I looked around and saw a thread talking about this issue but did really help much. Pretty much what I am having the issue is the text changes to this really bulky hard to read form and at some points it meshes into other words. The old thread said this had to do with certain files not being compatible with XP. Is there a way to fix this or some program that would allow me to emulate the program so I wouldn’t get the horrible text ?
Hmm, that’s weird, because I’ve played it just fine on my Windows XP OS. Did you try right-clicking the exe file, going to properties, then the compatibility tab, and fiddling with the compatibility mode option? Try running it in Windows 95 mode.
If the above doesn’t work, if you have an extra computer with Windows XP on it, try playing the game on it. Is the problem resolved? If so, that would eliminate a lot of hardships in narrowing down what your problem is, namely that the problem isn’t Windows XP or the game.
Needless to say, True Love is an old game, so incompatible issues are common.
[ 11-22-2007, 02:54 AM: Message edited by: ReMeDy ]
From looking around it seems it effects a good number of people, but not all which is strange. From what I read it doesn’t recognize the text in the game so it gets set to a default. This default is bulky and doesn’t fit box.
I also played around with the compatibility options but till no changes. I wonder if you can change the format of the game text to something that can be recognized and fit in the box.
I’m not sure if I’m on the right track here, but I remember this problem being reported before, and I think the solution was to go to the Regional and Language Options control panel and install the files for East Asian languages.
But my memory is unfortunately a bit spotty on this point, so my apologies if this doesn’t help.
I remember running into that on another forum, but that was to regards to actual scrambled text.
Can’t hurt to give it a try?
I was about to mention the Asian languages solution, but honestly, I’m skeptical it will work. I guess trying it wouldn’t hurt, so yea I would go ahead and do so. Even if it doesn’t, you can always uninstall it.
Keep in mind, unless there’s some workaround, that you’ll need your Windows XP disc to install the language pack. If you need help doing so, post back.
Well I had it installed already, so it cant be that. Maybe it just be simple to find a junker computer to play all my old games on.
Okay, I’m intrigued now. I poked around a bit more and found mention that some people have this issue trying to run the game on Windows XP, but it works fine for them on a different computer running Win98.
The issue seems to be the font that the game tries to display its text in. Apparently the font is included in Win95 and Win98, but not on all XP systems.
The problem is… no-one bothers to figure out the font’s name. They just say that they switched to an older computer running Win98 and the game works fine, yay, end of story.
So now the question is… what font does True Love want, and where to get it?
Well according to Micro$oft, these are the fonts found in Win98 - without Asian support however:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/195708
More details are here:
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/product.aspx?PID=107
However many of the fonts used in Win 95 and Win 98 are actually in public domain - if only under another name. If we can narrow it down to which font, I can just locate the freebie version. No point in paying for something when it’s already legally free. 
Okay… I did some poking around on the Operating Systems, and these appear to be the fonts found in 98, but are not in XP. For some it makes sense I suppose… the VGA native and Terminal Services fonts for example. Some (News Gothic MT) were just renamed for some ungodly reason, so they’re in the fonts installation… just not the name the program wants.
8514fix.fon (Fixedsys)
8514oem.fon (Terminal Font for the IBM 8514)
8514sys.fon (System)
Dosapp.fon (MS-DOS CP 437)
Marlett.ttf (Marlett)
Matisse_.ttf (Matisse ITC)
Nwgthc.ttf (News Gothic MT)
Nwgthcb.ttf (News Gothic MT Bold)
Nwgthci.ttf (News Gothic MT Italic)
Seriff.fon (MS Serif 8,10,12,14,18,24)
Smalle.fon (Small Fonts)
Smallf.fon (Small Fonts)
Sseriff.fon (MS Sans Serif 8,10,12,14,18,24)
Symbolf.fon (Symbol 8,10,12,14,18,24)
Vgafix.fon (Fixedsys)
Vgaoem.fon (Terminal)
Westm.ttf (Westminster)
Now the question comes up… which does the game actually use? My guess is the “Dosapp.fon” one. Game uses DOS right? I don’t have a copy of the game on hand to test it myself…
[ 11-27-2007, 12:24 PM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]
Wow - thanks for the research, Narg. =)
I thought I’d do my bit to contribute to the effort, so I installed the game. However, much to my chagrin, it works perfectly on this computer (running Windows XP Home Edition SP2).
I ran a search of my hard drive and didn’t find any of the fonts you listed, Narg, so I guess that may not be the problem after all… =/
Hmmm… well SP1 and SP2 added fonts to the default installation, due to some IE upgrades/fixes here and there.
Perhaps the solution is to patch your XP with the latest and greatest Service Pack?
My computer is update with all the updates including SP2. I just went to website update and I there isn’t any updates on there. Is there a bulk archive of old fonts I can find thats not including in Microsoft update ?
Edit: I tried to install some of the fonts you listed but I was only able to find two it recognized. I also reading there are several hidden font files, dosapp.fon being one of them.
[ 11-29-2007, 02:29 AM: Message edited by: Renrinken ]
On my computer, the game displays the text in Courier New. Bold, 9 pt. So that narrows that down.
[ 11-29-2007, 05:37 AM: Message edited by: Darkling ]
Well damn… that just brings us back full circle. 
“Courier New Bold” has ALWAYS been part of the Microsoft family since the Windows 3.11 generation.
Something else is causing this weird issue…
I expect Tahoma… that is what the japanese regional setting uses for default. In fact I have HACKED my tahoma font and now run in Japanese regional mode and still have a standard / now instead of the yen symbol.