--- name: godot-modernize-ui-7f9381212822 version: 1.0.0 displayName: Godot UI Modernization description: Modernize Godot 3.x UI to 4.x best practices with theme extraction, responsive layouts, hiDPI support, and RichTextLabel BBCode patterns author: Godot Superpowers license: MIT category: ui type: tool difficulty: beginner audience: - developers - ui-designers keywords: - godot - ui - theme - responsive - hidpi - bbcode - anchoring - layout - control - modernize platforms: - linux - macos - windows repository: https://github.com/asreonn/godot-superpowers homepage: https://github.com/asreonn/godot-superpowers#readme --- # Godot UI Modernization Modernizes Godot 3.x UI scenes and scripts to Godot 4.x best practices. ## When to Use - Migrating Godot 3.x projects to 4.x with UI scenes - UI doesn't scale properly on hiDPI displays - Hardcoded styles scattered across Control nodes - Manual positioning instead of responsive anchoring - RichTextLabel using deprecated BBCode tags - Creating reusable custom controls ## Core Patterns ### 1. Theme Resource Extraction **Before (Godot 3.x):** ```gdscript # Hardcoded in each Control node $Button.modulate = Color.red $Button.get("custom_styles/normal").bg_color = Color.blue $Label.add_font_override("font", preload("res://fonts/big.tres")) ``` **After (Godot 4.x):** ```gdscript # Centralized in Theme resource # Create: res://ui/themes/main_theme.tres # Assign to root Control or project settings ``` **Theme.tres structure:** ``` Theme ├── Button/styles/normal (StyleBoxFlat) ├── Button/colors/font_color = Color(1, 1, 1, 1) ├── Button/fonts/font = preload("res://fonts/button_font.tres") ├── Label/fonts/font = preload("res://fonts/label_font.tres") └── Panel/styles/panel (StyleBoxFlat) ``` ### 2. Control Anchoring Standardization **Before:** ```gdscript # Manual positioning $Panel.position = Vector2(100, 100) $Panel.size = Vector2(400, 300) ``` **After:** ``` Control (root) ├── Layout Mode: Anchors ├── Anchor Left: 0.5, Anchor Top: 0.5 ├── Anchor Right: 0.5, Anchor Bottom: 0.5 ├── Grow Horizontal: Center ├── Grow Vertical: Center └── Custom Minimum Size: (400, 300) ``` **Anchor Presets for Common Layouts:** | Layout | Anchors | Offsets | Grow | |--------|---------|---------|------| | Fullscreen | 0,0 to 1,1 | 0 all sides | Both | | Top Bar | 0,0 to 1,0 | Bottom: 60 | Horizontal | | Bottom Bar | 0,1 to 1,1 | Top: 60 | Horizontal | | Center Panel | 0.5,0.5 | Size defined | Both | | Left Sidebar | 0,0 to 0,1 | Right: 250 | Vertical | | Right Sidebar | 1,0 to 1,1 | Left: 250 | Vertical | ### 3. UI Scaling (hiDPI Support) **Project Settings:** ``` Display > Window > Stretch ├── Mode: canvas_items (or viewport) ├── Aspect: expand └── Scale: 1.0 (auto-detected) ``` **Script for Dynamic Scaling:** ```gdscript func _ready(): # Handle hiDPI on different displays var screen_dpi = DisplayServer.screen_get_dpi() if screen_dpi > 150: get_tree().root.content_scale_factor = 2.0 ``` **Responsive Sizing:** ```gdscript @export var base_width: float = 1920.0 @export var base_height: float = 1080.0 func _on_viewport_size_changed(): var viewport_size = get_viewport().get_visible_rect().size var scale_x = viewport_size.x / base_width var scale_y = viewport_size.y / base_height scale = Vector2(min(scale_x, scale_y), min(scale_x, scale_y)) ``` ### 4. RichTextLabel BBCode Patterns **Deprecated Godot 3.x:** ``` [color=red]Warning[/color] [url=https://example.com]Link[/url] [img]res://icon.png[/img] ``` **Godot 4.x BBCode:** ``` [color=ff0000]Warning[/color] [color=#ff0000]Hex Color[/color] [url=https://example.com]Link[/url] [img=64x64]res://icon.png[/img] [font=res://fonts/custom.tres]Custom font[/font] [wave amp=50 freq=5]Animated text[/wave] [tornado radius=5 freq=2]Spinning text[/tornado] [shake rate=5 level=10]Shaking text[/shake] [fgcolor=00ff00 bgcolor=000000]Background[/fgcolor] [outline_color=ffffff]Outlined[/outline_color] ``` **Script Integration:** ```gdscript @onready var rich_label: RichTextLabel = $RichTextLabel func append_colored_text(text: String, color: Color): rich_label.append_text("[color=%s]%s[/color]" % [color.to_html(), text]) func append_url(text: String, url: String): rich_label.append_text("[url=%s]%s[/url]" % [url, text]) func _on_meta_clicked(meta): OS.shell_open(str(meta)) ``` ### 5. Custom Control Creation **Custom Button with Built-in Theme:** ```gdscript @tool class_name ModernButton extends Button @export var button_style: ButtonStyle = ButtonStyle.PRIMARY: set(value): button_style = value _update_style() enum ButtonStyle { PRIMARY, SECONDARY, DANGER } func _ready(): _update_style() func _update_style(): match button_style: ButtonStyle.PRIMARY: add_theme_color_override("font_color", Color(1, 1, 