Yeah, I’d be interested in that, too. Always looking for a good font. I have a reasonable one, but would probably prefer a squatter, bolder, font than what I’m using. To put it lightly, though, it hasn’t been a real priority of mine.
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Well this is what you still do in the current monogame content pipeline editor / tool.
Same as it ever was so the instructions are valid.
You
- add new item
- pick spritefont the top one name it myfont or whatever
- click ok the file will be created
- open it up with a text editor vs editor ect… and pick any ttf font you have installed on your computer and replace the line for the font name
- Save the file save in the tool.
- Build all in the pipeline editor or rebuild your project you get the xnb file
- Then go into game1 make a reference SpriteFont font;
- In loadcontent font = Content.Load(“myfont”);
- Use in drawstring
I was referring to the licenced fonts…
Oh sorry i have no idea about license
It was covered in the GS4.0 package but, I am unsure if we are still covered by it using XNA/MG…
Time to buy a font 
I got a font with a licence that explicitly states usage for videogames and commercial… YIPPIE!
And it looks neat too!
And it’s cheap!
And with that out of the way, time to code on!
Super easy…
https://www.pentacom.jp/pentacom/bitfontmaker2/
Super good but also really time consuming.
http://www.glyphrstudio.com/
Online version
https://www.glyphrstudio.com/online/
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The first one links to their other tools, iFontMaker Windows Edition UWP, which is cheap but… no idea if it also does symbols like / @ # %& ( ) etc… Cannot find licencing though… same for the others…
Yes, you made it, but do you hold the licence for it completely? something to be cautious of when using software, especially free ones…
Thanks for the share, opened my eyes for sure!
Ya i was thinking of using the unifont as its under GNU and modifying it into 3d using a set of classes i made for a different experiment that essentially polygonizes bitmaps and segements it up into seperate groups aka it could pull out all the letters as polygons and map each of them to a index.
The thing is scaling in mg sucks it sucks for pretty much all fonts and who really wants to load a bunch of different sized fonts just so they don’t over or under sample and skew.
But i simply don’t have the time to complete that class atm id have to make major modifactions to it to do it.
I was thinking to do just that, exporting multiple resolutions, and passing in a case select for user settings… considering how little memory the font’s actually take, I doubt it can impact much though, I suppose it can change the code that loads the font file and effect it on next game run…
I am doing an upgrade to my gaming rig (about 2 years old) and I am looking for some advice.
I can’t decide if I should get a 1TB m.2 or 1TB SSD (only $30 difference). My MB supports m.2 but I’ve never tried one before. I’d put all my games on it. Most of my games are on a spinner and the games that need speed are on my smaller ssd.
Specs:
- MSI z270 MB
- EVGA 1080ti
- i7 7700k
- 32GB RAM
- 240GB SSD (5 years old, OS here)
- 4x 1TB harddrives (all 8 years old)
This is my first intel gaming rig. I had three amd ones before it. Only reason I went intel was the specs were better at the time for vive vr.
Does anyone have m.2 experience?
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M.2 comes in two flavours usually, SATAIII or NVMe, you want to be 100% sure which your board supports. key thing to pay attention to is [pun incoming] is the key of the port. more on that below:
Can you link the manufacturer page for your motherboard?
In regards to the size, push for 2TB, they are rather affordable right now, but pay attention to IOPS and MB/s rates in R/W, but more importantly pay attention to the TBW/PTW and MTBF, in general, just ask here and I can help you compare lol…
1TB does not do much for me these days, but then again, I am using 350GB in my OneDrive storage… however, most games today use 20-150GB so, unless you want to be downloading a lot, consider pushing for futureproofing your build.
Those SATA drives, upgrade them to smaller 2TB 2.5" SSHDs if you can still find them, you will be able to fit two per one 3.5" bay with a bay adapter if you get the correct types. Or for better thermals, one per 3.5" bay… up to you, I don’t know what case or board you have.
8 years is pushing your luck on mechanical drives.
Don’t upgrade your CPU even if you can, suggest a board upgrade, but wait for 11th Gen to stabilise before making that commitment.
I have left AMD where it belongs, back in 2006~ I know they have finally caught up, but I am not one for first generation adoption. I am considering building a massive core render system next year, but right now it still looks like I will go for Intel, but Intel sold off their SSD department, so I am keeping an eye on Optane, as that is practically my only reason to stick with Intel now.
Hope that helps. I could blabber on more on this topic as I have recently been building systems left right and centre… lol, so I shall stop there.
EDIT
ALSO! the length of the drive in M.2 form factor, ensure your port supports the length…
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Thanks for the info Vaseem. I didn’t even realize m.2 had two formats. I probably would have figured out once I dug into my decision.
I am looking into the m.2 type right now. I can’t find a good answer.
I know, not bad for western digital. I plan on upgrading those spinners later this year. They don’t really need to be anything special. One is game overflow which I want a m.2 for, one is family stuff / code dev, one mirrors family/dev one, the other one is for plex.
My wife would kill me since I built one two years ago. We have an agreement, every 4-5 years I get to build a new rig since gaming is my only hobby. So I have a bit of time to wait.
