# Does anyone know of or use a good square font that works with DDA?

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/does-anyone-know-of-or-use-a-good-square-font-that-works-with-dda/264>\
**Category:** The Bunker\
**Created:** [February 25, 2013, 7:47am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/does-anyone-know-of-or-use-a-good-square-font-that-works-with-dda/264 "2013-02-25T07:47:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Rutilant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a88e57/32.png) [@Rutilant](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Rutilant)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:47am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/does-anyone-know-of-or-use-a-good-square-font-that-works-with-dda/264/1 "2013-02-25T07:47:41Z")

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I hate making contentless posts with the question frontloaded in the title, but… Yeah. I notice some people using different than Terminus and, in the new build, setting the tiles to be less than 14 tall starts cutting off letters, and 14 wide leaves a lot of black space that kind of strains my eyes.

Edit: I shoulda known to check the DF forums since they’ve been around forever;

Interesting tidbit I just discovered, [http://www.fonts2u.com/topaz-8.font](http://www.fonts2u.com/topaz-8.font) , a 8x8 font set to 16x16 in FONTDATA, with 32 wide screenspace, makes the screen 1920x1200 across. Handy!

The letters are fat though, since it’s supposed to be 8x8. Still needing a good font.

Edit 2: [http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=1854](http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=1854) seems fantastic with the settings I mentioned above.

Edit 3: This forum is not terribly active in the dead of night!

cootuecursessquare16x16, 12x12 font size, 52x52 viewport size.

Just a note, In my 1920x1200 resolution, the top bar starts off screen; I used alt+space to move the window in to place, but a little bothersome to do every time you start up the game. Smaller but still reasonable viewport sizes fix this, I went up to 48 without a problem but got greedy trying to fill in the extra space.

(unsarcastically,) Thank you guys working on the game so much for this change! I’m really in love, it is -so- much less claustrophobic!

![](https://dl.dropbox.com/u/66365909/Screenshots/85njg0u923ub2.png)

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**Author:** ![Tchey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@Tchey](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Tchey)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:00pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/does-anyone-know-of-or-use-a-good-square-font-that-works-with-dda/264/2 "2013-02-25T19:00:36Z")

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Thanks for that, i really wanted to find a good square font to play with. However, my eyes are bleeding with cootuecursessquare16x16 my screen is to small (eeePC901 1024x600). So, back to the default one, and squeezed schoolbus driving east or west.

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**Author:** ![Rutilant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a88e57/32.png) [@Rutilant](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Rutilant)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/does-anyone-know-of-or-use-a-good-square-font-that-works-with-dda/264/3 "2013-02-25T19:30:35Z")

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> [@Tchey](#):
>
> Thanks for that, i really wanted to find a good square font to play with. However, my eyes are bleeding with cootuecursessquare16x16 my screen is to small (eeePC901 1024x600). So, back to the default one, and squeezed schoolbus driving east or west.

You can change the font scale with the FONTDATA file (open with notepad/similar) - I tried 8x8 and it was way too small for my monitor, and the default 16x16 seemed a bit too big. Topaz-8 is also, well, a size 8 square font , if start smaller and not rescaling would help.

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**Author:** ![Silvercore](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/silvercore/32/855_2.png) [@Silvercore](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Silvercore)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:33pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/does-anyone-know-of-or-use-a-good-square-font-that-works-with-dda/264/4 "2013-02-25T19:33:34Z")

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Welp, I want to try this with cygwin, but it turns out cygwin is terrible and doesn’t seem to have any viable way of using nonstandard fonts, and every resource i look at online for cygwin is in moonspeak and incomprehensible jargon.

Edit: Or maybe it does, argh, this terminal is so clunky.

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**Author:** ![Tchey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@Tchey](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Tchey)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:50pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/does-anyone-know-of-or-use-a-good-square-font-that-works-with-dda/264/5 "2013-02-25T19:50:32Z")

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FONTDATA is for Windows only, i’m running Lubuntu.

I installed cootuecursessquare16x16 on my linux and everything is fine even if it’s not good for my screen, but Topaz is not working i don’t know way, it’s not listed.

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**Author:** ![Rutilant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a88e57/32.png) [@Rutilant](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Rutilant)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 7:56pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/does-anyone-know-of-or-use-a-good-square-font-that-works-with-dda/264/6 "2013-02-25T19:56:16Z")

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[quote=“Silvercore, post:4, topic:264”]Welp, I want to try this with cygwin, but it turns out cygwin is terrible and doesn’t seem to have any viable way of using nonstandard fonts, and every resource i look at online for cygwin is in moonspeak and incomprehensible jargon.

Edit: Or maybe it does, argh, this terminal is so clunky.[/quote]

In MinGW I had a ton of trouble before I realized linux based consoles parse / differently from , in a way that can totally screw up your ability to navigate directories if you try to do something like cd C:\Users\Etc\Etc\Etc.

[quote=“Tchey, post:5, topic:264”]FONTDATA is for Windows only, i’m running Lubuntu.

I installed cootuecursessquare16x16 on my linux and everything is fine even if it’s not good for my screen, but Topaz is not working i don’t know way, it’s not listed.[/quote]

Oh. I’m not very familiar with linux. Could you run it through a Windows emulator type of thing?

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**Author:** ![Tchey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@Tchey](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Tchey)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/does-anyone-know-of-or-use-a-good-square-font-that-works-with-dda/264/7 "2013-02-25T20:28:14Z")

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Well, there is almost no good at running a native Linux prog into a Windows emulator.

