Chat is handled by the default interface window on the top left of your screen.
The way these windows work is that there's a list of available things to display (let's call them data streams), you select what you want for each window.
On a fresh installation you have the chat/server window on the top left along with a bar to type in, the secondary controls (flaps,gear, etc) in blue text on the right side of your screen just like in IL2:1946, the radio chatter at the top (again just like IL2:1946) and so on. The difference is that you can customize each and every one of them, add to or subtract from what's being displayed, change the text colour and size, transparency and so on.
If you've disabled the chat window you'll have to create a new window yourself and edit the relevant data streams into it.
Enable the mouse cursor/clickable cockpit (default key is F10), right click and select create new window from the menu. Then alt-click on the window to bring it into focus, right click and select customize.
You get three columns, let's number them 1, 2 and 3 from left to right.
Column 3 is a list of what's available to display. Column 2 is what is selected for the window to display from the list in column 3. There are some arrow shaped buttons, select a data stream and click the arrow buttons to move streams between the list of available options (column 3) and the list of enabled options (column 2).
Finally, column 1 is a list of specific options for each enabled item in column 2. So, if i want to change the text size of a data stream my window is running, i click on its name in column 2 and then go to column 1 and click on text size.
Once you get your chat window up and running remember that clicking is for cockpit switches, you need to alt-click on the chatbar to bring it into focus and type your message in.
|