DmiFontsPlus

by Lummox JR
An advanced text-on-map library for BYOND 4.0 [More]
To download this library for your Linux/Mac installation, enter this on your command line:

DreamDownload byond://LummoxJR.DmiFontsPlus##version=2

Emulator users, in the BYOND pager go to File | Open Location and enter this URL:

byond://LummoxJR.DmiFontsPlus##version=2

2420 downloads
Version 1.1
Date added: Oct 26 2008
Last updated: Aug 21 2010
21 fans
DmiFontsPlus is a revamp of DmiFonts designed for the new icon features in BYOND 4.0. It's a utility and library in one package. New features include alpha transparency, easier icon manipulation (no more clumsy /iconset datum), and fewer separate icons taking up room in your games cache.

The utility program will convert any font to a PNG-compatible .dmi format, and create a .dm file that you can include in your games to use the font. The library can be used to render text in many ways.

The library includes:

  • Support for anti-aliased fonts
  • A fleet of powerful procs to measure and arrange your text
  • Multi-font procs to draw text in changing styles just like this
  • Comprehensive documentation
  • The infamous un-smiley demo


Upgraders please note: You will have to re-make your font files with this library, since the old library used BYOND 3.0 icons and did not support alpha transparency. In place of the old /iconset datum, a single large /icon datum is now used for your text. Manipulating icons is much easier now, but you will have to make adjustments to your code. The QuickName() and QuickText() procs, however, should be unaffected. You will also not be able to use DmiFonts and DmiFontsPlus together; they conflict with each other.

Comments

Lummox JR: (Nov 8 2015, 11:37 pm)
Right, what this library does is provide an .exe that you can use to generate a .dmi file with all of the letters in a font, and a .dm file to go with it that explains the font's dimensions. When you include the library in your project, you call it to create a new icon composited from those letters.
Rushnut: (Nov 8 2015, 9:53 pm)
Lummox JR wrote:
But those don't actually have any impact on this library, because they're client-side features. DFP creates a new icon at runtime using regular icon manipulation.

Hrm maybe I misunderstood the full context of this library, looking through it again I understand a little better, it's not as much for actual text handling as it is for generating font files. My bad, should have read the documentation a bit better.
Lummox JR: (Nov 8 2015, 9:33 pm)
But those don't actually have any impact on this library, because they're client-side features. DFP creates a new icon at runtime using regular icon manipulation.
Rushnut: (Nov 8 2015, 8:51 pm)
Icon.Transform, Color and animate() all pop straight to mind!

Lummox JR: (Nov 8 2015, 1:16 pm)
I'm not sure how the new generation of features can do much for this library; most of them are client-side, and now there's maptext as well which partially obviates a lot of this library. DmiFontsPlus is basically all about icon manipulation, which hasn't really changed.