Chat Bubbles

[Ex_Libris]

How do you change the color of your chat bubble? I keep seeing people with different colors and no one wants to share their "secret" with me.

Please help! :confused:

[MetallicaDan]

As much as it's gonna suck to have everyone now with different colours, it sucks even more when no one wants to tell you a neat feature that's part of the game, so here it goes:

/bind enter "beginchat <color XXX> <bgcolor XXX> <border XXX>"

Type this in game as you would anything else. Now please note that XXX is the colour you would pick, so if you wanted green text on a back background with a gray border (like my Conduit 2.0 character on Champion) you'd do:

/bind enter "beginchat <color green> <bgcolor black> <border gray>"



So there you have it, the secret has been revealed.

[Pop_Star]

Thanks Metallica. that is something I was curious about as well. :cool:

[Ex_Libris]

When I choose a dark background and lighter font, it's hard to read. Is there a way to make the dialog font and border for the dialog box bold?

So instead of 'this' ----> this ?

[Ex_Libris]

Thanks much Metallica_Dan!!

[Ex_Libris]

One more question... Say you don't like it. How do you take it off?

[TiaMaster]

2 ways....use the Default Keybindings button in your options, or redo the bind to this:
/bind enter "beginchat"

[BetaEugirdor]

I'll tell you the ultra-secret way to change the size of your text too. ;)

It's <scale #>, where # is the size of the text. '1' being default.

You can do something like <scale .75> to make it smaller or <scale 4> to make it bigger.

[TheSpyder]

[ QUOTE ]
2 ways....use the Default Keybindings button in your options, or redo the bind to this:
/bind enter "beginchat"

[/ QUOTE ]

actually have to use -- /bind enter "startchat" beginchat requires a parameter to be sent in when used.

[Ex_Libris]

Does anyone have a list of the available color names for color, bgcolor, and border? I can't seem to find one.

By the way, you can integrate colors into your bindings without using the beginchat command...

for example:

/bind i "local <bgcolor brown> I'm afraid that sometime during that battle, I may have soiled myself."

[Broadside]

OK I think I am too dimwitted to do this. I have typed in these commands exactly as described:
[ QUOTE ]
/bind enter "beginchat <color green> <bgcolor black> <border gray>"


[/ QUOTE ]

I even went as far as to copy the lines and paste them in but nothing happens except it tells me I have entered three arguments and it will only allow two. Nothing I have tried will make this work. I am obviously missing something fundamental here. This is put in the chat window correct? Can someone please tell me what I am overlooking?? Thanks.

[Ex_Libris]

I'm also having problems getting this to work. The best results I've had are having one line of speech come out in color, and then the rest following it being normal black and white. It doesn't seem to save itself when it does happen.

[1ADAM12]

/bind enter beginchat <color blue><bgcolor black><border silver>

no spaces or parenthesis between the ><

[Ex_Libris]

[ QUOTE ]
/bind enter beginchat <color blue><bgcolor black><border silver>

no spaces or parenthesis between the ><

[/ QUOTE ]

I copy pasted that right there, and made sure there weren't any spaces after the silver> and it didn't even change the speech bubble's color.

[Ex_Libris]

Silly thought, but are you hitting the enter key before you begin typing? After a bind change, if you CLICK your curser into the chatbox after where it says team: for example, it won't work and will be plain. (I remember doing that once or twice in beta before I got used to the interface, the enter key is vital)

Also try just typing while in local channel only one change, like /bind enter beginchat <color blue> then hit enter to see if just a single change is working for you. If it is, add your second and test. Make sure no other partial strings are visible after the Local: so the bind is fresh by backspacing up to it. Once the bind is correct you will always see those 3 color changes upon entering. Good luck.

[1ADAM12]

Yup, left that part out, sorry. When using that binding string, you are telling it to begin chat with the string everytime you hit enter. This makes no difference what chat channel you are in. For example, if done correctly, when you hit enter, this will appear in the chat line.

You are in the local channel.
Hit the enter button.
You will now see this in the chat line.
Local:<color blue><bgcolor black><border silver>
Then type your message as normal after you see the string in the chat and hit enter when done.

Hope this helps

[Nishnig_Jones]

So, does anyone know the full list of colors that can be used?

[brewer]

[ QUOTE ]
So, does anyone know the full list of colors that can be used?

[/ QUOTE ]
No, but just try different colors and see if they work. Lime works for a bright green. I use that over a purple background. It's pretty sick, but still readable. I like it.

[ErieFF]

Just began researching this myself...

You can use hex values for colors. The only format difference is <color #xxxxxx>. Notice the number sign preceding the 6 digit color value.

What are some values, you ask? I found a color chart at http://www.lynda.com/hexpalette/images/nhue2.gif

There are other places I'm sure.

Happy color chatting all!

