A tutorial by Lennard
Fonteijn aka SkulpingNipple[NL]
-----===== Introduction =====-----
Are you
sick of the in-game font? You would like to put in some of your own, but don’t
know how? Then this tutorial is your answer! In this tutorial I will explain
you how any font can be put in-game… So let’s start doing some business!
Note: That every font can be put in-game,
doesn’t mean that they all are useable. Some fonts look nice
out-game, but when you’re in-game…
Note 2: Some images are in Dutch, since I have
a Dutch system… the language may be different, but if you click the same spots
as in the images, everything will be fine.
-----===== Requirements =====-----
Will need a
couple of things before you can start.
-
Photoshop
CS2* (http://trials.adobe.com/Applications/Photoshop/trials/win/cs2/Photoshop_CS2.exe)
- Fontgen (http://projects.lennardf1989.com/Websites/MyWebsite/MoH/Files/fontgen.exe)
-
DXTBmp (http://projects.lennardf1989.com/Websites/MyWebsite/MoH/Files/DXTBmp.exe)
-
Pakscape (http://projects.lennardf1989.com/Websites/MyWebsite/MoH/Files/PakScape.exe)
-
Notepad**
-
Fonts***
* Photoshop
CS2 is not free, but a 30-day trial
is available. Of course, when you already have Photoshop CS2, you won’t have to
download the trial.
** Notepad
is installed on any Windows machine, no need to download it.
*** When
you’re also sick of the standard fonts Windows supplies, then
try searching some on the web, there are plenty of font-sites available.
-----===== Installation =====-----
Well, the installation for Photoshop speaks for itself, just follow
the instructions and everything will be fine.
The
installation of “Fontgen”, “DXTBmp”
and “Pakscape” is quite simple to. Just copy these 3
programs to a directory called FontMaker directly on
your C:\ drive (Or any other drive, as long as it is
direct on it). This will make the navigation further in the progress easier.
-----===== Take a font =====-----
Open up
“Notepad” (see image below).
Go to
Start-menu > Run and type “notepad”.
Then press
Enter (keyboard) or OK (button).
In
“Notepad”, go to “Format, and click “Font…”.
This will
popup this screen:
I think
it’s quite clear what’s the meaning of this screen…
Decide which font you want to use and in what kind of style (Note: You can only
use the “bold” and/or “italic” style, since the “underlined” style will give an
unreadable effect in-game). Size doesn’t really matter, so don’t look at that.
For this
tutorial we’ll take “Verdana” in “Bold”-style.
Note: The name of the font is real important!
If it has 3 spaces, then you’ll have to type it with 3 spaces in the next part
of the process.
You can now
close Notepad.
-----===== Fontgen
=====-----
Still
remember your fonts name and style? Good… let’s take it to the next step.
Open up a “MS-Dos Prompt” (see image below).
Go to
Start-menu > Run and type “cmd”.
Then press
Enter (keyboard) or OK (button).
You will
now get something like this:
Change the
path to the drive where the “FontMaker” directory is
located.
Type “X:”
followed by an Enter (where X is the letter of your drive).
Sometimes,
the line already says something like: “C:\Document and Settings\Admin\Local
Settings\Desktop”, if that’s the case, keep typing “cd..” till you are at the root of the drive.
Now, you
should be on the drive where the “FontMaker”
directory is located.
Type “cd FontMaker”
to mount it.
Now it’s
time for the real work.
Type “fontgen -name facfont-20 -winname
“thenameofyourfont” -size 16 -first 0 -last 255
-style yourstyles” and press Enter.
Explanation:
-name = The name it will have in-game, facfon-20 is
the one used by the game (always between " ").
-winname = The windows font
you've chosen (always between " ").
-size = The font size, 16 will be fine for most fonts,
though, you can experiment with it
-first = The character to start with.
-last = The character to end with.
-style = Here you fill in your styles, if you have more then one, use a comma
to split them, like: bold,italic,underline. This is a optional argument, so if you don't want styles, just leave
out the -styles.
For this
tutorial type “fontgen -name facfont-20 -winname “Verdana” -size 16 -first 0 -last 255 -style bold”
and press Enter.
After you
have pressed Enter, it should generate the word “Success!”
You can now
close the “MS-Dos prompt”.
-----===== DXTBmp 1
=====-----
Navigate to
the “FontMaker” directory you created before.
You will
see it has two new folders in it called “gfx” and
“fonts”.
Double
click on “DXTBmp” to start it.
Go to
“File”, and click “Open”.
