[EO] Chat Bubbles on Eclipse Origins?

[Ironcomics]

Im hosting an Eclipse Origins server and I dont really like the way that all the chat is at the bottom.
Is there a way to get them on Eclipse Origins or a code or something?

Thanks

[Ironcomics]

Everyone is too afraid to answer question… :'(. I'd appreciate an I dont know XD jk

[Joyce]

There is, but it'll require you to look at how the old versions of Eclipse did it, and modify that code to work with Origins. :)

[zdearborn]

How I did it was on handling saymsg (server side), I just sent a static action msg that would include the player's say text.

However, this method doesn't have a graphical appeal like a physical chat bubble, just text.

[Ironcomics]

@Yami:

> There is, but it'll require you to look at how the old versions of Eclipse did it, and modify that code to work with Origins. :)

Is there a place i could learn to do that ? XD
You dont have to show me how it would prob take long :/

[Joyce]

Nope, there isn't. You can either fiddle with it and see if you can get it to work yourself, or beg someone to make the changes for you. :) Or perhaps follow zdear's solution, which seems the most simple.

[zdearborn]

No, it wouldn't take long at all.. here:

(Server)
In modServerTcp,  sub SayMsg_Map - add this after Set Buffer = Nothing
```
SendActionMsg GetPlayerMap(Index), message, Yellow, ACTIONMSG_STATIC, GetPlayerX(Index) * 32, (GetPlayerY(Index) * 32) - 25 ' - 25 so it is above the player

```
Of course there are many things you will have to tweak to get it to look like you want

[Joyce]

zdear, I believe he meant converting the old bubble code over would take long.. Which it might, depending on your proficiency. But your way is far easier and quicker of course. :)

[zdearborn]

Oops! should've recognized that after he quoted you. If that's what you want, ironcomics, ignore my previous post :P

[Yxxe]

@zdearborn:

> No, it wouldn't take long at all.. here:
>
> (Server)
> In modServerTcp,  sub SayMsg_Map - add this after Set Buffer = Nothing
> ```
> SendActionMsg GetPlayerMap(Index), message, Yellow, ACTIONMSG_STATIC, GetPlayerX(Index) * 32, (GetPlayerY(Index) * 32) - 25 ' - 25 so it is above the player
>
> ```
> Of course there are many things you will have to tweak to get it to look like you want

May I suggest re-doing this code to write multiple lines instead of one long one? :P

[zdearborn]

it's mainly just a copy and paste of the existing sendactionmsg's, with edits, and it doesn't look nearly as bad in the editor as it does in the code tags

but if you've got some kind of incurable OCD with the length of your lines you could just set all the parameters in variables earlier in the sub.

[Ironcomics]

Thanks for all your help. Will that code work?

[zdearborn]

Yes

[The New World]

@zdearborn:

> it's mainly just a copy and paste of the existing sendactionmsg's, with edits, and it doesn't look nearly as bad in the editor as it does in the code tags
>
> but if you've got some kind of incurable OCD with the length of your lines you could just set all the parameters in variables earlier in the sub.

He meant the message length. It'll show a long line of text above the player's head.

[zdearborn]

Wow I'm off today.

It wouldn't be hard too check the length of the message and split it up accordingly

[Ironcomics]

Oh ok, Is there a way to make the text under each other but i can live with this though.

[The New World]

When you render the message, just get the amount of characters in the string and split it accordingly after a certain amount. It's kind of easy, just google a method of splitting strings in Visual Basic 6.0, and apply your new knowledge. :)

[shadowwulf]

I am messing with this also.
What I have done is setup the sendmsg to put action messages above player's heads.
I put a limit on how much people can type before they need to hit enter…
This makes it so people type shorter sentences and keep spam to a minimum.

In regards to the text not being appealing, at think a static bubble pic can be displayed just above the player when the message is up but I haven't tried anything yet....

I don't know If we can just take a graphic and just call it in the blt functions or my fall back idea is to make an animation behind player... lol

[Robin]

Word wrap functions are common on the internet. You'll find some easily.

