Why can't I read .ttf file when running Android configuration?

Question

When running or debugging my game on Android device, I get this error in the logcat:

com.badlogic.gdx.utils.GdxRuntimeException: Error reading file: data/fonts/myFont.ttf (Internal)

Which is created by this code line:

FreeTypeFontGenerator generator = new FreeTypeFontGenerator(fontFile);

where fontFile is defined like this:

FileHandle fontFile = Gdx.files.internal("data/fonts/myFont.ttf");

This doesn't happen when I run the desktop configuration.

I know that for desktop configuration you have to define the working directory of your project, but I don't see such option in android configuration and it also makes no sense, so I don't think it's a "working directory"-related problem.

Obviously, the file is in the correct path.

Also note that everything worked fine in my previous project. I created this new project by creating a new blank prj using libgdx-setup and then copying all the classes and packages from the older project. So maybe it's a problem related to some Gradle file?

Answer 1

If your test desktop filesystem is running on Windows NTFS and the Android device filesystem is on Android native, the difference is in the filesystem drivers.

The Windows filesystem drivers are not case sensitive but Android uses Linux which is case sensitive.

Make sure your capitalization is correct on the file.

Additionally I noticed you were using an absolute path with no environmental variable. This is dynamic to your current working directory on Android. Hence if the app is run from a different directory it will look in a different place for the file. This could cause problems between various system revisions. Always give absolute paths in Android. This means starting with either an environmental variable or the root directory (i.e. "/") For the sake of being able to move the app to an SD card it is better to use the environmental variables.

Additionally, you shouldn't be using the dynamic data directory for your font. You should be bundling it into your app's package.

Answer 2

I believe for android you need to have an assets folder with all of the assets loaded into it, this assets folder would be in the android project rather than the core project. Desktop, HTML, etc all use core project assets so they would work fine, but android needs its own assets folder. do you have one for it?

Answer 3

The Options are:

1) Try TTF upper case instead of ttf in all of your code - in case your original file has TTF suffix, because android is case sensitive.

2) In build.gradle file under your android module make sure that:

assets.srcDirs = ['assets']

And not:

assets.srcDirs = ['assetManager']

In another words make sure its your android assets folder. this one worked for me. then clean build project, and uninstall old app from android device.

Answer 4

Try copying the font files directly into the assets folder.

Answer 5

Just do one thing you can change the method which your following now. you can use the "hiero" tool for the font creation . Just download "hiero" jar file from the following link

https://libgdx.badlogicgames.com/tools.html

by using hiero you will be able to access almost all the fonts . after creating the fonts save it on your android project files "asset" folder and add the folowing code.

     private BitmapFont font;
     font = new BitmapFont(Gdx.files.internal("myNewFontCreatedByHiero.fnt"));

just try this method. it will work.

Answer 6

Make sure the files are inside /android/assets.