Why the game stalls the first time you load a Caxton font, and how to handle it

Caxton draws text from MSDF/MTSDF data (multi-channel signed distance fields), which is what keeps text sharp at any size. Generating that data from a font file is expensive, so you may see a delay the first time a font is used.

What to expect

• First load with a new font: the reload bar may sit for a while. Caxton generates the data in parallel across your CPU, so faster, multi-core machines finish sooner.
• Later loads: the results are cached, so the same font loads much faster.
• Switching to a different font pack: the new font has to be generated once, and then it is cached too.

Tips

1. Be patient on the first reload and don't kill the game. Interrupting it just means the work starts over.

2. Large fonts with many glyphs, such as CJK fonts, take longer to generate than small Latin-only fonts.

3. If you try many font packs, expect a pause for each new one but not for ones you've already used.

4. Avoid applying a font pack, then immediately reloading again and again.

If the game feels slow while playing and not only while loading, check for conflicting rendering mods. See the guide on Sodium and ImmediatelyFast.