Lots of ?? instead of Words

[alstoncheung]

I am using a Trad. Chinese Windows 7 and I try to play 1.1.0 Openttd after installation, they the problem comes, there is lot of "?" instead of words, means I can not play this game probably.
After I check with the readme file I was found the following,

With the added support for font-based text selecting a non-latin language will
result in garbage (lots of '?') shown on screen. Please open your configuration
file and add a desired font for small/medium/-and large_font. This can be a font
name like "Tahoma" or a path to a font.

But I do not know what it means, I check with Windows , I do have Tahoma font installed.

Could you guys please help me to fix this issue?

[alstoncheung]

I am using a Trad. Chinese Windows 7 and I try to play 1.1.0 Openttd after installation, they the problem comes, there is lot of "?" instead of words, means I can not play this game probably.
After I check with the readme file I was found the following,

With the added support for font-based text selecting a non-latin language will
result in garbage (lots of '?') shown on screen. Please open your configuration
file and add a desired font for small/medium/-and large_font. This can be a font
name like "Tahoma" or a path to a font.

But I do not know what it means, I check with Windows , I do have Tahoma font installed.

Could you guys please help me to fix this issue?

Is anyone could her me to solve this issue??

[PikkaBird]

Please open your configuration
file and add a desired font for small/medium/-and large_font. This can be a font
name like "Tahoma" or a path to a font.

1) Find openttd.cfg
2) open it with notepad or similar
3) add "Tahoma" (or whatever font you want to use) after the "=" in the lines;

small_font =
medium_font =
large_font =

4) save the file.

[alstoncheung]

Please open your configuration
file and add a desired font for small/medium/-and large_font. This can be a font
name like "Tahoma" or a path to a font.

1) Find openttd.cfg
2) open it with notepad or similar
3) add "Tahoma" (or whatever font you want to use) after the "=" in the lines;

small_font =
medium_font =
large_font =

4) save the file.

It means I just type it after = and save?
Thanks for your help

[Lord Aro]

Can i suggest to the devs that the section of the readme referred to above be changed/simplified...
I can see this problem and its thread occurring again...

[planetmaker]

Can i suggest to the devs that the section of the readme referred to above be changed/simplified...

Maybe you can suggest how a re-wording / amendment of the corresponding section could look like so that it becomes easier comprehensible?

[Lord Aro]

OK:

With the added support for font-based text selecting a non-latin language will
result in garbage (lots of '?') shown on screen. Please open your configuration
file and add a desired font for small/medium/-and large_font. This can be a font
name like "Tahoma" or a path to a font.

-->

With the added support for font-based text selecting a non-latin language will
result in lots of question marks ('?') being shown on screen. Please open your configuration
file (openttd.cfg - see Section 4.2 for where to find it) and add a desired font for
small_font/medium_font/large_font.
E.G.
small_font = "Tahoma"
medium_font = "Tahoma"
large_font = "Tahoma"

You should use a name like "Tahoma" or a path to a font.

any better?

[TERdON]

It would probably be a good idea if the message gives the location of the currently used file instead of a reference to the manual (alternatively, both).

[alstoncheung]

Thank you Guys the problem was solved.
My notebook is running under Vista and working find then I open the cfg file there and copy the font name and place in my 7.
Thanks a lot

[planetmaker]

OK:(...)
any better?

Yes, thanks, I think so. Slightly modified it has been included in r22477 along with some additional clarifications.

[PikkaBird]

A comma between "text, selecting" in the first sentence would assist comprehensibility too.

[Supercheese]

A comma between "text, selecting" in the first sentence would assist comprehensibility too.

Agreed.

[Nite Owl]

If I may suggest that the following is even clearer:
--------------------
If the default language you use in your OS is a non-Latin language the possibility exists that some of the text within the game will appear as question marks (?). This is due to the game's support of font-based text selection. The following steps will fix the problem.

1) Open your configuration file with a text editor. The configuration file is named openttd.cfg. Please see Section 4.2 of the OpenTTD readme.txt file to locate openttd.cfg. The OpenTTD readme.txt file is located in the same directory as the game's executable file. The game's executable file is named openttd.exe.

2) The topmost section of the openttd.cfg file is titled [misc]. Under this heading you are looking for entries that deal with fonts. They are located about half way down the list in this section. The specific entries you are looking for are as follows:

small_font =
medium_font =
large_font =

3) What you want to do is add either the name of a specific font or a path to a specific font after the = in these entries. Once you have done this the entries should look like this:

small_font = Tahoma
medium_font = Tahoma
large_font = Tahoma

Note that the Tahoma font is used here as an example. You can use this font if you want but almost any font will do. The choice is yours.
--------------------
Please feel free to edit as may be needed or to disregard entirely. I am fairly sure that there are more restrictions on the types of fonts that can be used but I could not locate any specifics. The key to good technical writing is to always go with the most detailed instructions that you can. This is based on the assumption that your target audience knows absolutely nothing technical at all. I know that does not apply to the large majority of people who play OpenTTD but even if the non technical player population is only 2% than that is who you should write to in order to avoid that additional 2% of questions.

[CharlyHRO]

small_font = Tahoma
medium_font = Tahoma
large_font = Tahoma

I'm totally aware of the fact that this is only an example how to edit the corresponding section in the openttd.cfg, but the Tahoma font only covers latin and cyrillic characters. For "languages with complex characters" (like arabic, japanese/chinese) some other font has to be chosen (like Arial Unicode MS for example).