From here, 4 years ago:

 

Hello,

 

I'm Cory Kolek, also a UI programmer here at Bioware Austin. I originally implemented the UI Customization feature, and I'm always looking for ways to improve it. I just finished adding the option to change the scale of your buffs and debuffs within the operation, party, player, and target frames. This change has recently entered testing, so look forward to it in a future Game Update!

 

Thank you very much for the update and actually giving us some background information. It's very much appreciated. The technical background even more so, as nobody has ever told us what exactly had been going on.

I remember the chat bubbles from beta and they weren't causing much of a performance problem for me. Then again, I had a video card with 3GB of memory back then and 12GB of system RAM and my second PC had a video card with 2GB video RAM and 8GB RAM (my current GTX 680 video cards both have 4GB and I have 32GB system RAM, not that it matters for a 32 bit application - when's the promised native 64 bit client coming anyway?). so memory wasn't much of an issue for my beta test systems.

 

I don't have much else to say on the topic than what was already said in that thread.

 

I can get a bit more technical on the topic though. As it was said before chat bubbles were a huge performance hit on the game when we had initially implemented them in beta. We're talking upwards of 400Mbs of video memory used on chat bubbles alone. Nameplates had the same issue. We fixed nameplates but have not had time to do the same with chat bubbles. If you played in beta and saw our initial implementation of them they weren't very pretty or as fully featured as we'd like them to be. So, yes, we would like to implement them again, but when we do we want to do it right.

 

And the now disabled .ini tweaks

 

The following can be added to youraccountname_Account.ini in C:\Users\USER\AppData\Local\SWTOR\retailclient\

 

If chat bubbles are not in during Early Access you should be able to force them.

Social_UseOverheadChat = true

Social_ChatOverSelf = true

 

BTW Chat Bubbles are already in game:

 

• Pic #1
  
• Pic #2
  
• Pic #3
  

 

"Just" need to replace the dots with text.

Edited October 15, 2016 by Deewe

I just thought I'd mention, that /tell and /whisper could also go to Chat Bubbles. These particular Chat Bubbles would obviously only be shown to the exact character that you sent the /tell or /whisper to.

 

This would enable two players to initiate a private Chat Bubble session completely spontaneously, and it would also allow a player to find a person in a crowd, if they just sent a /tell or a /whisper. In fact, sending a /tell or /whisper would become a common way of finding each other when meeting in an area of Fleet!

 

It would also be nice if clicking a person's Chat Bubble made that player the currently selected player. That would facilitate player-to-player interaction quite a bit.

The harmonious way to enable Chat Bubbles would be for the Preferences to have TWO checkboxes for enabling them. The two checkboxes would be:

 

. . . . Enable public chat bubbles . (for /say, /yell, /emote)

. . . . Enable private chat bubbles . (for /tell, /whisper)

 

The text of chat bubbles for "public" chat bubbles should be in the same color as general chat... and the text of private chat bubbles should be in the same color as the chat console's private messages. This way you could easily find friends in a crowded area by sending a few /tell messages back and forth because only the two of you will see each other's private chat bubbles.

 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ___________________

 

I also wonder if it might be a good style for the display of chat bubbles, to have a small, possibly animated reticle at the feet of anyone who's just been speaking in a Chat Bubble, for as long as any Chat Bubbles remain over their head. That would only be when out-of-combat to avoid confusion.

 

.

Still waiting on this option. I'm all for people being able to turn them off, sure. But, yeah... look at that view count, now back to me, now back to that page count, now back to me. Sadly, this request isn't me, because I'm in game and this is not...

But it should be.

Just sayin'.

And yet, we've somehow managed to survive for 5 years without them. Let's celebrate that.

I think that group chat should be chat bubble enabled at the least. Seems to me that group chat would limit the impact on the server substantially, considering it only appears for group members.

I'm all for people being able to turn them off, sure.

No, a thousand times NO!

 

People should be able to turn them *ON*.

 

(By which I mean "off by default" is the way to go.)

No, a thousand times NO!

 

People should be able to turn them *ON*.

 

(By which I mean "off by default" is the way to go.)

 

Sheesh, toe-mar-toe, toe-may-toe. Fine, whatever. It's not like we have a 'Save Preferences' button in this game or anything

I would like to see chat bubble in game, to be off by default, but that we can turn them on if we want.

I just came back to the ******* game to see how it is now expecting ******* chat bubbles are finally in game. Spent hours to try find the ******* option to turn chat bubbles on, but no dice! Then some one in game told me that there are still no ******* chat bubbles and I need to go to the *********** ******* forum thread http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=415849 to tell ******* Bioware that we want them and to ******* make them already, so here I am! I'm ******* shocked that still no bubbles after reading all the ******* promises etc. from Bioware devs in the main thread!

 

Mostly this, because ******* Bioware knows how to fix and make them but are just too ******* lazy to do so or don't ******* care. Just look at what their own UI designer Cory Kolek that ******* worked on chat bubbles during beta had to say about it:

I can get a bit more technical on the topic though. As it was said before chat bubbles were a huge performance hit on the game when we had initially implemented them in beta. We're talking upwards of 400Mbs of video memory used on chat bubbles alone. Nameplates had the same issue. We fixed nameplates but have not had time to do the same with chat bubbles. If you played in beta and saw our initial implementation of them they weren't very pretty or as fully featured as we'd like them to be. So, yes, we would like to implement them again, but when we do we want to do it right.

