When I installed the gog version I realized that the fonts weren't as I remembered them, and found out that patch 1.61 changed them to the italic type that is a pain to read, especially on modern lcds. Since I haven't found any thread about fonts here, and since there might be other people who dislike the default ones, I decided to post this.

Font settings are stored in the file gui.ini which can be found in the installation directory (edit: if using win xp, for vista/win7 the appdata dir, check the link below for details). Here are the descriptions that I managed to find or figure out, mostly taken from: http://forums.longestjourney.com/showthread.php?p=83228

bigfont = conversation text, intro text, buttons (yes/no)
smallfont = tooltips

font0 = ? (maybe chapter titles?)
font1 = ?
font2 = copyright text in startup screen
font3 = savegame description, (some) menu headings
font4 = menu items
font5 = conversation log
font6 = diary
font7 = books in the library

The original bigfont used for conversations in the 4disc version was slurry, size 19 (I own it so I checked), so if you want to try it simply delete florentine script and type Slurry in the gui.ini file.

I encourage everyone who has played or will play with the gui.ini file to post their most satisfying choices! The changes have to be made in the first part - [Western].

As for me, the most problematic fonts were bigfont and especially font6 aka the diary which is simply unreadable with the default config. I changed bigfont to tahoma, size 17 and the diary font to garamond (used for tooltips in the default setting) with the default size (15). Garamond works very well as the bigfont too, and when used for the diary it makes it readable while still retaining a certain charm. Monotype corsiva looks ok with the diary too, but you have to make it slightly bigger than the default 15. When i picked the size I made sure that the distribution of words per row is the same or very, very close to the default one, in order not to have any problems later (with monotype corsiva the size should be 16 for font6). I also used tahoma with the default size(12) for tooltips (smallfont). I got the idea for the tahoma font here http://forums.longestjourney.com/showthread.php?t=1520, but his choices were too small for my eyes. I'm using 1280x1024 and 1280x800.

edit: the books in the library are unreadable with the default setting "Florentine Script", I'll probably keep Garamond, 14. As with the diary, Monotype Corsiva works well too (for those who want/need more immersion), but it has to be made bigger (in my case 15, it takes more space than florentine script 13, so it might be problematic at some point, but not necessarily ).

UPDATE: I finished the game some time ago, the diary and books fonts can safely be made bigger. I attached a screenie which is somewhere from the beginning of the game so it won't be a big spoiler, and which shows what's the biggest amount of space used in the diary (vertically). If you wish you can adjust it accordingly. Sometimes the text is denser but it doesn't go over the last row in the screenie, at least with my settings. It shouldn't be too different with different fonts. Btw, the text in the screenie looks blurry due to jpg compression, it's crisp in-game. No screenies for books because of spoilers, but if I remember correctly the max space that the text used with my settings was ~1/2 of the page.

Here's my final gui.ini for those who want to use my settings:

bigfont=Tahoma
bigheight=17
smallfont=Tahoma
smallheight=12

font0 = Folkard™
fontsize0 = 20
font1 = Folkard™
fontsize1 = 12
font2 = Arial
fontsize2 = 14
font3 = Bradley Hand ITC
fontsize3 = 16
font4 = Bradley Hand ITC
fontsize4 = 20
font5 = Bradley Hand ITC
fontsize5 = 16
font6 = Garamond
fontsize6 = 15
font7 = Garamond
fontsize7 = 14

Hi Yumi

I took the liberty to link your post to a Gamespot user, and it looks like you helped this guy a lot ;)

http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=27587967&msg_id=328340832#328340832

Don't know if you'll see this, I haven't checked this forum for quite a while ^^; anyway - yay! I'm glad that it was helpful to someone other than me :) Thanks for letting me know.

Just saw you reply. Great to see that you know that your work is appreciated ;)

Thanks Yumi,

Your font changes are brilliant!

I'm late, but thank you! Glad you like it :)

Hi! I own the 4CD version of this game and I played it through once again recently after seeing it was available in GOG.

I believe this was the font configuration I used so I'll post it here in case it is of use:

[Western]
bigfont = Delius Swash Caps
bigheight = 17
smallfont = Delius Swash Caps
smallheight = 13

font0 = Delius Swash Caps
fontsize0 = 20
font1 = Delius Swash Caps
fontsize1 = 12
font2 = Delius Swash Caps
fontsize2 = 16
font3 = Delius Swash Caps
fontsize3 = 16
font4 = Delius Swash Caps
fontsize4 = 20
font5 = Delius Swash Caps
fontsize5 = 16
font6 = Indie Flower
fontsize6 = 20
;font6 = Florentine Script
;fontsize6 = 17
font7 = Delius Swash Caps
fontsize7 = 14


Delius Swash Caps is available here: http://www.fontspace.com/natalia-raices/delius-swash-caps

And for Indie Flower here: http://www.fontspace.com/kimberly-geswein/indie-flower

Both are free for personal use ;).

I'm aware that the original post is almost 2 years old but I simply have to write it:

THANKS A LOT Yumi!

If only I found it earlier... I actually read all books in the library with the original settings. Man, my eyes start to hurt when I'm even thinking about it...

And thank YOU Ghorpm, for bringing this to the top. I wish this was stickied. I've been playing this all week at the hospital and just loathing the text. I looked everywhere for a mod that would change it. This is going to make this game so much better.

You are welcome! And you are right - it definitely should be sticked. It's so much easier with larger fonts...

Thanks a lot. Very helpful.

Thank you SO MUCH!

I absolutely cannot stand when games use handwriting fonts for critical text. I can't read it in real life (and have no desire to learn) either.

Quick question actually: am I able to specify -any- truetype font that is installed on my system?

Examining the actual fonts they supplied - they look great.... at my desktop resolution/DPI. They look like crap in game though.

Here's mine.

Grabbed the TTF files out of my Windows 7 installation. DejaVu can be found online, it's free and Open.

Nice and readable, but you still get some handwriting (that's not pixelated chicken scratch). Granted I've not played much so far, but I think these settings should work.

[Western]
bigfont=DejaVu Serif
bigheight=16
smallfont=DejaVu Sans
smallheight=14

font0 = DejaVu Sans
fontsize0 = 16
font1 = DejaVu Sans
fontsize1 = 14
font2 = DejaVu Sans
fontsize2 = 14
font3 = Segoe Print
fontsize3 = 22
font4 = Segoe Print
fontsize4 = 24
font5 = Segoe Print
fontsize5 = 22
font6 = Segoe Print
fontsize6 = 20
font7 = Gabriola
fontsize7 = 18

Just came to gog.com to search... I think, exactly for this.

Will try it immediately, THANKS IN ADVANCE.

edit: All right, can't get this to work. How can I actually save the edits I made to the gui.ini? It won't let me...

edit2: DONE. For anyone with the same problems (Win7 64bit) - I couldn't open it "as administrator", so I opened it normally, saved it on the desktop, then pasted it into the right place again. The option to do that as admin popped up thankfully.

And the game looks great again! ;)

thank you all! You saved my life (and my eyes too)!