Colored In-Game Text 2020

[SpartanKiller13]

Posting a guide for all my guildies who asked how to write in colors. Figured some of y'all might appreciate it as well. Modernized and with pictures, but full credit to this guide by ClintNess. Also posting to avoid necro etc lol.

Step 1:
Use the following in DDO

/ui layout save name

UI layout allows you to save your hotbar setups etc so you should be doing this anyway. It'll tell you where that file gets saved in general chat, or you can search your computer for it. Right-click and open it with Notepad:


Step 2:
It'll come in with a bunch of UI stuff, but what you care about for this guide is the Alias section; the top part will look about like the following:


Step 3:
Add Aliases!

Here's what the top of mine looks like:


And here's that in code format:

  <Aliases>
    <Alias String=";b" Value="/p ;green AFK bio"/>
    <Alias String=";gm" Value="/g ;babyblue SUN 8pm KT x2. TUE 8pm PN x2. FRI 8 pm RL/Lshroud or DOJ/LTS/LShroud. SAT 1 PM LHOX, PN, LShroud, TH. All Times ET (US) :)"/>
    <Alias String=";pw" Value="/g ;gold Please wait for Fal to make raid announcements. Asking will not make it go faster :)"/>
    <Alias String=";t" Value="/p ;red TRAP!"/>
    <Alias String=";w" Value="/g ;green Welcome! Buffs on airship, scheduled stuff in guild message :)"/>

    <Alias String=";babyblue" Value="&lt;rgb=#66CCFF>"/>
    <Alias String=";black" Value="&lt;rgb=#000000>"/>
    <Alias String=";blue" Value="&lt;rgb=#0000FF>"/>
    <Alias String=";darkgrey" Value="&lt;rgb=#666666>"/>
    <Alias String=";gold" Value="&lt;rgb=#FFD700>"/>
    <Alias String=";green" Value="&lt;rgb=#00FF00>"/>
    <Alias String=";grey" Value="&lt;rgb=#999999>"/>
    <Alias String=";hotpink" Value="&lt;rgb=#FF0099>"/>
    <Alias String=";lblue" Value="&lt;rgb=#66CCFF>"/>
    <Alias String=";lgreen" Value="&lt;rgb=#99FF99>"/>
    <Alias String=";limegreen" Value="&lt;rgb=#99FF99>"/>
    <Alias String=";pink" Value="&lt;rgb=#FF99CC>"/>
    <Alias String=";purple" Value="&lt;rgb=#800080>"/>
    <Alias String=";red" Value="&lt;rgb=#FF0000>"/>
    <Alias String=";seagreen" Value="&lt;rgb=#339999>"/>
    <Alias String=";sgreen" Value="&lt;rgb=#339999>"/>
    <Alias String=";white" Value="&lt;rgb=#FFFFFF>"/>
    <Alias String=";yellow" Value="&lt;rgb=#FFFF00>"/>
  </Aliases>

It's pretty easy to add more! Be aware of where they're going; Aliases default to general chat, so you'll usually want to use /p for party, or /g for guild, etc. I have phrases at the top, and general colors below

Remember to save your layout afterwards! I had a guildy have an issue with their editor saving as an .XML automatically, so if you're having trouble that might be it.

Step 4:
In DDO, use

/ui layout load name

and you'll get a bunch of notifications in general chat (about aliases being added, what layout you loaded, etc).

Step 5:
Try it out! To use an alias, you just type like:

/p ;red This is red chat that will show up in party chat!

and you'll get a result like:


Or drop ;gm in any chat to post my guild's raiding schedule in your guild chat:


-----

Originally you could do this directly from the client via the Alias command, but in U14 when it became possible to save UI layouts etc that command was removed.

Here's Cordovan's comment on the previously linked guide, which I'll take as an easy statement that this isn't "breaking the rules" or "hacking" or "against ToS" etc lol.

This thread from 2010 includes a lot of cool stuff, but it predates the U14 update and most of it is probably out-of-date. Very good for color references if nothing else

There's a lot more cool features, but I'm pretty much a novice at this so I'll leave that to more advanced people. Hope this brightens your day, if not your chat log

Edit: note that you can do stuff against the rules using colored text. Don't impersonate a GM/dev/world announcement/whatever for any reason, colored text or not.

[HastyPudding]

These secrets....thou must now be hunted and slain for releasing them.

[Cordovan]

This is not against the rules, although the way it is used could well be. Just a reminder that we take someone using text coloring to try to pass of as a GM very seriously, even if it is meant as a joke between guildies.

[SpartanKiller13]

This is not against the rules, although the way it is used could well be. Just a reminder that we take someone using text coloring to try to pass of as a GM very seriously, even if it is meant as a joke between guildies.

Thanks for the confirmation!

I have ;gm there as a shortcut for Guild Message lol; maybe I should change that. In no way am I attempting to pass off as a GM.

Anyone trying to pass off as a GM has more problems than just colored text though IMO.

These secrets....thou must now be hunted and slain for releasing them.

If it was more common knowledge I probably wouldn't have posted a guide, but I've seen colored text from like two people in my ~7 years of DDO lol. That's a little too exclusive for my tastes.

[Alrik_Fassbauer]

I think this could be a nice way for the story players to make DM texts more visible.

[SpartanKiller13]

I think this could be a nice way for the story players to make DM texts more visible.

You can just change your own chat colors in your UI settings? No need to use aliases etc; aliases allow you to write text that's colored for other people.

Unless you're meaning players adding additional text flavored as DM text?

[Alrik_Fassbauer]

Yes, I vaguely remember that the UI settings allow to change text colours ... I've never used it, I think, this far.

[TitusOvid]

Keep in mind that they limited the characters last year.

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...nces?p=6204938

Cheers,
Titus.

[Myranna]

You can just change your own chat colors in your UI settings? No need to use aliases etc; aliases allow you to write text that's colored for other people.

Unless you're meaning players adding additional text flavored as DM text?

You can change YOUR colors (aka, what you see) in the UI settings, the aliases let you set the outgoing colors, aka what others see.

[Myranna]

Yes, I vaguely remember that the UI settings allow to change text colours ... I've never used it, I think, this far.

I almost always change the color for mini-bosses, since it's just too close to the red for bosses. making them light blue makes it much easier to see which ones can be hurled and which ones can't