Pidgin install - Chat client for RSI chat

[Montoya]

Are you hardcore??!?1?

Are you ready to take it to the max?

Are you extreme??!?!

If yes, then this is what your mumble and pidgin set up will look like by the time you are done!

That's right!

FUCKEN MUMBLE+PIDGIN SIDE BY SIDE, LIKE A HAPPY FAMILY!

Not only can you hang out with the coolest kids in voice comms, but you can hang out with the lesser coolest kids right on your desktop through this XMPP client called pidgin!

What is XMPP?

RSI uses an open source instant messaging protocoll called XMPP. Being open source, you can access it in many different ways.

The client we chose to access it is called Pidgin.

It is lightweight, customizable and very easy to use.

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS FOR DUMMIES

Dowload Pidgin from : http://www.pidgin.im/download/

Once installed, Add a new account

Enter the following:

• Protocol: XMPP
  
  
• Username: Your handle (capitalisation is important) - sometimes you have to do all lower case, sometimes as it appears in the RSI system. Try both and figure out which one works for you.
  
  
• Domain: robertsspaceindustries.com
  
  
• Password: Your XMPP Token from My RSI->Settings (down the bottom). Do NOT use your website login password
  
  

• Tick Remember password
  

Click the Advanced tab

• Enter the following:
  
  
  • Connect Server: xmpp.robertsspaceindustries.com
    

Click Add

You should then get a message asking you to accept a certificated for xmpp.robertsspaceindustries.com, click Accept.

If it fails to connect, you might need to regenerate your chat token. Go to My RSI->Settings and scroll down to the bottom and press the little pencil icon by your XMPP token. It will create a new one, then go back and put that in as your password.


We are almost done!

Hang in there!

 

[Montoya]

IMPORTANT:

In your Buddy List window, go to Tools > Preferences

• Click on the “Status / Idle”
  
  
• Disable/uncheck everything that has anything to do with setting auto-idle status. Failing to do this may result in being spammed with 406 errors when your viewer tries to idle you. RSI chat has no idle feature, so having it set here causes problems.

• Then click Close

Go to Tools->Plugins

• Tick Join/Part Hiding and then click Configure Plugin.
  I set these to 20 and 0. Set them to your own preference

If you want to enable a "markerline" that shows you the last place you were in the chat before you went to a different window:
- Tick Markerline and then click Configure Plugin

Now onto setting up the channels. Under the Buddies menu you’ll see the following options:

Do this for each of the channels you want to use (eg test, backer, subscriber, concierge)

Use ‘Add Chat”, not “Join a Chat”.

Enter the following:

• Room: test (lower case)
• Server: This gets autofilled incorrectly - change it to channels.robertsspaceindustries.com
• Handle: Your handle (capitalisation is important - try it as-is in your handle. If that doesn’t work try it all lower case)
• Password: Leave this blank - it gets the password from the account it’s linked to.
• Alias: A nice name for the channel - otherwise it’ll be something ugly like [email protected] (yuck)
• Group: Whatever you want
• Autojoin: Tick if you want this channel to autoconnect as soon as you log in

Your channels/rooms will now show up in your buddy list.

If you can not open them by double-clicking, make sure that you selected "Autojoin" and then shut down your pidgin client (not just close the window, actually shut the program down), then restart it.

You should see the TEST chat room and others you chose show up automatically.

INSTALL THEMES AND GET THE TEST THEME!

Download these two files:
- GTK+ for Windows Runtime Environment
and
- gtk2_prefs file (this is an exe, dont be scared!)

The first one is a theme pack and with other stuff to make Pidgin pretty.

The second one, when unzipped is a file called gtk2_prefs.exe, which is what you use to pick the theme you want.

• Unzip these files.
• Make sure Pidgin is closed
• From the themes zip, copy the ‘lib’ and ‘share’ folders into your Pidgin_Installation_Directory>\Gtk i.e. C:\Program Files (x86)\Pidgin\Gtk
• From the prefs zip, copy the gtk2_prefs.exe file to the Pidgin_Installation_Directory>\Gtk\bin folder - i.e. C:\Program Files (x86)\Pidgin\Gtk\bin

You are doing great!

Now are going to drop the TEST theme into the directory with all the other themes!

Download it here:
- TEST theme

In that rar is a "gtkrc" file.

Go to your Pidgin\Gtk\share\themes

You should see a big list of all kinds of cool themes. The problem is they are not cool enough!

Create a directory there called TEST, then drop the gtkrc you downloaded in there! Yeah, drop that bitch right in! MMMmmmm thats nice!

Just to make it a little more clear.

Inside the 'pidgin_test_theme.rar' file is a folder named 'gtk-2.0' and inside that folder is a file called 'gtkrc'

When you create the theme folder called TEST, don't just drop the gtkrc file into there. Put the gtk-2.0 folder into the TEST theme folder. It should look something like this:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Pidgin\Gtk\share\themes\TEST\gtk-2.0\gtkrc file

At this point we are basically done, you just need to select the TEST theme.

Go to Pidgin/Gtk/bin/ and

• Run gtk2_prefs.exe, then select the TEST theme.

This is what the gtk2_prefs.exe thingy looks like:

At this point you have a pretty Pidgin theme like the one in the first post, or this:

In the future we hope to have this all done in one easy executable file, but until such time, you shall have to suffer through long tutorials like this!

I hope it works!

Let us know if you were successful!

(Thanks to Valkyrie)

 

[CitizenDad]

Make a Video please. Some of us are too ADD for these type of instructions. LOL

 

[CaptainRichard]

I require a much, much bigger version of your avatar to ogle, ZeroKool.

 

[AntiSqueaker]

LOOK MOM IM FAMOUS

 

[WarrenPeace]

Instructions unclear, bought a Gladiator.

 

[Montoya]

Instructions unclear, bought a Gladiator.

That keeps on happening!

 

[Wakapedia]

Just to make it a little more clear.

Inside the 'pidgin_test_theme.rar' file is a folder named 'gtk-2.0' and inside that folder is a file called 'gtkrc'
When you create the theme folder called TEST, don't just drop the gtkrc file into there. Put the gtk-2.0 folder into the TEST theme folder. It should look something like this:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Pidgin\Gtk\share\themes\TEST\gtk-2.0\gtkrc file

 

[Snowianth]

and more coming... i cant get even mumble working slow down ppls hahah

 

[CrashMan054]

Thanks for this guide, and thanks for the clarification, wakapedia!

One thing you might add: pidgin stays in the system tray, simply closing it doesn't actually quit the program. This may seem obvious, but I spent 5 minutes screwing with Gtk before I finally figured this out. :P

 

[Wakapedia]

Does anyone else have an issue with pidgin where the text stays black in the chat window with this theme? Can't read the black text against the dark blue background. I'm going to try restarting

 

[CrashMan054]

I had an issue where my eyes were burned out after someone messed with the highlight color. Other than that, the text is fine for me.

 

[Wakapedia]

I just figured out my color issue with the test theme. The Pidgin plugin called 'Conversation Colors' was interfering with it. I unchecked the apply in chat window option and it works fine now!

 

[Flashwit]

Crossposting

I made some small changes to Krystal's skin.

https://mega.co.nz/#!esVREBSY!L2X43FCN922v8a2zhZzwBitpa6E0y1E9Pma2oAZ2nUg

Install is all the same except that you'll need to install the included font onto your computer for it to work. Which you should be able to do just by clicking on it if you can read.
I'd also suggest enabling the Conversation Colors plugin that is included by default in Pidgin and check "Ignore Incoming Format" since some people find it funny to spam colors :P (It might fuck with your other colors, so just disable all the other stuff in there if you want)

If you did everything right, the fonts should be the same as some of the ones that CIG uses in the webchat (Electrolize/Tahoma) as well as the font color should be the same blue. I was hoping I would be able to change some more things but the skinning options are somewhat limited.

 

[7ith]

Nice write up, and great theme.

 

[o-BHG-o]

Thanks Montoya, Is it possible to display my handle in chat instead of Full name?

 

[Montoya]

Thanks Montoya, Is it possible to display my handle in chat instead of Full name?

The name displayed in there should be the same name that shows on RSI.

 

[o-BHG-o]

The name displayed in there should be the same name that shows on RSI.

Thanks, it is, just decided it's too long, might have to go in for the free change, once I decide on something.

 

[Clowdy Howdy]

If you're like me, you wanted to get this working on mobile too. Here's a how-to for Android Users on Xabber since the steps are slightly different and slightly non-intuitive.

Download Xabber from the Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xabber.android&hl=en

From the first screen, tap Manage accounts --> Add Account.

In the fields:

• Account type: XMPP
• Username: [email protected] - If you just type in YourHandle you can't get into the next settings.
• Password: Your XMPP Token - Same as the Jabber directions.
• Make sure you tap Store password - you're not going to remember your Token.
• Hit the Add account button at the bottom of the form

Now your account should be shown with "Waiting to reconnect" in grey letters. Tap the account there, which should land you on the account settings.

Change the following:

• Username: YourHandle - (this time without @robertsspaceindustries.com)
• Server: xmpp.robertsspaceindustries.com
• Host: xmpp.robertsspaceindustries.com

The important stuff should look like this:

Now tap your action overflow icon (the three dots on your action bar) ---> then tap the skeuomorphic diskette

to say OK and save your settings.

Tap the back button (maybe a couple times) to navigate back to the account front page:

At this point, you have everything you need to accept pings from the TEST Jabber server in the future. As the multiplayer aspect grows more inclusive and seamless, I'm sure we'll be getting drunken pings at 3AM (somewhere) to everyone in TEST (or specific squads) to join a drunk flight, or any events that you'd want to be aware of.

If you want to access the chat room from your phone, keep going. Keep in mind you can only be logged on with one client at a time.

Now tap the action overflow icon (the three dots on the action bar) --->Tap More ----> Tap Join conference

In the Conference Details:

• Multi User Chat server: channels.robertsspaceindustries.com
• Conference: test (lowercase, just like for Jabber Rooms)
• Nick: Your Handle
• password is not required
• make sure Join conference is ticked
• Save conference

Does it look like this?

You're done!

This should get you by later when you want to get XMPP notifications from your phone when someone is pinging TEST or TEST squads for a fleet or a crew.