# Good font for overmap?

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/good-font-for-overmap/15215>\
**Category:** The Bunker\
**Created:** [March 30, 2018, 7:07pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/good-font-for-overmap/15215 "2018-03-30T19:07:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 13\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Hirmuolio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hirmuolio](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Hirmuolio)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2018, 7:07pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/good-font-for-overmap/15215/1 "2018-03-30T19:07:24Z")

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By default the game use unifont at font size 16. The 8x16 size heavily distorts the map and makes everything look longer in north-south compared to east-west.

Does anyone have any good square font that works at around font size 9 (a bit bigger font is probably needed when playing on a display with “modern resolution”)? The square font included with the game is passable but it could look better.

Also are there any overmap mods that would take advantage of also changing the font? Small house icons isntead of letters or something.

(the overmap font can be changed by editing fonts.json in config folder)

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**Author:** ![Mantar](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/mantar/32/42_2.png) [@Mantar](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Mantar)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2018, 8:37pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/good-font-for-overmap/15215/2 "2018-03-30T20:37:12Z")

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I use “Topaz-8”

> **A big chunk of map**
>
> ![Watery](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/cataclysmdda/original/2X/4/4220ce7e6aaae5671428d4062f0be66a97f193ed.png)

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**Author:** ![kuros](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/kuros/32/1788_2.png) [@kuros](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/kuros)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2018, 12:14pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/good-font-for-overmap/15215/3 "2018-07-03T12:14:51Z")

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How do you change the overland map to that font?

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**Author:** ![mlangsdorf](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/mlangsdorf/32/2462_2.png) [@mlangsdorf](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/mlangsdorf)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2018, 12:40pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/good-font-for-overmap/15215/4 "2018-07-03T12:40:12Z")

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In the config folder, there’s a fontlist.txt and a fonts.json.

Edit fonts.json so the final four entries look like this:  
“overmap\_fontwidth”: 16,  
“overmap\_fontheight”: 16,  
“overmap\_fontsize”: 16,  
“overmap\_typeface”: “square”

That changes the map so each character is 16 pixels wide, 16 pixels tall, using a font scaled for 16 pixels, and designed for looking good square. The “square” typeface seems to ship with C:DDA. If you want to use something else, consult the list of fonts in fontlist.txt and choose one of them by its name, not including the three letter acronym like .tff or .otf.

You may get weird results depending on what results you use, but the important bit is to make the overmap\_fontheight and overmap\_fontsize entries the same. You’ll also need to reload the game after you make any changes because the config files are read at start.

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**Author:** ![Mantar](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/mantar/32/42_2.png) [@Mantar](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Mantar)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2018, 8:44pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/good-font-for-overmap/15215/5 "2018-07-03T20:44:20Z")

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I usually play in ASCII using a terminal on linux, so I just set that as a terminal font.

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**Author:** ![AdonaiJr](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/adonaijr/32/5893_2.png) [@AdonaiJr](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/AdonaiJr)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 3:57pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/good-font-for-overmap/15215/6 "2018-07-13T15:57:36Z")

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Screenshot from my current game:

 ![45](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/cataclysmdda/original/2X/1/1e4719d91ba2bd1f2bdb4db007e29a8d638cc9d0.png)

Original post from Antistar:

> [@Including the RetroASCII font overmap as an option](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/including-the-retroascii-font-overmap-as-an-option/11508):
>
> Okay, I’ve got the font used in RetroDays and RetroASCII set up to be used by the overmap so that it has square (rather than rectangular) tiles, as detailed here: [quote=“Antistar, post:1, topic:5201”]RetroASCII Overmap Font: If you want your in-game overmap to look like [this](http://static-1.nexusmods.com/15/mods/411/images/1-0-1433569030.png), grab the RetroASCII Overmap Font package from the Nexus link below. Instructions are in the included readme file. Download: [Nexus](http://www.nexusmods.com/cataclysmdarkdaysahead/mods/1/)[/quote] It’s a separate-download mod, more or less - but it doesn’t use the game’s built-…

As from that day, I gladly use that overmap font. It’s from the creator of Retrodays tileset.

