Rpg Maker Developers Group

When developing our games it is very possible we want to use another font. This information is already present elsewhere, but as a quick reminder it can look like this.


Font.default_name = "Roboto"
Font.default_name = ["Roboto", "Arial"] # Fall back to Arial if Roboto does not exist


What happens if Roboto does not exists?

1. No fallback - No text is drawn
   
2. Fallback - Text drawn in Arial instead.
   

Neither case is acceptable if we really want Roboto to be the font used.


Luckily we can use the AddFontResource function from GDI32.dll to load font resources. Unfortunately, in RMXP we cannot use fonts loaded through that call until the game is started anew. Should we load fonts in one game, and then run another game, that other game can use the fonts resources. I have encapsulated this functionality into a tool.


Note: AddFontResource requires the font to exist on the file system. I.e. it cannot load fonts from encrypted archives.


Tool


Download: http://www.mediafire.com/file/6l9s59bef58eadx/Font+Launcher.zip


Demo: http://www.mediafire.com/file/j6dkhqkpa4yyllr/Demo.zip


Once you unpack the zip file you will see the following elements:





Copy those files into your own game directory.





Copy the fonts you want into the Fonts folder, and use Launcher.exe. That's it.


Note: I have included the RGSS104E.dll just for good measure, just in case you use another DLL version. Feel free to change the Launcher.ini file if you prefer to another version.



Have renamed your Game.exe files? Edit the Launcher.ini file:


Say the name is "Hello Steven.exe" then change the Launcher.ini file to be:






Read priority


As you sure have noticed. We have an encrypted archive called Launcher.rgssad. To explain why this is important because encrypted archives have higher read priority than file system files. I don't mind showing the code: http://pastebin.com/8aw6CFcY


The name of the executable have functional meaning. Let us look at the sample game directory again:





Note we have two executables here.

1. Game.exe
   
2. Launcher.exe
   

In our example both Game.ini and Launcher.ini has Scripts=Data\Scripts.rxdata, yet they do not load the same Scripts.rxdata


The RGSS Player executable looks first for a Configuration settings file with the same name as itself and ending with .ini, next it looks for an RGSS Encrypted Archive file with the same name as itself and ending with .rgssad.


In other words you can say

• Launcher.exe is associated with Launcher.ini and Launcher.rgssad
  
• Game.exe is associated with Game.ini
  

Next it tries to load the resource located at Data\Scripts.rxdata. If it has an encrypted archive associated it searched that before the file system. So we end up with this loading sequence.





You can also encrypt the game just fine. Then you'll Game.exe try to load resources from Game.rgssad before the file system.


License




Final notes


Wachunga has made a script which tries to actually install the fonts: https://github.com/wachunga/rmxp-auto-font-install


That script requires administrative privileges, actually install the fonts and cause changes to registration database.


Using my tool does not install anything and it requires no administrative privileges. On the downside it does runs two executables.


Let me extend some thanks to Laura Shigihara. She is using a custom font for her upcoming game, Rakuen, and her request for help eventually turned into the tool and this topic.


Thank you for reading my tutorial.


Any comments are appreciated.


Additional data about whether it works for your or not is appreciated.


*hugs*


 - Zeriab