turns out uiitemtextbuttonlist colouring bug was because of the gamefont

src/net/torvald/terrarum/modulebasegame/ui/UIInventoryEscMenu.kt

@@ -76,20 +76,31 @@ class UIInventoryEscMenu(val full: UIInventoryFull) : UICanvas() {
 
         gameMenuButtons.selectionChangeListener = { _, new ->
             when (new) {
-                4 -> screen = 2
-                5 -> screen = 1
+                4 -> {
+                    screen = 2; gameMenuButtons.deselect()
+                }
+                5 -> {
+                    screen = 1; gameMenuButtons.deselect()
+                }
             }
         }
         areYouSureMainMenuButtons.selectionChangeListener = { _, new ->
             when (new) {
-                1 -> App.setScreen(TitleScreen(App.batch))
-                2 -> screen = 0
+                1 -> {
+                    areYouSureMainMenuButtons.deselect()
+                    App.setScreen(TitleScreen(App.batch))
+                }
+                2 -> {
+                    screen = 0; areYouSureMainMenuButtons.deselect()
+                }
             }
         }
         areYouSureQuitButtons.selectionChangeListener = { _, new ->
             when (new) {
                 1 -> Gdx.app.exit()
-                2 -> screen = 0
+                2 -> {
+                    screen = 0; areYouSureQuitButtons.deselect()
+                }
             }
         }
     }

src/net/torvald/terrarum/ui/UIItemTextButton.kt

@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import com.badlogic.gdx.graphics.g2d.SpriteBatch
 import net.torvald.terrarum.App
 import net.torvald.terrarum.BlendMode
 import net.torvald.terrarum.blendNormal
-import net.torvald.terrarum.fillRect
 import net.torvald.terrarum.langpack.Lang
 
 /**
@@ -69,12 +68,18 @@ open class UIItemTextButton(
 
     var highlighted: Boolean = false
 
+    override fun update(delta: Float) {
+        super.update(delta)
+
+
+    }
+
     override fun render(batch: SpriteBatch, camera: Camera) {
         val textW = font.getWidth(label)
 
 
         // draw background
-        if (highlighted) {
+        /*if (highlighted) {
             BlendMode.resolve(highlightBackBlendMode, batch)
             batch.color = highlightBackCol
             batch.fillRect(posX.toFloat(), posY.toFloat(), width.toFloat(), height.toFloat())
@@ -88,7 +93,7 @@ open class UIItemTextButton(
             batch.color = backgroundCol
             BlendMode.resolve(backgroundBlendMode, batch)
             batch.fillRect(posX.toFloat(), posY.toFloat(), width.toFloat(), height.toFloat())
-        }
+        }*/
 
 
         blendNormal(batch)
@@ -99,7 +104,8 @@ open class UIItemTextButton(
         else inactiveCol
 
         font.draw(batch,
-                label, //"$label/H:${highlighted.toInt()}, M:${mouseUp.toInt()}",
+                label,
+//                "$label/H:${highlighted.toInt()}, M:${mouseUp.toInt()}",
                 when (alignment) {
                     Alignment.CENTRE -> posX.toFloat() + width.minus(textW).div(2) + (preGapX - postGapX).div(2)
                     Alignment.LEFT -> posX.toFloat() + preGapX

src/net/torvald/terrarum/ui/UIItemTextButtonList.kt

@@ -242,10 +242,16 @@ class UIItemTextButtonList(
 
     fun select(index: Int) {
         selectedIndex = index
+        buttons.forEachIndexed { index, btn ->
+            btn.highlighted = (index == selectedIndex) // forcibly highlight if this.highlighted != null
+        }
     }
 
     fun deselect() {
         selectedIndex = null
+        buttons.forEachIndexed { index, btn ->
+            btn.highlighted = false
+        }
     }
 
     override fun dispose() {