Can we plz get ******* chat bubbles now? 400Mbs of ******* video memory was a problem five years ago when SWTOR launched as most video cardz had ******* 256Mbs, 512MBs or 768Mbs of vid memory, but now every ****** PC with lowest-end garbage onboard video cards have ******* 2Gbs of video memory or more. Many have ******* 4Gbs video card memory, some 6GB, 8GB in mid-range or ******* 12GB like Titan X! Even without fix chat bubbles taking 400Mbs is no ******* problem for today's cards. Simply add the ******* option to turn chat bubbles from beta on so those people with modern vid cardz can enjoy communication with friends!

I miss ******* chat bubbles. The ******* game world seems so ******* dead with everyone just running around without appearing to say ******* anything. You say hello to person standing in ******* front of you and they don't ******* see cuz of stupid chat box and no bubbles appear in the ******* 3D game world. Some respond minutes later when you are gone. It's boring like single player game. Chat bubbles are standard in MMORPG since ******* 2003 (Star Wars Galaxy!) why modern game no more having?!

Sorry for my ******* language, but I'm ******* ****** and had to vent right now. Maybe it's what it takes to finally get ******* Bioware's attention since all the nicely worded and polite requests by players over the ******* years haven't gotten us anywhere at all. I'll ******* unsubcribe and go subscribe to another ******* MMORPG that has them until we have chat bubbles here.

 

ADD ******* CHAT BUBBLES NOW BIOWARE OR WE RIOT! IT CAN'T BE SO HARD, CAN IT?!

 

NO MORE ******* EXCUSES!

Edited November 26, 2016 by CaveWaverider

CaveWaverider, look at your post....perhaps use better language skills so there is less edited words mm?

 

To the chat bubble crowd, they are not needed. Make a chat tab that only has the channels in it you actually need for RP and you won't get the general chat and crap mixed in...BAM done. You have now filtered out everything not-relevant. It is not hard and saves far more time while still keeping your screen clean.

 

Chat tabs are a thing in EVERY MMO...learn to use them.

CaveWaverider, look at your post....perhaps use better language skills so there is less edited words mm?

 

To the chat bubble crowd, they are not needed. Make a chat tab that only has the channels in it you actually need for RP and you won't get the general chat and crap mixed in...BAM done. You have now filtered out everything not-relevant. It is not hard and saves far more time while still keeping your screen clean.

 

Chat tabs are a thing in EVERY MMO...learn to use them.

 

People don't ask for chat bubble because they don't know how to use chat tab and chat options. If we want only text to RP we may as well go to discord and skype without getting to swtor at all. Your information can prove useful to people who do not know about those chat box features, but that's not what this suggestion is about.

Edited November 27, 2016 by BoySaber

I just came back to the ******* game to see how it is now expecting ******* chat bubbles are finally in game. Spent hours to try find the ******* option to turn chat bubbles on, but no dice! Then some one in game told me that there are still no ******* chat bubbles and I need to go to the *********** ******* forum thread http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=415849 to tell ******* Bioware that we want them and to ******* make them already, so here I am! I'm ******* shocked that still no bubbles after reading all the ******* promises etc. from Bioware devs in the main thread!

 

Mostly this, because ******* Bioware knows how to fix and make them but are just too ******* lazy to do so or don't ******* care. Just look at what their own UI designer Cory Kolek that ******* worked on chat bubbles during beta had to say about it:

Can we plz get ******* chat bubbles now? 400Mbs of ******* video memory was a problem five years ago when SWTOR launched as most video cardz had ******* 256Mbs, 512MBs or 768Mbs of vid memory, but now every ****** PC with lowest-end garbage onboard video cards have ******* 2Gbs of video memory or more. Many have ******* 4Gbs video card memory, some 6GB, 8GB in mid-range or ******* 12GB like Titan X! Even without fix chat bubbles taking 400Mbs is no ******* problem for today's cards. Simply add the ******* option to turn chat bubbles from beta on so those people with modern vid cardz can enjoy communication with friends!

I miss ******* chat bubbles. The ******* game world seems so ******* dead with everyone just running around without appearing to say ******* anything. You say hello to person standing in ******* front of you and they don't ******* see cuz of stupid chat box and no bubbles appear in the ******* 3D game world. Some respond minutes later when you are gone. It's boring like single player game. Chat bubbles are standard in MMORPG since ******* 2003 (Star Wars Galaxy!) why modern game no more having?!

Sorry for my ******* language, but I'm ******* ****** and had to vent right now. Maybe it's what it takes to finally get ******* Bioware's attention since all the nicely worded and polite requests by players over the ******* years haven't gotten us anywhere at all. I'll ******* unsubcribe and go subscribe to another ******* MMORPG that has them until we have chat bubbles here.

