributors and thank you for all the work being done on Chatterino. )

Screenshots

8mb.video-P9g-faIWvsrZ.mp4

OS and Chatterino Version

Chatterino Nightly 2.5.1 (commit e1aded0) built on 2024-11-30 with Qt 6.7.1, MSVC 194234433, Crashpad Running on Windows 11 Version 24H2, kernel: 10.0.26120

[Nerixyz]

The border thing is a duplicate of #5645.

Lastly, MacType doesn't work in the Nightly version, though it works fine in the Stable version. When using the MacType Process Manager, I can see that MacType is injecting but the font doesn't change.

Not our issue imo. We use Qt's font rendering, which uses GDI+ (Qt <6.8) and for fonts that require emulation uses DirectWrite. You can change the fontengine by passing arguments or environment variables.

[Void48]

Not our issue imo. We use Qt's font rendering, which uses GDI+ (Qt <6.8) and for fonts that require emulation uses DirectWrite. You can change the fontengine by passing arguments or environment variables.

I’ve tried using Terminal to set environment variables and setting a shortcut argument, but MacType still doesn’t work. Could you please write simple instructions on how to change the font engine to the older one currently used in Stable? I think other users who encounter this issue would also appreciate the instructions. 🙂

Sorry to bother you with this, btw.

[Nerixyz]

Could you please write simple instructions on how to change the font engine to the older one currently used in Stable?

At least in 6.7, the font engine should be the same (assuming stable runs on something like 6.5). You can change the fontengine like this:

chatterino.exe -platform windows:fontengine=freetype

Or replace freetype with gdi (6.8) or directwrite. With freetype, you might be able to change its behavior using FREETYPE_PROPERTIES, but I'm not sure if that works here. I don't know what exactly MacType does, so I can't really help there. Either way, this is an issue with MacType not being able to inject its stuff into Qt.

Alternatively, you can pass nodirectwrite (chatterino.exe -platform windows:nodirectwrite to disable DirectWrite.

[Void48]

At least in 6.7, the font engine should be the same (assuming stable runs on something like 6.5). You can change the fontengine like this:

chatterino.exe -platform windows:fontengine=freetype

Or replace freetype with gdi (6.8) or directwrite. With freetype, you might be able to change its behavior using FREETYPE_PROPERTIES, but I'm not sure if that works here. I don't know what exactly MacType does, so I can't really help there. Either way, this is an issue with MacType not being able to inject its stuff into Qt.

Alternatively, you can pass nodirectwrite (chatterino.exe -platform windows:nodirectwrite to disable DirectWrite.

Disabling DirectWrite worked, but sadly it's not the same. Stable still looks less bold and clearer. It looks like I'll have to keep using Stable for as long as it works. Thanks for trying to help, though :)

[Void48]

Disabling DirectWrite worked, but sadly it's not the same. Stable still looks less bold and clearer. It looks like I'll have to keep using Stable for as long as it works. Thanks for trying to help, though :)

This should be due to differences in font rendering between Nightly and Stable. Text looks less clear, and the spacing appears more spread out. (MacType is disabled and not injected.) So, it seems to be a Qt issue rather than Chatterino's fault. (Just noting here what we discussed in Twitch chat.)

[Void48]

I asked a chatter if he noticed a difference, and he said he did. I guess the wider spacing is most obvious.