Ages ago I’ve made a simple .bat file (for windows) that install that for me. Useful when I update the game manually.

> **[Square Overmap Font.zip](https://www.dropbox.com/s/x04m6e2ynmb8t7y/Square%20Overmap%20Font.zip)**
>
> Shared with Dropbox

Should be a directory on your Cataclysm root directory.

> **example:**
>
> ![54](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/cataclysmdda/original/2X/a/a498b34abc885dea1447934d0623529228c7e1bb.png)

Then you execute the bat file. It “installs” the font. You can do it manually (and choose a bigger format too) reading the instructions on the readme file.

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**Author:** ![kuros](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/kuros/32/1788_2.png) [@kuros](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/kuros)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 5:44pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/good-font-for-overmap/15215/7 "2019-07-20T17:44:03Z")

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It looks like this is the first post that comes up in a search for “square overmap,” so I thought it was worth necro-posting to check if this information is still current.

Is it?

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**Author:** ![AdonaiJr](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/adonaijr/32/5893_2.png) [@AdonaiJr](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/AdonaiJr)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2019, 3:23pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/good-font-for-overmap/15215/8 "2019-07-22T15:23:39Z")

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Reflecting recent changes on how fonts load, I made some modifications in the install.bat file.

- If you have a fresh install of Cataclysm, exec it at least once.
- Unzip the package on your Cataclysm folder.

Cataclysm folder should look like this:  
 ![overmap%20font%20folder%20lookslike](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/cataclysmdda/original/2X/1/1178d0738867d3947fd5211da9f1e995379953be.png)

Go to the Square Overmap Font folder and exec install.bat. It will execute and exit instantly.

Open the game, go to settings and change options related to overmap font to “size 10”:  
 ![overmap%20font%20size%20options](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/cataclysmdda/original/2X/2/2403ba43e14f7454b823e02923a6e05e13b35ed1.png)

That’s it!

For linux users, or if you want to do it manually, it’s fairly simple to read the bat file and see what it does 😃

If you guys absolutely want me to explain how to do it manually, please ask!

ps: for you OCD guys like me, you can delete the Square Overmap Font folder after installing.  
ps2: link is the same!

[Square Overmap Font](https://www.dropbox.com/s/x04m6e2ynmb8t7y/Square%20Overmap%20Font.zip?dl=0)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Zhamel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@Zhamel](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Zhamel)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2019, 4:05pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/good-font-for-overmap/15215/9 "2019-11-17T16:05:24Z")

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This is a really nice overmap, kudos!

Related question: what would be the chances of getting this for a 15 sized font? The 10 is really small on my screen, and the 20 is very large. A 15 would be perfect.

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**Author:** ![D34DGuY](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/d34dguy/32/5555_2.png) [@D34DGuY](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/D34DGuY)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2019, 12:29am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/good-font-for-overmap/15215/10 "2019-11-25T00:29:28Z")

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I use the whitrabt font that vormithrax suggested in his YouTube tutorials. Thanks vorm! Have a cookie friend! 🍪

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**Author:** ![Ragno](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/ragno/32/5935_2.png) [@Ragno](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Ragno)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2019, 2:38am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/good-font-for-overmap/15215/11 "2019-11-25T02:38:17Z")

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could you post the link/image, im looking for options to change the overmap font, the retrodays looks to bulky

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**Author:** ![Vormithrax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bb73d2/32.png) [@Vormithrax](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Vormithrax)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2019, 2:55am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/good-font-for-overmap/15215/12 "2019-11-25T02:55:37Z")

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Cataclysm Quick Tip : Special Edition : Awesome Font Settings!

Font size and blending are now handled via the in-game options menu but the rest of the video is still correct.

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**Author:** ![D34DGuY](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/d34dguy/32/5555_2.png) [@D34DGuY](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/D34DGuY)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2019, 4:43am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/good-font-for-overmap/15215/13 "2019-11-25T04:43:54Z")

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Thanks vorm, saved me the trouble!

I also use the consolas bold for the rest of the fonts as suggested in that video.