I don’t know how or why, i 've just reinstalled the Topaz8 and it works perfectly this time. It’s nice to have a squared view _happy_ I can play with 16x view instead of 12x, with Topaz8 size 9. And i still can read my Terminall without loosing my eyes.

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**Author:** ![Tase](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/tase/32/867_2.png) [@Tase](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Tase)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/does-anyone-know-of-or-use-a-good-square-font-that-works-with-dda/264/8 "2013-02-26T16:19:55Z")

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That screenshot looks awesome, square fonts are really needed too, thanks for the share.

Edit: Seems the curses font makes the map lag ☹

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**Author:** ![wad67](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/wad67/32/7_2.png) [@wad67](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/wad67)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2013, 10:23am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/does-anyone-know-of-or-use-a-good-square-font-that-works-with-dda/264/9 "2013-02-28T10:23:19Z")

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The bigger you make the map viewing screen the more the game lags.  
I have been tinkering around and I cannot find a way to get it to run smoother.

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**Author:** ![Mythius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58f4c7/32.png) [@Mythius](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Mythius)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 4:56am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/does-anyone-know-of-or-use-a-good-square-font-that-works-with-dda/264/10 "2013-05-11T04:56:27Z")

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Well this is a breath of fresh air! Thanks for the excellent suggestions, the game looks a lot nicer now using cootuecurses.

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**Author:** ![Austupaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5ac83/32.png) [@Austupaio](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Austupaio)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 9:39pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/does-anyone-know-of-or-use-a-good-square-font-that-works-with-dda/264/11 "2013-05-11T21:39:23Z")

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Was looking to put cootuecurses for myself, but I don’t know how to actually replace the ingame font.

Would a small guide be feasible?

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**Author:** ![Miloch](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/miloch/32/1339_2.png) [@Miloch](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Miloch)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 5:03am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/does-anyone-know-of-or-use-a-good-square-font-that-works-with-dda/264/12 "2013-05-12T05:03:51Z")

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It’s pretty simple. Install the font into windows. Right click and install I believe on the font file.  
Then you just edit the FONTDATA file. It’s under the data folder. Here’s mine.

FONTDATA  
cootue\_curses\_square\_16x16  
16  
16

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**Author:** ![TheKaltur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@TheKaltur](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/TheKaltur)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 3:01pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/does-anyone-know-of-or-use-a-good-square-font-that-works-with-dda/264/13 "2013-05-16T15:01:35Z")

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Can u tell me what the best font (and fontsize) is having a screen resolution of 1366x768?

Thanks in advance…

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**Author:** ![Ferodaktyl](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/ferodaktyl/32/56_2.png) [@Ferodaktyl](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Ferodaktyl)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 3:53pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/does-anyone-know-of-or-use-a-good-square-font-that-works-with-dda/264/14 "2013-05-16T15:53:23Z")

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a very good font indeed this cootue\_curses\_square\_16x16, just tried it and it works well for me, 1280x1024, 11x11 in fontdata file, and 30x45 screen size fits just perfect.

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**Author:** ![Nighthawk](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/nighthawk/32/896_2.png) [@Nighthawk](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Nighthawk)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 1:12am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/does-anyone-know-of-or-use-a-good-square-font-that-works-with-dda/264/15 "2013-05-17T01:12:21Z")

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Beautiful. I love it.

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**Author:** ![keeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@keeko](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/keeko)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 2:46am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/does-anyone-know-of-or-use-a-good-square-font-that-works-with-dda/264/16 "2013-05-17T02:46:04Z")

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This font…ITS GORGEOUS.

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**Author:** ![vultures](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/vultures/32/69_2.png) [@vultures](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/vultures)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 5:35pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/does-anyone-know-of-or-use-a-good-square-font-that-works-with-dda/264/17 "2013-05-22T17:35:24Z")

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This is the closest I got to fullscreen in windows. Desktop size is 1024^768. The font is system’s Courier font, abbreviated as coure.fon.

FONTDATA  
Courier  
9  
13

options.txt  
viewport\_x 30  
viewport\_y 30  
move\_view\_offset 0

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**Author:** ![Mate](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/mate/32/73_2.png) [@Mate](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Mate)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 9:09pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/does-anyone-know-of-or-use-a-good-square-font-that-works-with-dda/264/18 "2013-05-22T21:09:02Z")

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Topaz-8 10\*10 works perfectly to me. It almost looks good.

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**Author:** ![Xommers](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/xommers/32/109_2.png) [@Xommers](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Xommers)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2013, 7:41am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/does-anyone-know-of-or-use-a-good-square-font-that-works-with-dda/264/19 "2013-06-22T07:41:03Z")

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To those who are using cootuecurses at 12x12 size and things look a little wonky, try setting it to 12 by 13. It’s not _perfectly_ square this but it’s hard to tell and looks better.

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**Author:** ![SirTeabottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@SirTeabottom](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/SirTeabottom)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2013, 11:30am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/does-anyone-know-of-or-use-a-good-square-font-that-works-with-dda/264/20 "2013-06-22T11:30:59Z")

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Yeah. For anyone who’s using SDL v0.6 what have you found is the best setting for Curses? Or any font for that matter? No matter what I set the stuff to I always end up with it either being really tiny looking and painful to the eyes or decent looking and cut off, or sometimes the letter-danglies are offset from the actual game tile. i.e the + f an evac shelter is almost protruding into the tile next to it on the map.

[Next page](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/does-anyone-know-of-or-use-a-good-square-font-that-works-with-dda/264.md?page=2)