31 replies to this topic

[TOKYO RAIN]

Anyone have any recommendations on how to make Japanese fonts look better? Is there a pack that needs to be downloaded?

Thanks

[lalovista]

give some more details!!!

[Michael Sørensen]

Isn't it working like this?

[TOKYO RAIN]

give some more details!!!

Well I came from Mac OS X where japanese fonts were very smooth and nice...

On a default setup for 7100 RC it looks the same as Japanese fonts look under XP and I thought they were kinda fixed up in Vista (I think maybe as a seperate language pack download in windows update?).

Have a look at these examples. Is this the way it should look normally?

[dafin0]

Well I came from Mac OS X where japanese fonts were very smooth and nice...

On a default setup for 7100 RC it looks the same as Japanese fonts look under XP and I thought they were kinda fixed up in Vista (I think maybe as a seperate language pack download in windows update?).

Have a look at these examples. Is this the way it should look normally?

doesnt look like "ClearType" is work or on, try this

go to Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Fonts.. on the left hand side you should see something called "adjust ClearType text" and just follow the wizard

[Michael Sørensen]

Well I came from Mac OS X where japanese fonts were very smooth and nice...

On a default setup for 7100 RC it looks the same as Japanese fonts look under XP and I thought they were kinda fixed up in Vista (I think maybe as a seperate language pack download in windows update?).

Have a look at these examples. Is this the way it should look normally?

I checked em out carefully and there's small difference.

I'm running Windows 7 RC 7100 x64 English.

[The_Decryptor]

It's because they have embedded bitmaps, they're rendered straight to the screen without hinting or antialiasing or all the other stuff normal outline fonts go through.

There is a font in Vista and 7 that doesn't use them though, it uses normal hinting and antialiasing like the other fonts, it's called Meiryo.

[TOKYO RAIN]

It's because they have embedded bitmaps, they're rendered straight to the screen without hinting or antialiasing or all the other stuff normal outline fonts go through.

There is a font in Vista and 7 that doesn't use them though, it uses normal hinting and antialiasing like the other fonts, it's called Meiryo.

Thanks for this. I had a look at that font and it does indeed look nice but for the life of me I can't figure out how to tell windows "when rendering japanese use these fonts instead". Is it application specific?

[ZeusII]

In my comp, after installing Office 2007 the fonts looked better overall... (of course, I selected the optional "Japanese Font" in the installer)


(this is Vista, but looks exactly the same in 7)

...but there are some sites that are forcing an older font and then looking bad (like Impress Watch).


also, if you install Safari for Windows you'll get that "heavy-aliased" look from MacOS (at least on websites)

[Lord Ba'al]

I know this myself.
The problem is with MS Gothic and MS Mincho, which look really ugly at lower font sizes (below 18pt), because they have no anti-aliasing there
You can verify this for yourself if you look at them in the font viewer.

The solution for this is to simply use the "Meiryo" font for all Japanese texts. It looks fine at all sizes and is included with Win7

[TOKYO RAIN]

I know this myself.
The problem is with MS Gothic and MS Mincho, which look really ugly at lower font sizes (below 18pt), because they have no anti-aliasing there
You can verify this for yourself if you look at them in the font viewer.

The solution for this is to simply use the "Meiryo" font for all Japanese texts. It looks fine at all sizes and is included with Win7

What I'm trying achieve is for OS and applications to use that meiryo font by default when displaying ANY japanese text. Not just when I'm personally composing something and have control over the font.

For example, when I go into Windows Live Mail client the meiryo font is used and it looks fantastic. If I copy and paste into notepad it goes back to that old crappy font unless I change it manually in notepad in the font menu.

I'd like meiryo to be used by default system-wide when displaying Japanese. Do Windows OS' not work this way? Or is it a matter of applications "catching up" to the current font standard of the latest OS?

Thanks

[Lord Ba'al]

What I'm trying achieve is for OS and applications to use that meiryo font by default when displaying ANY japanese text. Not just when I'm personally composing something and have control over the font.

For example, when I go into Windows Live Mail client the meiryo font is used and it looks fantastic. If I copy and paste into notepad it goes back to that old crappy font unless I change it manually in notepad in the font menu.

I'd like meiryo to be used by default system-wide when displaying Japanese. Do Windows OS' not work this way? Or is it a matter of applications "catching up" to the current font standard of the latest OS?

Yes, that's a problem indeed, and there are no straight-forward settings to change that.
To stop Windows from using the ugly fonts, you need to do some registry edits. I've build myself a .reg file that does all the registry work neccessary
Simply execute the FontFix.reg file in the .zip file. Next, copy the four Global*.* files to your C:\Windows\Fonts directory, overwriting the ones there (they tell Windows which fonts to use).
After you did both and rebooted, you'll find that Windows won't use any ugly fonts anymore

oh, and btw, if you want to download the Japanese RC - download it from the Windows Ecosystem on Connect. I got 1.5 MB/s there today when I downloaded it

[TOKYO RAIN]

Yes, that's a problem indeed, and there are no straight-forward settings to change that.
To stop Windows from using the ugly fonts, you need to do some registry edits. I've build myself a .reg file that does all the registry work neccessary
Simply execute the FontFix.reg file in the .zip file. Next, copy the four Global*.* files to your C:\Windows\Fonts directory, overwriting the ones there (they tell Windows which fonts to use).
After you did both and rebooted, you'll find that Windows won't use any ugly fonts anymore

oh, and btw, if you want to download the Japanese RC - download it from the Windows Ecosystem on Connect. I got 1.5 MB/s there today when I downloaded it

Ba'al I'm going to make sweet love to you haahha. This worked and I'm very very happy with the way everything looks now. Thank you so much for this.

Just as an FYI, I ran the regedit but the fonts wouldn't copy into C:\Windows\Fonts and I've attached the error. I rebooted anyways and it seemed to work regardless.

[crazlunatic]

if you want Mac fonts, you could look into GDI++

[Lord Ba'al]

Ba'al I'm going to make sweet love to you haahha.

I'm afraid I'll have to decline your offer on this

This worked and I'm very very happy with the way everything looks now. Thank you so much for this.

Just as an FYI, I ran the regedit but the fonts wouldn't copy into C:\Windows\Fonts and I've attached the error. I rebooted anyways and it seemed to work regardless.

The regedit file does the major part of the work, but not all, that's why you need to overwrite the Global*.* files.
If you open the Fonts folder and drag them over it, Windows thinks you want to install them as fonts, which won't work of course.
You'll have to copy them using the command line window or using a separate install of Windows.
To copy them using the command line:
Go to All Programs > Accessories, right-click on Command Promt > Run as Admin
Change into the directory in which you have unpacked the Global*.* files, e.g.:
cd c:\download\FontFixLordBaal
Then enter the following command:
copy global*.* c:\windows\fonts
A prompt will appear asking you if you want to overwrite fonts. Simply press a (for 'all'). It will then tell you "4 file(s) copied.", reboot once more and you're done

I've attached a new zip file with updated instructions.

Attached Files

•  FontFixLordBaal.zip   19.39KB   108 downloads