Why are My STK Icons So Small on Windows 10, and How Can I Fix It?

You may notice very small STK or ODTK icons if running on Windows 10 with a high-resolution monitor or 4K display. STK uses a third-party application called ProfUIS for the Graphical User Interface, and this software has a known issue where icons aren't scaled properly, as discussed in a Professional UI Solutions forum .

This issue is not unique to AGI software, as discussed in this Kynosarges Weblog article .

There are a few options to explore and try. Depending on the system, certain approaches may work better than others.

Note: To avoid blurry text in Office 2016 applications, the OS-level Scaling (discussed in Option 2) must be set higher than 100%. This started in Office 2013, as described here.
 

Option 1. Change the Windows compatibility properties for the application executable

You can right-click an application executable (e.g., "C:\Program Files\AGI\STK 12\bin\AgUiApplication.exe") to open its Properties window. On the Compatibility tab, select "Change high DPI settings". You can force any desired per-application scaling method under “Override high DPI scaling behavior.” If you do not select this, Windows will apply DPI virtualization unless the application does self-scaling, in which case Windows will do nothing. When selected, you have three choices, as shown below:

Older Windows versions feature only a single checkbox here entitled “Disable display scaling on high DPI settings.” Selecting it enables users to opt out of specific applications from DPI virtualization, but not to opt in when the application was marked as self-scaling by its developer. This was a notorious problem for Java Swing applications, which were always so marked but hardly ever actually self-scaled. You can now use System or System (Enhanced) to fix such applications on a case-by-case basis.

Option 2. Modify DPI settings and scaling
Set the screen resolution to the desired size and then adjust “Change the size of text, apps, and other items” to make the icons on the desktop and in STK look “normal” in size. This may take experimentation. Some computers need 125%, some 150%, and some even need 100% — all with the same resolution on the same model computer.

If you set the resolution down to a more typical resolution of 1920 x 1080 or 1280 x 720, the icons should look “normal” in size.

Note: When changing the %, you must sign off and then sign back on to see the changes.

 

To get to that option, right-click the Desktop and selected Display Settings. The Advanced Display button enables you to change the resolution. Go back to the previous page; under “Change the size of text, apps, and other items” you can change the %.



Option 3. Select large icons in STK
Inside of STK itself, you can edit the toolbar settings by right-clicking in the gray space beside other toolbars and selecting "Customize". Then go to the Options tab and select the "Large icons in toolbars" check box.