Linux - Changing UI font colour for readability

Player Questions
1

Hi! I’m a returning player who’s been away for some time, and I’ve switched over in the last few years to running a Linux Mint distribiution as my primary desktop operating system. I’ve been able to get the game working via Valve’s Proton compatibility tool, but I’ve had some issues with font colour for a number of interface elements.

When running Aurora 4X on my laptop running Linux Mint 22, text elements in the UI display with white font on a primarily white background, making it impossible to read any buttons labeled with text instead of images. This makes it hard to discern the intiial functionality of UI elements, and as far as I can tell, there is not a menu for customising UI elements, and I cannot seem to find a config file with RGB or hex values for colour that I could easily change.

When buttons that are labelled with white text on a white background are pressed, they will display the text in black momentarily, so I have been, through trial and error, been able to determine the function of a good chunk of UI elements (it’s been a few years since I last touched Aurora) but this is not a particularly enjoyable way to play the game, nor is it condusive to not making mistakes during gameplay.

I am reasonably sure this is not functional as intended, as typically text should not be unreadable before pressing a button, and I assume that something is being messed up in my Wine configuration.

If this is the case, I am not looking for help with fixing my Wine install because I am aware that my operating system is unsupported by the developer (my main reasons for using Linux over Windows stem to a intense dislike of Microsoft’s data collection, poorly designed operating system, markably inferior performance on equivelant hardware between Windows 11 and Linux/Unix platforms, and overemphasis on AI tools in the operating system that have removed my right Fn key and replaced it with a Copilot button), but I would appreciate any guidance that could be provided into how I can potentially write a patch to correct the font colour, or in locating a config file that I can alter.

Any other assistance would be, of course, absolutely lovely.

Have a great day, folks!

2

When running through linux I recommend using a theme pack with AuroraPatch. I use GitHub - simast/SolarisTheme: Custom visual theme for Aurora game based on AuroraPatch. · GitHub on my Linux Mint machine and it solves the readability on the buttons.

There is also the Count Christo theme which has a different look.

In 3.0 you’ll be able to configure the appearance of the game much more freely with out 3rd party assistance as well.

3

Hi! Welcome back! :slightly_smiling_face:

You can hope in the next patch:
Aurora v3.0.0 Patch Notes
Background Colour and Map Fonts
Aurora Colour Configuration
Graphics Overhaul
Map Body Colony Cost Colour
In the text of this last change, Steve says: “All these colours are in the XML file and can be modified by the player.”.

I’m not sure these changes could work in Linux. We can only wait for it.

Unfortunately, I cannot help you with your current settings, as I’m not using Linux.

4

thank you! Do I just place the files within the filetree of Aurora4x, or do I need to use the Aurora patch tool?

5

This is fine, thank you for the help!

6

Once you install AuroraPatch there should be a folder called Patches in your Aurora directory.

Create a folder inside that called SolarisTheme and put SolarisTheme.dll in there. You’ll know it worked because you should see it in the list of patches on the AuroraPatch window that appears when you launch the game through AuroraPatch.exe

As for AuroraPatch Releases · Aurora-Modders/AuroraPatch · GitHub is where you can get it. The repos README has instructions