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/Z270-GAMING-M3/Specification
Hopefully prices take a downward trend by then…
That board though, be sure to read the text in red on the page… or you may not be able to use the NVMe drive in that M.2 port…
EDIT
I forgot to mention that there are two slots, but I think they depend on what you have installed.
EDIT
This part:
• 2 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (supports x16/x4 mode)*
• 4 x PCIe 3.0 x1 slots
* The PCI_E4 slot will be unavailable when an M.2 SSD module has been installed in the M.2_2 slot.
** The PCI_E2 slot will be unavailable when an expansion card has been installed in the PCI_E3 slot.
** The PCI_E3 slot will be unavailable when an expansion card has been installed in the PCI_E6 slot.
EDIT
Ok, figured it out, if you use two M.2 ports, you lose your X1 slots.
EDIT
Basically, if you have another X16 slot card installed, you messed up…
EDIT
What have you got installed lol
EDIT
OK, a 1080Ti, so, you could add two M.2’s and get RAID support…
EDIT
Looked at the images, one port is 22110, so you could get one of any size you can find, but be careful if you get anything larger than 2280 twice…
EDIT
Also, I think you want to be using the Turbo M.2 for say your Samsung Pro drive, and the other for your standard or sleeper M.2 drive in future…
Download the user manual from that link and you can dig deeper before purchasing anything, there are a lot of traps to watch out for with that board.
EDIT
Also, if you wanted to, you could get a cheap M.2 2TB drive and grab a 32GB Optane accellerator stick to pair it with for improved performance.
EDIT
EDIT
You can ignore this part
Also… you should consider moving to the 2.5" drives sooner as those dormant 4x1TB 3.5" drives use a significant amount of power, perhaps upgrade to 4x1TB SSD 2.5" drives instead…
EDIT
Yep, a 2.5" SSHD uses around 1.8W~ [Could be wrong but going off a retailer’s website] whereas a typical 3.5" drive uses 6.8W+ [I know some hit 9W!] and that’s constant if you have them spinning all the time.
Interestingly I found a 2.5" SATAIII SSD pulls 2.7W~, and I know some NVMe M.2’s can average 3.5W~, hmm if your HDDs are hitting 9W+ then it might be a good move.
EDIT
The change could knock around $5/ month off your bill based on 24/7 spin up of four drives running constantly at 9W/hour with the roughly 3W difference so 6W/hour x 4 x 24/7/365 = 210.24W/Year. The roughly $5 calculation is based on what I pay per KW/H.
Thanks! I know my board has a lot of gotcha’s with m.2, sata and pci slots. Which is why when I was building the rig 2 years ago I just ignored the m.2, lol.
Just a 1080ti and I a pci-e wifi adapter.
People who reviewed this board all said it supports 2 PCIe NVMe SSDs
I read through the motherboard manual. They have a table showing all the “gotchas”. If I put a PCIe 2280 in the M2_1 slot, I do not lose any pci slots or sata. It doesn’t say if I lose the first PCIe x16 slot though? I am assume not or it would have stated it.
Here is the visual diagram of the possible m.2 layouts.
I never thought of the cost… I should invest in some lower wattage drives.
EDIT: I suppose I could try the m.2 and return it if it isn’t compatible.
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OH BOYO…
Worryingly it does not mention losing the 3 X1 slots…
You should be fine with using the 2 M.2’s however, that means you will probably with the 1 X1 slot being used, drop your X16 GPU to X8… but that is not clear right now…
So, if you do plan to go full M.2 NVMe, you might also lose that WIFI card, so, USB time… but be aware, if you do use the Wi-Fi card, you could potentially drop your GPU to X4, which I think it would only function at X8… but then again you can run them on X1…
Nobody ever does…
NVMe typically use M-Key… I doubt unless it was a failed drive, they would take it back. just make sure you are getting NVMe and you should be fine. naturally, ask for comparisons here, this thread I mean.
EDIT
Having a thought if the CPU gives out 16 PCIe lanes… then that means your GPU will drop to X8 bandwidth… you may notice a delay in loading times…
EDIT
This page has a very handy graph for reference:
EDIT
Lost track of why I keep saying 3x X1 slots, it has four…
Thank you for your help! I knew someone on here would have a lot of knowledge in this area.
The pci wifi card is on a x1 slot. I tried multiple usb wifi cards throughout the years, all have given nothing but grief. I gave up on usb wifi adapters.
I think I am just going to have to a lot more research on m.2 before I make a decision. Watch some reviews with people who have use my motherboard with m.2. That component wasn’t on my mind when I was building this rig 2 years ago.
If I have to, I will just buy a 1 or 2TB SSD and wait until my next rig in 2 years with a focus on the m.2 setup. At least the 1 or 2TB SSD will be forward compatible onto a new rig, especially if I start replacing those old spinning drives.
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Yes, just get one 2TB NVMe for now and you can continue using the Wi-Fi card, a heads up though, uhh, it is quite the jump in performance difference… going from SATAIII to NVMe…
Some coders make me feel like this sometimes…
EDIT
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I definitely identify with the second one. 
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