[meta issue] 1.40 update: Font/Color rendering degradation (macOS, Linux, Windows)

[KeWang323]

• VSCode Version:
  Version: 1.40.0
  Commit: 86405ea
  Date: 2019-11-06T17:09:34.601Z
  Electron: 6.1.2
  Chrome: 76.0.3809.146
  Node.js: 12.4.0
  V8: 7.6.303.31-electron.0
  OS: Darwin x64 19.0.0
• OS Version: 10.15.1 (19B88)

Steps to Reproduce:

1. open vscode
2. open a file
3. tried solution in macOS Mojave: font rendering is blurry or has changed #51132
4. on non-retina displays
   

[Geobert]

Not only MacOS, colors are dimmed on Windows as well:
Version: 1.40.0 (user setup)
Commit: 86405ea
Date: 2019-11-06T17:02:13.381Z
Electron: 6.1.2
Chrome: 76.0.3809.146
Node.js: 12.4.0
V8: 7.6.303.31-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.18362

1.39.2:

1.40:

[bhughes339]

My setup is identical to @Geobert, I just wanted to add a gif to make the problem more obvious:

EDIT: Updated with better quality gif

[dhowden]

Also seeing this after update to 1.40.0 (running 10.14.6 MacOS Mojave).

Version: 1.40.0
Commit: 86405ea
Date: 2019-11-06T17:09:34.601Z
Electron: 6.1.2
Chrome: 76.0.3809.146
Node.js: 12.4.0
V8: 7.6.303.31-electron.0
OS: Darwin x64 18.7.0

[AAulicino]

I'm having the opposite effect in macOS Mojave 10.14.6.

I had to downgrade to 1.39 because the new font intensity is giving me headaches.

EDIT: Aligned both images in gif

[dhowden]

@AAulicino That looks like an anti-aliasing/font-smoothing change rather than just a colour change.

[KeWang323]

are we able to downgrade it to the previous release?

[AAulicino]

@KeWang323 You can find and download previous versions through the Visual Studio Code updates page.

[deepak1556]

There are two different issues here, for macOS users just to confirm do you have any of the workaround from #59887 that disables the font smoothing ? If so can you undo them to compare ?

For windows users can you report your findings on #82733 , does this only happen with a particular theme ?

[KeWang323]

@deepak1556
I just tried done and undone the following workarounds form #59887, but nothing changed:

defaults write com.microsoft.VSCode CGFontRenderingFontSmoothingDisabled 0
defaults write com.microsoft.VSCode.helper CGFontRenderingFontSmoothingDisabled 0
defaults write com.microsoft.VSCode.helper.EH CGFontRenderingFontSmoothingDisabled 0
defaults write com.microsoft.VSCode.helper.NP CGFontRenderingFontSmoothingDisabled 0
defaults write -g CGFontRenderingFontSmoothingDisabled -bool NO

[deepak1556]

Thanks @KeWang323

@bpasero is there a web version prebuilt that @KeWang323 can you use to comapre with chrome ? Just want to make sure if this a regression in Catalina so that it can be tracked under https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1013130

[mathieupothier]

I have the exact same behavior on windows. And the other ticket mentioned does not seem to be that related As the issue for this particular user was also present in 1.39 while here, going back to 1.39.2 fixes this. I’ve switched themes but the issue persist. If you are sure you want the findings there, well, I can proceed to send them there too.

[offbeatful]

Thanks, Microsoft! Downgrading...

[dhowden]

I'm running on Mojave (not Catalina) and seeing the text dimming in the entire interface since upgrading to 1.40.0 (do not think this is a smoothing issue in my case).

1.40.0:

1.39.2:

[deepak1556]

@dhowden is this with retina or non-retina display ?

[dhowden]

@deepak1556 Retina.

[varxzy]

This problem also occurred after the 1.40 version was upgraded. The file theme color is darkened and the theme is Dark+ (default dark). I am running on the macOS Sierra system version, which is the Retina screen.

