forum.freeciv.org

Posted: **Sun Mar 01, 2026 9:54 pm**

Hi everyone,

I want to play FreeCIV, but have some absolute beginner problems.

And another handycapt may be more than 2500 hours on the clock with Civ V (please... one more click? You might call me an addict.) I stopped playing Civ when the company willfully destroyed Civ V. And I have played Civ IV and Civ VI but not versions I and II. I have a reasonable idea on what the game is about and FreeCIV can't be that much different to start with and is maybe more flexible when it comes to different rule sets.

I have installed FreeCIV 3.4.1(gtk4) on Debian Trixie, server and client.
I can start FreeCIV, can create a game and start it. And then it stops for me.
It is not a computer problem, it is simple user problems.

Problem 1. How do I zoom in?
I have a 4K screen and the starting positon has the size of a stamp, barely visible.
Also the font size for text alongside and in the logging part is unreadable small.
To play with this in the long term I need to enlarge the whole window to at least 150%.

Problem 2.
The introducions I saw start with explaining where to build a city, about some very basic strategic things.
But wait a minute... How do I select and move a unit?
I did read that a setler will build a city when pressing the b-button but how can I let a worker do some work?
What are the elementary key strokes that I need to know firt before I can start to think about basic things as how to play?

Is there some text/tutorial that covers there absolute basic beginner subjects?
Is there some in-game help screen that I have not found yet?
I did look around, in game and on the internet and found some old stuff, about v1.8, and other things but nothing that gets me started on the elementary things.

I oversee something completely. Any advise is welcome.

Kind regards.

Posted: **Mon Mar 02, 2026 10:04 am**

Hi everyone,

Figured out some answers...
Now I have enough information/control over some items to start playing and find out how FreeCIV realy ticks.

PapaAtHome wrote: ↑Sun Mar 01, 2026 9:54 pm Problem 1. How do I zoom in?

Use the numerical '-'/'+' buttons, may need the <shift> key.
Not using the <shift> key works for me, using the <shift> key does noting for me.
This works on the map size only. (Also see below: setting 'zoom_set' might be relevant for this.)

Rescaling the fonts used in the map (and several other subforms) can be set in the configuration file.
In my case, the (client) configuration file is in

Code: Select all

~/.freeciv/freeciv-client-rc-3.1

that is '/home/andre/.freeciv/freeciv-client-rc-3.' for me.
My guess is that on windows it may be in your home directory in a map with 'freeciv' in its name. Look for a file with 'client' in the name.

freeciv-client-rc-3.1 is a plain text file and appears to have the '.ini' content structure.
It has a long list of settings, before you start editing it make a backup copy!

There are several settings named 'gui_*_font_*' in it repeating the same group of settings a number of times.
Each group is for a particular graphics back-end that is in use. The relevant group for me is 'gui_gtk4_font_*'.
Three sizes are used, 8, 9 and 10. I did multiply this by a factor 3 giving 24, 27 and 30. (Adjust the factor to your own liking.) That made the text large enough to be readable.

Code: Select all

gui_gtk4_font_city_label="Monospace 8"
gui_gtk4_font_notify_label="Monospace Bold 9"
gui_gtk4_font_spaceship_label="Monospace 8"
gui_gtk4_font_help_label="Sans Bold 10"
gui_gtk4_font_help_link="Sans 9"
gui_gtk4_font_help_text="Monospace 8"
gui_gtk4_font_chatline="Monospace 8"
gui_gtk4_font_beta_label="Sans Italic 10"
gui_gtk4_font_small="Sans 9"
gui_gtk4_font_comment_label="Sans Italic 9"
gui_gtk4_font_city_names="Sans Bold 10"
gui_gtk4_font_city_productions="Serif 10"
gui_gtk4_font_reqtree_text="Serif 10"

That allows for resizing and zooming of game information.

But resizing menus and form labels text is not covered by it. And this is the normal way of things when programming a GUI. Most likely resizing the menu fonts and other fixed text is not possible by configuration alone. Unfortunately.

There are two settings related to zooming in the configuration file.

Code: Select all

zoom_set=FALSE
zoom_default_level=1,000000.0

The first one I have set to TRUE (and might have enabled the numeric buttons for zooming, I did not check for that).
Changing the second line seems to have no effect. After loading and closing a game session it is reset to the original value.

PapaAtHome wrote: ↑Sun Mar 01, 2026 9:54 pm Problem 2.
... What are the elementary key strokes...

From the menu use [help] -> [controls]. This will give an overview of elementary key strokes and what it will do for you.
Also note that some menu items have a short-key mentioned at the right side.
In my opinion, this should have been mentioned in the basic tutorial(s) somewhere around the first paragraph. That would have saved me a lot of time!

Kind regards.

Posted: **Mon Mar 02, 2026 4:07 pm**

I don't know if you already found this, but all unit (and other) commands are available in the menus. For example, you build a road by pressing R, but you can also select Work -> Build Road from the top menu. Shortcuts are listed next to commands so you can learn all of them simply by exploring (and also find out what else is also available).

Posted: **Mon Mar 02, 2026 11:13 pm**

Corbeau wrote: ↑Mon Mar 02, 2026 4:07 pm I don't know if you already found this, but ...

I have found (and recognised) parts of it. I'm still finding more nuts and bolts of the game mechanics.

Thanks for the advise. I will pay more attention to details like that.

Kind regards.

forum.freeciv.org

How to play FreeCIV, where is the absolute beginners introduction?

How to play FreeCIV, where is the absolute beginners introduction?

Re: How to play FreeCIV, where is the absolute beginners introduction?

Re: How to play FreeCIV, where is the absolute beginners introduction?

Re: How to play FreeCIV, where is the absolute beginners introduction?