No Option to Add a SpriteFont

I am using Visual Studio 2015 Enterprise and I can’t find the option to add a SpriteFont. After some digging, I found this post on GameDev. Is this still a problem? If so, are there any workarounds, and when is this going to be fixed?

Are you using the Pipeline.exe tool? If you click Edit > Add > New Item, there’s an option for a SpriteFont.

I see a SpriteFont description, but how do I load a SpriteFont into that? @AJP

Uh, I’m not quite sure. I’ve never even used SpriteFonts before—I use my own custom-built class using a Texture2D representing a typeface. Sorry about that. Are SpriteFonts files like .wav that are converted into .xnbs? If so, try just finding the SpriteFont and adding it using Add > Existing Item.

Add a SpriteFont description. Then go open the file in notepad++ or whatever. You will quickly see that its just an XML file containing a description of what font to use, font size, spacing, etc. Remember the font you use have to be installed on your system.

If you get a System.DllNotFoundException ‘freetype6.dll’ you can jump into my other thread about the exact same problem, still on the frontpage.

What the heck, it’s that simple? I wish I had known that earlier. I was able to build a spritefont with no trouble, and I didn’t get the DLLNotFoundException.

Of course, the problem with spritefonts is having to worry about the right to distribute them. With my own custom made font, I obviously don’t have to worry about that.

Okay thanks, it worked

Hi, I’m using the Visual Studio 2015 and when I add the new item (sprite font description), there is no .xml file that pops up for me. Is there something I may be doing wrong?

@Jimmy_Maslaki
if its a fontsprite description file dont worry about if it appears to be xml or not, it uses tags inside between all the comments.

@Asourcious
I havent tried to play with fonts too much yet, but from what I have seen I think all youd have to do is load up a normal image, make a variable (possibly global if needed) as a spritefont type and then set its image to the image inside to use it as a Font Type.