0003093: Some ASCII characters are invisible in chat

Notes
(0017320) DrinkyBird (developer) 2017-04-25 14:29	This because the font does not support those characters. I'm pretty sure Zandronum can do nothing about this.

(0017330) ibm5155 (reporter) 2017-04-25 23:28	in the { } case it could replace it by ( )

(0017341) Korshun (reporter) 2017-04-26 10:38	It could provide the missing letters in zandronum.pk3, just like pistol sprite and BIGFONT. Or it could at least not allow to type letters which are missing from SMALLFONT. Right now, players can spam chat messages that look completely empty, but actually use the characters above, while messages consisting only of spaces cannot be sent.

(0017351) Kaminsky (developer) 2017-04-26 23:59	I think it would be best to just leave the missing fonts as they currently are. I know that WhoDunIt uses the '`' character for (almost) all the obituaries so they appear invisible in chat, as there's no image lump for that particular character. There might be other mods that use the same trick, so adding support for those characters could potentially alter messages that certain mods had intended to appear invisible. Also, this issue would probably concern (G)ZDoom more than it concerns Zandronum because all those ports use the same font with the same missing characters.

(0017365) Korshun (reporter) 2017-04-27 14:55 edited on: 2017-04-27 15:05	WDI does this in DEHACKED: [STRINGS] OB_FRIENDLY1 = ` OB_FRIENDLY2 = ` OB_FRIENDLY3 = ` OB_FRIENDLY4 = ` OB_SUICIDE = ` OB_DEFAULT = ` OB_FALLING = ` And this results in an empty line in chat log (that uses SMALLFONT) and a ` in console. Instead, it could have done this in LANGUAGE: [enu default] OB_FRIENDLY1 = ""; OB_FRIENDLY2 = ""; OB_FRIENDLY3 = ""; OB_FRIENDLY4 = ""; OB_SUICIDE = ""; OB_DEFAULT = ""; OB_FALLING = ""; and it would result in the same empty line in chat log but no ` in console. Requested a feature to do it without hacks:'https://zandronum.com/tracker/view.php?id=3096 [^]'

(0017366) Korshun (reporter) 2017-04-27 15:08 edited on: 2017-04-29 17:43	So here are the options: 1. Leave it as it is. 2. Disallow typing characters in chat that are not present in SMALLFONT. 3. Add new characters and fix mods. 4. Add new characters and treat obituaries consisting of only `~\|{} as disabled. 5. Add new characters and treat DEHACKED obituaries consisting of only `~\|{} as disabled.

(0017367) Fused (reporter) 2017-04-27 16:23	Quote I think it would be best to just leave the missing fonts as they currently are. I know that WhoDunIt uses the '`' character for (almost) all the obituaries so they appear invisible in chat, as there's no image lump for that particular character. There might be other mods that use the same trick, so adding support for those characters could potentially alter messages that certain mods had intended to appear invisible. This is unintended behaviour, and it shouln't be a reason for a feature to not pass. The best thing that can be done for this is to have a feature to disable obituaries, as seen in the ticket linked above. It shouln't be hard to patch WDI and similar mods afterwards.

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Supporters:	Korshun Fused KirovNoir JC Tenton
Opponents:	No one explicitly opposes this issue yet.

Issue History
Date Modified	Username	Field	Change
2017-04-25 11:15	Korshun	New Issue
2017-04-25 14:29	DrinkyBird	Note Added: 0017320
2017-04-25 23:28	ibm5155	Note Added: 0017330
2017-04-26 10:38	Korshun	Note Added: 0017341
2017-04-26 23:59	Kaminsky	Note Added: 0017351
2017-04-27 14:55	Korshun	Note Added: 0017365
2017-04-27 15:00	Korshun	Note Edited: 0017365	View Revisions
2017-04-27 15:05	Korshun	Note Edited: 0017365	View Revisions
2017-04-27 15:08	Korshun	Note Added: 0017366
2017-04-27 16:23	Fused	Note Added: 0017367
2017-04-29 17:43	Korshun	Note Edited: 0017366	View Revisions

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