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Getting some oddly displayed characters

M

MGibs

Jun
149
13
When running a script to test various color combinations, I'm getting the following display.


Note the capital B's in the very first output line:
"--- Black / Bright Black background -----------------------"

Also, note the final k in the word "Black" at the beginning of the detail display lines.

I can't figure out if those characters are in a different font, or if there is some sort of effect added to those characters, but they definitely don't look right.

There are others too sprinkled throughout the display- for example, the b in "bri White" at the end of the detail display lines.


1782861937162.webp


Here's the script I am running. Can anyone else out there duplicate this issue, or is it a me problem?

Code: 
@echo off
setlocal

do BG in /L Black Blue Green Cyan Red Magenta Yellow White

   echo.
   echo `---` %BG `/` Bright %BG background `-----------------------`

   REM Line1: Write all colors in normal and bright FG on *normal* background
   do FG in /L Black Blue Green Cyan Red Magenta Yellow White
      scrput /U +0 +0 %FG on %BG `|`%FG`` & scrput /U +0 +0 bright %FG on %BG `|`bri %FG``
   enddo
   echo.

   REM Line2: Write all colors in normal and bright FG on *bright* background
   do FG in /L Black Blue Green Cyan Red Magenta Yellow White
      scrput /U +0 +0 %FG on bri %BG `|`%FG`` & scrput /U +0 +0 bright %FG on bri %BG `|`bri %FG``
   enddo
   echo.

enddo

quit


EDIT: I tried changing the font used and different characters had display issues. When I changed the font back the original problem characters had issues again.

EDIT2: Disabling Command Output Folding returns to displaying characters normally. Enabling it distorts them again, even without a restart of Take Command.

-----------
TCMD Version 36.50.68

TCC 36.50.68 x64 Windows 11 [Version 10.0.26200.8655]

_ConPTY: 1 (Yes)
 
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It appears that the issue is only appearing when the Take Command window is maximized and when Command Output Folding is enabled..

rconn said:
What font are you using?
Click to expand...


Font in TCMD Options - Tabs is set to Consolas 11 pt

1782871515625.webp




rconn said:
Does it look different if you zoom the display in & out?
Click to expand...
Yes. At certain zoom levels above and below the default setting the characters appear normally.

I tried to determine the problematic zoom settings, but the @Font[] function didn't seem to be returning meaningful results.

Problem output at the default zoom level:

1782872219849.webp



No problem when zoomed out

1782872361979.webp


1782872456708.webp

The help says that Zoom In and Zoom Out changes the tab window font size.
Is there a way to display the zoom level or the font size being rendered from within TCC?


rconn said:
Does it behave differently if run in a stand-alone console or in WT?
Click to expand...
No issues running in Windows Terminal at any zoom level. (I did have to change the font in WT Settings --> Profiles --> Defaults --> Appearance --> Font Face, since it was overriding the TC Font setting.)

By stand-alone console - if you mean a stand-alone conhost session, then no issues there either.


When I was running in a non-maximized tab in TC, zooming in and out didn't display this issue but there was sometimes another artifact appearing. Note the red line on the left edge of the L in "Black". Might be an entirely different issue.

1782873122411.webp
 
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I found the @TCFont[] function.

When TCFont[1] returned -16 and -13 all was well.

When TCFont[1] returned -15 and -14 was when I saw display issues. But again, only when the TC window was maximized and Command Output Folding was enabled.

A clean start of TCMD has TCFont[1] returning -15


Code: 
[C:\Program Files\JPSoft\TCMD36]echo %@TCFont[0] ^n %@TCFont[1] ^n %@TCfont[2]
Consolas
 -16
 700

[C:\Program Files\JPSoft\TCMD36]echo %@TCFont[0] ^n %@TCFont[1] ^n %@TCfont[2]
Consolas
 -15
 700

[C:\Program Files\JPSoft\TCMD36]echo %@TCFont[0] ^n %@TCFont[1] ^n %@TCfont[2]
Consolas
 -14
 700

[C:\Program Files\JPSoft\TCMD36]echo %@TCFont[0] ^n %@TCFont[1] ^n %@TCfont[2]
Consolas
 -13
 700
 
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Still not reproducible here.

But this pretty much has to be either a DirectWrite or video driver issue. TCMD is simply handing DirectWrite the string and telling it where on the display to write and what color to use. TCMD does not do anything different if the font and/or font size changes.

