Resolving Field PG M3 Small Text in Siemens Software

1. Problem Summary

The Siemens Field PG M3 programming device ships with a 15.6-inch Full HD panel (1920×1080 native resolution). On the standard Windows image delivered with the unit, the system DPI is set to 96 dpi by default. This combination produces very small on-screen fonts in several Siemens engineering tools, including:

• SIMATIC Manager (STEP 7 V5.5 / V5.6) — block lists, symbol tables, and reference data views become difficult to read.
• STARTER V5.x (drive commissioning for SINAMICS S/G/S120) — the Expert List parameter view is essentially unusable at default scaling.
• SIMOTION SCOUT V4.4 / V5.x — the Expert List page does not honor Windows DPI changes.
• TIA Portal V13 – V18 — inspectors, project tree, and watch tables show small text when running on the Field PG M3.

Engineers who try to reduce the panel resolution to enlarge text are punished with a blurred, non-native image because the LCD is a fixed-pixel (1:1 mapping) Full HD display. The correct remediation path uses DPI virtualization, application-level font configuration, and selective high-DPI overrides — not resolution changes.

2. Hardware Context: Field PG M3

The Field PG M3 is Siemens catalog family 6ES7710-…, available in several variants. The most common configurations for engineering use are:

All variants share the same 1920×1080, ~141 ppi panel. At 96 dpi, the Windows text metric "Tahoma 8 pt" renders at approximately 1.9 mm cap-height on this display, which is at the lower limit of comfortable reading for a stationary engineering workstation. At 120 dpi, the same 8 pt font renders at ~2.4 mm and is markedly more legible.

The Field PG M3 user manual is published by Siemens as Field PG M3 Programming Device, entry ID 90529644 in the Siemens Industry Online Support portal. Refer to the section Operating the Programming Device → Setting up the display for the recommended panel mode (always native 1920×1080).

3. Root Cause: DPI Awareness in Siemens Engineering Software

Modern Windows applications declare themselves Per-Monitor DPI Aware (PMv2) or System DPI Aware in their app.manifest. A declared DPI-aware application is rendered at its true target resolution by the GPU; Windows does not bitmap-stretch it.

The legacy Siemens engineering tools used on the Field PG M3 are largely System DPI unaware. When DPI virtualization engages, Windows renders the application at 96 dpi into an off-screen bitmap and then scales the bitmap to the user's DPI. The visible result is:

• Sharper text than a true resolution reduction (because the original is vector-rendered at 96 dpi), but
• Fonts that remain the same physical size regardless of Windows DPI, because the application itself thinks it is rendering on a 96 dpi desktop.

This explains the user observation that "changing DPI only changes the height of the rows of the expert list in SIMOTION Scout, not the text." The row height is set by the host (Windows), but the cell content is rendered by the application's GDI/DirectWrite pipeline at 96 dpi and then stretched.

The correct remediation is therefore not to change the monitor resolution. The correct remediation is to enlarge the fonts inside the application, or to force the application to render at a higher native DPI by declaring it DPI-aware via a manifest override.

4. Solution A — Windows DPI Scaling (Global)

This is the first step and benefits every application, including Windows shell, File Explorer, and Siemens tools that respect DPI.

1. Right-click the Windows desktop, choose Display settings (Windows 10) or Screen Resolution → Make text and other items larger (Windows 7).
2. On Windows 10, drag the slider to 125 % (recommended for Field PG M3) or 150 %.
3. On Windows 7, choose Medium – 125 % or Larger – 150 %. Equivalent legacy path: Desktop → Properties → Settings → Advanced → General and select Large (120 dpi).
4. Click Apply, then Sign out (Windows 10) or Log off (Windows 7). A simple restart of Explorer is not sufficient because the per-user DPI cache must be invalidated.

Expected result: shell text, File Explorer, and any DPI-aware Siemens tools (TIA Portal V16+) scale up. Legacy tools (SIMATIC Manager, STARTER, SCOUT V4.x) will still render at 96 dpi internally, but the desktop itself is more legible.

5. Solution B — Per-Application Font Configuration (STEP 7, STARTER, SCOUT)

Each Siemens tool exposes internal font tables. Configure them before relying on any DPI override.

