Say-line shortcodes

"Two brackets saved my career. Forgetting them ended someone else's." — Comms Officer Ilun Rask
Verified

A shortcode is a marker you type at the front of a chat line to send it down a different channel.

Shortcodes work only on a line sent as chat. In the console the slash forms run as ordinary commands with the same result. The bare markers ((, ** and ^k mean nothing there.

What it does

Switching channel normally means opening the console and typing a command. Shortcodes let you stay in the chat box, which matters when a scene is moving quickly. Every shortcode maps onto a channel described in chat channels.

Using it

Press your chat key, type the marker, then your line. The game strips the marker and sends the rest down that channel, wrapped in the channel's own formatting.

The server tests the markers in a fixed order and stops at the first match. Order matters when 2 markers could both apply to the same line.

Commands

These are the 10 markers, in the order the server tests them.

Order Type this Where the line goes
1 (( <message> )) out of character
2 /ooc <message> out of character
3 /cs <message> a centred announcement, admins only
4 /me <action> an action
5 /whisper <message> whisper
6 ^k <message> whisper
7 /shout <message> shout
8 ** <message> shout
9 /reply <message> your last comlink caller
10 /r <message> your last comlink caller

After all 10, the server checks your myNPC slots, so /vess hello speaks as your companion.

Going out of character

Type (( in front of your line and it goes out exactly as /ooc sends it. The finished line is shown under talking out of character on chat channels.

The closing )) is optional. Type it if you prefer, and the server removes the duplicate before adding its own.

Shouting

Type ** in front of your line and it goes out exactly as /shout sends it. The finished line is shown under shouting on chat channels.

Whispering

^k is a whisper marker as well as a colour code. Type ^k followed by your line and it whispers, exactly as /whisper does.

Where /cs goes wrong

/cs sends a large announcement across the middle of everyone's screen, and it is restricted to admins. The server tests it third, before /me and before every whisper and shout marker, so a slip while typing another marker can land on it.

If you are not an admin, the /cs step silently does nothing and your line carries on down the list. Nothing below matches it, and no myNPC slot can be named cs, so what happens next depends on one server setting.

That is the default. On a server that has turned sf_blockslashchat off, the same line is said out loud instead, with the marker still attached, so the room reads /cs meet me at dawn.

Every other slash line that matches no marker and no myNPC slot gets the same treatment, so a mistyped command is never broadcast.

Settings

Server-side. Swallows any leftover chat line starting with a slash instead of broadcasting it. Defaults to 1.

Things to note

Things that catch people out:

  • A marker with nothing after it is not a shortcode. A bare (( is said out loud as ordinary text.
  • /ooc needs a space and a message. On its own it matches nothing and is swallowed as a mistyped command.
  • The server tests /cs before /me and every whisper and shout marker. A non-admin who lands on it loses the line on a default server.
  • /reply and /r beat your myNPC slots. Both names are reserved, so no companion can be called reply or r.
  • Account commands never reach chat. /login and /account are swallowed even wrapped in ((, ** or ^k, and the game tells you to use the console or ESC menu instead.
  • The team chat key runs no shortcodes by default. Turn on sf_mergeteamsay, listed under settings on chat channels, to give it the same marker list.

Next

  • Chat channels: what each channel is, who hears it and the exact line it prints
  • myNPC: give a companion character its own slash marker
  • Comlink: where /reply and /r send your line