diff --git a/src/dialogxml/dialogs/dialog.cpp b/src/dialogxml/dialogs/dialog.cpp
index 917b179b..278886e1 100644
--- a/src/dialogxml/dialogs/dialog.cpp
+++ b/src/dialogxml/dialogs/dialog.cpp
@@ -445,6 +445,12 @@ void cDialog::recalcRect(){
 
 	winRect.right *= get_ui_scale();
 	winRect.bottom *= get_ui_scale();
+	// Uncomment if you need to measure any dialogs.
+	/*
+	LOG_VALUE(fname);
+	LOG_VALUE(winRect.right);
+	LOG_VALUE(winRect.bottom);
+	*/
 }
 
 bool cDialog::initCalled = false;
diff --git a/src/game/boe.main.cpp b/src/game/boe.main.cpp
index 7f7555d2..414bb210 100644
--- a/src/game/boe.main.cpp
+++ b/src/game/boe.main.cpp
@@ -1079,6 +1079,7 @@ void init_boe(int argc, char* argv[]) {
 	init_tiling();
 	init_snd_tool();
 	
+	// see fallback_scale() in winutil.cpp for where the default UI scale is calculated based on screen size
 	adjust_window_mode();
 	init_ui();
 	// If we don't do this now it'll flash white to start with
diff --git a/src/tools/winutil.cpp b/src/tools/winutil.cpp
index 2cafde6b..56e778d8 100644
--- a/src/tools/winutil.cpp
+++ b/src/tools/winutil.cpp
@@ -3,8 +3,11 @@
 #include <boost/filesystem/operations.hpp>
 #include "keymods.hpp"
 
+// Measured on 5/23/25. For now, must be re-measured at 1x UI scale whenever preferences change (unless making the window smaller, maybe).
+short prefs_height = 529;
+
 // The default scale should be the largest that the user's screen can fit all three
-// BoE application windows (because they should probably default to match each other).
+// BoE application windows and core dialogs of the main game (because they should probably default to match each other).
 double fallback_scale() {
 	static double scale = 0;
 	// Suppress the float comparison warning.
@@ -17,7 +20,7 @@ double fallback_scale() {
 		sf::VideoMode desktop = sf::VideoMode::getDesktopMode();
 
 		short max_width = max(boe_width, max(pc_width, scen_width));
-		short max_height = max(boe_height, max(pc_height, scen_height)) + getMenubarHeight();
+		short max_height = max(prefs_height, max(boe_height, max(pc_height, scen_height))) + getMenubarHeight();
 
 		std::vector<double> scale_options = {1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0};
 		for(auto it = scale_options.rbegin(); it != scale_options.rend(); ++it){