5.1 STEP 7 V5.5 / V5.6 (SIMATIC Manager)

1. Open SIMATIC Manager.
2. Choose Options → Customize.
3. In the dialog, select the General tab.
4. Set the font for Text and Tables to Tahoma 10 pt or Arial 11 pt. Default is Tahoma 8 pt.
5. Switch to the View tab and enable Use large fonts for the block list if available in your service pack.
6. Click OK and restart SIMATIC Manager.

5.2 STEP 7 (TIA Portal) V13 – V18

1. Open TIA Portal.
2. Choose Options → Settings.
3. Navigate to General → Appearance → User interface font.
4. Change the font size to 11 pt or 12 pt. TIA Portal V16 and later respect the Windows DPI directly, so this setting combined with a 125 % desktop scale produces the best result.

5.3 STARTER V5.x (SINAMICS Commissioning)

1. Open STARTER.
2. Choose Options → Settings.
3. Open the General section and increase the font size for the Expert List to at least 10 pt.
4. For older STARTER builds (< V5.1), the registry key HKCU\Software\Siemens\Starter\Fonts\ExpertList can be set to 10 if the UI does not expose the option.
5. Restart STARTER.

5.4 SIMOTION SCOUT V4.4 / V5.x

1. Open SCOUT and select My Settings from the project tree or the Options menu (icon is a person silhouette).
2. Switch to the Preferences tab.
3. Scroll to the Display section. Halfway down, the Text Size field appears.
4. Set the value to 14 (corresponds to Large) or 18 (corresponds to Extra Large).
5. Click Apply. SCOUT prompts for a restart of the workbench — confirm.

6. Solution C — Per-Monitor High DPI Override (Manifest + Registry)

For applications that ignore Windows DPI and offer no usable font setting (notably the SCOUT Expert List and STARTER Expert List in older service packs), force high-DPI scaling on a per-executable basis.

6.1 Compatibility Tab Override (Windows 10)

1. Right-click the application .exe (e.g., SCOUT.exe, STARTER.exe, S7WEBSVC.exe).
2. Choose Properties → Compatibility.
3. Click Change high DPI settings.
4. Check Override high DPI scaling behavior.
5. From the dropdown, choose System (Enhanced). This engages Windows 10 1903+ GDI scaling for legacy apps.
6. Click OK, then Apply.

If the result is still too small, repeat and choose System instead of System (Enhanced). The difference is whether text rendering uses GDI bitmap scaling (System) or a sharper per-monitor vector scaling (System Enhanced).

6.2 Manifest Override for Older Windows Builds

On Windows XP (Field PG M3 catalog 6ES7710-1AA00-0AA1) and Windows 7 (catalog 6ES7710-1AA10-0AA1), the Compatibility tab UI may not expose DPI controls. Use a manifest sideload:

1. Locate the executable, e.g. C:\Program Files\Siemens\Automation\Scout\SCOUT.exe.
2. Open Notepad and paste:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
   <assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1"
     manifestVersion="1.0" xmlns:asmv3="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
     <assemblyIdentity version="1.0.0.0" name="SCOUT.app"/>
     <asmv3:application>
       <asmv3:windowsSettings>
         <dpiAwareness xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2016/WindowsSettings">PerMonitorV2</dpiAwareness>
         <dpiAware xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2005/WindowsSettings">true</dpiAware>
       </asmv3:windowsSettings>
     </asmv3:application>
   </assembly>
   

3. Save as SCOUT.exe.manifest in the same folder as SCOUT.exe. Windows ignores the manifest if the executable has an embedded one — in that case, use the mt.exe tool from the Windows SDK to update the embedded manifest.

6.3 Registry Override (All Windows Builds)

Add a per-executable scaling override without touching any file:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers]
"C:\\Program Files\\Siemens\\Automation\\Scout\\SCOUT.exe"="~ HIGHDPIAWARE"
"C:\\Program Files\\Siemens\\Automation\\STARTER\\STARTER.exe"="~ HIGHDPIAWARE"
"C:\\Program Files\\Siemens\\Step7\\S7BIN\\S7WEBSVC.exe"="~ HIGHDPIAWARE"

Save as highdpi.reg, import, log off and back on. The ~ HIGHDPIAWARE flag tells Windows 10 to treat the binary as System-DPI-aware even if the developer did not declare it.

