Please consider publishing a guide to DayZ's standard server/system chat messages in DayZ-Misc, or adding equivalent official documentation in a more suitable location.
I investigated PlayerBase.MessageStatus, MessageAction, MessageFriendly and MessageImportant while preparing welcome text, server rules and restart reminders. The attached documentation combines small examples, the inspected public script path, tagged log excerpts and screenshots. It explains which results were observed and which conclusions come from source inspection.
The guide covers:
- The four standard colour methods, server-side dispatch and delayed sending through CallLater.
- Real LF versus a literal backslash-and-n sequence, including the observed clipping of subsequent lines.
- Length-based splitting: the logged system threshold was 1000, rather than a maximum complete-message length or a rendered-width limit.
- The 12-element chat buffer, a 20,000-character test, horizontal overflow and the lowest row's overlap with stamina.
- A reproducible ASCII space-padding workaround for compact multiple-row messages, with payload costs and limitations clearly explained.
- Why a fixed 85-character cap cannot guarantee a fit before the microphone, and why rendered width and height should be constrained separately.
The recorded environment was Windows/Steam, DayZ 1.30.164200.56, local diagnostic server/client and @Sandbox. The test mission changed message generation rather than chat/HUD classes, but separate unmodded stock-mission and Unicode verification remains outstanding. No unlimited-length or universal-layout claim is made.
The bugs and feature proposals have been reported separately. This request is for practical documentation that helps modders use the current API and understand its limits. It does not ask for the workaround to become the supported long-term interface.
Please feel free to adapt the guide, verify it against the intended supported environment, or publish equivalent guidance. A possible folder is Documentation/ServerMessages/; the location is entirely up to the maintainers. The package includes an guide, test scripts and evidence.
Documentation/package: In attached .zip
Related bug and feature links: replace the placeholders in the package's RELATED-REPORTS.md and link that file here, or paste the completed links below.