Manual: Setup/Display

This page contains information on a not yet released version of OpenMPT. Some of this information might not be applicable to the current version of OpenMPT. You may view an (possibly outdated) older version of this article without information on the upcoming changes.

Display tab of the settings dialog

While OpenMPT does not use skins or themes in its display scheme, you can set the colourisation of some of the more important GUI elements from within the Display page and change other display-related settings.

Display Options

DPI Awareness

Windows allows applications to react to different pixel density and display scaling settings in several ways. By default, OpenMPT is configured to be per-monitor DPI-aware. This means that even if you have multiple screens with varying pixel density, OpenMPT’s user interface elements will scale correctly when placed on each screen. However, this setting also applies to custom plugin editors, and old VST plugins in particular often have custom editors that will not look right when a display scaling other than 100% is chosen, or when placed on a secondary screen that uses a display scaling different from the primary screen. Hence, the following alternative DPI awareness modes can be selected:

• Not DPI-Aware: OpenMPT and plugin GUIs are always drawn at 100% display scaling (96 DPI), and the operating system (Windows Vista or newer) resizes them to the actual display scaling configured by the user. This is the most primitive setting and should only be chosen if there are problems with specific VST plugins that cannot be solved in any other way. Graphics may look blurry in particular at “in-between” display scaling values such as 125% and 150%.
• Not DPI-Aware; GDI upscaling: Like the previous option, but starting from Windows 10, version 1809 and newer, some text elements will look sharper because they will be rendered at native resolution. However, there is a number of VST plugins that are not compatible with this setting, manifesting in crashes or freezes when opening such a plugin editor. If you see this happening, use a different DPI awareness mode.
• System DPI-Aware: OpenMPT and plugin GUIs are always drawn according to the scaling of the primary screen, even when they are placed on a secondary screen. The operating system resizes them to look correct according to the display scaling of the secondary screen. Choose this option if you use OpenMPT on a secondary screen with VST plugins that are not per-monitor DPI-aware. Graphics may look blurry in particular at “in-between” display scaling values such as 125% and 150%.
• Per-Monitor DPI-Aware: Starting from Windows 10, version 1703 and newer, it is possible to retrieve the display scaling settings of each screen individually. This allows the OpenMPT GUI to look crisp no matter which screen it is placed on. Older VST plugin editors will have issues when they are placed on a secondary screen whose display scaling differs from the primary screen.

The last two options behave identically if only one screen is connected, or all connected screens share the same display scaling.

Changes made to this setting only takes effect after restarting OpenMPT.

Pattern Font

Lets you choose the font that is used in the pattern editor. OpenMPT has two built-in space-saving fonts, which can also be scaled up for High-DPI devices. You may also choose any other installed font by pressing the Custom button. Not all fonts will look good in OpenMPT, and it is recommended to use a monospaced font. Bitmap fonts will work particularly well at small font sizes, as many vector fonts are not designed to look nice below 10pt without anti-aliasing. If you are looking for some nice font replacements, it may be a good idea to look out for programming-oriented fonts online, or replicas of old BIOS fonts for a more retro look (e.g. Oldschool PC Fonts).

Comments Font

Lets you choose the font that is used for displaying the comments text, as well as the the sample and instrument names on the same tab. By default, this is Courier New at 12pt.

Accidentals

OpenMPT can display accidentals either as sharps (♯) or flats (♭). Here you can choose your preference. This setting does not affect custom tunings.

Default Channel Colours

You can choose the default colouring scheme applied to pattern channel headers: No Colours, a continuous Rainbow or Random (alternating rainbow colours). These colours are applied to newly created modules, imported modules that do not have any colours set up yet or when resetting the colours from the channel header context menu in the pattern editor.

Enable Effect Highlighting

Checking this box enables colour for the text in the Pattern Editor. If this is not checked, all pattern field contents are drawn in the same foreground colour.

Remember each song's window positions

When enabled, OpenMPT stores the window layout of each edited song so that you can continue working right where you left off when saving the file. These display settings are not stored in the module files themselves, but in a separate configuration file.

Clear Song Cache

Allows you to delete the cached window positions saved by the previous option.

Primary Highlight

The Primary Highlight is the same colour as the “Highlighted” box for the Pattern Editor component, and is equivalent to the Rows per Measure of the time signature. This value is only used as a default for newly-created modules and formats that do not support saving this value (MOD and S3M).

Secondary Highlight

The Secondary Highlight is a lighter version of the Primary Highlight, and equates to the Rows per Beat highlight of the time signature. This value is only used as a default for newly-created modules and formats that do not support saving this value (MOD and S3M).

Always use default highlight values

When checked, the pattern editor always uses the highlight values entered above for primary and secondary highlights, rather than the song’s time signature.

Colour Schemes

As you select a different component to set colours for, various colour boxes will appear below the Preview box at the bottom. Click on any of these to call up a standard Windows colour selection dialog, where you can choose your colour. As you change a colour, the Preview box allows you to see what it will look like in its context (except for the VU Meters and channel separators).

Pattern Editor

The basic colours for rows in the Pattern Editor. The foreground colour is for all fields without data.

Active Row

The highlighting for the Active Row where the cursor is located. The foreground colour is for fields without data. An alternative background colour can be specified to make it obvious that pattern recording is active.

Pattern Selection

The highlight for any selected area, including the cursor.

Play Cursor

The colour for the row where the playback pointer is currently located. The foreground colour will be applied to fields without data.

Note Highlight

The colours for the text or symbols within the Note and Instrument fields as well as volume commands.

Effect Highlight

The colour for the text or symbols within the effect columns. To make each command type stand out, you can differentiate between Panning, Pitch, and Global commands.

Invalid Commands

The colour for any field which contains data that is non-compatible for the track type. Currently, this is only used for notes that are outside the Amiga frequency range when enabling the Amiga Frequency Limits setting in MOD and S3M files.

Channel Separator

The colours for the lines that separate the channels in the Pattern Editor. You can define the colours for each of the three lines that make up the Channel Separator.

Next/Prev Pattern

The transparency tint to apply to the patterns that are displayed before and after the current pattern, which is only visible if the “Always center active row” and the “Show prev/next pattern” options are checked in the General Options page.

Sample Editor

The colour to apply to the waveform data in the Sample Display.

Instrument Editor

The colour to apply to the envelope lines in the Envelope Window.

VU Meters

The colours to use on the VU meters on the main toolbar, General page and in the channel headers of sample-based channels in the Pattern Editor.

VU Meters (Plugins)

The colours to use on the VU meters for synthesis-based channels (plugins / FM instruments) in the channel headers of the Pattern Editor.

Presets

In this section, you can choose from a variety of colour presets from a drop-down list. Use the other two buttons two load and save your own colour schemes.