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Chimera replaces Halo PC’s crashy and broken Keystone chat with a completely custom, highly configurable chat system.

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Why Replace the Chat?

The Keystone chat is crashy and broken.Halo PC’s original chat system has numerous issues:
  • Frequent crashes
  • Memory leaks
  • Poor rendering
  • Limited customization
  • Inconsistent behavior
Chimera’s custom chat is:
  • Stable - No crashes or memory leaks
  • Customizable - Extensive configuration options
  • Feature-rich - Color support, timestamps, filtering
  • Performant - Efficient rendering and scrolling

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Always Enabled

The custom chat is always enabled as a passive feature. The original Keystone chat is completely replaced.

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Core Features

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Color Support

Full RGB color support for chat messages. Usage: Use color codes in messages: 
chimera_chat_color_help  # Show available colors
Team Colors:
  • Free-for-all messages: Green tint
  • Red team messages: Red tint
  • Blue team messages: Blue tint
  • Server messages: Blue tint

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Message Types

Three distinct message categories:
Player-to-player communication:
  • All chat (everyone sees)
  • Team chat (team only)
  • Vehicle chat (vehicle occupants)

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Scrollback Support

Optional scrollback for console history: 
[custom_console]
enable_scrollback=1  ; Enable page up/down scrolling
Custom console and custom chat are separate but related features. Both improve upon the original implementations.

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Extensive Customization

Chimera’s chat is highly customizable through chimera.ini.

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Server Messages

Configure server message appearance: 
[custom_chat]

; Color (RGBA, 0-1 intensity)
server_message_color_a=0.5
server_message_color_r=0.45
server_message_color_g=0.72
server_message_color_b=1.0

; Position (HUD pixels)
server_message_x=360
server_message_y=60

; Dimensions (HUD pixels)
server_message_w=350
server_message_h=380
server_message_h_chat_open=160

; Anchor point
server_message_anchor=top_right  ; top_left, top_right, center, bottom_left, bottom_right

; Font
server_message_font=small  ; smaller, small, large, console, system

; Timing (seconds)
server_slide_time_length=0    ; Animation time
server_time_up=5.0            ; Display duration
server_fade_out_time=1.0      ; Fade out duration

; Line spacing
server_line_height=1.1

; Hide when console visible
server_message_hide_on_console=0

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Chat Messages

Configure player chat appearance: 
[custom_chat]

; Free-for-all color (RGBA, 0-1 intensity)
chat_message_color_ffa_a=0.85
chat_message_color_ffa_r=0.85
chat_message_color_ffa_g=1.0
chat_message_color_ffa_b=0.85

; Red team color
chat_message_color_red_a=0.85
chat_message_color_red_r=1.0
chat_message_color_red_g=0.85
chat_message_color_red_b=0.85

; Blue team color
chat_message_color_blue_a=0.85
chat_message_color_blue_r=0.85
chat_message_color_blue_g=0.85
chat_message_color_blue_b=1.0

; Position (HUD pixels)
chat_message_x=8
chat_message_y=38

; Dimensions (HUD pixels)  
chat_message_w=612
chat_message_h=300
chat_message_h_chat_open=300

; Anchor point
chat_message_anchor=top_left

; Font
chat_message_font=small

; Timing (seconds)
chat_slide_time_length=0.25   ; Animation time
chat_time_up=5.0              ; Display duration
chat_fade_out_time=1.0        ; Fade out duration

; Line spacing
chat_line_height=1.1

; Hide when console visible
chat_message_hide_on_console=1

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Chat Input

Customize the chat input box: 
[custom_chat]

; Input color (RGBA, 0-1 intensity)
chat_input_color_a=1.0
chat_input_color_r=1.0
chat_input_color_g=1.0
chat_input_color_b=1.0

; Position (HUD pixels)
chat_input_x=8
chat_input_y=338

; Width (HUD pixels)
chat_input_w=612

; Anchor point
chat_input_anchor=top_left

; Font
chat_input_font=small

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Console Commands

Chat-related console commands:

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Block Server IPs

Hide server IPs from chat (useful for streamers): 
chimera_chat_block_ips true
Streamers: Enable this to prevent viewers from seeing which server you’re on.

