Use custom font for Kodi Estuary UI

Question

I'm trying to figure out how to change the UI font on Kodi with Estuary (the default skin) installed on LibreELEC and/or OSMC. I have a mynewfont.ttf font file I want to use.

Answer 1

OSMC

1. Copy the font file to /usr/share/kodi/addons/skin.estuary/fonts/
2. Edit /usr/share/kodi/addons/skin.estuary/xml/Font.xml. For instance replace the string arial with mynewfont. You may also be able to add another font item to choose from altogether by copying the XML structure.
3. Use Kodi's "Interface settings" to select your new font.

LibreElec

This is quite complex and the only way this can be done is by creating a new modded skin based on the existing one. This is because on LibreELEC, most of the file system is read-only. The exception is /storage:

1. Start by copying the skin to the /storage folder and tweak its name:

   cp -R /usr/share/kodi/addons/skin.estuary /storage/.kodi/addons/skin.estuary-mod 
   

Note that this may require you to enable SSH login (do that in the LibreELEC settings in Kodi).

2. This clone of the skin can be picked up by Kodi's addon manager, but we need to give the modded skin a unique name to differentiate it. Edit /storage/.kodi/addons/skin.estuary-mod/addon.xml and change the line

   <addon id="skin.estuary" version="..." name="Estuary" provider-name="phil65, Ichabod Fletchman">
   

   into

   <addon id="skin.estuary-mod" version="..." name="Estuary-mod" provider-name="phil65, Ichabod Fletchman"> 
   

Note that you must change both the id and name value.

3. Edit the Font.xml file inside the modded skin's xml folder. For instance replace the string arial with mynewfont: sed -i 's/arial/mynewfont/g' Font.xml You may also be able to add another font item to choose from altogether by copying the XML structure.

4. Upload mynewfont.ttf to /storage/.kodi/addons/skin.estuary-mod/fonts.

5. Reboot Kodi to make Kodi find your modded addon: reboot

6. Use the Kodi UI and go to Addons -> My addons -> Look and feel -> Skin. Locate your modded skin (should have an X next to it), then activate it. Finally select to use it.

7. Use Kodi's "Interface settings" to select your new font.

If future Kodi updates causes the copied skin to become incompatible and inactivated, repeat the above process.