Version: 1.40.0
Commit: 86405ea
Date: 2019-11-06T17:09:34.601Z
Electron: 6.1.2
Chrome: 76.0.3809.146
Node.js: 12.4.0
V8: 7.6.303.31-electron.0
OS: Darwin x64 16.7.0

[zhoubhin]

yep, it's seem more darker or pale after upgrade to 1.40
Version: 1.40.0
OS: macOS Mojave 10.14.6 (18G1012)

[trananhmanh89]

same
vscode 14
windows 10
theme: one dark pro vivid

[bpasero]

@deepak1556 yes, people can follow our setup instructions and then simply run "yarn web" to get VSCode open in the browser.

Also documented here: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-docs/blob/vnext/release-notes/v1_40.md#run-vs-code-web-out-of-sources

[enkia]

@enkia Can you do a comparison to the rendering from 1.39.2? Although it's not as bad, the colours for me still get dimmer moving from 1.39.2 -> 1.41 (insiders).

Yes, because I downgraded last night, heh. Edited comment to reflect 1.39.2, but the PNGs don't do justice to the drastic change in color on screen from 1.40 to Insiders/1.39.2, though. I'm tabbing right now through both Insiders and 1.39.2 and can't tell the difference. I feel like I could tell in a heart beat because I've obsessed over every color in ever corner of the theme I'm using for a couple months.

[bhughes339]

Can everyone with the color profile issue try the latest insiders from https://code.visualstudio.com/insiders/ , which has a potential fix for the issue. Thanks!

Windows 10, Insiders 1.41.0-insider looks exactly the same as 1.40.0 as shown in my comment #84154 (comment)

[nguyentanphu]

Definitely the color seems to be dimmer. Any workaround except downgrading? :(

[extratype]

For Windows users add these settings

{
  "editor.disableLayerHinting": true,
  "window.titleBarStyle": "native",
}

It's being discussed in #84214.

[nklmilojevic]

Can we have a separate issue for the font problems for macOS (Catalina)? Seems like most of these fixes are related only for Windows/or color degradation.

[bpasero]

I am going to close this issue as a fix has been rolled out both to our recovery release (coming this week) as well as insiders where the fix can be tested.

Nevertheless, there are still issues floating around from the Electron 6 update that are either independent from this issue or just another regression that we have not fully understood yet. The most likely issue you are still seeing is captured in #84214 where fonts appear blurry. I suggest to move the discussion over to that issue for users seeing it.

If you think that your issue is not captured by #84214 and still not fixed in latest insider release (https://code.visualstudio.com/insiders/) then I ask you to please report a new issue and be as descriptive as possible.

Thanks 👍

[nklmilojevic]

Btw. I was able to replicate old font settings from 1.39.2 on 1.40 by installing vscode-custom-css and loading this custom css:

body,
.editor {
  -webkit-text-stroke: .05em;
}

I would hate to use this hack all the time, but it would be really nice if we can set text-stroke option via VSCode directly.

[Geobert]

Testing insider and I don't agree that the issue is fixed:
up is 1.39.2 and down is
Version: 1.41.0-insider
Commit: 27cd33d
Date: 2019-11-08T19:12:35.358Z
Electron: 6.1.4
Chrome: 76.0.3809.146
Node.js: 12.4.0
V8: 7.6.303.31-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.18362

The color is still dimmed compared to 1.39.2.

[dhowden]

@bpasero @deepak1556 1.39.2 and 1.41-insider are not the same colour profile on my machine, the 1.39.2 rendering is still brighter. How are you verifying that they are the same? Would like to run the test on my machine.

1.39.2

1.41-insider

Version: 1.41.0-insider
Commit: 27cd33d891eb23e370b672e751be9fe8b3748ac1
Date: 2019-11-08T19:11:22.061Z
Electron: 6.1.4
Chrome: 76.0.3809.146
Node.js: 12.4.0
V8: 7.6.303.31-electron.0
OS: Darwin x64 18.7.0

[bpasero]

Maybe I should have been clearer: VSCode has always been setting the following Chrome command line argument: disable-color-correct-rendering [1]. Unfortunately due to some changes I pushed during the milestones, this flag was no longer applied correctly (see #84320 for more context). Meanwhile insiders got a fix to bring back this flag properly as it used to be.

