Wide Chatbox Compatibility Issues

[zhal07]

The new Wide Chatbox option works great functionally and has definitely solved the issue of the bottom portion of my screen being hidden when the chatbox is open. This was a much-needed feature and has greatly improved usability of the plugin!

However, there are compatibility issues when using it the Transparent Chatbox setting enabled. Additionally, resource packs that include custom backgrounds for chat buttons display the static background instead of the custom ones.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Enable the Wide Chatbox setting in the plugin.
2. Enable one of the following (both exhibit similar issues, which do not occur when Wide Chatbox is disabled):
   • Go to RS settings > All Settings > Interfaces, and enable Transparent Chatbox.
   • Enable a resource pack with a custom background for the chat buttons.

Observed behavior:

1. Transparent Chatbox does not render properly when the Wide Chatbox setting is enabled. It works as intended when Wide Chatbox is disabled.
2. Custom chat button backgrounds from resource packs are replaced with the static background instead of displaying correctly. The custom backgrounds are displayed normally when Wide Chatbox is disabled.

Expected behavior:

1. Transparent Chatbox should display as intended when the Wide Chatbox setting is enabled.
2. Chat button backgrounds from resource packs should not be replaced by the default static background.

[Lapask]

I noticed a bug with the transparent inventory, I never thought to test it with the transparent chatbox.

The issue with solving the transparent chatbox issue is that there needs to be some type of completely opaque element underneath the chatbox, because the runelite api does not allow for camera repositioning, so the only way to get around that is to shrink the height of the viewport when the chatbox is open. Otherwise, there will be a big black render bug underneath the transparent text box.

As far as dealing with compatibility with resource packs, it may be possible to achieve in the future, but I'd need a widget-based solution. I'm currently using an overlay based solution as it prevents a couple of bugs.

If I were to implement a widget-based solution (like how the resource packs render their sprites), it would stretch/warp the background of the chat, making the edges look really wide. The plugin currently splits the chatbox background into 3 columns, the left border, the middle (which gets stretched to fit the width), and the right border. I may be able to get around this, but it would require a rework of the current system pretty dramatically.

I'll think about a solution for these options as I know it's important to get the wide chatbox running smoothly. There are also a couple of other bugs with it I want to work out with it too. I can't give a timeline but i'm looking into it for sure.

[fuzxi]

As a workaround, the Resizable Chat plugin seems to be fully compatible, though it does have a longstanding issue that causes the chatbox to jitter when changing tabs with the mouse and equipping items.

[zhal07]

That's awesome! Thanks for continuing to support the plugin. Do you know when the updated fixes will be available in RuneLite?

[Lapask]

It'd require a pretty extensive rework to the plugin to get the resource part of this issue request to work. I'm not going to get to it any time soon if i'm being honest. Essentially it'd require changing the chatbox from an overlay to an ingame widget (as described earlier). Managing widgets its much more frustrating than the overlay system, so it'd likely introduce a lot of bugs to the plugin before it'd be usable.

I'm going to keep it on this list of potential upgrades for the plugin (mainly for resource pack / interface style compatibility). However, for now i'm keeping my limited time focused on getting the plugin running smoothly with just the default style. I'm sorry I can't give a solid timeline to this.

I'm going to set this to "not planned" for now, but if I come around to finding the time to implement this i'll reopen it.

[Lapask]

Most recent update should resolve the issues! Will be live once approved.
runelite/plugin-hub#7539