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Block Server Messages

Block all messages from the server: 
chimera_chat_block_server_messages true
RCON responses will still appear in console, not chat.

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Send Chat Message

Programmatically send chat messages: 
chimera_send_chat_message <channel> <message>
Channels:
  • 0 - All chat
  • 1 - Team chat
  • 2 - Vehicle chat
  • Other channels may be used by mods
Examples: 
# Send to all chat
chimera_send_chat_message 0 "Hello everyone!"

# Send to team chat
chimera_send_chat_message 1 "Attack the base!"

# Send to vehicle chat
chimera_send_chat_message 2 "I'm driving"

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Color Help

Display available chat colors: 
chimera_chat_color_help
Shows all color codes and examples.

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Custom Console

Related feature - custom console with improvements: 
[custom_console]

; Enable custom console
enabled=1

; Enable scrollback with page up/down
enable_scrollback=1

; Buffer size (lines)
buffer_size=10000
buffer_size_soft=256  ; Soft limit before cleanup

; Appearance
line_height=1.1
x_margin=10

; Fade timing (seconds)
fade_start=3.0
fade_time=0.75

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Console Prompt Color

Customize console input color: 
chimera_console_prompt_color <red> <green> <blue>
Example: 
# Green prompt
chimera_console_prompt_color 0 1 0

# Cyan prompt  
chimera_console_prompt_color 0 1 1

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Font Customization

Chat can use any of Chimera’s fonts: Available fonts:
  • smaller - Smallest font
  • small - Default small font
  • large - Large font
  • console - Monospace console font (Hack Bold)
  • system - System font (Interstate Bold)
Font override in chimera.ini: 
[font_override]
enabled=1

; Customize each font size/family
small_font_family=Interstate-Bold
small_font_size=15
small_font_weight=400
See the Font Override section for complete font customization options.

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Animation and Timing

Control how messages appear and disappear:
Messages can slide in when appearing:
chat_slide_time_length=0.25  ; 0.25 second slide-in
server_slide_time_length=0   ; No animation (instant)
How long messages stay visible:
chat_time_up=5.0        ; 5 seconds visible
server_time_up=5.0      ; 5 seconds visible
Fade out duration before disappearing:
chat_fade_out_time=1.0    ; 1 second fade
server_fade_out_time=1.0  ; 1 second fade

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Layout Examples

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Default Layout

┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│  Chat messages (top-left)       │
│                                  │
│                                  │
│                                  │
│                                  │
│                Server messages ──┤ (top-right)
│                                  │
│                                  │
│                                  │
│                                  │
│                                  │
│  Chat input (bottom)             │
└─────────────────────────────────┘

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Custom Layout

You can position elements anywhere: 
; Bottom-left chat
chat_message_anchor=bottom_left
chat_message_x=10
chat_message_y=100

; Top-center server messages
server_message_anchor=center
server_message_x=0  ; Centered
server_message_y=10

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HUD Pixel Coordinates

Coordinates are in HUD pixels:
  • Standard: 640x480 HUD space
  • Scales automatically to your resolution
  • Anchor point determines coordinate origin
Anchor points:
  • top_left - (0,0) is top-left corner
  • top_right - (0,0) is top-right corner
  • center - (0,0) is center of screen
  • bottom_left - (0,0) is bottom-left corner
  • bottom_right - (0,0) is bottom-right corner

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Technical Implementation

Location: src/chimera/halo_data/chat.cpp 
extern "C" void chat_out_asm(int channel, const wchar_t *message);

void chat_out(int channel, const wchar_t *message) {
    if(!message) {
        return;
    }
    chat_out_asm(channel, message);
}
Supports both wide-character and UTF-8 input: 
void chat_out(int channel, const char *message) {
    wchar_t message_to_send[256] = {};
    MultiByteToWideChar(CP_UTF8, 0, message, -1, 
                        message_to_send, sizeof(message_to_send));
    chat_out_asm(channel, message_to_send);
}

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Best Practices

For competitive play: Keep chat minimal and positioned away from crosshair.For streaming: Enable chimera_chat_block_ips true to hide server IPs.For recording: Customize colors to match your overlay/theme.

Font Override

Customize chat fonts

Console Commands

Chat-related commands

Hotkeys

Bind chat commands to keys

Widescreen Fix

Ensure chat scales on widescreen

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