diff --git a/src/main/java/cc/fros/util/render/FrosFont.java b/src/main/java/cc/fros/util/render/FrosFont.java
index b7df51e..5c52ee4 100644
--- a/src/main/java/cc/fros/util/render/FrosFont.java
+++ b/src/main/java/cc/fros/util/render/FrosFont.java
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package cc.fros.util.render;
 
 import cc.fros.features.modules.client.ClickGuiModule;
 import com.mojang.blaze3d.platform.NativeImage;
-import net.fabricmc.loader.api.FabricLoader;
 import net.minecraft.client.gui.GuiGraphics;
 import net.minecraft.client.renderer.RenderPipelines;
 import net.minecraft.client.renderer.texture.DynamicTexture;
@@ -18,9 +17,6 @@ import java.awt.FontMetrics;
 import java.awt.Graphics2D;
 import java.awt.RenderingHints;
 import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
-import java.io.IOException;
-import java.nio.file.Files;
-import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -28,18 +24,17 @@ import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Objects;
 import java.util.Optional;
-import java.util.stream.Stream;
 
 import static cc.fros.util.traits.Util.mc;
 
 /**
- * Renders client UI text with a user supplied ttf/otf font.
+ * Renders client UI text with a font picked by name in the ClickGui
+ * settings (java's logical fonts or any installed system family).
  * Text is rasterized with AWT and cached as textures; when no font
- * is configured everything falls through to the vanilla font.
+ * resolves everything falls through to the vanilla font.
  */
 public final class FrosFont {
     private static final Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger("FrosFont");
-    private static final Path FONT_DIR = FabricLoader.getInstance().getGameDir().resolve("fros").resolve("fonts");
     private static final int MAX_CACHE = 400;
 
     private static final int[] PALETTE = {
@@ -85,7 +80,6 @@ public final class FrosFont {
     private static float loadedScale = 1;
     /** raster pixels from the top of a line box to the middle of the cap band */
     private static float visualCenterRaster = 4f;
-    private static long lastAttempt;
     private static int glyphCounter;
 
     private FrosFont() {
@@ -159,47 +153,28 @@ public final class FrosFont {
         if (name == null) name = "";
         float scale = currentScale();
 
-        boolean changed = !Objects.equals(name, loadedName) || size != loadedSize || scale != loadedScale;
-        if (!changed) {
-            boolean missing = awtFont == null && !name.isBlank();
-            // retry a missing file every couple of seconds so dropping one
-            // into the folder loads without touching the setting again
-            if (!missing || System.currentTimeMillis() - lastAttempt < 2000) return;
+        if (!Objects.equals(name, loadedName) || size != loadedSize || scale != loadedScale) {
+            reset(name, size, scale);
         }
-        reset(name, size, scale, changed);
     }
 
-    private static void reset(String name, float size, float scale, boolean verbose) {
+    private static void reset(String name, float size, float scale) {
         loadedName = name;
         loadedSize = size;
         loadedScale = scale;
-        lastAttempt = System.currentTimeMillis();
         awtFont = null;
         metrics = null;
         clearGlyphs();
 
-        try {
-            Files.createDirectories(FONT_DIR);
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-            LOGGER.error("Could not create font directory {}", FONT_DIR, e);
-            return;
-        }
         if (name.isBlank()) return;
         try {
-            Path file = resolveFontFile(name);
-            if (file != null) {
-                applyFont(java.awt.Font.createFont(java.awt.Font.TRUETYPE_FONT, file.toFile()),
-                        size * scale, "Loaded font " + file.getFileName(), verbose);
-                return;
-            }
-
             java.awt.Font installed = installedFont(name);
             if (installed != null) {
-                applyFont(installed, size * scale, "Using system font '" + name + "'", verbose);
+                applyFont(installed, size * scale, "Using system font '" + name + "'", true);
                 return;
             }
 
-            if (verbose) LOGGER.warn("Font '{}' not found in {}", name, FONT_DIR);
+            LOGGER.warn("Font '{}' not found", name);
         } catch (Exception e) {
             LOGGER.error("Failed to load font '{}'", name, e);
             awtFont = null;
@@ -259,36 +234,6 @@ public final class FrosFont {
         return null;
     }
 
-    private static Path resolveFontFile(String name) {
-        try {
-            Files.createDirectories(FONT_DIR);
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-            LOGGER.error("Could not create font directory {}", FONT_DIR, e);
-            return null;
-        }
-
-        String lower = name.toLowerCase(Locale.ROOT);
-        if (lower.endsWith(".ttf") || lower.endsWith(".otf")) {
-            Path direct = FONT_DIR.resolve(name);
-            return Files.isRegularFile(direct) ? direct : null;
-        }
-
-        try (Stream<Path> files = Files.list(FONT_DIR)) {
-            return files.filter(Files::isRegularFile)
-                    .filter(path -> {
-                        String fileName = path.getFileName().toString().toLowerCase(Locale.ROOT);
-                        return fileName.equals(lower)
-                                || fileName.equals(lower + ".ttf")
-                                || fileName.equals(lower + ".otf");
-                    })
-                    .findFirst()
-                    .orElse(null);
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-            LOGGER.error("Could not list font directory {}", FONT_DIR, e);
-            return null;
-        }
-    }
-
     private static void clearGlyphs() {
         for (Glyph glyph : new ArrayList<>(GLYPHS.values())) {
             queueRelease(glyph.id());