How to setup fonts for SL Viewer on Windows

If you see non-latin characters as small square dots when you use Q-Translator read this paragraph. In fact this issue has nothing to do with Q-Translator but is related to the setup of Second Life Viewer on a Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/Vista PC.

► 22 Languages don't need extra fonts settings
Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finish, French, Gallician, German, Haïtian, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Norwegian, Protuguese, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog

Catalan: segona vida - Croatian: drugi život - Czech: druhý život - Danish: andet liv - Dutch: tweede leven - English: second life - Estonian: teine elu - Finnish: toinen elämä - French: seconde vie - Galician: segunda vida - German: zweites Leben - Hungarian: második élet - Indonesian: kedua kehidupan - Italian: una seconda vita - Norwegian: andre liv - Portuguese: segunda vida - Slovak: druhý život - Slovenian: drugo življenje - Spanish: segunda vida - Swedish: andra liv - Tagalog: pangalawang buhay

► All others 20 languages will need extra font installed to correctly beeing displayed.
Albanian, Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, Greek, Hebrew, Hindu, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese

Albanian: dytë të jetës - Arabic : ةيناثلا ةايحلا - Bulgarian: Втори Живот - Chinese: 第二次生命 - Greek: δεύτερη ζωή - Hebrew: ייח ינש - Hindu: दूसरा जीवन - Ja - anese: 第2の人生 - Korean: 두 번째 인생을 - Latvian: Otrajā dzīves - Lithuanian: antrą gyvenimą - Maltese: tieni ħajja - Polish: drugie życie - Romanian: doua viata - Russian: второй жизнь - Serbian: други живот - Thaï: สองชีวิต - Turkish: ikinci yaşam - Ukrainian: другий життя - Vietnamese: một cuộc sống thứ hai

Default Second Life Viewer Settings

The fonts used to display non-latin characters are setup using with the "FontSansSerifFallback" parameter of your Second Life Viewer. The default value for this parameter is "MSGOTHIC.TTC;gulim.ttc;simhei.ttf;ArialUni.ttf"
This indicates to Second Life Windows Viewer what font are needed for showing non-latin characters : Ms Gothic (msgothic.ttc), Gulim (gullim.ttc), SimHei (simhei.ttf) & Arial Uni (arialuni.ttf) in that order.
Unfortunately three of these fonts (MS Gothic, Gulim, SimHei) are shiped with Windows but are not installed by default, and one font ArialUni is only shiped with Microsoft Office.

Installing Windows Support for East Asian Languages

Three fonts (MS Gothic, Gulim, SimHei) are included in any language versions of Windows XP and Vista as an optional component.

Ms Gothic is shiped to support Japanese characters
Gulim to support Korean characters
SimHei to support Chinese characters

Those fonts will also be useful with Bulgarin, Greek, Lithuanian, Latvian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Ukrainian.

You can install them on US-English version of Windows XP by the following procedure:

Open Control Panel (of Windows).
Choose "Regional and Language Options".
Select "Language" tab.
On "Suplemental Language Support" panel, check the "Install files for East Asian Languages".
Click on Apply button.
(You may be prompted to insert a Windows installation CD-ROM at this point)
Restart the Windows as it suggests.

Once you setup this font you will need to restart Second Life to take effect.

Now:
► 3 Languages that will display correctly: Chinese, Japanese, Korean
Chinese: 第二次生命 - Japanese: 第2の人生 - Korean: 두 번째 인생을

► 7 Languages that will display correctly but with some glitch for some accentued characters: Albanian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Romanian, Turkish
Albanian: dytë të jetës - Latvian: Otrajā dzīves - Lithuanian: antrą gyvenimą - Maltese: tieni ħajja - Polish: drugie życie - Romanian: doua viata - Turkish: ikinci yaşam

► 5 Languages that will display correctly but badly (characters are very large and hard to read) : Bulgarian, Greek, Russian, Serbian, Ukrainian
Bulgarian: Втори Живот - Greek: δεύτερη ζωή - Russian: второй жизнь - Serbian: други живот - Ukrainian: другий життя

► 5 Languages that still don't display: Arabic, Hebrew, Hindu, Thai, Vietnamese
Arabic : ةيناثلا ةايحلا - Hebrew: ייח ינש - Hindu: दूसरा जीवन - Thaï: สองชีวิต - Vietnamese: một cuộc sống thứ hai

The Only Way to get all Things Right : ArialUni.TTF

The solution to see all the languages correctly is to use ArialUni.ttf font instead of MS Gothic, Gulim & SimHei
Unfortunately this font is copyrighted by Microsoft and only shiped with Microsoft Office.

► Where to get ArialUni.ttf
If you have Microsoft Office installed on your machine go to next chapter.

Otherwise you cannot directly download it from Microsoft site
Arial Unicode MS (ArialUni.ttf)
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/family.aspx?FID=24
There is a only a link to buy the font to an external site.

but you can still use Google with "Download ArialUni.ttf" to find extra sources.
Site 1
Site 2

► Change your Second Life Settings
If you install ArialUni.ttf on your Windows, you will need to change default value of the "FontSansSerifFallback" of your Second Life Viewer.

You can change this using the "Advanced" menu of your Second Life Viewer.
If you don't have this menu use the Ctrl + Alt + D to show it

Select Debug Settings
Select the "FontSansSerifFallback" parameter

and replace the default value
MSGOTHIC.TTC;gulim.ttc;simhei.ttf;ArialUni.ttf

with
ArialUni.ttf;MSGOTHIC.TTC;gulim.ttc;simhei.ttf

Logout/Login for the changes to take effect.
You should see all languages correctly now.