ZoomText - Use ZoomText legacy mag engine to fix video issues

ZoomText - Use ZoomText legacy mag engine to fix video issues

Problem

Some video cards will cause ZoomText not to function as expected or even provide magnification support at all.


Affected Products

• ZoomText Mag/Reader
• ZoomText Fusion

Detail

Fault/Symptoms:

  • Screen break up or colours distorted
  • Start menu items cannot be launched when clicking on them


Resolution

In these cases you may try reverting to the old magnification engine. This will not work for all situations and should be tested with the user for its appliccability.

Chipsets affected and may respond to resolution include:

  • AMD Radeon Vega
  • AMD Radeon on some Ryzen laptops.

Method 1: using the ZoomText or Fusion UI

ZoomText

  1. Click ZoomText menu > Zoomtext support > Tools
  2. Click in the Fix it command edit box and enter the relevant code:
    For legacy mag engine:
mageng=comp

Go back to modern mag engine:

mageng=dx
  1. Then click Apply Fix-it Code button to perform the action.

Fusion

  1. Click Fusion menu > Fusion support > Tools
  2. Click in the Fix it command edit box and enter the relevant code:
    For legacy mag engine:
mageng=comp

For modern mag engine:

megeng=dx
  1. Then click Apply Fix-it Code button to perform the action.

Method 2: modify configuration files

  1. Press Windows+R to open "Run" command and enter one of the paths below apropriate to the installed version of Zoomtext:
    Zoomtext 2018:
%programdata%\Freedom Scientific\ZoomText\2018

Zoomtext 2019:

%programdata%\Freedom Scientific\ZoomText\2019

Zoomtext 2020:

%programdata%\Freedom Scientific\ZoomText\2020

Zoomtext 2021:

%programdata%\Freedom Scientific\ZoomText\2021

Zoomtext 2022:

%programdata%\Freedom Scientific\ZoomText\2022

For versions beyond those listed use the apropriate year at the end.
2. In the explorer window double click the file called "dwmdll.ini".
3. Then find the [config] section, if there is not one create it and also add the second line as below:

[config]
oldeng=true
  1. Then choose File > Save to update the file. Zoomtext should be shut down and restarted for the changes to take effect.

Reversing the procedure:
To reverse the procedure open the "dwmdll.ini" again and remove the "oldeng=true" line and re-save.

Notes
The abve modifcation is equivalent to using the "Fix-it" code: mageng=comp
For Zoomtext 10.1 file path: "C:\Program Files (x86 if 64 bit OS)\ZoomText 10.1"


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