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Chat Patches Guide: Chat Box Size, Drafting, Search, Context Menu, and Duplicate Counters

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Chat Patches is a client-side mod that expands how the chat box looks and behaves, from its dimensions and message cap to drafting, searching, right-click actions, duplicate counters, and playername formatting. Everything below is configured through the mod's own interface rather than through crafting or items.

Chat Box Size and Message Limits

Three settings control the physical chat interface and how much it retains.

  • chatWidth sets how wide the chat box is. It replaces the default width and permits a substantially wider box. A value of 0 leaves the default in place instead of overriding it.
  • chatHeight sets the height of the chat box while it is focused. It also overrides the default and allows a taller box, and 0 means the default is used unchanged.
  • chatMaxMessages sets the largest number of chat messages kept. The unmodified game stops at 100; this mod raises the ceiling to 32,767. More stored messages means more memory used.

Shifting the Chat Interface

  • chatShift moves the chat interface by the amount you provide. Negative values move it down. The default is 0 while dynamic shifting is on; to match unmodified behavior, turn dynamic shifting off.
  • dynamicChatShift makes the shift respond to your armor and health. With it off, the chat is moved only by the constant value above.

Drafting

  • messageDrafting keeps whatever you typed in the chat field after the chat is closed, so it is still there when you reopen it. Turning this on stores every draft, which overrides the invasive-only setting below.
  • onlyInvasiveDrafting limits persistence to cases where the chat closes unexpectedly, such as changing dimension or dying. On 1.21.9 and later this is handled natively by the vanilla "Save Unsent Chats" setting, so this option no longer does anything and should be configured there.
  • searchDrafting keeps text in the search field after the chat is closed and reopened.
  • The search button can be shown or hidden. Hiding it disables all search functionality as well.
  • caseSensitive makes a query match only text with identical capitalization. Without it, "abc" matches "abc", "Abc", and "ABC"; with it, only "abc" matches.
  • Regular expression mode lets the query be treated as a regex. Java regexes need a full match, so add "^.*" at the start and ".*$" at the end. The config's help section covers regex usage and testing.
  • searchPrefix filters sent-history messages that share the prefix behind your cursor, speeding up autocompletion of earlier messages beginning with the same string. The unmodified game disables this and uses only immediate history.

Context Menu

  • contextMenu shows a menu when you right-click a chat message, enabling copying messages, replying, and more.
  • contextReplyFormat defines the text placed into the chat box after choosing Reply in that menu. It needs '$' where the sender's name goes.
  • contextOutlineColor colors the selection box drawn around a message after you right-click it.
  • contextDeletionWarning controls whether a confirmation screen appears before deleting a message; a deleted message cannot be brought back.
  • contextDeletionSizzle controls whether a lava sizzle sound plays after a deletion.

Duplicate Message Counter

  • The duplicate counter shows a marker after messages when several copies were sent. It must be on for the CompactChat options to function.
  • counterFormat is the text appended to a message to mark duplicates. It needs '$' for the duplicate count and accepts '&' formatting codes. It still applies when the CompactChat method is active.
  • counterColor fills the unformatted areas of the counter, and '&r' in the decoration text lets other formatting codes work alongside it. It still applies with the CompactChat method.
  • counterCheckStyle makes the counter compare formatting codes when detecting duplicates. For instance, two differently formatted "abc" entries would not count as duplicates when this is on. It still applies with the CompactChat method.
  • The CompactChat method toggle makes the counter behave like the CompactChat mod, checking the number of messages given below for duplicates.
  • compactDistance is the inclusive distance messages are compacted across. A value of 0 attempts the maximum number of visible lines.

Playername Formatting

  • A toggle controls whether playernames are modified in chat messages. Turning it off restores the vanilla appearance and disables the two options below. Disable it if other plugins also alter playernames in chat.
  • nameFormat is the text that takes the place of the playername in vanilla chat messages. It needs '$' for the name, so vanilla's pattern is '<$>'.
  • nameColor fills the unformatted areas of the resulting playername, and '&r' in the decoration text allows other formatting codes to be combined with it.