[Tex/LaTex] metric file not found for script font

font-metricsfontspackages

I'm trying to get a handwritten-looking cursive font working in LaTeX. I found a list in the TUG font catalogue, and thought Vereinfachten Ausgangsschrift looked right. However, I can't get even the tiniest document to work:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{va}
\begin{document}
Some text. {\va Something in cursive}.
\end{document}

MikTex auto-installed the va package for me. But when compiling this file, I get the following errors:

(C:\Users\Nate Glenn\AppData\Roaming\MiKTeX\2.9\fonts\source\lh\base\lkligtbl.mf)
>> 0.14
>> "input ec"
! I can't find file `ec'.
<scantokens> input ec

<to be read again>
                   ;
use_driver->...#=pt#;pt#:=true_pt#;scantokens(ss);
                                                  pt#:=true_pt#;font_identif...
l.304 use_driver(fonteq)
                        ;
Please type another input file name
! Emergency stop.
<scantokens> input ec

<to be read again>
                   ;
use_driver->...#=pt#;pt#:=true_pt#;scantokens(ss);
                                                  pt#:=true_pt#;font_identif...
l.304 use_driver(fonteq)
                        ;
Transcript written on la14.log.
miktex-maketfm.exe: Windows API error 2: The system cannot find the file specified.
miktex-maketfm.exe: Data: la14.tfm

! Font T1/la/m/n/10=la14 at 7.14279pt not loadable: Metric (TFM) file not found.
<to be read again>
                   relax
l.1 \handWritten{Dr. Haller Xeroxed this 9/8/95}

?

I'm not sure what a metric (TFM) file is, nor why it didn't come with the package. Can anyone explain the meaning of this error and show me a minimal working document using this font (the one on the font website had even more errors)?

Best Answer

The font you're trying to use is distributed as a set of METAFONT sources, as shown by the reference to the .mf file. TeX is trying to build them into a usable font, but the sources depend on code in the sources for the ec fonts. Adding the ec package to your TeX setup should fix the problem.

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