COH Chat Log Monitor (uses Powershell)

[Oklahoman]

No one took up my challenge regarding SnakeTail, so I set out to do something myself.

 

WHY?

 

Honestly, it's getting a little tough for me to read the smaller print in chat, unless I am willing to blow it up and maybe sacrifice game space or get a giant monitor. I started looking for ways to have all the stuff from chat that I was interested in to be displayed on a second monitor, along the way filtering out lines I don't care about and highlighting keywords in lines I do. I decided to share it with the community in case others find it useful, or want to add or improve functionality.

 

HOW DO I MAKE IT WORK?

 

This script uses Windows Powershell to monitor a COH chat log file. The ps1 file is a text file that you can edit to your liking, at your own risk, and define things to highlight.

 

• You'll need a second monitor. If you don't physically have one that you can make work, maybe check out programs like "Duet Display" to use a tablet as a second monitor.
• Adjust your Powershell Execution Policy, and be aware of the potential consequences for that. I set CurrentUser to be Unrestricted.
• In City of Heroes, enable chat logs by going to MENU -> Options -> Windows -> Log Chat (Enabled). This will create text files in your COH install directory -> username -> logs folder. 

 

To run the script, download it and put it wherever you like, like on your desktop. Then right click on the file to select "Run with Powershell".

 

You will then navigate to your logs folder and select the file to monitor (ex: "chatlog 2021-03-28.txt") . This will load all the data already in the file, and remain open to monitor it for new lines that COH adds as you play.

 

You can drag the window over to your second monitor, and right click in the title bar if you need to change font sizes, etc. You can close the window at any time, or click inside it and hit CTRL-C to close it.

 

WOW, THIS IS GREAT! -or- MY GOD, COULD THIS SUCK WORSE?!?

 

I am NOT a programmer. I used to be (a little) until I took an arrow to the knee, decades ago. I still dabble, and this is the first time I have used Powershell at all. I am confident others can do better and hope they will, and share their results here for the community. If this script is helpful to you, if it inspires you to create something better, awesome. And, if not, why did you spend time reading all this when you could be running an MSR with me, instead?

 

COHChatLogPS.ps1