wire_chatbubbles

A Expression 2 / Starfall extension to display bubbles of text on top of entities. Alternatively developers can use this to display bubbles with their own code.

Installation

1. Download the source code Code > Download Zip
2. Extract the ZIP contents wire_chatbubbles-master to your Garry's Mod addons folder
3. Enable the extension (Skip if enabled already, requires admin privileges)
   • Using the console command wire_expression2_extension_enable chatbubbles, OR;
   • Through the Extensions menu on Spawnlist > Utilities > Admin > E2 Extensions.

Expression 2 Functions

Cost	Function	Description
5	canShowChatBubbles()	Returns 1 if you can show a chat bubble, or 0 if you hit the burst limit
5	getChatBubbleBurstLimit()	Returns how many times you can call showChatBubble per second.
5	chatBubbleTextColor(nnnn)	Sets the text color to be used on the next showChatBubble call.
5	chatBubbleBackgroundColor(nnnn)	Sets the background color to be used on the next showChatBubble call.
5	chatBubbleLifetime(n)	Sets how long (in seconds) the next chat bubble will last. Clamped between 1.0 and 10.0
5	chatBubbleScale(n)	Sets the scale to apply to the next chat bubble. Clamped between 0.1 and 2.0
5	chatBubbleOffsetZ(n)	Sets the Z offset (in units) to apply to the next chat bubble. Clamped between -500.0 and 500.0
5	chatBubbleAlign(n)	(Only visible with mutiline text) Sets the text alignment of the next chat bubble. 0 - Left, 1 - Center, 2 - Right
50	entity:showChatBubble(s)	Shows a chat bubble on top of a entity.
50	showChatBubble(s)	Shows a chat bubble on top of the owner of the chip.

Expression 2 Example

@name Chat Bubbles Example

if (first()) {
    # makes the chat bubbles last longer
    chatBubbleLifetime(10)

    # makes the text dark blue and fully opaque
    chatBubbleTextColor(0, 0, 150, 255)
    
    # makes the background white and a bit transparent
    chatBubbleBackgroundColor(255, 255, 255, 150)
}

event chat(Player:entity, Text:string, _) {
    if (Player == owner()) {
        # randomly choose the scale of the next chat bubble
        chatBubbleScale(random(0.2, 2.0))

        # shows a bubble on top of this chip containing what we said
        entity():showChatBubble(Text)
    }
}

Starfall Example

--@name ChatBubblesExample
--@server

hook.add( "PlayerSay", "StarfallBubbleExample", function( _, text )

    -- lets show a red-ish chat bubble
    local params = {
        textColor = Color( 255, 200, 200, 255 ),
        backgroundColor = Color( 50, 0, 0, 200 ),
    
        lifetime = 5, -- in seconds
        scale = 2
    }

    -- Show a chat bubble on top of this chip when anyone says something
    -- The "params" table is optional.
    chatbubbles.show( chip(), text, params )

end )