Please, change default color of players message in chat

FotonCat · Post by **FotonCat** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 5:56 am

Now it's often hard to distinguish messages of players from system messages (i.e. messages about entering exit menu, disconnection, joining...). They are both cyan and you can easily miss important message of another player, who didn't change his color manually.

[Edited on 3-21-2016 by FotonCat]

Post by **Vice** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 7:58 am

What color exactly would you want it changed to by default? And what would others like to see?

FotonCat · Post by **FotonCat** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 8:13 am

Thank you for reply, Vice!
It could be anything, but not cyan. Neutral and easy to see at the same time. For example, bright yellow, or bright green?
(as I see, currently green is used only for "Progress saved" and, c'mon, green is healthy for eyes

)

Post by **Vice** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 8:16 am

Green is generally used for positive actions/messages. Yellow used for alerts. Red used for negative actions or critical alerts. So it'd likely need to be something else by default. Even something like a darker blue might be an option to stand out, but still retain most of the current color selection options in the message log.

FotonCat · Post by **FotonCat** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 8:19 am

Ah, I didn't know about yellow and red. Darker blue or darker green are good options too.

[Edited on 3-21-2016 by FotonCat]

Misunderstood Wookie · Mon Mar 21, 2016 2:12 pm

Vice usually I find a nice sky blue works.pretry well for global chat in MMO games could work here too and it's separate from any colour used by game messages

Wasn't there a way to change the default colours in the nodding guide? I'll have a look and mock something up in the overhaul project and release it on its own as well

[Edited on 3/21/2016 by Misunderstood Wookie]

Post by **Marvin** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 4:32 pm

Setting a different color as default will limit the number of color options for players. And, with IM having up to five players at a time (plus those who might decide to join us), limiting the options is not a good idea at all. Players need to learn the game ... including how to change the color of their own chat messages.

FotonCat · Post by **FotonCat** » Tue Mar 22, 2016 5:00 am

From post: 186886, Topic: tid=12552, author=Marvin wrote:Setting a different color as default will limit the number of color options for players. And, with IM having up to five players at a time (plus those who might decide to join us), limiting the options is not a good idea at all. Players need to learn the game ... including how to change the color of their own chat messages.

I can't see a problem. There still will be many color options to choose from. Different players' designations will prevent you from mixing up who's talking at the moment. Maybe Vice can add even more 5-6 colors, because current palette is very basic.

Post by **Marvin** » Tue Mar 22, 2016 5:37 am

From post: 186906, Topic: tid=12552, author=FotonCat wrote:Different players' designations will prevent you from mixing up who's talking at the moment.

Exactly. Learn to pick a color and you won't be confused with anyone else.

Besides, green is reserved for St. Paddy's day (and for one of IM's pilots). Yellow is for that pilot who calls himself Pokemon (or Big Bird ... whoever logs on first). And, though I've never needed to try it (yet), can't you modify the color of default chat by following instructions in the Customizing Kit? Yes? No? Maybe?

FotonCat · Post by **FotonCat** » Tue Mar 22, 2016 6:45 am

From post: 186907, Topic: tid=12552, author=Marvin wrote: Besides, green is reserved for St. Paddy's day (and for one of IM's pilots). Yellow is for that pilot who calls himself Pokemon (or Big Bird ... whoever logs on first).

Seriously? I don't think all countries are celebrating Saint Patrick's day.
And if different players use the same color - that can't be prohibited. They still use different nicknames. That's why I've mentioned it. Who can blame me if I will use yellow color as Pokemon does...

From post: 186907, Topic: tid=12552, author=Marvin wrote: And, though I've never needed to try it (yet), can't you modify the color of default chat by following instructions in the Customizing Kit? Yes? No? Maybe?

I've tried to make chattext.dat with my own settings typed into it in both locations (c:/sw3dg/EvochronLegacy/hud/ and in Steam's game folder), but with no luck. Default player messages are still the same cyan as server messages.

Misunderstood Wookie · Tue Mar 22, 2016 1:39 pm

I'm starting to think maybe this needs to be a mp server option to just change the default server console colour l, along with the ability to set a player colour in game.

I haven't played mp myself so I am not aware if you already can change your own colour.

Post by **Marvin** » Tue Mar 22, 2016 3:26 pm

From post: 186924, Topic: tid=12552, author=Misunderstood Wookie wrote:I'm starting to think maybe this needs to be a mp server option to just change the default server console colour l, along with the ability to set a player colour in game.

Yeah, that might work. But you can change color ... both in the game and, I guess, otherwise. We have one player who uses mouse and keyboard exclusively ... with the chat window skewed to the far left ... and therefore can't access the options at the bottom of the chat scroll bar without ... leaving the active game. I guess. Probably, there is an easier way to make the selection via mouse control but, since I use a joystick, I've never bothered using the mouse for anything except selecting in-game options.

Misunderstood Wookie · Fri Mar 25, 2016 12:34 pm

Yea that one player would be me, but I read somewhere about being able to change the FOV which might fix this issue completely.

