0.11.4 and 0.12.0dev5 doesn't support Thai language.

[Phongsathon Kitchawet]

I've used Stellarium for 8 years and I love it.
Stellarium is the best free planetarium software.

But there is some bugs that I like you fix it to make Sellarium perfect.
Because Stellarium uses DejaVu fonts that doesn't support Thai language.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DejaVu_fonts

So you will see the fonts in rectangle and can't read it.
See the screenshot here.
http://image.free.in.th/z/ie/thai_language.jpg

It's a problem for many Thai people who use Windows and set Thai language format for Windows..

Here is the list of Unicode font that support Thai and other languages.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode_font

Perhaps you may change DejaVu to Arial Unicode MS, Microsoft Sans Serif, Tahoma, etc.
Or remove Thai language from the program language setting.

Another bug is you can't see any nebula and galaxy image in 0.11.4.
For example: Andromeda Galaxy (M31).
See the screenshot here.
http://image.free.in.th/z/iq/nebula.jpg

But you can see nebula and galaxy images in 0.12.0dev5 (beta).

My specifications:
Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit
Processor: Intel Pentium Dual T2390
RAM: 3 GB
Graphic: Mobile Intel 965 Express Chipset

Thank you very much.

[Alexander Wolf (alexwolf)]

I'm update DejaVu Sans font to latest version (2.33) - can you check thai language?

Diff: http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~stellarium/stellarium/trunk/revision/5685

P.S. Arial Unicode MS, Microsoft Sans Serif, Tahoma is proprietary fonts and we can't use its. Also Arial has bugs for diacrecic symbols.

[Phongsathon Kitchawet (lovethisman123)]

Thank you very much, Alexander.
DejaVu Sans 2.33 almost solves the problem.
It is better than 2.31 in Stellarium 0.12.0dev5.
Now I can read Thai alphabet,
but Stellarium shows only consonants and left and right vowels.

Thai vowels are different from English.
It can go above, below, left of or right of the consonant, or combinations of these places.
For more details, please see here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_alphabet#Vowels

This is the screenshot that I explained some Thai words.
http://image.free.in.th/z/id/0120dev5_dejavu_233_thai.jpg

[Bogdan Marinov (daggerstab)]

Do I understand correctly that the combining characters don't appear only in some places, where the text's vertical size is limited, such as window title bars?

[Worachate Boonplod (worachateb)]

Since DejaVu Sans doesn't support thai. Stellarium may try to use system font instead which incorrectly display thai in Stellarium.

May I suggest you try to use thai font when thai language was selected in the program?

TH Sarabun New is a thai font that use GPL 2.0 + Font exception license.
http://www.f0nt.com/release/th-sarabun-new/

BTW, there is no problem in Ubuntu linux.

[Bogdan Marinov (daggerstab)]

Before anything is done, I would like an answer to my question in comment #4 above.

[Phongsathon Kitchawet (lovethisman123)]

Dear Bogdan,
Not only the title bar, But everywhere.

The above vowels, below vowels and tone markers don't appear,
or change the typeface to the prime symbol ( ′ ) with too high position.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_%28symbol%29

[Phongsathon Kitchawet (lovethisman123)]

Dear Khun Worachate,

Thank you very much for your advice.

I copied TH SarabunPSK font to C:\Program Files\Stellarium\data,
and changed the font setting in default_config.ini in the same folder.
But there was still the same problem.

[Alexander Wolf (alexwolf)]

Worachate Boonplod, please show screenshot of Stellarium with using TH Sarabun New font.

[Alexander Wolf (alexwolf)]

Phongsathon Kitchawet, you need change config.ini instead default_config.ini

[Phongsathon Kitchawet (lovethisman123)]

Thanks, Alexander. Now I returned to 0.11.3 and there is only default_config.ini in the data folder. Please see the screenshot. http://image.free.in.th/z/in/stellarium_data.jpg

[Alexander Wolf (alexwolf)]

You need user data directory - c:\users\<user login>\appdata\roaming\stellarium\data

[Alexander Wolf (alexwolf)]

I'm commited changes which restored the opportunity for using custom fonts in Stellarium from versions 0.9.x (you can use attributes base_font_name, safe_font_name and base_font_file in config.ini).

More info about attributes you can read here: http://www.stellarium.org/wiki/index.php/Configuration_file (look at [gui] section).

Diff: http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~stellarium/stellarium/trunk/revision/5776

[Worachate Boonplod (worachateb)]

Returning of the opportunity to using custom fonts effectively solves the problem.
Thanks a lot.

[Phongsathon Kitchawet (lovethisman123)]

Dear Alexander,

2 days ago I installed the Stellarium 0.12.0 (the latest final release version, not beta version).
After changing the language to Thai,
I can see Thai alphabets but just only consonants and left and right vowels.
The above vowels, below vowels and tone marks still don't appear.

I tried to follow your advice.
1. Copied Thai Unicode font to C:\Program Files\Stellarium\data
2. Changed base_font_name in default_config.ini file.
3. Changed base_font_name in config.ini file in C:\Users\<user login>\AppData\Roaming\Stellarium

But the font didn't change.
Please see the screenshot with explanation here:
http://image.free.in.th/z/iz/stellarium_0120_thai.jpg

Do I make any mistake or miss anything?