 

ADD ******* CHAT BUBBLES NOW BIOWARE OR WE RIOT! IT CAN'T BE SO HARD, CAN IT?!

 

NO MORE ******* EXCUSES!

 

Content please not unneeded gooey junk

-1 not signed

OMG chat bubbles would be a real help, especially if I could control the font size.

Signed.

/sign

 

Eye sight isn't great. Seeing stuff scrolling by isn't easy but if I see something pop over a person's head (a chat bubble), I know to focus my eyes for their name.

I've updated the top post with Information section with a summary of facts about why chat bubbles have been removed from the game and what is needed to implement them so the developers and other players can easily see them in one place.

 

Hopefully the developers will implement them soon.

Edited May 9, 2017 by Glzmo

I, MYSELF, DO NOT WANT "chat bubbles" because to ME, that BREAKS IMMERSION!!!!

 

What i CAN be "okay with" are things that the game ALREADY HAS, like when you type "/thanks" into the chat window, an AUDIO CLIP plays where the character actually DOES say (pre-generated, preset, pre-recorded) words.

 

AN IN-GAME VOICE CHAT would be FAR BETTER than "chat bubbles" and especially if you could LOCALIZE it and OPT-IN instead of "Opting out" (which means it would be OFF by default and that nobody would be FORCED into having to hear any of it, in case they themselves feel or believe that any of these things also break THEIR immersion experience too).

 

FOR ME, chat bubbles break immersion and I DO NOT WANT them!

 

But, like i said, LOCALIZED, OPT-IN ONLY VOICE would be a FAR BETTER solution.

 

And I am sure BW will NEVER implement this, because they're all CHEAP!!!!

So, then, my reply to those who love ROLEPLAY is to just GET A DANG VOICE CHAT app and then you can RP in voice instead of asking for (stupid, sorry) "chat bubbles", etc.... which MANY people DO NOT want!

 

I DO NOT WANT TO SEE CHAT BUBBLES EVERYWHERE!!!!

IT IS BAD ENOUGH we have NAMEPLATES (and yes i know they are not "forced" on us either - we can turn those off!! so we better be allowed to turn OFF chat bubbles if they are ever forced upon us).

 

--- /end_rant

They're why are you bumping up a forum thread along for chat bubbles? Why not make a different thread asking for those things instead (not bad ideas, btw. Be cool if when rping my character verbally says what I wore).

I, MYSELF, DO NOT WANT "chat bubbles" because to ME, that BREAKS IMMERSION!!!!

 

What i CAN be "okay with" are things that the game ALREADY HAS, like when you type "/thanks" into the chat window, an AUDIO CLIP plays where the character actually DOES say (pre-generated, preset, pre-recorded) words.

 

AN IN-GAME VOICE CHAT would be FAR BETTER than "chat bubbles" and especially if you could LOCALIZE it and OPT-IN instead of "Opting out" (which means it would be OFF by default and that nobody would be FORCED into having to hear any of it, in case they themselves feel or believe that any of these things also break THEIR immersion experience too).

 

FOR ME, chat bubbles break immersion and I DO NOT WANT them!

 

But, like i said, LOCALIZED, OPT-IN ONLY VOICE would be a FAR BETTER solution.

 

And I am sure BW will NEVER implement this, because they're all CHEAP!!!!

So, then, my reply to those who love ROLEPLAY is to just GET A DANG VOICE CHAT app and then you can RP in voice instead of asking for (stupid, sorry) "chat bubbles", etc.... which MANY people DO NOT want!

 

I DO NOT WANT TO SEE CHAT BUBBLES EVERYWHERE!!!!

IT IS BAD ENOUGH we have NAMEPLATES (and yes i know they are not "forced" on us either - we can turn those off!! so we better be allowed to turn OFF chat bubbles if they are ever forced upon us).

 

--- /end_rant

 

I don't see any problem...

- Add option to disable bubbles, and show /say and /shout ONLY on chat (just like now)

- Add Bubbles only on RP servers.

I don't see any problem...

- Add option to disable bubbles, and show /say and /shout ONLY on chat (just like now)

- Add Bubbles only on RP servers.

 

how many people Rp is not wirth the time. look lets be real its not going to happen . i mean they got a half arse version of weapon coming out and it may not make it in to this years game. chat bubble are not worth the time:rak_03:

Good to see the chat bubble thread is still going

Amazing this thread is still going.

 

Although I am (was) a full supporter for chat bubbles, to increase RP immersion, as well as encourage players to talk to each other face to face outside of a jambed global chat box........

 

...I do have to say, after returning after all these years, I would rather their last 2 developers spend much needed time on fixing all the outstanding quality of life issues that still plague this game. Issues even reported during beta. Its appalling to see other games built by indie devs, who can manage to fix qol issues like nothing, yet a AAA company cannot even muster any effort to clean up all manner of obvious qol issues.

 

This doesn't mean I disagree with this thread of chat bubbles, I just find it hard to believe they will ever bother at this point, and if any effort should be made, it should be towards the many problems that are existing.

Endorsed!

 

I want these too! Especially if they have a toggle option they would make for a great QoL improvement.