Correcting Font Issues

Occassionally, even if you have your computer properly set into Japanese as the default for non-unicode programs as explained in the first part of this guide, the font will not display correctly in the game. So far, I've found this related to the specific gaming engine used by game companies owned by Will Soft, such as Amanatto, Blue Crescent Moon, Langmaor, and Sugar Beans. Specifically, I have found this issue on Amanatto's games Ai to Yokubou wa Gakuen de ~Kirei Naru Yoru no Butoukai~ and AM 2:00 ~Neko to Tsukiyo no Buranko~, Blue Crescent Moon's game Wings Innocent, and the Langmaor game Enzai. The game files on this gaming engine will have a .arc extention.

The problem with these titles is that the game is not finding the Japanese font files, so the only fonts it has available are Windows fonts that can't display Japanese characters. There is a tool from Microsoft, the Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit, which can be used to get these games to recognize the Japanese fonts on the system.

In the following examples, Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit Ver. 3.0.98 on Windows XP Home with Service Pack 1 was used on the game AM 2:00 ~Neko to Tsukiyo no Buranko~. Newer versions of the Microsfot Application Compatibility Toolkit have been released for Windows XP with Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista. If you are using one of these operating systems and Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit Ver. 4.0 or 5.0, these directions may be different.

1. Make sure your operating system is set into Japanese as the non-unicode default language, as outlined in the Installing Japanese Language Support section.

2. Do a full install of the game, not a partial install. When you load up the game and go into the game configuration, in the font list the Japanese fonts will not be listed. This will cause the text in the game to be a bunch of junk characters, like in the example below.

3. Download and install the Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit. Then browse to the install folder, go into the "Applications" folder, then go into the "Compatibility Administrator" folder, and you should find Compatadmin.exe. Double-click the file to open up the program. It will be on a New Database screen.

4. Right click on Custom Database and select "New". There should be an entry under Custom Databases called "New Database(1)[Untitled_1]" (or something to that effect). Right click on it and select Create New > Application Fix.

5. On the next screen, type in a name for the program to be fixed and the name of the vendor for the program and then under Program file location, browse to the game directory and double-click on the game .exe. Then click Next.

6. On the next screen, keep Operating System Modes to "None" and put a checkmark next to "International" under the additional compatibility modes. Then click Next.

7. For the Compatibility Fixes screen, don't checkmark anything, and click Next.

8. On the Matching Information screen, the game .exe will appear at the top as the Main Executable. Put a checkmark next to every entry listed under Main Executable.

9. After everything under Main Executable is checked, then click the Add File button. Browse to the game directory, and from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the window select "Show All Files". Select Bgm.arc and press "Open", and it will add it to the list. Then checkmark both entries below it.

Repeat this step for Chip.arc, Ed.dat, Op.dat, rio.arc, Se.arc, and Voice.arc. Then Click finish.

10. You will return to the main Compatibility Administrator screen. Hit the Save button at the top. It will ask you to enter a name for the file. Give it a name and hit OK.

Then you will get a screen asking where you would like to save the file and what filename you want to use. To make it easy to access, go ahead and save it to your game install folder, with the same name you gave it in the previous screen, and then hit the Save button.

You'll be taken back to the main Compatibility Administrator screen, and you'll now see your saved application fix listed.

11. Close out the Compability Toolkit, and go to your game install folder. You should see the .sdb file that you saved there. Double-click the .sdb file. You will get a screen afterwards telling you the installation is complete. Click OK.

12. Open the game, and go into the game configuration screen. There should be an area on the configuration screen for the font. Now if you go through the font selections, the Japanese fonts should be included, which were not an option before. MSゴシック is a good choice.

Now when you load the game, the fonts will display correctly in the game.


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