Chat Settings QoL

[Solarverse]

Hi! My name is Kal and I am an altoholic.

And since I am an altoholic, setting up my chat boxes each time I create a new character before I even start playing the game can be insanely frustrating. One of the first things I do is turn off General Chat. I honestly couldn't possibly care less about anything being said in that particular chat and I delete it all together. Then I move on to customize the existing chats by giving LFG chat it's dedicated tab, then I give my team chat and make it associated with anything I would need to see on a team, such as NPC chat, local chat, emotes, pet chat, tells and Team chat. Then I make another chat box an put my Global SG Chat on that chat box's only tab. Then I put my server chat (which I never use...but...) and give it it's own tab as well. Then I make a rewards tab, a combat tab and a system info tab.

This can take a bit of time, even after doing it a thousand times or more throughout the years that I have been playing CoH.

I would love if we could get a QoL change allows these changes to automatically apply upon character creation login. Just an idea.  🙂

[AboveTheChemist]

I think chat settings are pulled from the 'chat.txt' file in the top level of the CoH install directory upon character creation. The /chat_save command will save the current chat settings to that file, so perhaps once you have chat set up like you want it, use that command to save the settings out (and consider making a backup of the original 'chat.txt' file just in case) so that they can be loaded in as the defaults. There might also be some interplay with the 'options.txt' and/or 'wdw.txt' files but I am not 100% sure.

 

At any rate, I have my preferred chat settings saved to 'chat.txt' and the brand new character I just created has all the chat tabs set up just like I want them, so it's something that is currently possible.

[Solarverse]

5 minutes ago, AboveTheChemist said:

I think chat settings are pulled from the 'chat.txt' file in the top level of the CoH install directory upon character creation. The /chat_save command will save the current chat settings to that file, so perhaps once you have chat set up like you want it, use that command to save the settings out (and consider making a backup of the original 'chat.txt' file just in case) so that they can be loaded in as the defaults. There might also be some interplay with the 'options.txt' and/or 'wdw.txt' files but I am not 100% sure.

 

At any rate, I have my preferred chat settings saved to 'chat.txt' and the brand new character I just created has all the chat tabs set up just like I want them, so it's something that is currently possible.

Hmmm, I was unaware that was even a thing. I'm going to give that a try. So basically once I have my chat settings the way that I like them, I simply type /chat_save chat.txt and that's it? Or am I thinking too hard on this?

[AboveTheChemist]

3 minutes ago, Solarverse said:

So basically once I have my chat settings the way that I like them, I simply type /chat_save chat.txt and that's it? Or am I thinking too hard on this?

All you should need to type is /chat_save. That command automatically saves the settings to the 'chat.txt' file in the top level of your CoH directory (overwriting the existing if there is one there). There is a similar /chat_save_file <filename> command if you want to save the file under a different name or different location.

 

There is more info in Shenanigunner's CoH/CoV technical guide (page 78) that covers the commands for the chat, options, and windows files, if you need more in-depth info. I am somewhat obsessive about having my windows, chat tabs, game options, etc. consistent among all my alts so I have set up the default files for chat, options, and windows to pull in all my custom settings automatically. There are similar commands (detailed in that PDF) that allow one to load in defaults for previously-existing characters.

[Lines]

You can save and load your chat settings in the options menu too. Last tab, right down the bottom.

 

New characters will load in those settings.

[Solarverse]

2 minutes ago, Lines said:

You can save and load your chat settings in the options menu too. Last tab, right down the bottom.

 

New characters will load in those settings.

That only saves that chat bubble settings...at least that's all it saves for me. My chat box with all the tabs however are always coming up as default. So unless I am stuck in some type of bug, all that does is save your chat bubble settings.

[Lines]

1 minute ago, Solarverse said:

That only saves that chat bubble settings...at least that's all it saves for me. My chat box with all the tabs however are always coming up as default. So unless I am stuck in some type of bug, all that does is save your chat bubble settings.

You might be. That button saves the whole shabang for me; tabs, custom channels, everything. I don't have to tweak a thing.

[Solarverse]

Just now, Lines said:

You might be. That button saves the whole shabang for me; tabs, custom channels, everything. I don't have to tweak a thing.

Damn it, Jim! I'm going to have to figure out what is causing my issue then. Thanks for getting back with me on that.

[Lines]

 

Just for clarity, talking about this one. But I think you got that.

 

Maybe the text file it saves into is protected for you? It's called chat.txt and is located in my game's root folder.