diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index b5ab69905..9a2254040 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -185,6 +185,15 @@ IF(FREETYPE_FOUND)
 	INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES( ${FREETYPE_INCLUDE_DIRS} )
 	SET(FTE_LIB_DEFINES ${FTE_LIB_DEFINES};LIBFREETYPE_STATIC)
 	SET(FTE_LIBS ${FTE_LIBS} ${FREETYPE_LIBRARIES})
+
+	FIND_PACKAGE(Fontconfig)
+	IF(Fontconfig_FOUND)
+		INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES( ${Fontconfig_INCLUDE_DIRS} )
+		SET(FTE_LIB_DEFINES ${FTE_LIB_DEFINES};LIBFONTCONFIG_STATIC)
+		SET(FTE_LIBS ${FTE_LIBS} ${Fontconfig_LIBRARIES})
+	ELSEIF()
+		MESSAGE(WARNING "fontconfig library NOT available. I hope you're not using any system fonts.")
+	ENDIF()
 ELSE()
 	MESSAGE(WARNING "freetype library NOT available. I hope you're okay with ascii.")
 	SET(FTE_LIB_DEFINES ${FTE_LIB_DEFINES};NO_FREETYPE)
diff --git a/engine/client/r_2d.c b/engine/client/r_2d.c
index 6bd035f9e..7eb01d347 100644
--- a/engine/client/r_2d.c
+++ b/engine/client/r_2d.c
@@ -1075,7 +1075,22 @@ void QDECL R2D_Conback_Callback(struct cvar_s *var, char *oldvalue)
 }
 
 #ifdef AVAIL_FREETYPE
-#if defined(_WIN32) && !defined(FTE_SDL) && !defined(WINRT) && !defined(_XBOX)
+#if defined(LIBFONTCONFIG_STATIC)
+#include <fontconfig/fontconfig.h>
+static int QDECL SortCompareFonts(const void *av, const void *bv)
+{	//qsort compare
+	const FcPattern *af = *(FcPattern *const*const)av, *bf = *(FcPattern *const*const)bv;
+	FcChar8 *as, *bs;
+	int r = 0;
+	if (FcPatternGetString(af, FC_FAMILY, 0, &as) == FcResultMatch && FcPatternGetString(bf, FC_FAMILY, 0, &bs) == FcResultMatch)
+	{
+		r = strcmp(as, bs);
+		if (!r && FcPatternGetString(af, FC_STYLE, 0, &as) == FcResultMatch && FcPatternGetString(bf, FC_STYLE, 0, &bs) == FcResultMatch)
+			r = strcmp(as, bs);
+	}
+	return r;
+}
+#elif defined(_WIN32) && !defined(FTE_SDL) && !defined(WINRT) && !defined(_XBOX)
 #include <windows.h>
 qboolean R2D_Font_WasAdded(char *buffer, char *fontfilename)
 {
@@ -1181,6 +1196,45 @@ void R2D_Font_Changed(void)
 	{
 #ifndef AVAIL_FREETYPE
 		Cvar_Set(&gl_font, "");
+#elif defined(LIBFONTCONFIG_STATIC)
+		Cvar_Set(&gl_font, "");
+		{
+			FcConfig *config = FcInitLoadConfigAndFonts();
+			FcPattern *pat = FcPatternCreate();
+			FcObjectSet *os = FcObjectSetBuild (FC_FAMILY, FC_STYLE, (char *) 0);
+			FcFontSet *fs = FcFontList(config, pat, os);
+
+			if (fs)
+			{
+				int i;
+				FcChar8 *oldfam = NULL;
+				FcPattern **fonts = BZ_Malloc(sizeof(*fonts)*fs->nfont);
+				memcpy(fonts, fs->fonts, sizeof(*fonts)*fs->nfont);
+				qsort(fonts, fs->nfont, sizeof(*fonts), SortCompareFonts);
+				for (i=0; fs && i < fs->nfont; i++)
+				{
+					FcPattern *font = fonts[i];
+					FcChar8 *style, *family;
+					if (FcPatternGetString(font, FC_FAMILY, 0, &family) == FcResultMatch && FcPatternGetString(font, FC_STYLE, 0, &style) == FcResultMatch)
+					{
+						if (!oldfam || strcmp(oldfam, family))
+						{
+							if (oldfam)
+								Con_Printf("\n");
+							oldfam = family;
+							Con_Printf("^["S_COLOR_WHITE"%s\\type\\/gl_font %s^]: ", family, family);
+						}
+						Con_Printf(" \t^[%s\\type\\/gl_font %s?style=%s^]", style, family, style);
+					}
+				}
+				if (oldfam)
+					Con_Printf("\n");
+				BZ_Free(fonts);
+				FcFontSetDestroy(fs);
+			}
+			FcObjectSetDestroy(os);
+			FcPatternDestroy(pat);
+		}
 #elif defined(_WIN32) && !defined(FTE_SDL) && !defined(WINRT) && !defined(_XBOX)
 		BOOL (APIENTRY *pChooseFontW)(LPCHOOSEFONTW) = NULL;
 		dllfunction_t funcs[] =
diff --git a/engine/gl/gl_font.c b/engine/gl/gl_font.c
index 7453625ee..5bfe78096 100644
--- a/engine/gl/gl_font.c
+++ b/engine/gl/gl_font.c
@@ -13,6 +13,20 @@
 #endif
 #include <ctype.h>
 
