Its possible! Install Asian fonts on English Smartphone

[Guest hardcore]

After searching high and low... I've finally found it!

It IS possible to read Chinese, Thai, Japanese, etc. SMS, Websites and Email on your English Smartphone. No additional software needed! No software is even needed to load new fonts into the Smartphone 2003! (MrMagoo's great font changer software used to be the only way to do this, but is no longer necessary.)

!!! Disclaimer WARNING !!! These instructions involve editing the registry of your Smartphone, potentially making it non-bootable, and the only way to recover might be a hard reset or ROM update.

The best part is, all this information is readily available from Microsoft. Instructions / Here is how to do it:

1. Change the directory where fonts are loaded from:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default....fontloading.asp

I changed the path to the /Storage/windows/Fonts folder.

IMPORTANT: DO NOT try to use your Storage Card for this. I tried, and the phone would not boot after that. Also MAKE SURE you have a font in that directory! At least copy the nina and ninab fonts there first. If the folder path does not exist, or there are no font files in there, your Smartphone might not be able to boot next time round...

2. Now, choose a new system font if you want, and copy that font to the new font directory specified in step 1. I used Tahoma because it has a wider range of characters (including Thai). Change your system font using this procedure:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default....efaultFonts.asp

I changed only the sysfnt (not the others) to Tahoma. This is enough to read contents of mails, etc.

3. Choose your language font. Copy the font to the font folder in step 1. Enable font linking and link the font to your system font. The detailed procedure is here, example for Traditional Chinese, using the PMingLiu font:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default....onalChinese.asp

MSDN also provides examples for Japanese, Korean and Simplified Chinese.

THATS IT! Reboot and you are good to go.

Some things I noted:

1. Actually, you can change the linked font to anything you want (I am now using the huge Arial Unicode MS which supports most languages.) The only limitation would be the size of these fonts (Arial Unicode MS is more than 20MB!).

2. I used rapiconfig.exe to make the registry changes. To add the FontLinkMethods value, use this:

Note that the datatype="integer".

3. In case you mess up and added the wrong key/value to the registry, you can remove the key/value using rapiconfig.exe also, but adding a "no" in front of the parameter... example if I want to remove the FontLinkMethods value:

4. MSDN also mentions a new type of font file - .AC3 (Agfa Compressed fonts) which are much smaller in size! But I cannot seem to find these fonts anywhere. Anybody who knows where to get these AC3 fonts?

5. I am using an O2 Xphone with the Orange E200 ROM.

Good luck and cheers to all Smartphone users! - Rodney

[Guest fcuk]

It's GREAT! MAN!

But my E200 is not app-unlocked after ROM updated, so no way to change registry:(

The usual way to app-unlock works on my E200 b4 update, but now when i press "Disable security" in start manu, it says"the program is not digital signed"! what shall i do?

[Guest fcuk]

THANX! hardcore

I've app-unlocked my E200, but can't edit/creat keys in "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMGDI" of the phone registry! it says "Unable to perform this operation"!

Why this happened? I can edit other part of registry but not in"GDI"! Should i use some other soft to do it? I've tried "RapiConfig" to modify the registy and it says "config successful", but no changes in registry after phone reboot.

[Guest gpcarreon (MVP)]

If you can compile it to a cab file, it will write to the registry your desired font settings thus you can change the GDI reg settings.

Posted from my SmartPhone!

[Guest fcuk]

Thanx 4 ur quick reply. i only know the cab file is similar to a zip file that contains files for run setup. but how to make a cab file? and what software i should use to make a *.cab? Thanx again:)

[Guest Vector]

For a guide to making cabs, take a look here:

RichieM's guide to making .CAB's

that should get you started :)

[Guest nease]

Can it be same to E100?

[Guest Nuckls]

my problem is...THERE IS NO FONTPATH key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoft

what's the problem!?

[Guest CateFul]

I dont think it works on an E200 OS.I had that os and tried several times but it just didnt work,I couldnt change the registry key and value. So what I did was upgrading my phone to the Qtek 8080 rom, and it worked. I'm using O2 Xphone too.

If you cant find the key just create one.You have to download a suitable font file to get it working,I;m using SimSun for chinese.

There's more information on PPCSG.com, check out the forum you'll be able to see the thread. BTW,it's a singaporean site.

[Guest LonelyGemini]

Is there a way to install different fonts in Smartphone 2002? e.g. MPX200

[Guest THEcaptin]

Hi

I have the Tahoma.ttf but still i cannot read Chinese so i will use this way to enable chinese on my mobile. anyway i wanted to know how can i down load fonts that i want to instal.

Thank you

[Guest THEcaptin]

hi there

can you please check my inf file for mistakes ??the phone doesn't reboot after I install the compiled cab from this inf,,it's my first time to write an inf file so please see what I have done wrong

NOTE:I ve changed the ffolder with the Fonts folder in this inf and it didn't work either..

I write it according to your method of using another font.

thank you

forget it guys I got it working

[Guest lifesuk]

my problem is...THERE IS NO FONTPATH key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoft

what's the problem!?

exactly, i couldn't find that key as well ^_^

[Guest cclboss]

Check out the forum on PPCSG.COM (search under MS Smartphone forum). There is a more detail discussion on the topic and one of users has written a CAB that will add the registry keys and a Chinese font to your phone (although with his font, many of the Chinese characters from HK are not shown, so I have to change to another font).

[Guest marring]

I'm checking the REGISTRY of Chinese Smartphone 2003 Emulator, there is another way to change system font of Smartphone: it uses FontLinkMethods

I did the same for my font and use on English Smartphone 2003 Emulator, but it is not correct. I think I should check again! If you found any news, please show me the way too!

Thank you very much!