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Spontaneous font shrinkage - seriously weird

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[2017-11-19 18:21:05] #1 [Go To First Post]
ErikT - Posts: 117
This is really weird... Been running SC on the same monitors for weeks and weeks. Was working fine thru the trading day Friday. Started up SC on Sunday afternoon. First thing that was weird is the SC main window opened on a different monitor than it was closed (and save-all'd from). And this is probably relevant: The monitor I usually run it on is 2K res, but for some unknown reason it started on an adjacent 4K res monitor. No problem, I thought... Moved the window to the correct monitor (2K) where it was closed from on Friday before opening any CB's. Open my CBs and everything is in unreadably small fonts! All I can think of is that somehow SC starting on a 4K monitor (still no idea why that happened) caused it to reset internal values or something. So I went to Global Settings...Graphics Settings - Global...Fonts. All of the various categories were super-tiny in the sample window. Went through and did a "Reset to Default" on each one of them separately. That fixed MOST of the problems, but definitely not all. FOr example, I use the retrace tool a lot. The text (fib levels) is completely unreadable - looks like about a 3pt font. Resetting all the categories in the above Graphics Settings-Global fixed many of the fonts that had been mysteriously downsized, but not all of them. I have a second installation of SC on this system (for using a different data/trade service), and experienced identical problem on that one. When I first opened SC it started on a different monitor than it was closed from (but this time it was another 2K monitor - same res as it was closed from). All the fonts were tiny. Not just chart fonts, but for example the Open Chartbook dialog was barely readable because of small fonts. Once again, Global Settings...Graphics Settings-Global...Fonts showed everything in unreadably small typeface. I reset each category with "Restore Default", and that solved some but not all problems. Still many facets of the UI that are in miniature, which those font settings don't apparently influence. I checked my WIndows 10 display settings. Everything looks right - the 2K monitors are set to 100% magnification and the 4K's to 150% magnification, as they should be. No change in Windows config since I shut down SC Friday afternoon. One more really bizarre symptom in case it helps diagnose... Several charts displayed on a different monitor than they were closed on, but I also noticed they were way too big on the screen - taking up more of the monitor real estate than they were supposed to, and these did have readable fonts. But the second I clicked on the title bars of these windows to move them back to their intended monitor, the window instantly shrank to both much smaller footprint on the monitor and also much smaller fonts in the window! Seriously bizarre stuff! Any ideas? Is there a master reset everything in the system to factory defaults button I can try? I can't read any of my charts and have a heavy trading day tomorrow... Thanks in advance! Erik Is there some kind of "Global restore defaults" for the whole SC installation I should try?

[2017-11-19 18:30:34] #2 [Go To First Post]
ErikT - Posts: 117
p.s. Running 1644, it says no new version available.

[2017-11-19 20:20:58] #3 [Go To First Post]
ErikT - Posts: 117
Update: After much experimentation, I found the "Global chart drawing font" select button on the Tool Settings dialog. That too had been downsized WAY smaller than the original default. I manually reset it and now I am able to read my charts, so my immediate/critical problem is solved. Still a mystery what caused this to occur identically in two separate SC installations. It's as if every saved font size in the system magically got its point size cut in half for no apparent reason. QUESTION: In addition to "Global chart drawing font" and the 8 fonts that are selected in Global Settings...Graphic Settings - Global, is there any place else in SC where font sizes are set? If so I need to go find and fix them as well... Thanks! Erik

[2017-11-19 20:35:08] #4 [Go To First Post]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
You will have to seek help from Microsoft for an answer to the problems you have had. These are externally caused problems. There obviously has been some change in the interpretation of the stored font sizes. Not that the stored font sizes have changed. They remained the same. There simply is no other possibility. Refer to: Graphics Settings: Fonts and Text Appearance Graphics Settings: Adjusting Size of Dialog Windows Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy: https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, change to the Teton service: Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing Date Time Of Last Edit: 2017-11-19 20:35:52

[2017-11-20 22:57:24] #5 [Go To First Post]
ErikT - Posts: 117
THanks for the response guys. I was able to solve the problem so the point is really moot at this time, but FWIW I think you're misinterpreting the symptoms when you say "there is simply no other possibility". Look, the way I finally fixed it was to go into Global Settings and use your "RESTORE DEFAULT" function to return the font size to YOUR DEFAULT. So it most certainly was changed in your system, not in windows. No other apps were involved. Something went haywire and the font sizes stored in both of my separate SC installations got super small. Restoring them to DEFAULT size fixed it. If your interpretation were correct, they would have already been at default size, because I've never intentionally changed them. Somehow all the font sizes STORED IN SC got changed. I can't believe it either, but saying it's impossible doesn't change that it happened. In any event, it's all fixed now that I found both of the places where you set font sizes. Thanks, Erik

[2017-11-20 23:03:45] #6 [Go To First Post]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
OK we have to go into more detail. The Reset to Default, the actual name for resetting a font to default, involves a calculation. It involves using the device context of the desktop window or another window in Sierra Chart. There is also a formula applied to calculate the point size. So the font size you selected previously, whatever it is, is not actually necessarily the stored font size, it is some other calculated value which could even be a negative value. So if the parameters on the operating system related to font sizes, change, this calculated value could give you a completely different appearance size wise. Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy: https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, change to the Teton service: Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing Date Time Of Last Edit: 2017-11-20 23:04:16

