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author Vas Crabb <vas@vastheman.com>2025-12-24 07:04:20 +1100
committer Vas Crabb <vas@vastheman.com>2025-12-24 07:04:20 +1100
commit550751c0e4f1ba408e805f7ac28c2eedc960b895 (patch)
tree35a5d0729ac497459f918a3359b74777626d08ba /docs
parentd7018738038c8dd8b676c8ef2dc5546f2a4c880e (diff)
Tidy some stuff, bump version in documentation.
Diffstat (limited to 'docs')
-rw-r--r--docs/source/commandline/commandline-all.rst37
-rw-r--r--docs/source/conf.py4
-rw-r--r--docs/source/debugger/memory.rst8
-rw-r--r--docs/source/techspecs/layout_files.rst36
4 files changed, 47 insertions, 38 deletions
diff --git a/docs/source/commandline/commandline-all.rst b/docs/source/commandline/commandline-all.rst
index a70593612d4..ac3220aeb16 100644
--- a/docs/source/commandline/commandline-all.rst
+++ b/docs/source/commandline/commandline-all.rst
@@ -2621,18 +2621,21 @@ Core Artwork Options
**-artwork_font** / **-artfont** *<fontname>*
- Specifies the name of a font file to use for artwork text elements. The
- details are the same as the :ref:`uifont option <mame-commandline-uifont>`.
+ Specifies the font to use for artwork text elements. The same
+ considerations apply as for the UI font (see the :ref:`uifont option
+ <mame-commandline-uifont>`).
- Be aware that picking a very wide font such as ``Courier New`` can result
- in text alignment issues with artwork that was designed with a smaller font
- such as ``Tahoma`` (the default on Windows).
+ Note that artwork is typically designed around a sans serif font with tight
+ character spacing (e.g. **Tahoma**, which is the default on Windows). Using
+ a font with wider character spacing or a fixed pitch font (e.g. a Courier
+ family font) may result in text positioning issues.
Example:
.. code-block:: bash
mame starwbc -artwork_font "Comic Sans MS"
+
.. _mame-commandline-screenoptions:
Core Screen Options
@@ -4018,15 +4021,21 @@ Core Misc Options
**-uifont** *<fontname>*
- Specifies the name of a font file to use for the UI font. If this font
- cannot be found or cannot be loaded, the system will fall back to its
- built-in UI font. On some platforms *fontname* can be a system font name
- instead of a BDF font file.
-
- Note that not all fonts support Non Latin script or special glyphs like
- arrow symbols, and will show squares or questionmarks instead.
-
- The default is ``default`` (use the OSD-determined default font).
+ Specifies the font to use for UI text. If this font cannot be found or
+ cannot be loaded, MAME will fall back to its built-in UI font. Supported
+ fonts depend on the platform and selected UI font provider module. In some
+ configurations, *fontname* can be a system font name or a path to a TrueType
+ font file. In all cases, a path to a BDF (Adobe Glyph Bitmap Distribution
+ Format) font file can be used.
+
+ Note that characters available depend on the font, and many fonts do not
+ cover multiple writing systems and languages, or symbols like arrows.
+ Depending on the configuration, MAME may not automatically substitute
+ characters from other fonts. Characters that are not available may be
+ replaced with substitute glyphs (often rectangles).
+
+ The default is ``default`` (use the default font determined by the UI font
+ provider module).
Example:
.. code-block:: bash
diff --git a/docs/source/conf.py b/docs/source/conf.py
index b77ea71efe5..0a56be81d7c 100644
--- a/docs/source/conf.py
+++ b/docs/source/conf.py
@@ -63,9 +63,9 @@ copyright = u'1997-2025, MAMEdev and contributors'
# built documents.
#
# The short X.Y version.
-version = '0.283'
+version = '0.284'
# The full version, including alpha/beta/rc tags.
-release = '0.283'
+release = '0.284'
# The language for content autogenerated by Sphinx. Refer to documentation
# for a list of supported languages.
diff --git a/docs/source/debugger/memory.rst b/docs/source/debugger/memory.rst
index 0edc49031eb..4828dd41387 100644
--- a/docs/source/debugger/memory.rst
+++ b/docs/source/debugger/memory.rst
@@ -209,10 +209,10 @@ By default, the data will be interpreted as a series of NUL-terminated
(ASCIIZ) strings, the dump will have one string per line, and C-style
escapes sequences will be used for bytes that do not represent printable
ASCII characters. The optional **<term>** parameter can be used to
-specify a different string terminator character. If **<term>** equals
--0x80, the terminator is not a separate byte but 0x80 added to the last
-character of each string.