+/* Font Names:
+	primaryface[,altface[...]][?primaryarg[&arg[...]]][:[secondaryface[,altface[...]]][?secondaryargs]]
+
+	args:
+		col=r,g,b -- tint the font (overriding the game's normal tint). only arg allowed when the secondary face is omitted.
+		fmt=q	-- quake-style raster font with quake's own codepage (no fallbacks needed for the weird glyphs).
+		fmt=l	-- quake-style raster font with io8859-1(latin-1) codepage
+		fmt=w	-- quake-style raster font with windows1252 codepage (for more glyphs than latin-1)
+		fmt=k	-- quake-style raster font with koi8-u codepage (apparently its somewhat common in the quake community)
+		fmt=h	-- halflife-style all-on-one-line raster font
+		aspect=0.5 -- raster font is squished horizontally
+		style	-- list of modifiets for inexact family font matching for system fonts
+*/
+
 void Font_Init(void);
 void Font_Shutdown(void);
 struct font_s *Font_LoadFont(const char *fontfilename, float height, float scale, int outline, unsigned int flags);
@@ -1762,6 +1776,9 @@ qboolean Font_LoadKexFont(struct font_s *f, int fheight, const char *fontfilenam
 }
 
 #ifdef AVAIL_FREETYPE
+#if defined(LIBFONTCONFIG_STATIC)
+#include <fontconfig/fontconfig.h>
+#endif
 extern cvar_t dpcompat_smallerfonts;
 int Font_ChangeFTSize(fontface_t *qface, int pixelheight)
 {
@@ -1813,7 +1830,7 @@ int Font_ChangeFTSize(fontface_t *qface, int pixelheight)
 	}
 	return pixelheight;
 }
-qboolean Font_LoadFreeTypeFont(struct font_s *f, int height, const char *fontfilename)
+qboolean Font_LoadFreeTypeFont(struct font_s *f, int height, const char *fontfilename, const char *styles)
 {
 	fontface_t *qface;
 	FT_Face face = NULL;
@@ -1913,7 +1930,34 @@ qboolean Font_LoadFreeTypeFont(struct font_s *f, int height, const char *fontfil
 		}
 	}
 
-#if defined(_WIN32) 
+#if defined(LIBFONTCONFIG_STATIC)
+	if (error && !strchr(fontfilename, '/'))
+	{
+		FcConfig *config = FcInitLoadConfigAndFonts();
+		FcResult res;
+		FcPattern *font;
+		FcPattern *pat;
+
+		//FcNameParse takes something of the form: "family:style1:style2". we already swapped spaces for : in styles.
+		if (styles)
+			pat = FcNameParse((const FcChar8*)va("%s:%s", fontfilename, styles));
+		else
+			pat = FcNameParse((const FcChar8*)fontfilename);
+		FcConfigSubstitute(config, pat, FcMatchPattern);
+		FcDefaultSubstitute(pat);
+
+		// find the font
+		font = FcFontMatch(config, pat, &res);
+		if (font)
+		{
+			FcChar8 *file = NULL;
+			if (FcPatternGetString(font, FC_FILE, 0, &file) == FcResultMatch)
+				error = pFT_New_Face(fontlib, file, 0, &face);	//'file' should be a system path
+			FcPatternDestroy(font);
+		}
+		FcPatternDestroy(pat);
+	}
+#elif defined(_WIN32)
 	if (error)
 	{
 		static qboolean firsttime = true;
@@ -2285,6 +2329,7 @@ struct font_s *Font_LoadFont(const char *fontfilename, float vheight, float scal
 	char *parms;
 	int height = ((vheight * vid.rotpixelheight)/vid.height) + 0.5;
 	char facename[MAX_QPATH*12];
+	char *styles = NULL;
 	struct charcache_s *c;
 	float aspect = 1;
 	enum fontfmt_e fmt = FMT_AUTO;
@@ -2356,12 +2401,24 @@ struct font_s *Font_LoadFont(const char *fontfilename, float vheight, float scal
 				aspect = strtod(t, &t);
 				parms = t;
 			}
+			if (!strncmp(parms, "style=", 6))
+			{
+				char *t = parms+6;
+				styles = t;
+				while (*t && *t != '&')
+				{
+					if (*t == ' ')
+						*t = ':';
+					t++;
+				}
+				parms = t;
+			}
 
 			while(*parms && *parms != '&')
 				parms++;
 			if (*parms == '&')
 			{
-				parms++;
+				*parms++ = 0;
 				continue;
 			}
 		}
@@ -2547,7 +2604,7 @@ struct font_s *Font_LoadFont(const char *fontfilename, float vheight, float scal
 			else if (fmt == FMT_HORIZONTAL)
 				success = Font_LoadHorizontalFont(f, height, start);
 #ifdef AVAIL_FREETYPE
-			else if (fmt == FMT_AUTO && Font_LoadFreeTypeFont(f, height, start))
+			else if (fmt == FMT_AUTO && Font_LoadFreeTypeFont(f, height, start, styles))
 				success = true;
 #endif
 			else