[2017-11-20 23:22:58] #7 [Go To First Post]
ErikT - Posts: 117
Now I understand your position. Thank you for the explanation. Really weird this happened and did not affect any other app on the system, but I see your logic now. In any event, the reset to default fixed it. Thanks again! Erik

[2017-11-21 02:42:36] #8 [Go To First Post]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
This is definitely not a normal occurrence. Somehow Windows 10 behaves differently in this regard. Some programs are just going to use system specified fonts and not allow the user to change their sizes. Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy: https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, change to the Teton service: Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing Date Time Of Last Edit: 2017-11-21 02:45:09

[2019-09-09 18:01:39] #9 [Go To First Post]
User379468 - Posts: 508
I'm also having this unusual font/window size scaling change unexpectedly on Win 10. Any known fix to prevent this?

[2020-04-26 23:41:22] #10 [Go To First Post]
Zebbity - Posts: 18
Me too. Found the answer here - https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?page=doc/ResettingSierraChartToADefaultState.html Messing about in the file system? I have had my share of frustration working with MS systems and understand SC Engineering frustrations, but this seems a little clunky. So every time MS and SC don't play well together and blitz my fonts, I lose all my settings. Not great. Will have to make a settings file to default to in these instances. I have never had this happen with other trading packages. They were more expensive though. Horses for courses.

[2020-04-26 23:52:44] #11 [Go To First Post]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
You do not have to reset to a default state. Simply set/reset the Font sizes as explained here: Graphics Settings: Fonts and Text Appearance One way that we can solve this problem is that when the operating system returns a logical font height based upon system settings after you choose a font, that we then translate that to a point size and store that value instead. It becomes completely portable. Although this does take some time to accomplish. It is not that simple. Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy: https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, change to the Teton service: Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing Date Time Of Last Edit: 2020-04-26 23:53:17

[2020-04-27 00:02:47] #12 [Go To First Post]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
When you use the standard Windows operating system font selector window in Sierra Chart, the operating returns what is called an LOGFONT structure. There is a member of that which contains the logical height of the font. That structure is saved as the user selected font. That is then just simply used to get a handle to a font. We just checked, it is that straightforward and simple. Sierra Chart is handling this completely properly. There was never an issue like this before Windows 10. Perhaps with Windows 8 but we do not remember. So if we change this, we start doing something different than what has already been established and it can create some internal confusion with the code. The subject line of this thread is simply explaining the behavior of the Windows operating system. So yes the Windows operating system does do weird things. This is not the first time people blame operating system problems on Sierra Chart. There is another thread about this temporary flash of white when switching to a window. We notice that across all windows applications at times. It is very annoying when using a dark background. This is not a Sierra Chart issue at all. Visual Studio does the same stupid thing. Until such time that the operating system can draw the nonclient area of the window and then give the program a paint message, it just simply uses a white background for the window or sometimes the title bar color and there is no way to change that color. Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy: https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, change to the Teton service: Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing Date Time Of Last Edit: 2020-04-27 00:11:33

[2020-04-29 05:42:36] #13 [Go To First Post]
Zebbity - Posts: 18
I feel your pain. I once wrote some security software for Outlook/Exchange. The holes that needed plugging kept popping up all over the place.... Can get a workaround here at the user end at least for this issue.

[2020-04-29 05:44:57] #14 [Go To First Post]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
If you reset the font sizes in Global settings >> Graphics Settings >> Fonts, are you still having an ongoing issue? Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy: https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, change to the Teton service: Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing

[2020-04-29 06:08:06] #15 [Go To First Post]
Zebbity - Posts: 18
Thanks for following up. The problem has not recurred so I have not been able to try that fix. Something else really peculiar is going on with ordering though 1. When I place a live order in Machine 1, SC reverts to Simulation Mode without warning and places the order in Simulation Mode 2. Machine 2 does not do this 3. Place an order in BitMex web application, I can see it in the SC Trade Orders window in machine 2, but not machine 1, both machines in live trading mode. Machine 1 is the machine where I had the font issue. A virgin install only weeks old with only Sierra running. I think I will reimage it and reinstall SC as it was problem free in the beginning. Just on the Sierra side of things, have you ever seen those sort of oddities in the ordering system?

[2020-04-29 06:16:46] #16 [Go To First Post]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
1. When I place a live order in Machine 1, SC reverts to Simulation Mode without warning and places the order in Simulation Mode This would be because Sierra Chart is not set to use your trading service which apparently is BitMex. To solve this follow the instructions on this page: BitMEX Trading Service Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy: https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, change to the Teton service: Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing

[2020-04-30 00:50:08] #17 [Go To First Post]
Zebbity - Posts: 18
Thanks for that. It did the trick That trade service was previously configured and still had the settings stored. To help me (and other readers hopefully) understand a bit better... It likely defaulted to SC Data when I renamed the Sierra3.cfg file? Even more reason to first try the font settings you referenced. I did not twig to this as components of my Chartbook; Chart, DOM, Time and Sales were all updating in realtime, but from SC Data, not Bitmex.

[2020-04-30 01:42:58] #18 [Go To First Post]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
It likely defaulted to SC Data when I renamed the Sierra3.cfg file? Yes that would make sense. Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy: https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, change to the Teton service: Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing

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