Post by **DaveK** » Fri Mar 25, 2016 4:40 pm

From post: 186913, Topic: tid=12552, author=FotonCat wrote:
From post: 186907, Topic: tid=12552, author=Marvin wrote: Besides, green is reserved for St. Paddy's day (and for one of IM's pilots). Yellow is for that pilot who calls himself Pokemon (or Big Bird ... whoever logs on first).
Seriously? I don't think all countries are celebrating Saint Patrick's day.

As I understand it (I'm in the UK) it's not 'countries' that celebrate St Patrick's Day ... it's the Irish, and they're everywhere in the world (and the Evoverse I suspect)

DeathTech · Post by **DeathTech** » Sat Mar 26, 2016 1:14 pm

I think perhaps one should look more at how you can improve visibility instead of changing the colour.

For example on my videos I tend to surround the texts I write in a black edge so you can always at all times fully make out the words.
If there are issues reading the text one should definitely consider adding the edges.

Modifying the colour wouldn't change much as different colours will conflict and become hard to read at different times and places.

For example, a dark color say black would be mostly invisible in plain space.
A light color like yellow, may become invisible or nearly unreadable inside bright clouds or when being near a sun, etc...

Adding a black edge wouldn't make it less readable in space, and would make text readable in bright areas like a yellow cloud or near a sun.
On a planet during daytime,... Etc...

And for distinguishing between system and chat a difference in colour by default would definitely be handy.

And if I were to lets say have to pick a couple of colours to state would help distinguish players I'd say the following:

<strike>Red -> Alerts</strike>
Blue -> Open
Teal -> Open
<strike>Yellow -> Alerts</strike>
Pink -> Open
<strike>Purple -> Quests</strike>
<strike>Green -> Positive Actions/Messages</strike>
Dark Green -> Open
Grey -> Open
Brown -> Open
Orange -> Open
Gold -> Open

In case you are wondering why I picked these colours in specific.
Its cause they are primary colours.
Primary as in most often used in games for visibility reasons. Lets say, tradition.

Although people most definitely have preferences against most of these colours, they usually do not stand for a specific thing and are mainly neutral and easy to distinguish.

I would guestimate a good default is Grey.
Grey is neutral, not too bright, not too dark, but definitely stands out.
Though I'd think the other colours are also good as options for colours of choice.

Edited because marvin is correct.

[Edited on 3-26-2016 by DeathTech]

[Edited on 3-26-2016 by DeathTech]

Post by **Marvin** » Sat Mar 26, 2016 4:18 pm

Btw, purple is the default color for quest chat messages. And it cannot be changed except within the quest script itself.

Misunderstood Wookie · Sun Mar 27, 2016 4:06 am

I would have to strongly disagree with 'Grey' personally I choose colours based on the same logic I would when assigning tabs and whispers in an MMO.

Sky Blue - Trade Chat
White - General Chat
Yellow - Quest\\Loot\\Rolls
Green - Guild (LimeGreen, Guild Admin)
Purple - Whispers (Lighter Purple - My Replies)
Red - (Server Announcements)
Orange (Yells\\Emotes)
Grey - S*** I don't care about moved to seperate tab

You get the idea, Grey is something that goes un noticed forget about trying to make it subtle... grey is going to look washy anyway due the chatbox having that transparent black shadowing and will also suffer for it looking more like it is part of the background than actual text, depending on other factors such as user mods and things you will NOT guarantee that grey is even going to be visible.

Not to mention it is a really really bad choice for anything important due the fact that your brain automatically ignores shades of black and grey as colour information due the fact that it's perceived only by your sub conscious the only time it stands out is under 'High Contrast' scenarios.

From what I can tell just make the player chat sky blue it's easy on the eye it isn't too bright... Make standard system messages a tone a bit under exact colour so a white/grey for general normal text and a yellow/white for important stuff. Tone down all the contrast making them distinguishable but easier on the eye under low light you never ever want to use exact colours so #FFFFFF is a terrible idea always wash it out a little with tad of grey or black to make it stand out but no over contrasting .

[img=256x256]http://40.media.tumblr.com/bacff277f7d2 ... 1_1280.png[/img]

[Edited on 3/27/2016 by Misunderstood Wookie]

Post by **Vice** » Sun Mar 27, 2016 4:37 am

Here is a screenshot of the available colors from blues to gray:

Event messages are white and received text messages are light blue/cyan. You can see the difference in the image above. Received text messages are rare enough that they shouldn't conflict with player messages, or at least player should be paying attention to blue messages anyway. But if one of the other colors might work better to make text messages stand out, it is possible to change. But the light blue/cyan does stand out pretty well and all messages in that color tone should be given attention.

matchbox2022 · Post by **matchbox2022** » Sun Mar 27, 2016 5:35 am

Changing the default chat isn't a big deal...I personally...just select a colour.

But having a bit more to choose from, especially as more people start playing MP, might be a nice touch if not too difficult. Everyone seems to find their colour fit as the chat draws on in server, but we've rarely had more than 15 players at a single time

FotonCat · Post by **FotonCat** » Sun Mar 27, 2016 11:25 am

Me and my friend like test2 and test3 variants. Maybe test3 is the best choose from offered by Vice.

Misunderstood Wookie · Sun Mar 27, 2016 12:07 pm

Blue Cyan looks alright to me vice.