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MessagePlay2

Version 2.1 (2017-7-2) Release

• Welcome screen (MOTD) using mission screen.
  
• Help system using mission screen.
  
• Timed chat messages
  
• Sending notification from outside game.
  
• Macros enable live server information in MOTD and help system.
  
• Editing of motd and help text files is easy and immediately available in-game.
  
• Works in single-player mode too for testing your screens.
  
• For both major and minor SE releases.

Install MessagePlay2 and then launch the game. The mod will create a storage folder (960943569.sbm_MessagePlay2) and help.txt file.

MOTD and help files have the same format. The first line is the title. The second line is the subtitle and may be left blank for a blank subtitle. The third line to the end of the file is the MOTD or help text body.

Example:

The default 'help.txt' file is created when the mod is first run. The content of this file is shown in a mission screen when the '/help' command is used in chat. This screen can be used to list other help screens and mod help commands. Help files have the same format as MOTD files as explained above.

Additional help topics can be added by creating a text file having the name of the help topic in the mod's storage folder. For example, a file named 'newbie.txt' would be accessible by the player typing '/help newbie' in chat.

The motd.txt file is not automatically generated. It has the same format as help files. When enabled, MOTD is displayed in a mission screen when a player joins the game. The MOTD can be later viewed by typing '/motd' or '/help motd' in chat. To enable MOTD, create a file named 'motd.txt' in the mod's storage folder.

Macros are key words preceeded with an at symbol (@). When used in help and MOTD texts, they are replaced by game property values. To escape the conversion of a macro, use @@.

@PlayerID
@PlayerName
@ServerID
@AssemblerEfficiencyMultiplier
@AssemblerSpeedMultiplier
@AutoHealing
@CargoShipsEnabled
@CreativeMode
@Description
@ElapsedPlayTime
@EnvironmentHostility
@GameDateTime
@GrinderSpeedMultiplier
@HackSpeedMultiplier
@InventoryMultiplier
@MaxFloatingObjects
@MaxPlayers
@WorldName
@IsDedicated
@AutoSaveInMinutes
@RefinerySpeedMultiplier
@TimeOnBigShip
@TimeOnFoot
@TimeOnJetpack
@TimeOnSmallShip
@WeaponsEnabled
@WelderSpeedMultiplier

Timed messages are displayed in chat at a regular interval. The display of messages begins 1 minute after the server starts this mod. By default, messages are displayed consecutively every 7 minutes.

To enable timed messages, create a file in the mod's local storage folder named "!messages.txt". Note the exclaimation mark (!) preceding the file name. The exclaimation mark causes the file to be listed near the top of the folder.

Enter each message on a seperate line in the '!messages.txt' file. Empty lines and lines that begin with an astrisk (*) will be ignored. If you wish to specify a time between messages different from the default time of 7 minutes, enter it as the first line of the file. Values from 5 to 60 are allowed.

By default, messages are displayed as from 'Server'. You can change this to your preference by preceding a message line with your custom sender name and appending a semicolon (;) to it, e.g. "Space Master;".

A message can be marked to be skipped by prepending an astrisk (*) to the line. This is useful in hiding a message you may want to enable later without having to delete it.

Changes to '!messages.txt' are checked when the current message cycle times out.

Example:


Sometimes you need to send an annoucement to players in the game without logging into it. For example, you just received an update to your game client and cannot connect to the game to inform players that you want to restart the server.

To send an announcement, create a file in the mod's local storage folder named "!announcement.txt". Note the exclaimation mark (!) preceding the file name. The exclaimation mark causes the file to be listed near the top of the folder.

An announcement has the follwing format: [seconds;[color;]]message

In its simplest form, an announcement is a line of text that will be displayed for two seconds. To change the duration the message is displayed, prepend the duration in seconds followed by a semicolon (;), e.g. "10;This message will display for ten seconds." Additionally, you can specify the color of the announcement, e.g. "5;Green;This message is green and lasts five seconds." To specify color, you must also specify a duration.

After the announcement has been displayed, the '!announcement.txt' file will be deleted.

Announcements are checked for once per minute.

Valid color names are: Red, Green, Blue, White, & DarkBlue.

Examples: