Just to clarify the BackendURL needs to point to a webdis server which is used for crossark chat. The URL and ClusterName must be set the same for all instances and ServerName unique.

Steam comments is not the best place to debug, but you do need the [ChatEvolved] header in GameUserSettings.ini then the settings for that server once.
I haven't seen ARK duplicating the settings like this. How are you editing the ini file? Is the server fully stopped when you edit?
Make sure that you do not have a space before the http for example.

jimbos Server PC is me as well. I had 10 maps listed on here but steam will not allow more then 1000 words. So I dropped it down to 3 each. But it is 8 maps

Should the ini be like this....

[ChatEvolved]
BackendURL=" http://xxx:xxxx"
ClusterName="xxxx"
ServerName="Aberration"
GetChatInterval=0.5
TextColor=0.5,1,1,1
EnableLogging=true
LogLevel=0
OldMsgNum=10
OldMsgMin=15

OR Like this....

[Chat Evolved]
BackendURL=" http://xxx:xxxx"
ClusterName="xxxx"
ServerName="Aberration"
GetChatInterval=0.5
TextColor=0.5,1,1,1
EnableLogging=true
LogLevel=0
OldMsgNum=10
OldMsgMin=15
<---- Without the extra [ChatEvolved]
BackendURL=" http://xxx:xxxx"
ClusterName="xxxx"
ServerName="Aberration"
GetChatInterval=0.5
TextColor=0.5,1,1,1
EnableLogging=true
LogLevel=0
OldMsgNum=10
OldMsgMin=15

Its currently making a horrible mess and throwing everything together under one name.
Please Help, I'm running 8 Cluster maps. How should those be please?
I don't even care about URL for now, just need this for my server cross chat.

Why does the ini do this upon start up

[ChatEvolved]
ClusterName=xxx
ClusterName=xxx
ClusterName=xxx
ServerName=Ragnarok
ServerName=Genesis
ServerName=TheIsland
BackendURL=" http://xxx"
BackendURL=" http://"xxx"
BackendURL=" http://xxx"
GetChatInterval=0.5
GetChatInterval=0.5
GetChatInterval=0.5
TextColor=0.5,1,1,1
TextColor=0.5,1,1,1
TextColor=0.5,1,1,1
EnableLogging=true
EnableLogging=true
EnableLogging=true
LogLevel=0
LogLevel=0
LogLevel=0
OldMsgNum=10
OldMsgNum=10
OldMsgNum=10
OldMsgMin=15
OldMsgMin=15
OldMsgMin=15
Level=0
Level=0
Level=0

Hey, that is for the webdis url. To enable crossark chat the mod uses this as a backend.

from description: Server admin can set up a webdis[webd.is] backend for cross-ark chat support by specifying the URL in settings. No configuration needed on backend side.

What is the backendURL for? Is that the server ip for that server you install the mod or a server ip for another server for cross ark?

alguna ayuda para ahora actualizada? alguien que me pase discord porfavor

thanks @steven your the best. and also if you want to build some mods for me for some $ just let me know.. i have some mods you can take a look at and tell me if you want to try build it for me.

absolute legend. I'm interested in the discord bot as well.

I do have a self-hostable Discord bot that interfaces with the webdis to get global chat to Discord and back, I will see if I have time this week to write up a guide for that.
As for video guides that's not something I had planned and not sure if I will have time to do so.
Feel free to ask questions if you're stuck though.

could you make a video on how install this and use this step by step? um using the ark server manager program to run my server for all people to play on. this mod would be so awesome to have 2-5 servers communicate

im trying to find a mod that sends the global chats into discord. im not the brightest so idk if this mod works for that

Thank you @Steven for helping us get cross chat working! You are one of the FEW modders out there WILLING to help people see it through, and you go above and beyond to try and help people! You rock! Make more mods!! People will support you I promise!

yw, will fix it in the mod when I have time, but for now I will add it to description and guide.

@Steven thanks for your help today at figuring out our cluster didn't like the / at the end of the BackendURL

Correct, just one ServerName line per ark server. I'll see if I can make it more clear in the instructions :)

Only way mod would re-write the config is if there is a serious issue with the config and ARK itself (not the mod) removed it.
Mods can not change existing ini entries (at least not that I have seen).
However let's make a thread to continue this conversation or you can add me on Discord if you have that StevenB#9246

Once I got everything configured the way I thought I needed to it seemed like it was working except I had a problem similar to one of the discussion posts where it would crash because of the server name. After I fixed that I also tried changing all the colors in the GameUserSettings but every time the mods are loaded it rewrites the [ChatEvolved] section including the color codes in the GameUserSettings and there's no communication between servers. Any idea what could be going wrong? Also the [ChatEvolved] section for server12 is completely incorrect and doesn't look anything like it should because I tried to set it up before I knew what I was doing.

Hi, there is a guide in the discussions for how to set up webdis in docker

I am hosting a cluster from a windows server machine in my own home using ASM. This looks like something I'd love to use but I'm not sure how to install/setup a webdis? Do you have any sort of walkthrough on how to do something like this? I'm not too familiar with things like that. thanks!

I didn't get time to look much into it this weekend, but at least got the kit up and running so I can take a look when I do have some time off.

Thanks Steven, we love the mod! I hope it's a simple task. Having it as an option or just passing through means your mod will work with all of the custom plugin commands out there too, so if you can do it I hope it means lots more mod users too!

That should be possible, but I currently don't have much time to work on mods. I will try to open the kit next weekend and see what I can do.
Will also have a look and see if I can figure out something with the invalid json error.

This is blocking slash commands (/online, etc) used in plugins. Can unrecognized commands be forwarded to the normal chat handler? We love the UI but the commands being blocked means we'll have to remove it if the plugin commands don't work.

Hey. apologize for the late reply, but I do not have a discord set up for this, but feel free to add me as friend on Steam or PM me on discord: StevenB#9246 and I'll try to help.

Every time someone tries to talk they get a windows box that says invalid json and to use quotes but my settings look ok? is there a discord or something i can join?

Hey, I reached out to you in a PM and will see if I can assist you, but just so others see it might be because you did not set up a webdis server.

Hi!
In vain I write the following in GameUserSettings.ini:
[ChatEvolved]
BackendURL=" http://127.0.0.1:7379"
ClusterName=NeoEvolved
ServerName=Gen2
GetChatInterval=0.5
TextColor=0.5,1,1,1
EnableLogging=true
LogLevel=0
OldMsgNum=10
OldMsgMin=15

no global chat!
What could be the problem?
Thank you in advance for your answer!

any open source please?

Hi, impossible to recover the ID of the MOD to install it on my servers, how to do?

it work with NITRADO?

Geiler Mod, Danke
Super für Cluster Server

maybe i am just clueless but i cannot seem to get this working with Gportal if anybody has ran this with Gportal could send me a friend request and help me out please do so been puzzled by this for awhile now

I need the ability to turn off the "/who" command.
Can you help me?

I have this working flawlessly on my Windows servers *with* plugins, for what's it worth. The caveat is that our plugins allow you to change the chat prefix. Well, except for our abandoned decay plugin (I really need to replace it, lol).

So yeah, Steven, great work on this! It even works for my admins and me now, and adding a config to change the prefix would be a boon to compatibility for sure! Keep being awesome :)

all good man, I'd love to use your chat client but it's impossible with plug ins -- otherwise it's really freakin nice, like, well done. Better than ark by far. If you "DO" Happen to get it working with Crosschat / Plugins, please let me know I'd love to use it !

Hosting exclusively on Linux thus I made this so I could keep hosting ARK on Linux, but there are some good plugins out there :)
I could take a look at a configurable key for chat commands when I have time to look at it, but can't promise when. It's a client-side only thing, but could maybe also have it overrideable by server if it's not manually set in the client config.

Plug ins work with /commands similar to your chat, I don't know what changing the root syntax of the / to something else would do in regards to plug ins, but for those who don't use plug ins this is a really cool mod. I never used to use them but I'm finding it works quite well.

It would be incompatible with mods/plugins that use chat commands that are prefixed with / yes.
I don't use plugins so I do not know how they read the command, but I would assume just reading the message as it comes in and possibly intercepting it before it's added to the chat?

I don't know how all "cross-ark chat" from server hosters/providers work, but many use rcon which include local chat or they have their own mod/plugin.

The mod does not alter how chat is sent or received (other than sending messages found to be a Global chat message to the defined webdis server in addition) so it should be compatible with most other cross-ark chat implementations.

You can however get my cross-ark chat to work by hosting a public-facing webdis server somewhere else if you are not using a dedicated root server and point my mod to that url.

Really cool Mod, but it does not work with plugins that use their own /command commands in chat.

I have plug ins that use a lot of chat commands and this is incompatible :( it also is incompatible with any Cross-ark chat from a server hoster.

Hey, you would need to set up a webdis server and point BackendURL to that webdis server for all your instances.
From mod description: "Server admin can set up a webdis[webd.is] backend for cross-ark chat support by specifying the URL in settings."
There is also a discussion for how to set up a docker container for webdis (which includes redis) here: https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/discussion/1551199162/3053986162858106370

[ChatEvolved]
BackendURL=""
ClusterName="ARK-OMEGA"
ServerName="CRYSTAL"
GetChatInterval=0.5
TextColor=0.5,1,1,1
EnableLogging=true
LogLevel=0
OldMsgNum=10
OldMsgMin=15

what im doing wrong?

Thanks for the kind words!
Yeah the docker does use a bit of RAM, but also likely the easiest way to set it up :)
There are ways to get docker to use less memory if it becomes an issue, webdis container itself doesn't need much at all.

Hi mate - I want to thankyou for making this. I've tried three different ways to get cross-ark chat across my small 4 map cluster, each one either didn't work or had the ugly yellow text and chat box problems. The docker was simple to put in for windows and although it uses about 2.5GB extra of already limited RAM, the results are clearly worth it - cheers mate :)

That's good to hear! and thanks for the kind words :)

Dear Steven,
Ssince you asked for some feedback for the latest update (09.09.2021):
Everything works perfect! Empty buff-icon is gone/vanished. OldMsgNum and OldMsgMin working as intended. Very nice and very high quality update! Thank you a lot for providing such a great mod! Tested on a 8-Server linux dedicated cluster.
--:: Must Have Mod! ::--

Runs without problems on our Linux root .. Thanks for the mod :)

There is a guide on how to set up webdis in the pinned discussions, take a look at that and feel free to ask if you have further questions. :)

Hey Steven, I´m thinking of adding this mod to my cluster to link the chat together, as i understand that this mod is exactly for that. However, could you by any chance make a detailed guide, how to actually set it up?