I also tried to install DejaVu Sans and DejaVu Sans Mono in C:\Windows\Fonts
Then I tested with Microsoft Word 2010 and Adobe Photoshop CS6.
I can type English alphabets but cannot type Thai alphabets.
Microsoft Word 2010 substitutes the default font (I use Cordia New font) for DejaVu Sans and DejaVu Sans Mono.
Adobe Photoshop CS6 substitutes Tahoma for DejaVu Sans and DejaVu Sans Mono.

I checked Character Map (Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Character Map).
There is no Thai alphabet in DejaVu Sans and DejaVu Sans Mono.
So I wonder if the Thai font that I see in Stellarium 0.12.0 is not DejaVu Sans,
but another font instead.
Maybe Tahoma.

You can see all my test here:
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=229E6A28EDC0BA76#cid=229E6A28EDC0BA76&id=229E6A28EDC0BA76!166
Click Programs > Stellarium

Thank you very much for your help.
If we can solve this problem,
it will be useful for many Thai people that use Stellarium,
especially for Thai kids who cannot read English fluently.

[Phongsathon Kitchawet (lovethisman123)]

Windows 7 fonts
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/product.aspx?PID=161
The fonts that support Thai language show an example: บัณฑิตคนเฒ่า

In Microsoft Word 2010 shows an example: สวัสดี in the list box.

List of Windows fonts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Microsoft_Windows_fonts
Wikipedia has no Arial Unicode MS, another font that support Thai.

Thai fonts on Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit
1. Angsana New
2. AngsanaUPC
3. Arial Unicode MS
4. Browallia New
5. BrowalliaUPC
6. Cordia New
7. CordiaUPC
8. DilleniaUPC
9. DokChampa
10. EucrosiaUPC
11. FreesiaUPC
12. IrisUPC
13. JasmineUPC
14. KodchiangUPC
15. Leelawadee
16. LilyUPC
17. Micosoft Sans Serif
18. Tahoma

Other Thai Unicode fonts (not on Windows 7 default)
TH Sarabun PSK
It's Thai Unicode font developed by Thai government for Thai national font.
Free license.
Source: SIPA (Software Industry Promotion Agency), Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, Thailand
http://www.sipa.or.th/ewt_news.php?nid=481&filename=index

PSPimpdeedIINew
by touchie
Free license.
Source: http://www.f0nt.com/release/ps_pimpdeed-ii-new/
The website name spell f - number 0, not letter o - n - t.

[Alexander Wolf (alexwolf)]

Please try make a next steps:
1. Go to C:\Users\<user login>\AppData\Roaming\Stellarium directory
2. Open config.ini and set:
2a. base_font_name = TH Sarabun New
2b. base_font_file = THSarabunNew.ttf
3. Go to data directory (C:\Users\<user login>\AppData\Roaming\Stellarium\data or C:\Program Files\Stellarium\data)
4. Put THSarabunNew.ttf into here directory.
5. Run Stellarium and check fonts.

[Phongsathon Kitchawet (lovethisman123)]

Dear Alexander and Khun Worachate,

Before changing anything,
today I've just seen that my config.ini had something wrong.
base_font_name = DejaVuSans.ttf

The right should be
base_font_name = DejaVu Sans
base_font_file = DejaVuSans.ttf

Perhaps I made a mistake.
Please see the screenshot here:
http://image.free.in.th/z/ix/config_oldnew.jpg

So I decided to make it clean
by moving Stellarium folder from Roaming folder
C:\Users\<user login>\AppData\Roaming\Stellarium
to other place (I selected Drive D:).

Then I followed your advice.
It works!
Now everything is OK.
All Thai alphabet, vowels and tone marks are in the place that they could be.
Thank you very much. :)

[Phongsathon Kitchawet (lovethisman123)]

TH Sarabun New font (version 1.3 2011) is new.
It's better than TH Sarabun PSK (version 1.000) that I had.
You can download it here (free license):
http://www.f0nt.com/release/th-sarabun-new/

But compare with DejaVu Sans, TH Sarabun is so smaller.
http://image.free.in.th/z/ig/dejavusarabuntahoma.gif

So it's difficult to read.
http://image.free.in.th/z/iz/stellarium0120_thai_thsarabunnew13.jpg

I changed the font size from 13 to 20.
It's better but some letters in the window are still very small.
http://image.free.in.th/z/ii/stellarium0120_thai_thsarabunnew20.jpg

I changed the font from TH Sarabun New to Tahoma,
by copying it from C:\Windows\Fonts
to C:\Program Files\Stellarium\data

It looks better.
http://image.free.in.th/z/ie/stellarium0120_thai_tahoma13.jpg

Tahoma is on Windows 7 already.
So you don't need to download it from somewhere else.
You can use other Thai fonts from the list in the comment #16 above.

All my new test is here:
https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=229E6A28EDC0BA76!165
Click Stellarium
File name: test_2013-02-04_new.zip (11 files)
File size 1.7 MB

[Phongsathon Kitchawet (lovethisman123)]

I wrote an article "How to solve Thai language problem in Stellarium" (in Thai).
You can download at
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=1abaa53681bf9ae0
Click Articles
File name: stellarium_thai_v3.pdf
File size: 1.54 MB
Pages: 25

The pictures are here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.510180772366105.134352.179685445415641&type=1