[RESOLVED] Missing Instrument Fonts after Win 10 Update 1703

[lgdubois]

Just a "Heads Up" for Windows 10 users. I have been having problems with missing Latha font in both Flight Simulator X and Prepar3D after updating to the Windows 10 Creators edition, version 1703. The Latha font (used in the avionics of several Default Aircraft including the Beach Baron and King Air, the Maule, and the payware QualityWings BAe 146/Avro RJ XXX) is not detected by the aircraft thus yielding blank instruments/avionic panels even though the font is present in the Windows\Fonts directory and the Registry. I have found that this can be fixed by deleting both entries, reinstalling the font and rebooting. However this fix does not survive the next reboot, after which the system is back to the undetected font state. It is incomprehensible to me that it takes a repair and reboot to fix a problem and that the fix is deleted by the next reboot. BTW the same result occurs when exercising "Optional Features" in Settings to install fonts for other languages. The Optional Features selection does not survive the next reboot. The fix does survive a Sleep - Wake Up sequence providing a workaround for constantly reapplying the fix if you don't mind keeping your machine in Sleep Mode all the time.

[Rob McCarthy]

Would you be able to post screenshots showing the affected areas of those aircraft? Which default aircraft files are referencing the Latha font? Was the QualityWings aircraft installed and working before updating to Creators Edition?

Regards,
Rob McCarthy

[lgdubois]

I am not able to post screen shots. The culprit in the default aircraft is the good old Bendix-King.dll, .exp, and/or .lib files in the gauges directory used to generate the radio/avionics instrument stack for the default Beach Baron and King Air, and the Maule in P3D, and those aircraft plus the default Cessna 172 and 182 in FSX, FSX-SE, and probably but not tested by me, FS9. The symptom is that no digits appear in any of the instrument windows. As I said in my post, they apparently can't detect/connect to the Latha font until the fix I described is applied. The QW BAe 146 uses the Latha font in all of its instrumentation, thus nothing appears in any of its avionics alphanumeric displays until the fix is applied. ALL this stuff worked properly until the Win 10 1703 Creators update was installed and it is obviously a Microsoft created problem. I'm surprised that you developers aren't all over Microsoft's case about this. If I am the first user to identify this problem to you It must indicate that no one uses or cares about the Default Aircraft, Hmm?

[lgdubois]

I have grabbed a couple of screen shots showing the before and after views of the fix but don't seem to have permission to add attachments. Please advise.

[Rob McCarthy]

You can post screenshots to imgur and then link the images here.

Regards,
Rob McCarthy

[lgdubois]

http://imgur.com/vacxXdA, http://imgur.com/xHUAcX4

Above are the links

[Brad Shiver]

We can't seem to reproduce this issue. If you go to Control panel\fonts\font settings, do you have hiding fonts enabled or links disabled?

[lgdubois]

Hiding Fonts check box is NOT checked.

Let's make sure we're in the same Windows 10 Version -
Windows 10 Pro
Version 1703
OS Build 15063.332

You guys may have some developer's version that not the same as we civilians and doesn't have the same behavior.

I have these exact same symptoms on three different machines.

Reread my posts and search the web for "Windows 10 Creators Font Problems" You'll get several hits.

This isn't my imagination - It's a real problem - I would hate to think Microsoft is diddling the way it handles fonts in this version deliberately. The vexing issue is that fixing the problem is undone by the next reboot.

[kernowuk]

I can reproduce the problem, with some differences.
1) I don't have the Latha font on my system.
2) The instrument fonts DO show with lights ON.
3) The fonts do NOT appear with lights OFF.
4) The issue only appears in the VC, not the 2D cockpit.

This leads me to believe the issue is not with the fonts, but with VC lighting.
Additionally, I don't see why a Tamil language font would be used in FSX or P3D instruments.

Hope this helps.

Steve Marks

[lgdubois]

Notwithstanding you discoveries, the problem is indeed with Win 10 handling of fonts.

As improbable as it may seem, Latha was the font chosen way back when for the Bendix-King Avionics Stack, all the other Beach Baron panel alphanumerics, The King Air stack, interactive parts of the FMC in the JustFlight DC-8 and L-1011, Portions of the QWings 757 FMC, the entire QWings BAe 146/Avro100 panel and probably several others that I have yet to discover. This caused a minor uproar back when Microsoft excluded this font from Windows 10 and, I believe, Windows 8. But for that problem one could fix it by simply reinstalling the font. This latest problem involves the deletions of all such re-installations when the OS is re-booted.

HOWEVER it has all become a moot issue because:

I am very happy to report that the Installation of: 2017-06 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 ver 1703 (KB4022725) has fixed this issue entirely. My thanks to those of you who spent time and effort examining the issue.

Let's hope that, in the future, Microsoft properly tests their releases so that we users do not have to spend countless hours diagnosing and fixing Windows bugs. Fat chance that will occur!

Lee DuBois

[lgdubois]

Afraid I have to report that the Cumulative Updates did NOT solve the problem. They did fix the problem, however whatever fixes they applied only survived for one one reboot cycle. After the second reboot the same problems reappeared - also the same fix as described in my first post still works. If you don't mind leaving your machine in sleep mode all the time after applying the fix, the font problem goes away.

Sorry for my premature incorrect post of a solution.

Lee DuBois

[Brad Shiver]

Hiding Fonts check box is NOT checked.

Do you have font shortcuts enabled or disabled? We were able to reproduce the issue, and the "Allow fonts to be installed using shortcuts" checkbox in the same window seems to have solved it after a restart.

[lgdubois]

I do have font shortcuts enabled.

I'll bet your solution does not survive a second reboot - please advise.

Thanks for your attention to this vexing problem.

Best Regards - Lee DuBois

[Brad Shiver]

Go to Fonts in the installation directory and right click the fonts LCD and Quartz. Select Install and overwrite the shortcuts that windows currently has installed. There may be an issue with that font setting added in the creators update.

[lgdubois]

Installed LCD and Quartz as you suggested. Rebooted. Everything worked fine. Then, sadly, rebooted again and once again was back to same problem. Same symptom - changes to the font cache/directory, what ever it is called, do not survive a second reboot. Something in the boot-up code restores the font configuration of the machine to some initial installation state. Even though new fonts are present in the fonts directory and the registry, they are somehow not activated/recognized for use by applications. When a new font is installed and the machine rebooted, that font is initially activated/recognized for use. A subsequent reboot then erases/deletes that activation/recognition and returns the machine's available font configuration to some predetermined state defined at the installation of Win 10 Update to version 1703, the so called Creators edition. This is the problem Microsoft has to fix. Our missing avionics instrument fonts are just one consequence of this overall boot-up bug. BTW, when a Microsoft issued Cumulative Update such as 2017-06 (KB 4022725) is installed and the machine rebooted to initiate the Update the font problem goes away. But it is back as soon as a second re-boot is executed.