Navigate to
the “facfont-20.tga” file located in the “fonts” directory, which is located in
the “gfx” directory in the “FontMaker”
directory.
Open it and
it should now look something like this:
Go to
“Alpha” and click “Export Alpha Channel”.
In the
upcoming screen called “Export Alpha channel”, type in a name and save the file
in the “FontMaker”directory.
For this
tutorial, give it the name “Verdana”.
Now
minimise “DXTBmp”, but don’t close it! You will need
it again after the next step.
-----===== Photoshop =====-----
It’s time
for some editing.
Start
“Photoshop” and open the “facfont-20.tga” and your just saved Alpha Channel
Bitmap (In this tutorial: Verdana.bmp).
Your screen
should look something like this:
Now, click
the Alpha Channel Bitmap window (in this tutorial: Verdana.bmp)
and press CTRL+A (select all), then press CTRL+C (copy).
Switch to
the TGA File window, and press CTRL+V (paste).
Press Q (enter Quick Mask mode)
Press CTRL+V again and press Q again.
Now, without chancing anything else, go to "Layer", then "New
Fill Layer" > "Solid Color...".
In the upcoming screen press OK…
Select the
white color and press OK.
Now in the Layer-management tool on the lower-right, hide the "Background
layer" and the "Layer 1" by clicking on the small eye in front
of them (you can show them again by clicking the same spot again).
When you
hided them, right-click the Color Fill 1-layer and
press "Blending Options".
In the
upcoming screen, click on "Stroke" (lower-left), a checker should
appear next to it. In the right of the current screen, change the Size to 1px.
Click on
the box next to “Color:” and change the R to
Press OK
and then OK again (Layer Style window).
Now, we add one more Fill color layer, only this one
is black.
Go to "Layer”, then "New Fill Layer" > "Solid Color...".
In the
upcoming screen press OK.
Select the
black color in the window and press OK.
Now, in the Layer-manager, drag the "Fill Color
2"-layer under the "Fill Color
1"-layer.
After
you've done that, you should see a nice black image with white font which have
a gray outline (whole mouth full :P).
Last thing
to do is save it, go to “File”, click "Save
as".
Save the
file in the “FontMaker” directory as a BMP (in this
tutorial, save it as Verdana.bmp).
After you
press “Save”, a window will appear called "BMP Options". You don't have
to change anything, but just make sure the File Format is Window and the Depth
32 (just press OK when you are sure).
Close down
“Photoshop” since you are done with it (you don’t have to save anything else).
-----===== DXTBmp 2
=====-----
Lets get back
to DXTBmp.
Now,
instead of exporting the Alpha Channel, we are going to import it.
Go to
“Alpha”, and press “Import Alpha Channel”.
You will
get a screen like this:
Ignore it,
and just press OK.
Navigate to
the “FontMaker” directory and open your freshly saved
BMP file (In this tutorial: Verdana.bmp).
The last
thing we have to do in DXTBmp is to save the TGA
file.
Go to
“File” > “Save”.
Overwrite to existing TGA file.
And you’re
done! You can now close DXTBmp, do
it quick so we can put the font in MoH!
-----===== Pakscape
=====-----
Open “Pakscape” which is located in the “FontMaker”
directory by double clicking it.
The Pakscape window will look like this:
Simple press CTRL+N to create a new .PK3.
Now, just
drag and drop the “gfx” and “fonts” directories
located in the “FontMaker” directory in the
“Untitled1” screen.
Let’s save
it! Simply press CTRL+S and navigate to your main dir.
Give it a
name so you can recognize it as the font (For this tutorial
name it zzz-Verdana.pk3) and press “Save”.
Close “Pakscape” and let’s take it to the next step.
-----===== Testing =====-----
Well, it
looks quite clear to me where this step is for…
Start MoH and start the “Training Level” or join a Multiplayer
server to see how the font looks.
This can be
one of those unhappy moments where you can find out that the font totally sucks
in-game.
Look what’s
wrong with the font and start over again (perhaps with a new font).
If you
followed this tutorial well, Verdana should look like this:
-----===== A last word =====-----
This may
look like time consuming, but once you know how-to, it’s quite simple and you
can put
a font
in-game within a couple of minutes.
You can
find some other screenshots and bigger images here:
http://projects.lennardf1989.com/Websites/MyWebsite/MoH/Tutorials/Fonts/Images/
And some
examples here:
http://projects.lennardf1989.com/Websites/MyWebsite/MoH/Tutorials/Fonts/Examples/
Good luck
and Happy Fraging!
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