[Ironcomics]

Will i type vb6 word warps to make it diferent
Sorry i don't know anything about this vb6 stuff :/

[zdearborn]

Yeah, do something like
```
If Len(message) > 35 Then ' length more than 35 chars
    SendActionMsg GetPlayerMap(Index), Left$(Trim$(message),35), Yellow, ACTIONMSG_STATIC, GetPlayerX(Index), (GetPlayerY(Index) * 32) - 40 ' top
    SendActionMsg GetPlayerMap(Index), Mid$(Trim$(message), 36, 70) & "...", Yellow, ACTIONMSG_STATIC, GetPlayerX(Index), (GetPlayerY(Index) * 32) - 25 ' bottom
Else ' single line
    SendActionMsg GetPlayerMap(Index),message,35), Yellow, ACTIONMSG_STATIC, GetPlayerX(Index), (GetPlayerY(Index) * 32) - 25
End If   

```
This just draws 2 lines of text, the second row just ends with "…" in case the length of the message exceeds the split checks. If you apply word wrap like Robin mentioned, you'll have no need for this.

p.s. this doesnt split by words/spaces, it splits by characters so you may end up with something like:

This is a bubble chat mess
age. Blah Blah Blah...

[Ironcomics]

@zdearborn:

> Yeah, do something like
> ```
> If Len(message) > 35 Then ' length more than 35 chars
>     SendActionMsg GetPlayerMap(Index), Left$(Trim$(message),35), Yellow, ACTIONMSG_STATIC, GetPlayerX(Index), (GetPlayerY(Index) * 32) - 40 ' top
>     SendActionMsg GetPlayerMap(Index), Mid$(Trim$(message), 36, 70) & "...", Yellow, ACTIONMSG_STATIC, GetPlayerX(Index), (GetPlayerY(Index) * 32) - 25 ' bottom
> Else ' single line
>     SendActionMsg GetPlayerMap(Index),message,35), Yellow, ACTIONMSG_STATIC, GetPlayerX(Index), (GetPlayerY(Index) * 32) - 25
> End If   
>
> ```
> This just draws 2 lines of text, the second row just ends with "…" in case the length of the message exceeds the split checks. If you apply word wrap like Robin mentioned, you'll have no need for this.
>
> p.s. this doesnt split by words/spaces, it splits by characters so you may end up with something like:
>
> This is a bubble chat mess
> age. Blah Blah Blah...

Will i put it under modServerTcp,  sub SayMsg_Map section
Under:

Sub SayMsg_Map(ByVal mapNum As Long, ByVal index As Long, ByVal message As String, ByVal saycolour As Long)
    Dim Buffer As clsBuffer
?

[Robin]

Doing do it by length. You'll end up with stupidly short messages getting wrapped. Do it by text width.

[Ironcomics]

@Robin:

> Doing do it by length. You'll end up with stupidly short messages getting wrapped. Do it by text width.

Will this work? i tried changing it so it will show by length :/. i swapped (Trim$ for UBound()
Because i read that
"use UBound() in VBScript where you would use .length in Javascript, but remember, "
I dont know alot about VB :/

>! If Len(message) > 35 Then ' length more than 35 chars
    SendActionMsg GetPlayerMap(Index), Left$UBound()(message),35), Yellow, ACTIONMSG_STATIC, GetPlayerX(Index), (GetPlayerY(Index) * 32) - 40 ' top
    SendActionMsg GetPlayerMap(Index), Mid$UBound()(message), 36, 70) & "…", Yellow, ACTIONMSG_STATIC, GetPlayerX(Index), (GetPlayerY(Index) * 32) - 25 ' bottom
Else ' single line
    SendActionMsg GetPlayerMap(Index),message,35), Yellow, ACTIONMSG_STATIC, GetPlayerX(Index), (GetPlayerY(Index) * 32) - 25
End If

[evilbunnie]

@Ironcomics:

> Will I type vb6 word warps to make it diferent
> Sorry I don't know anything about this vb6 stuff :/

Here is a simple word wrap code:
```
Function WordWrap(ByVal Text As String, Optional ByVal MaxLineLen As Integer = 70)
Dim I As Integer
    For I = 1 To Len(Text) / MaxLineLen
        Text = Mid(Text, 1, MaxLineLen * I - 1) & Replace(Text, " ", vbCrLf, MaxLineLen * I, 1, vbTextCompare)
    Next I
    WordWrap = Text
End Function
```
But yes, Robin is right, do it by width