[Vichysuisse]

I've noticed that people are creating a bubble much like the "AFK" bubble you get from /afk, but they are putting different messages into it. Any ideas how to do this? I've been browsing for it, but cannot find it anywhere.

Thanks.

[GibsonSG]

/afk <afk message you wish displayed>

[The_Foo]

[ QUOTE ]
Just began researching this myself...

You can use hex values for colors. The only format difference is <color #xxxxxx>. Notice the number sign preceding the 6 digit color value.

What are some values, you ask? I found a color chart at http://www.lynda.com/hexpalette/images/nhue2.gif

There are other places I'm sure.

Happy color chatting all!

[/ QUOTE ]

Furthermore, there also seems to be an alpha/transparency value on the end.

I.e., <bgcolor #ff0000aa> will give you a semi-transparent red bubble. (Which you can get antibiotics to treat, should you be experiencing in real life.)

[Ex_Libris]

<border xxx> doesn't change the extension of the chat bubble, makes it look goofy.

[MetallicaDan]

[ QUOTE ]
<border xxx> doesn't change the extension of the chat bubble, makes it look goofy.

[/ QUOTE ]


Agreed.

[TiaMaster]

I don't understand why it would change the "extension" (dont really know what that means) of the chat bubble. It just changes the color of the border line around the bubble.

And i see a lot of people saying they put in "EXACTLY this" but what they put in is exactly wrong.

After this paragraph is the bind (again)...you can change the colors to any HTML color code OR name...and you can change the key to any key you wish. I have my b key for broadcasts, L key for locals, t key for tells, g key for groups, and k key for away from keyboard meesage - and each of them has the colors. This is so I do not always have to click those little-*ss buttons above the chat bar.
Begin typing this when youre chat bar IS NOT green, in other words your chat bar isnt highlighted yet - it will be once you type the slash:

/bind enter "beginchat <color green><bgcolor grey><border $OOFFOO>"

This will make your enter key highlight the chat bar on whatever channel is selected in the chat bar. You will see the "color codes" appear in the chat bar - DO NOT ERASE THEM, just begin typing your message.

[ElDee_NA]

That #OOFFOO code should be #00FF00... use the number zero, not the letter O ;)

[Pogel]

In an attempt to prevent Paragon City from becoming a land of badly chosen colours (as if it isn't already ;)) I thought I'd share this very neat Palette Master (http://nebulus.org/index.html?pg=freebies/coders/palette) with you. It lets you choose a base colour and then produces a palette, with RGB and Hex values, that are complementary to the chosen colour.

[Pep_Cat]

No idea if CoH uses this entire selection, but if you want to use names for colors (instead of hex values), this site (http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_colornames.asp) lists a whole mess of them.

I'll have to try some of these names out (Peachpuff? MistyRose?) to see if they all work.

[ErieFF]

Hey, while we're at it, I thought I saw a 'jagged' chat bubble (as in an exclamation). Was I mistaken or has anyone else seen it? Or better yet, does anyone know how to reproduce it?

[Ex_Libris]

[ QUOTE ]
Hey, while we're at it, I thought I saw a 'jagged' chat bubble (as in an exclamation). Was I mistaken or has anyone else seen it? Or better yet, does anyone know how to reproduce it?

[/ QUOTE ]

Team or SuperGroup chat shows up like that (to those that can see it)

[Da_Cheese]

I extracted the complete list of color names from CityOfHeroes.exe and it is identical to the list dunkrct linked to. I also discovered another parameter "duration" that you can use to control how long your chat bubbles stay over your head like so:

<duration 2>Read me quick!

It seems to take any number but the timer has a floor of about 2 seconds and a ceiling of about 20 seconds.

[Ex_Libris]

I was just wondering how you would bing the key "\" to talk in the group channel with colors?

[Ex_Libris]

Pretty easy. Just cut-n-paste this into your chat window:

/bind \ "beginchat /team <color red><bgcolor blue>"

Everytime you press '\', the chat line will activate and have the text above in already. Just type your message. Previous posts in this thread talk about something similar too. Hope that helps!

[PirateSeaHawk]

So I guess the next question is, once you've set up your nifty-keen chat bubble color keybind, does it stay or do you have to re-do it every time you log on?

[Ex_Libris]

also how whould you do something like when you press your sniper power it say pulling "name of the target"?

[Da_Cheese]

Chat modifiers (like <color>) only apply to the current line of text you are typing. Keybinds last forever and are persistent through multiple login sessions.

[Da_Cheese]

[ QUOTE ]
also how whould you do something like when you press your sniper power it say pulling "name of the target"?

[/ QUOTE ]

/bind P "team pulling $target$$powexec_name Taunt"

Replace Taunt with whatever your sniper power is called.