TCC isn't making a console API call (another source of strange bugs); it just sends ANSI sequences to set the position and color, and then writes the string to STDOUT.
 
I see something similar or exactly the same thing (I am not entirely positive about the later). Here is an example:

font-issue.webp


The issue happens with at least three fonts (Consolas, Lucida Console and Cascadia Mono). It also happens with any font size. It is simply not as prominent with some sizes. It is also easily reproduced:
  • grab the right edge of the TCMD window with the mouse
  • slowly move the mouse left-right thereby decreasing-increasing the line length
  • the artifacts should flicker in and out view quite prominently (at various columns)
This looks like an anti-aliasing problem, if I have ever seen one. This might be the video driver, but I do not really believe that. Why? I have never seen an effect like this in any application (including TCMD). Anyways, I will have a look at my video settings and will come back, if I should find something.

And just for the record:
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080
  • latest video driver (610.62)
  • Win 11 Pro 10.0.26200
  • RAM 32 GB
 
First of all, I searched the settings of the graphics card and couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. That is to say, anything pertaining to the desktop was set to default values, while the more advanced 2d/3d settings (anti-aliasing, filtering, multi sampling, etc.) where either off or set to "controlled by app". Playing around with some of the more obvious options also didn't produce anything useful. Moreover, switching off ClearType and/or playing with the settings (choosing what looks best) didn't change the way TCMD looks like.

Installing build 69 didn't help either. It still has random artifacts. Once more here are some examples.

Take Command, TCC, ConPTY, Cascadia Mono 11, One Half Light:

font-tcmd.webp


Windows Terminal, TCC, same Font and Color Scheme, Anti-Aliasing: ClearType (!)

font-wt.webp


and just for the record
Take Command, TCC, legacy console, again same Font and Color Scheme:

font-cons.webp


Well OK, the screen shots blur things a tad, but not overly so. So, take your pick! I myself would very much prefer the first one, if it got rid of the artifacts.
 
I'm seeing very similar results. I do not see these artifacts with Take Command build 55 (pre-direct write), nor with TCC build 69 running in Windows Terminal; just with TCC running in Take Command.

And like Dieter, in a TC tab, if I resize the right border then the characters showing artifacts shift around in the display. This also doesn't happen with TCC under WT.

Is there anything I can do to troubleshoot or compare the WT settings vs TC.
 
Installed build 70 and, at first glance, nothing has changed, that is, the artifacts are still clearly visible and flicker in and out of existence when the TCMD window is resized horizontally.

On to your previous questions (everything tested with build 70).

"Command Output Folding" and "Show Marks and Result"
I tested any possible combination using the default shell (TCC). I see the artifacts in each of the four cases.

"CMD" and "PowerShell'
I used Profiles, which makes testing somewhat easier. I created both profiles by clicking "Detect Installed Shells"
  • ConPTY checked: I see artifacts with both CMD and PowerShell
  • ConPTY unchecked: no artifacts in both cases
I also configured PowerShell 7 manually. Same result as above, but found another weird bug (see separate post).
 
rconn said:
Do you get the artifacts both with and without folding enabled?

Do you get the artifacts running other apps (like CMD or PowerShell)?
Click to expand...

I am seeing the same results that others have reported with build 70...CMD, Powershell, and TCC all have the artifacts when running in a TCMD ConPTY tab but not in WT. Output folding being enabled or not doesn't seem to make a difference.

My earlier report that the issue was only happening with Take Command maximized and with Output folding enabled was incorrect. That combination for me produced some glaring distortion and was a repeatable use case. But taking a cue from Dieter and resizing the window horizontally - I now see that output folding or maximizing the window (and zooming in the display) just shifted where the artifacts occurred.

Sorry for the confusion.
 
I am seeing this, too, and it is really quite annoying. The 'M' below is especially bad, and the 'p' is very thick on the left. Fortunately, I have found a window size for TCMD that works pretty well.

1783258596829.webp


As reported in another post, some of the screen content can be hidden under the right gutter depending on the window size.

These problems are not present in a non-Con-PTY.
 
I don't see it that very clearly and it's perhaps really a normal anti-aliasing effect only. However, I notice that with ConPTY, the text is just generally thicker. resp. blurrier and I don't know if that is normal or not.

Tested in build 71.
 
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