Cannot load a spriteFont in XNA4

Question

Im goofing around with XNA and I've come to the part where I need to load a font in. Easy enough right?

Font1 = Content.Load<SpriteFont>("Arial");

Is the code that I'm using to load the font.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--
This file contains an xml description of a font, and will be read by the XNA
Framework Content Pipeline. Follow the comments to customize the appearance
of the font in your game, and to change the characters which are available to draw
with.
-->
<XnaContent xmlns:Graphics="Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Content.Pipeline.Graphics">
  <Asset Type="Graphics:FontDescription">

    <!--
    Modify this string to change the font that will be imported.
    -->
    <FontName>Arial</FontName>

    <!--
    Size is a float value, measured in points. Modify this value to change
    the size of the font.
    -->
    <Size>14</Size>

    <!--
    Spacing is a float value, measured in pixels. Modify this value to change
    the amount of spacing in between characters.
    -->
    <Spacing>0</Spacing>

    <!--
    UseKerning controls the layout of the font. If this value is true, kerning information
    will be used when placing characters.
    -->
    <UseKerning>true</UseKerning>

    <!--
    Style controls the style of the font. Valid entries are "Regular", "Bold", "Italic",
    and "Bold, Italic", and are case sensitive.
    -->
    <Style>Regular</Style>

    <!--
    If you uncomment this line, the default character will be substituted if you draw
    or measure text that contains characters which were not included in the font.
    -->
    <!-- <DefaultCharacter>*</DefaultCharacter> -->

    <!--
    CharacterRegions control what letters are available in the font. Every
    character from Start to End will be built and made available for drawing. The
    default range is from 32, (ASCII space), to 126, ('~'), covering the basic Latin
    character set. The characters are ordered according to the Unicode standard.
    See the documentation for more information.
    -->
    <CharacterRegions>
      <CharacterRegion>
        <Start>&#32;</Start>
        <End>&#126;</End>
      </CharacterRegion>
    </CharacterRegions>
  </Asset>
</XnaContent>

is the spritefont file im using. its located at Content/Arial.spritefont.

Regardless of what font I choose, it is unable to load that font.

Error loading "Arial". File not found.

Answer 1

The code you have posted appears fine, providing you are setting the content root directory (this line is part of the default template):

Content.RootDirectory = "Content";

And providing you have correctly added the .spritefont file to your content project and it is building correctly. Check that an Arial.xnb file is being created in the Content directory beside your executable (in bin/Debug or bin/Release depending on your build target).

If you still have problems, try creating a fresh XNA project and seeing if you can get a font to work in that.

Answer 2

why not using SpriteFont Texture, where you have all letters in one single image. by this you can show font that other computers does not have. Just remember to change ContentProcessor to Font Txture after you add texture to project.

SpriteFont Editor

Some Tutorial