Running Metafont and creating Metafont base files requires information that TeX and MetaPost do not: mode definitions which specify device characteristics, so Metafont can properly rasterize the shapes.
When making a base file, a file containing modes for locally-available devices should be input after `plain.mf'. One commonly used file is `ftp://ftp.tug.org/tex/modes.mf'; it includes all known definitions.
If, however, for some reason you have decreased the memory available in
your Metafont, you may need to copy `modes.mf' and remove the
definitions irrelevant to you (probably most of them) instead of using
it directly. (Or, if you're a Metafont hacker, maybe you can suggest a
way to redefine mode_def and/or mode_setup; right now, the
amount of memory used is approximately four times the total length of
the mode_def names, and that's a lot.)
If you have a device not included in `modes.mf', please see comments in that file for how to create the new definition, and please send the definition to <tex-fonts@mail.tug.org> to get it included in the next release of `modes.mf'.
Usually, when you run Metafont you must supply the name of a mode that
was dumped in the base file. But you can also define the mode
characteristics dynamically, by invoking Metafont with an assignment to
smode instead of mode, like this:
mf '\smode:="newmode.mf"; mag:=magnification; input mfname'
This is most useful when you are working on the definition of a new mode.
The magnification and mfname arguments are explained in
section mf invocation. In the file `newmode.mf', you should have the
following (with no mode_def or enddef), if you are using
`modes.mf' conventions:
mode_param (pixels_per_inch, dpi); mode_param (blacker, b); mode_param (fillin, f); mode_param (o_correction, o); mode_common_setup_;
(Of course, you should use real numbers for dpi, b, f, and o.)
For more information on the use of smode, or if you are not using
`modes.mf', see page 269 of The Metafontbook.
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