Closing this issue means we have a chance to signal that a change was made and that we can verify it. It does not mean (as I stated in my comment before) that all the regressions from the Electron 6 update are solved yet. As such, I asked for creating new issues for the remaining color/font problems you see. Thanks!

[1] More context:

• Allow to disable hardcoded color profile selection #51791
• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jMokB_OBkZVELu22li8vnHxAUoL1eGnLedP-1Gttv40/edit
• Chrome and Electron render colors differently electron/electron#10732

[jesperjohansson]

Temp. font color issue fix for MacOS:

• Open command palette and type "Configure Runtime Arguments" to open the argv.json file
• Set "disable-color-correct-rendering" to false and save
• Restart VSCode entirely (not just reload window)

// argv.json
{
  "disable-color-correct-rendering": false
}

[MariuzM]

So color is one thing what about getting thin font rendering?

[rmtracey]

It's good that there's still an open issue for the blurriness, but is there an open issue for the colors anywhere? None of the suggestions in this thread have fixed the dull colors for me, and they're still dull on the Insiders build as well. Or do the dull colors and blurriness have the same root cause (as in fixing the blurriness will fix the colors)?

[MariuzM]

It's good that there's still an open issue for the blurriness, but is there an open issue for the colors anywhere? None of the suggestions in this thread have fixed the dull colors for me, and they're still dull on the Insiders build as well. Or do the dull colors and blurriness have the same root cause (as in fixing the blurriness will fix the colors)?

This fixed the colors "disable-color-correct-rendering": false

[rmtracey]

It's good that there's still an open issue for the blurriness, but is there an open issue for the colors anywhere? None of the suggestions in this thread have fixed the dull colors for me, and they're still dull on the Insiders build as well. Or do the dull colors and blurriness have the same root cause (as in fixing the blurriness will fix the colors)?

This fixed the colors "disable-color-correct-rendering": false

In the argv.json? I tried that, didn't work for me. Going by the comments in this thread it seems like that only fixes the issue for some people, not all.

[bpasero]

@rmtracey can you try how it looks like on insiders?

Can you try to reproduce with our nightly insider builds? You can give our preview releases a try from: https://code.visualstudio.com/insiders/

[rmtracey]

@bpasero Yup, I've tried insiders. 1.41.0-insider, Windows 10 1809. Colors are still dull and blurry compared to 1.39.2, no matter what I set disable-color-correct-rendering to. I've tried true, false, and "active", no difference.

[bpasero]

@rmtracey (any anyone else), it is crucial that you keep the file as it used to be for this to work, the only correct value is:

"disable-color-correct-rendering": true

So please anyone that is still seeing this issue in insiders, make sure you have it configured as such.

Finally please feel free to report a new issue if you can still reproduce and we can follow up there.

[MariuzM]

@rmtracey (any anyone else), it is crucial that you keep the file as it used to be for this to work, the only correct value is:

"disable-color-correct-rendering": true

So please anyone that is still seeing this issue in insiders, make sure you have it configured as such.

Finally please feel free to report a new issue if you can still reproduce and we can follow up there.

? For me only using in 1.40 "disable-color-correct-rendering": false fixed the washed out colors.
Only issue I'm still having is thin fonts.
Mojave

[bpasero]

We still have #82109 for thin font rendering.

I think this thread is going into weird directions, I am going to lock it and put one last comment so that people can find a resolution quickly:

You can benefit from a fix now if you use VSCode Insiders 1.41.0 (https://code.visualstudio.com/insiders/) and configure "disable-color-correct-rendering": true (this should be the default). If you change this value, it is only applied after a restart.

This fix will roll out to VSCode stable this week.

If you still see an issue where colors look washed out, feel free to report as new issue.