diff -up freewrl-1.22.13/src/lib/scenegraph/Component_Text.c.fcfontmatch-fix freewrl-1.22.13/src/lib/scenegraph/Component_Text.c
--- freewrl-1.22.13/src/lib/scenegraph/Component_Text.c.fcfontmatch-fix	2012-03-06 17:25:43.000000000 -0500
+++ freewrl-1.22.13/src/lib/scenegraph/Component_Text.c	2014-02-09 11:45:54.359080014 -0500
@@ -400,8 +400,33 @@ void FW_make_fontname(int num) {
     ppComponent_Text p = (ppComponent_Text)gglobal()->Component_Text.prv;
     #ifdef HAVE_FONTCONFIG
     FcPattern *FW_fp=NULL;
-    FcPattern *FW_fm=NULL;
     FcChar8 *FW_file=NULL;
+    FcResult result;
+
+    // check whether we have a config file
+    char* configfile = (char*)FcConfigFilename(0);
+    int configexists = 0;
+    FILE*fi = fopen(configfile, "rb");
+    if(fi) {
+        configexists = 1;fclose(fi);
+	//printf("<debug> Initializing FontConfig (configfile=%s)\n", configfile);
+    } else {
+	//printf("<debug> Initializing FontConfig (no configfile)\n");
+    }
+ 
+    if(!FcInit()) {
+        printf("<debug> FontConfig Initialization failed.\n");
+    }
+    FcConfig * config = FcConfigGetCurrent();
+    if(!config) {
+        printf("<debug> FontConfig Config Initialization failed.\n");
+    }
+
+    FcFontSet *set =  FcConfigGetFonts(config, FcSetSystem);
+    //printf("<verbose> FontConfig initialized. Found %d fonts\n", set?set->nfont:0);
+    if(!set || !set->nfont) {
+        printf("<debug> FontConfig has found zero fonts. This is probably a bad thing.\n");
+    }
     #else
 
     if (!p->font_directory) {
@@ -519,20 +544,30 @@ void FW_make_fontname(int num) {
     #ifdef HAVE_FONTCONFIG
     FcConfigSubstitute(0,FW_fp,FcMatchPattern);
     FcDefaultSubstitute(FW_fp);
-    if (!(FW_fm = FcFontMatch(0,FW_fp,0))) {
-	/* do whatever is done when no match found */
-	printf ("could not find font for id %x\n",num);
-    } else {
-	if (FcPatternGetString(FW_fm,FC_FILE,0,&FW_file) != FcResultMatch) {
-	    printf ("could not find font for id %x\n",num);
-	} else {
-	    /* strcpy didn't work, use strncpy and set the null character by hand */
-	    strncpy(p->thisfontname,(char *)FW_file,strlen((char *)FW_file));
-	    p->thisfontname[strlen((char *)FW_file)] = NULL;
+    set = FcFontSort(0, FW_fp, 1, 0, &result);
+
+    /* This isn't very smart, but we just go with the first match in the set that we can find a valid file for. */
+    if(set) {
+	// printf("<debug> okay, found a set with %d fonts\n", set?set->nfont:0);
+	int t;
+        for(t=0;t<set->nfont;t++) {
+           FcPattern *match = set->fonts[t];
+           if (FcPatternGetString(match,FC_FILE,0,&FW_file) != FcResultMatch) {
+              printf("<debug> FontConfig: Couldn't get fontconfig's filename for font id %x\n", num);
+              FW_file=0;
+           } else {
+              // printf("<debug> setting p->thisfontname to %s\n", FW_file); 
+	      /* strcpy didn't work, use strncpy and set the null character by hand */
+              strncpy(p->thisfontname,(char *)FW_file,strlen((char *)FW_file));
+              p->thisfontname[strlen((char *)FW_file)] = NULL;
+              break;
+           }
 	}
-	FcPatternDestroy(FW_fm);
+    } else {
+        printf("<debug> no set? wha?\n");
     }
     FcPatternDestroy(FW_fp);
+    FcPatternDestroy(set);
     #endif
 }