Font rendering bug in SDK 1.2.2 and 1.2.3

Please see the attached example. I have recreated the font using BMPFONT and set all offsets to 0.

The / character is incorrectly drawn, despite being the same height and y position as the ? character.

The / character is ...
char id=47 x=117 y=84 width=9 height=28 xoffset=0 yoffset=0 xadvance=9 page=0 chnl=15

The ? character is ...
char id=63 x=98 y=84 width=10 height=28 xoffset=0 yoffset=0 xadvance=10 page=0 chnl=15

Here is a shot of the actual png...

On the actual device the ? is shown correctly but the / isn't.

Also remade the roboto40 font (I use a custom font as roboto isn't available across all devices). Can you please tell me why this custom font is also rendered completely mangled?! (also attached)

Fonts

Also the fonts are rendered correctly on the simulator but not on the device, this makes finding these issues and fixing them very painful.

Another example - the 2 is drawn correctly, the 4 isn't. As you can see in the screen shot the char ids 50 and 52 (the 2 and 4 characters) look correct, as does the font file. However on the 920 the 4 character is rendered as complete garbage. WHY!?

Garmin, can you PLEASE HELP!? Ever since 1.2.2 all I get is negative ratings from users as the fonts are screwed and despite correcting the font files to correct the offsets the rendering is still wrong, for me and others!

HermoT over 9 years ago

Could you find a workaround?

I am getting the following for my "2" on 920xt:

ruperthawkes over 9 years ago

The 'workaround' is for Garmin to fix the bug, sorry, new feature, introduced in the new SDK that causes random rendering issues happening on the 920 (and possible other devices) that give end users the feeling that they shoudl have bought a different smart watch.

Sorry but I've seen little drive from Garmin to acknoweldge and address this problem that they have introduced and left us developers to takr the brunt of the negative feedback from users.

There it is. Not happy. Ho hum. They are a corporation, we are mere pawns.

HermoT over 9 years ago

I managed somehow.

Weird issue with only the one character failing if it has a specific width, like 41
Works again if I set the width to either 40 or 42.

ruperthawkes over 9 years ago

I managed somehow.

Weird issue with only the one character failing if it has a specific width, like 41
Works again if I set the width to either 40 or 42.

But this is hardly a workable fix for us. Firstly the problem doesn't occur in the simulator (which is clearly NOT simulating the actual device). Also it not always possible to just build for your own device and drop it down locally because in my case some things (fonts etc) are only shown if certain user customisable options are set and that is not possible with the local version of the app. You have to release it to the app store and incur the MANY MANY negative ratings from users thinking it's your watch face that's broken the NOT garmin SDK/firmware/etc.

Hmm.

travis.vitek over 9 years ago

Also it not always possible to just build for your own device and drop it down locally because in my case some things (fonts etc) are only shown if certain user customisable options are set and that is not possible with the local version of the app.

Why can't you generate settings with the App Settings Editor, then sideload the app and copy the settings to the device?

ruperthawkes over 9 years ago

Why can't you generate settings with the App Settings Editor, then sideload the app and copy the settings to the device?

Where do I find the settings file and where do I copy it to? It's laborious. How's about either the simulator simulates better or dare I say it fix the actual issue on the device!?

Nikeow over 9 years ago

Here's a thought.

They are making money off this. Your work.
Time to do things differently and channel your angst elsewhere.

Brandon.ConnectIQ over 9 years ago

The 'workaround' is for Garmin to fix the bug, sorry, new feature, introduced in the new SDK that causes random rendering issues happening on the 920 (and possible other devices) that give end users the feeling that they shoudl have bought a different smart watch.

Sorry but I've seen little drive from Garmin to acknoweldge and address this problem that they have introduced and left us developers to takr the brunt of the negative feedback from users.

There it is. Not happy. Ho hum. They are a corporation, we are mere pawns.

It looks like this is only affecting the 920, but we're looking into it. I'm a little confused about your negativity to our response, though. I've acknowledged your issue on more than one occasion here in the forums. You've just got to have a little more patience, my friend. ;)

I apologize for the trouble this has caused some of you!

ruperthawkes over 9 years ago

Sorry, just frustrated...

Looking forward to the fix.

Brandon.ConnectIQ over 9 years ago

We were able track down the problem behind this odd font rendering problem! On the 920 XT, we must do a rotation of resources (images, fonts, etc.) because the screen is turned 180 degrees (i.e. upside-down). I don't know the reasons why--that's a question our hardware engineers must answer. :) Anyway, the bad font rendering was occurring because of a bug in this transformation process.

We'll make this available in our next SDK release, but I don't know for certain when that will be. We really appreciate the report & the great examples provided RUPERTHAWKES, and HermoT's critical clues that help speed our investigation.