Maps filename to font slot number slot (0-7).

For TrueType and OpenType fonts, filename should name the .ttf or .otf file. For Type 1 fonts, filename> should name the .pfa or .pfb file, and the metrics argument should be used to provide the corresponding .afm file.

Filenames are relative to the game's data path. If a file is not found, it is then sought within a fonts subdirectory of the data path, then in the game's archive, and then the game binary itself is checked in case the font has been embedded there. Finally, for compatibility, Ponscripter checks for a file named default.ttf in the game's data path, and uses that if it exists. Note that at no stage does Ponscripter look at the fonts installed on the user's computer; games must distribute their own fonts. Note also that fonts are loaded lazily, so the point of failure if a file is missing will be when that font is first used, not when this command is executed.

The intended convention is that the eight font slots should represent two typefaces (a text face and a display face), each with regular, italic, bold, and bold-italic styles. These are assigned in ascending order: slot 0 (the default face) should be the regular text font, slot 1 the italic text font, slot 4 the regular display font, etc. You can, of course, assign the fonts however you like, but following the convention permits straightforward use of mnemonic formatting tags. See Font selection tags in Syntax for details of font selection.

Mapping fonts in this way is optional. If a slot is used that has not had a font assigned to it, the default filename will be faceN.ttf, where N is the slot number.

Configures Freetype text rendering.

hinting should be one of the following barewords:

The optimum settings depend on the fonts in use. In general, Freetype hinting makes TrueType fonts look hideous, but it does sometimes help with Type 1 fonts.

positioning should be the bareword integer, which causes characters to be aligned to whole pixels. The alternative is float, which uses subpixel positioning and would in theory give better spacing, but has never worked properly and generally looks awful.

The optional rendermode parameter can be used to override the Freetype rendering mode. It should be one of the barewords light or normal. By default, light rendering is used for light hinting, and normal rendering otherwise; this should always be what you want.

Sets the default text styling. This command is equivalent to inserting ~dstring~ at the start of every subsequent text display command (though it has no effect on sprites).

Only font style tags may be used; size and position tags are not supported.

For example, to set an entire section of the game in your italic display font, you could use the code

h_fontstyle ^si^
^Your text here\
^Several pages in italic display font\
h_fontstyle ^d^  ; to reset

Add or remove shortcut sequences. (See Ligatures and shortcuts in Syntax.)

The two-argument form of this command adds or removes a single sequence. input is a string representing the sequence; action is either the bareword remove, which causes any shortcut associated with the sequence to be undefined; an integer, which is taken as the Unicode codepoint to be inserted when the sequence is encountered; or a string, the first character of which is inserted when the sequence is encountered. For example:

h_ligate "fi", 0xfb01

The one-argument form is used to apply preset settings. preset is one of the following values: