You need to create a ui.bdf file and leave it sitting in your MAME directory. I'll assume you're running Windows and want to convert a normal TrueType font into BDF.
Ingredients
one ttf to bdf converter (freeware) otf2bdf (http://crl.nmsu.edu/~mleisher/ttf2bdf.html) - http://crl.nmsu.edu/~mleisher/ttf2bdf.html
one appropriate font
a recent version of MAME
For this example I used the ubiquitous slicker.ttf which is bundled with Gamelauncher front end. Find something free and nice at www.dafont.com if you like, or copy/paste from your c:\windows\fonts directory.
Method
Extract the converter software to something like c:\emulation\tools\otf2bdf3
Put a copy of the font file (.otf or .ttf) in the same directory
Open a command prompt (Start » Run » type "CMD" with no quotes and hit enter.)
type the following, but replace the obvious bits with paths to your own software as appropriate.
Start MAME and see how good or bad it looks, then exit.
Back in your command prompt window, hit the cursor up key, and go back and experiment with the numbers after -p (that's the font size you're starting with) and the -r (that's the DPI, or clarity, you want) until it looks clean, and is appropriately sized for your screen.
My settings for the screenshot above (slicker.ttf):
Every font will be different, read the doco on that coverter program for more details. I found that using a nice high DPI (600) was the key to sharp text.
Hope this is helpful to someone, perhaps wanting to match MAME better with their front end layout. Couldn't find a good spot in the Wiki for this, the MAME pages are a mess.
Title: Re: Here's how to improve MAME's interface font
Post by: Franco on November 17, 2007, 10:26:56 am
Excellent! Looks much cleaner! 8) :applaud:
Definitely going to be giving it a go this afternoon. :)
Title: Re: Here's how to improve MAME's interface font
Post by: u_rebelscum on November 17, 2007, 04:46:40 pm
Thanks for reminding me about this feature. :)
IIRC, for a couple versions the font looked closer to the clean looking font, but too many people wanted the old school font back. So the old "8-bit era" font came back. ;)
Oh yah, the high res fonts are for when you run mame at high res screens (like LCDs), and not at original arcade resolutions, it's not for everyone.
Anyway, there's more example fonts over at Mr. Do's site (http://www.mameworld.net/mrdo/mame_fonts.html).
Title: Re: Here's how to improve MAME's interface font
Post by: shock_ on November 17, 2007, 10:30:09 pm
ahh wow, how did I miss Mr Do!'s fine page before? Makes my post a bit redundant :)
Cheers on the note about lower resolution - I hadn't considered that, as mine is high.
One of these days I'll work out how to mod the source to change the blue colour too.
Title: Re: Here's how to improve MAME's interface font
Post by: mccoy178 on November 18, 2007, 12:20:08 am
Excellent! Thanks for making this thread. :cheers: