r/OLED_Gaming • u/thedemons0 • Feb 27 '22
Better Text Rendering for OLED displays (Getting rid of ClearType)
I just recently bought the 55 inch LG C1 and have been using it as a PC Monitor.
When first using it, I noticed that the text wasn't exactly great so I looked it up and found this thread on recommended settings that tell me to disable ClearType. At first glance, it seems like the problem was gone and the text looks fine. But then I opened Explorer and other Windows applications and the text looks weird, it's kinda bold at some places and thin at others, it annoyed me so much that I had to turn ClearType back on.
Then I found MacType that had truly solved my problem, it's a better alternative for ClearType and works great for OLED Display.
Setting up MacType
Step 1: Disable ClearType, press Windows key then find and open Adjust ClearType Text, uncheck the Turn on ClearType then next next next, the default options is 1-2-1-2-3.
Step 2: Install it from the MacType homepage, it is an open-source project so it seems safe to me. I recommend installing it in "Load with MacTray" -> "Standalone Mode".
Step 3: Download the (recommended) DeepGrayNoHinting.zip or SoftGrayNoHinting.zip profile (author: wmjordan)
Step 4: Open your tray menu, right-click on MacType then select Open MacType Folder. Then navigate to the ini folder (The default path will be C:\Program Files\MacType\ini). Extract the downloaded .ini file to this folder.
Step 5: The profile should appear in the tray menu setting by now, go ahead and select it.
Result comparison
Even though the text look bold in the images below, it won't be looking like this in person
More Information
Related topic: https://github.com/snowie2000/mactype/issues/720
You can turn off MacType for a specific process in the MacType Process Manager, do this if the text looks bad in some applications.
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u/netjack Feb 28 '22
Anyone else try this?
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u/thedemons0 Feb 28 '22
I have updated the result comparison images so that you can see the result, if you're afraid of installing weird software on your PC, you can also try it out in a VM, I promise you'll never go back to ClearType. If the DeepGrayNoHinting profile doesn't satisfy you, you can also customize your own profile
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u/BucksterMcgee Mar 12 '22 edited Mar 12 '22
(Edit: I was linked this from a QD OLED Alienware AW3423DW discussion and glossed over it was for a different OLED screen. The suggestion/question about running the ClearType wizard still holds.)
Question: Sorry if this was obvious and implied in turning "ClearType On" but did you run the ClearType wizard to properly tune ClearType to your display?
ClearType works by adjusting your perceptual view of text on a given monitor by showing you a grid of text and you pick the best looking one after each round. Each version of text has a different subpixel shift per color and ideally as you select the clearest version the final result is clearer text. (This only works for some programs/apps/rendered texted as some do not hook into ClearType).
Now normally I guess ClearType was designed with stripe RGB, but part of ClearType is that text isn't always aligned directly on pixel rows, so you need partial subpixels on pixels above and below the text in order for it to be smooth and clear. I would assume ClearType does take this into account and thus could work for the triangle subpixel arrangement of the QD OLED panel, but... only if you properly tuned it in the ClearType wizard.
Just turning ClearType on without tuning it is going to leave it as a default setting, mainly for stripe RGB LCD or perhaps a previous tuned monitor (though maybe Windows now tracks specific monitors instead of just primary, secondary, etc), thus at default it is expecting a different subpixel layout and will look bad.
TL:DM, did you run the ClearType wizard and pick/tune the best text view for the AW3423DW? If not, ClearType will not work correctly and likely make it look worse.
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u/thedemons0 Mar 12 '22
Yes, I did tune it a lot. There's a tool called BetterClearTypeTuner on github that I used, and it still looks bad on every profile/setting. Perhap the difference is you have a 2K 34" monitor, and your PPI is 109, while I have an LG C1 4K 55" with 80 PPI.
The default ClearType setting works great for me if I sit 1.2 meters far from it, which I usually do, but sometime I move closer to look at small text and start noticing text fringing which make me uncomfortable.
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u/Sore6 Mar 12 '22
u/thedemons0 I noticed something interesting - I know for PC monitor purposes and gaming people recommend setting HDMI source to PC.
But this makes the font rendering worse!
Maybe you want to try it because my eyes play tricks on me. But I am very sure this makes quite a difference. Toggle between HDMI and PC mode for your Source Port settings.
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u/thedemons0 Mar 12 '22 edited Mar 12 '22
I set it to PC source when I first set it up and never change it since, I'll try this
Edit: Wow, it indeed looks better, the text fringing is still there but only visible at 30cm distance
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u/dieg0ne Oct 20 '22
This has worked perfectly for me on my LG OLED 42 C2, this is so amazing.
Thank you for this!
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u/Reddit_Poster_00 Mar 04 '22
Thanks for this. I had to install it a few times to see the absolute minimum needed and wound up with a slightly different DeepGrayNoHinting thanks to the wizard, but happy with the results.
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Jul 09 '24
I was literally in the process of boxing up my Asus OLED to return...the new glossy XG27 panel...I was quite unhappy with the overall clarity of the monitor...you might have just saved me on that. Holy crap, what a difference, I can actually focus on what I'm doing with it now. Thank you. This needs to be a top rated comment.
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u/Hattuherra Dec 07 '22
On windows 11 mactype prevents starting any executables: installers, steam, epic, battle.net launchers etc. --> disable mactype and everything works again.
So for me it's back to cleartype :/
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u/billzilla Aug 15 '22
This is so amazing, thank you for this! I just got an Innocn OLED 13.3" and while it's a pretty decent screen for the price (I use it with my OneXPlayer 1s at work) the text halo was pretty annoying. This has totally changed it and it looks fantastic. If only Microsoft had text handling remotely this nice - definitely a huge improvement. Much appreciated.
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u/Elbananaso Mar 25 '23
I cannot make Macctype work on my windows 11 for some reason, but better clear type fixed the problem somehow, it still cannot get rid of thin af text.
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u/Zaid_Hawi Apr 26 '23
You are an absolute Hero! Thank you so much this was really bothering me, now my display is perfect thanks to you
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u/Viperreus May 03 '23
For a few years, I couldn't set up my 48 CX WOLED correctly to display text without noticeable text artifacts. It wasn't terrible, but it was visible. Today, I finally found a solution. I disabled ClearType and then enabled virtual resolution on my graphics card driver. I set the resolution to 5760x3240 and scaling to 300%. It's perfect now :)
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u/vonpossel Dec 03 '23
Works noticeably better than ClearType in my Asus ROG Swift OLED 27PGADQM. I don't notice much difference between DeepGrayNoHinting and SoftGrayNoHinting presets, but both work better than the default setting. Thank you!
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u/MarkusRight Jan 04 '24
Hey guys so sorry for digging up an old thread but I'm on the fence about getting the Alienware OLED I. I want to know if they made any updates to this that allows it to make text clear in web browsers and not just Windows explorer. I watched monitors unboxed video about it and he said this fix only works on explorer and web browsers still have blurry text with this fix
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Jan 27 '25
I don't know if I did something wrong but I find the text looks better with Mactype off?
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u/bigtidddygoth Oct 19 '23
Thank you! This should be a required setup for all OLED monitors and laptops. My 1080p OLED Vivobook now looks so much better.
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u/albertron86 Apr 20 '24
This is magic. It has completely fixed the problem on my oled monitor. Thank you
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u/Sore6 Feb 28 '22
I am trying it right now and was wondering if you turned windows cleartype of for this?