1)) add_theme_stylebox_override("normal", preload("res://ui/styles/primary_normal.tres")) ButtonStyle.SECONDARY: add_theme_color_override("font_color", Color(0.2, 0.2, 0.2)) add_theme_stylebox_override("normal", preload("res://ui/styles/secondary_normal.tres")) ButtonStyle.DANGER: add_theme_color_override("font_color", Color(1, 1, 1)) add_theme_stylebox_override("normal", preload("res://ui/styles/danger_normal.tres")) ``` ## Responsive Design Patterns ### Container Hierarchy ``` CanvasLayer (UI Layer) └── Control (Full Rect anchor, Fullscreen preset) ├── MarginContainer (padding) │ ├── VBoxContainer (vertical layout) │ │ ├── HBoxContainer (top bar) │ │ │ ├── Label (title) │ │ │ └── Button (close) │ │ └── ScrollContainer (scrollable content) │ │ └── VBoxContainer │ │ └── (dynamic content) │ └── HBoxContainer (bottom bar) │ └── Button (action) └── Panel (overlay/popup) ``` ### Safe Area Handling (Mobile) ```gdscript func _ready(): # Apply safe area insets for notched devices var safe_area = DisplayServer.get_display_safe_area() var window_size = DisplayServer.window_get_size() $MarginContainer.add_theme_constant_override("margin_left", safe_area.position.x) $MarginContainer.add_theme_constant_override("margin_top", safe_area.position.y) $MarginContainer.add_theme_constant_override("margin_right", window_size.x - safe_area.end.x) $MarginContainer.add_theme_constant_override("margin_bottom", window_size.y - safe_area.end.y) ``` ## Common Mistakes **Using RectPosition/RectSize directly:** ```gdscript # ❌ Bad - breaks with different resolutions $Control.rect_position = Vector2(100, 100) $Control.rect_size = Vector2(200, 150) # ✅ Good - use anchors and layout containers # Set anchors in editor or use custom_minimum_size $Control.custom_minimum_size = Vector2(200, 150) ``` **Hardcoding pixel values without scaling:** ```gdscript # ❌ Bad - too small on hiDPI var padding = 10 # ✅ Good - scale with content_scale_factor var padding = 10 * get_tree().root.content_scale_factor ``` **Manual font size calculations:** ```gdscript # ❌ Bad - inconsistent across displays label.add_theme_font_size_override("font_size", 24) # ✅ Good - use theme with dynamic fonts # Set in Theme resource with multiple sizes ``` **Forgetting to handle window resize:** ```gdscript # ✅ Good - subscribe to resize signal func _ready(): get_viewport().size_changed.connect(_on_viewport_size_changed) _on_viewport_size_changed() func _on_viewport_size_changed(): # Recalculate responsive layout pass ``` ## Quick Reference | Task | Godot 3.x | Godot 4.x | |------|-----------|-----------| | Theme override | `add_stylebox_override()` | `add_theme_stylebox_override()` | | Font override | `add_font_override()` | `add_theme_font_override()` | | Color override | `add_color_override()` | `add_theme_color_override()` | | Constant override | `add_constant_override()` | `add_theme_constant_override()` | | Size override | `rect_min_size` | `custom_minimum_size` | | Position | `rect_position` | `position` | | Size | `rect_size` | `size` | | Global position | `rect_global_position` | `global_position` | | BBCode color | `[color=red]` | `[color=ff0000]` or `[color=#ff0000]` | | BBCode image | `[img]path[/img]` | `[img=widthxheight]path[/img]` | | hiDPI setting | `ProjectSettings.display/window/dpi/allow_hidpi` | `Display > Window > Stretch > Mode` | ## Migration Checklist - [ ] Extract all hardcoded styles to Theme resources - [ ] Replace rect_* properties with position/size - [ ] Update BBCode syntax (colors, images) - [ ] Configure hiDPI in project settings - [ ] Convert manual positioning to anchor/layout system - [ ] Test on multiple resolutions and DPIs - [ ] Add viewport resize handling - [ ] Create custom controls for repeated patterns --- Source attribution: Asreonn Original project: https://github.com/Asreonn/godot-superpowers/blob/8f8a561b7766e6f56939124e0203a00b41f64fb8/mini-skills/godot-modernize-ui/SKILL.md License: MIT License information: https://opensource.org/license/mit Original upstream instructions; downloaded from Mega AI Hub. ## Upstream license notice MIT License Copyright (c) 2026 Godot Superpowers Contributors Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. # Mega AI Hub resource metadata Creator / publisher: Asreonn Original project: https://github.com/Asreonn/godot-superpowers/blob/8f8a561b7766e6f56939124e0203a00b41f64fb8/mini-skills/godot-modernize-ui/SKILL.md Attribution basis: Source repository record Fields of work: Design, Development & Engineering Roles: Frontend Developer, Game Developer, UX Designer Specialties: Design, Frontend Tools: Godot Country applicability: Country not specified Classification basis: Source catalog labels Instruction SHA-256: 5e62748752797e989e2634cb57774f448510f979ae1d74b7678e7258678d9d76