-
+specify a different string terminator character. If **<term>** is equal
+to -0x80, strings will be treated as terminating after any byte with the
+most significant bit set, and the most significant bit will be ignored
+when printing characters.
Back to :ref:`debugger-memory-list`
diff --git a/docs/source/techspecs/layout_files.rst b/docs/source/techspecs/layout_files.rst
index ca95c081042..023a0bbb265 100644
--- a/docs/source/techspecs/layout_files.rst
+++ b/docs/source/techspecs/layout_files.rst
@@ -509,13 +509,13 @@ image
layout file. Image file formats are detected by examining the content of
the files, file name extensions are ignored.
text
- Draws text in the specified colour, using the font provided by the
- artwork_font option. The text to draw must be supplied using a ``string``
- attribute. An ``align`` attribute may be supplied to set text alignment.
- If present, the ``align`` attribute must be an integer, where 0 (zero)
- means centred, 1 (one) means left-aligned, 2 (two) means right-aligned, and
- 3 (three) means that the text will be stretched horizontally to fill its
- bounds. If the ``align`` attribute is absent, the text will be centred.
+ Draws text in the specified colour, using the artwork font. The text to
+ draw must be supplied using a ``string`` attribute. An ``align`` attribute
+ may be supplied to set text alignment. If present, the ``align`` attribute
+ must be an integer, where 0 (zero) means centred, 1 (one) means
+ left-aligned, 2 (two) means right-aligned, and 3 (three) means that the text
+ will be stretched horizontally to fill its bounds. If the ``align``
+ attribute is absent, the text will be centred.
led7seg
Draws a standard seven-segment (plus decimal point) digital LED/fluorescent
display in the specified colour. The low eight bits of the element’s state
@@ -557,17 +557,17 @@ led16segsc
segments are drawn at low intensity (0x20/0xff).
simplecounter
Displays the numeric value of the element’s state in the specified colour,
- using the font provided by the artwork_font option. The value is formatted
- in decimal notation. A ``digits`` attribute may be supplied to specify the
- minimum number of digits to display. If present, the ``digits`` attribute
- must be a positive integer; if absent, a minimum of two digits will be
- displayed. A ``maxstate`` attribute may be supplied to specify the maximum
- state value to display. If present, the ``maxstate`` attribute must be a
- non-negative number; if absent it defaults to 999. An ``align`` attribute
- may be supplied to set text alignment. If present, the ``align`` attribute
- must be an integer, where 0 (zero) means centred, 1 (one) means left-aligned,
- and 3 (three) means that the text will be stretched horizontally to fill its
- bounds. If the ``align`` attribute is absent, the text will be centred.
+ using the artowrk fong. The value is formatted in decimal notation. A
+ ``digits`` attribute may be supplied to specify the minimum number of digits
+ to display. If present, the ``digits`` attribute must be a positive
+ integer; if absent, a minimum of two digits will be displayed. A
+ ``maxstate`` attribute may be supplied to specify the maximum state value to
+ display. If present, the ``maxstate`` attribute must be a non-negative
+ number; if absent it defaults to 999. An ``align`` attribute may be
+ supplied to set text alignment. If present, the ``align`` attribute must be
+ an integer, where 0 (zero) means centred, 1 (one) means left-aligned, and 3
+ (three) means that the text will be stretched horizontally to fill its
+ bounds. If the ``align`` attribute is absent, the text will be centred.
An example element that draws a static left-aligned text string: