Chat Window Setup Guide

EverQuest’s chat system supports up to 32 windows. This guide sets up 4 windows optimized for raiding with WCAG-compliant colors and timestamps.

Quick Setup (5 minutes per character)

Step 1: Create the windows

  1. Right-click any chat tab → “New Chat Window”
  2. A new empty window appears. Right-click its title → “Rename” → type Combat
  3. Right-click the original chat tab → “New Chat Window” → rename to Spam
  4. Right-click again → “New Chat Window” → rename to Alerts
  5. Rename the original tab to Social (right-click → Rename)

You now have 4 tabs/windows: Social | Combat | Spam | Alerts

Step 2: Set filters on each window

Right-click each tab → “Filters” to open the filter checkboxes.

Social (your main chat)

Enable ONLY:

  • Say, Tell, Group, Guild, Raid, OOC, Shout, Emote
  • Fellowship, Broadcast
  • Pet responses
  • Uncheck everything else

Combat (your damage and healing)

Enable ONLY:

  • Melee (yours), Spells (yours), Skills
  • Your critical hits
  • Damage taken (incoming)
  • Your heals (self and others)
  • HoT (heal over time)
  • Uncheck all “Others” categories

Spam (others’ combat — dimmed)

Enable ONLY:

  • Others’ melee, Others’ spells
  • Others’ heals, Others’ crits
  • NPC dialogue
  • System messages
  • Uncheck personal combat, social channels

Alerts (critical events — red text)

Enable ONLY:

  • Death messages
  • Loot
  • Experience gain
  • Achievement
  • Server messages
  • Faction changes
  • Uncheck all combat, all social

Step 3: Enable timestamps

Right-click each tab → “Timestamp” → select HH:MM:SS

Repeat for all 4 windows.

Step 4: Save your filter set

In chat, type:

/fsave raid

This saves your current filter configuration. To restore it later:

/fload raid

Step 5: Apply colors (automated)

Camp to character select, then:

make layout --force
make colors --force

Log back in. Your chat colors are now WCAG AA-compliant with raid-optimized contrast.

Color Reference

ChannelColorHex
TellBright pink#ff80ff
GuildBright green#00e600
GroupSoft blue#82b4ff
RaidOrange#ffa500
SayGreen#28f028
ShoutSalmon#ff6464
Your meleeGold#f0c800
Your healsMint#64ffc8
Incoming damageRed#ff6464
Others’ combatDimmed gray#6e8296
DeathBRIGHT RED#ff3232
LootYellow#ffff64

Tips

  • Drag tabs between containers to reorganize
  • Resize containers by dragging edges
  • Font size: right-click → Font Size (3-5 recommended for raiding)
  • Scroll: Shift+PageUp / Shift+PageDown
  • Quick channel: right-click → “Always Chat Here” to set default
  • /chatfontsize N changes font size (1-10)
  • /loadskin default resets appearance if things break

What make layout automates

After you create the windows in-game, make layout handles:

  • Channel routing (107 channels → 4 windows)
  • HH:MM:SS timestamps on all windows
  • Tab names (Social, Combat, Spam, Alerts)
  • Font styles and highlight settings

The window creation itself must be done in-game (EQ engine limitation).

References