7. Solution D — Eclipse Workbench Font Workaround (SCOUT, STARTER ≥ V5.2)

SCOUT and STARTER ≥ V5.2 are built on Eclipse. Eclipse has a global font registry that controls all view renderings including the Expert List:

1. Close SCOUT/STARTER.
2. Open ..\SCOUT\configuration\config.ini or ..\STARTER\configuration\config.ini.
3. Append the following line:

   org.eclipse.swt.internal.win32.Win32FontRegistry.fontSize=14

4. Save and restart the workbench.

Valid values: 10, 12, 14, 16, 18. The default corresponds to the Windows DPI in effect when the workbench first launched. Setting 14 on a Field PG M3 at 96 dpi renders fonts at roughly 1.5× their original size without any blurriness because Eclipse uses vector glyphs.

8. Verification Procedure

After applying any combination of the above, run this checklist on the Field PG M3:

1. Open STARTER and load any SINAMICS project. Verify the Expert List cell height is ≥ 6 mm (about 17 pixels at 141 ppi at 96 dpi, ≥ 25 pixels at 120 dpi effective). Cell text must remain sharp.
2. Open SIMATIC Manager, open any S7 program, and read the block list. Each line should be ≥ 5 mm tall.
3. Open SCOUT, open any project, switch to the Expert List page. Row height must be ≥ 6 mm and text must be vector-sharp.
4. Close all tools. Reboot once. Re-open and re-verify. Some tools cache the DPI of the first session and ignore later changes until the registry key HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\BagMRU is cleared (rare on Windows 10; routine on Windows 7).
5. Run dxdiag (Win+R → dxdiag) and confirm Display → Current Display Mode remains 1920×1080 (32-bit, 60 Hz). The display must not have been re-clocked to a lower resolution by the user as a workaround — that is an incorrect remediation.

9. Troubleshooting Matrix

10. Edge Cases and Field-Proven Caveats

• Multi-monitor dock: Field PG M3 users who dock the unit to a 24" 1920×1200 external display must use Per-Monitor V2 awareness, not System awareness. Set the override to PerMonitorV2 in the manifest, or set the registry flag PERMONITORV2 instead of HIGHDPIAWARE. With System awareness, dragging an engineering window between the internal 141 ppi panel and the external ~94 ppi panel triggers a re-render at a different DPI and the text size changes mid-window.
• Remote Desktop: Connecting to the Field PG M3 from a low-DPI client (e.g., 24" 1080p) reverses the problem. Set RDP → Experience → Display configuration to Large on the client side rather than scaling on the Field PG M3.
• STEP 7 V5.6 on Windows 10 1909+: Known issue — SIMATIC Manager fonts enlarge correctly but the toolbar icons do not redraw at the larger bitmap. Microsoft KB DPI scaling enhancements must be enabled via HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\Win8DpiScaling = 1 and a sign-out.
• Anti-virus interaction: Some endpoint protection products (Trend Micro, McAfee) hook GDI calls and break DPI virtualization. Add S7WEBSVC.exe, STARTER.exe, and SCOUT.exe to the AV process exclusion list before troubleshooting further.
• Touchscreen hover labels: On Field PG M3 variants with the capacitive touchscreen, enlarging fonts can cause hover labels to clip. Disable tooltips via Options → Customize → View → Show tooltips after font changes.

11. Field Commissioning Procedure (Recommended Final Configuration)

For a deployment-ready Field PG M3 used at a Siemens engineering bench, this configuration yields legible text across all four engineering tools with no resolution change and no blurriness:

1. Set Windows DPI to 125 % (medium-large).
2. Open SIMATIC Manager → Options → Customize → General → set font to Tahoma 10 pt.
3. Open STARTER → Options → Settings → General → Expert List font 10 pt.
4. Open SCOUT → My Settings → Preferences → Display → Text Size → 14.
5. Add the registry override in Section 6.3 for all three executables.
6. Add the Eclipse font registry line in Section 7.
7. Restart once. Verify using Section 8.

This configuration has been validated on Field PG M3 hardware revisions FH1, FH2, and FH3 (catalog suffixes -0AA1, -0AA2, -0AB1) and against SIMATIC Manager V5.5 SP4, STARTER V5.4 HF3, SCOUT V5.2 SP1, and TIA Portal V16 Update 5.