[Ex_Libris]

When i use chat bubbles with color, there is an indent before the text in the chat window. Does anyone know why?

[Pallas]

redo the bind without the space in it and that indent will disappear.

[Jooky]

Here's mine:

/bind ENTER "show chat$$beginchat <color #000000><bgcolor #ff8800><scale 4>"

I leave out the "border" command because it doesn't change the entire border (the "extension" mentioned above is the little triangular pointy thing that points at the person who is speaking). The "show chat" command opens the chat window if it's closed.

You don't need a reference list to tell you what hex colors will look like. It's pretty intuitive, actually. There are 6 digits. These digits represent three 2-digit color values. The first two digits are RED. The next two are GREEN. And the last two are BLUE. Like so:
<color #RRGGBB>

The digits are hex values, so they range from 0-9 and A-F, like so:
0123456789ABCDEF (16 total values)
0 is all the way off.
F is all the way on.

Turning one of the 2-digit numbers all the way on will give you that primary color:
RED = <color #FF0000>
GREEN = <color #00FF00>
BLUE = <color #0000FF>
(In the computer world, the primary colors are RED, GREEN, and BLUE. If you want YELLOW, you have to mix RED and GREEN in equal parts: <color #FFFF00>)

If you want grays, simply give all the 2-digit numbers the same value:
Black will have all colors turned all the way off: <color #000000>
White will have all colors turned all the way on: <color #FFFFFF>
Light Gray: <color #CCCCCC>
Dark Gray: <color #333333>

[TechKnow]

Another thing you can do is, if you have Adobe Photoshop... you can pick a color and it'll show the HEX code in a little box. The other ways work equally well.

I used the eyedropper to pick parts of my costume and got the HEX code. =)

[Ex_Libris]

so...how would oyu make the backround color of the bubble clear or or transparent completly and no border either

that would be freakin awsome

[EyceMayden]

Ok all, except for the color list, which I have found to be any HEX color, and the transparency of the background bubble, all of this /bind stuff is here:

bindFAQ (http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=371472&page=2&view=collap sed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1#371472)

If you put in HEX color palette into google you will get plenty of free html tutorial sites with the full HEX color list on em, and how to adjust the color with the HEX value. The transpaerncy bubble is used by adding 00 to 90 onto the end of the HEX value for the background color.

Like <bgcolor #00ff00080> would be semi transparent, and 00 would be totally clear....

Later!

[Force_Phantom]

Yes, that's all fine and dandy...

But - -

How do you change the color of the stem ("extension") that emerges from the bottom of your chatbubble?!

I mean - you get any color border you want, and then the border is abruptly stopped by a mandatory black-bordered triangular stem at the bottom of your chatbubble!

I want to make this the same color as my border- especially since, when with tranparency or black backgrounds, you cannot see the stem as well!

What command does this??

[Force_Phantom]

Also - how do you change your thought bubble? What command does this? (aka the binding on the semicolon button)

[IronBlast]

wow thnx everyone ive learned alot about bubbles now from this one thread lol.

[BaldMonkey]

Works just like the other bind above but you need to work it like this...
/bind ; "showchat$$beginchat <bgcolor ##0000FF><color #FFFFFF>; "

[OMGIKILLU]

There are quite a few colors that can be represented by name. Here is my personal list of Named colors. I've put the names with the color as a background, and I have added the hex value as well.

My Color Guide (http://www.minioninc.com/colors.htm)

[CFIndustries]

Except for doing custom binds, let's not forget that I3 introduced a way to make global changes to your chat bubbles, under Options.

This helped me alot, in that it shortens my binds up considerably. Now I only use colors in binds when they vary from my "normal" colors.

[TheDark1]

Ok, i know this thread is 2 yrs old, but seeings as how a small issue was never resolved, i thought i would through it in and finalize the last issue. maybe itll help someone somewhere sometime eventually. maybe not. in any case, the little lightining stick that points to the character and the transparency aspects....you can get rid of those by setting your background color to have an alpha/tansparency note after the desired color(which is irrelevant) to zero/zero. so the bgcoilor tag should look like this: <bgcolor #FFFFFF00>

this will remove the little pointy bit and give you a completely transparent background. you can further modify it by removing the border with the same note and so now all you have it mystery floating text over your head. you can further confound ppl by making your text transparent and force ppl to read their chat windoiws....which is just rude to ppl who enjoy bubble-viewing. but...the options are yours.

the only thing is that you have to use the formal RGB values, not the color name. so it wont work like this <color red00><bgcolor black00><border white00><duration 10><scale 3>
youll get a big 10 second long mess. i have my mastermind set for this and its a solid silver border with red text and no background that last for 10 seconds, no pointy bit pointing at me: /bind enter "beginchat <color red><bgcolor #FFFAFA00><border silver><duration 10>"

so...theres that. hope it resolves that