Godot 4.6 Editor Blurry on Mixed-DPI Dual Monitor Setup (Windows 11)

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1

Godot version: 4.6
OS: Windows 11 Pro

I am running into what appears to be a DPI scaling issue with the Godot 4.6 editor on Windows when using a mixed-DPI dual monitor setup.

Monitor setup

  • Primary monitor: 2560x1440, 240 Hz, Windows scaling set to 100%
  • Secondary monitor: 3840x2160, 60 Hz, Windows scaling set to 150%

Observed behavior

When launching Godot, the editor opens on the primary monitor. The UI and text look correct and sharp there, which is expected.

However, when I drag the Godot editor window to the secondary 4K monitor, the entire UI becomes blurry. Text readability in particular is noticeably degraded. The editor remains usable, but the visual quality is poor and uncomfortable to work with.

This looks like Windows bitmap scaling rather than native DPI-aware rendering.

Expected behavior

Most modern Windows applications dynamically adjust DPI scaling when moved between monitors with different scaling factors. In those applications, UI and text remain sharp regardless of which monitor the window is on.

I would expect the Godot editor to behave similarly, or at least provide an option to handle per-monitor DPI changes correctly.

Things I have tried

  • Setting the editor to open on the 4K monitor by default
    This works only if the editor never leaves that monitor. Moving it back to the primary monitor then causes scaling issues in the opposite direction.

  • Windows compatibility settings on the Godot executable:

    • Override high DPI scaling behavior set to Application
      This makes the editor sharp on both monitors, but causes incorrect window chrome sizing. The title bar becomes too small and the window decorations look wrong.
    • Override set to System or System (Enhanced)
      No visible effect.

Based on this behavior, it seems that Godot is System DPI aware on Windows, but not Per-Monitor DPI aware. The editor appears to read DPI only at startup and does not react to DPI changes when moved between monitors, so Windows falls back to bitmap scaling.

Question

Is this a known limitation of the Godot editor on Windows?

If so:

  • Is there any recommended workaround besides matching DPI scaling across all monitors?
  • Are there any plans to support per-monitor DPI awareness in future 4.x releases?

If I am misunderstanding how DPI scaling is handled in Godot, I would appreciate clarification.

Thank you for your time, and thanks to everyone working on Godot.

2

You can check the documentation about supporting hiDPI

3

The document is for the games, not the UI/editor.

From what I’ve learned, Godot 4.6 (editor) on Windows is:

  • High DPI aware

  • System-DPI aware, not per-monitor DPI aware

That means:

  • Godot queries DPI once at startup

  • Windows assumes that DPI will not change

  • When I drag the window to a monitor with a different scaling factor:

    • Windows re-scales the whole window as a bitmap

    • Result: blurry UI and text

4

I just checked on my computer. Two monitors:

  • Primary monitor: 2560x1440, 240 Hz, Windows scaling set to 100% (same as yours).
  • Secondary monitor: 1100x3840 (vertical orientation), 60 Hz, Windows scaling set to 175%.

(there is a third one, but it also has a scale of 100%.)

Win 11 Pro WS. NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000.

I cannot confirm any blurring issues. Everything is clearly visible.

There is one peculiarity. When the window is mainly on the monitor with a large scale of 175%, and part of it is on the other monitor with a scale of 100%, then the part on the monitor without scaling looks slightly blurry. But when the window is completely moved to the 100% monitor, its size becomes normal and the image is clear.

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5

Interesting! I have an AMD GPU, 6800 XT, wonder if it’s a GPU thing.

Screenshots

1440p monitor:

1440p-monitor
1440p-monitor2559×1442 158 KB

4K monitor:

4k-monitor
4k-monitor3840×2160 286 KB

6

If a screenshot is taken from a 175% monitor and viewed on a 100% monitor, there is blurring, as if on an enlarged image. However, the issue is that if you set 100% on the second monitor, it is simply impossible to see anything there — everything is very small (it has an extremely high DPI). Perhaps this is just a Windows display issue, since at 175% there is no blurring and the text is perfectly legible.

1100x3840 (14")

175%

изображение
изображение1101×3840 205 KB

100%

изображение
изображение1100×3840 241 KB

You can try using older drivers — in some cases, this helps with AMD.

1 Like
7

Got it. Thank you for the insight!

I think I’ll stick with the compatibility override till Godot becomes aware of mixed resolution per-monitor DPI. I’m sure it’ll be fixed over time or maybe I’m completely wrong and this is an AMD GPU or driver issue, in which case again I can only wait. :sweat_smile:

1 Like