Hey guys,
we use chat channels in Eve all the time. They are very useful to exchange intel with blues or to have a private conversion with a group of confidantes. However, once you left a chat channel you can not get back in the private chat windows unless you are re-invited by one of the remaining attendees. So when you e.g. close a chat window by accident you are stranded.
There is however a hack that allows you to get back into any chat window that you have been before. All you need is the Windows Explorer and your text editor of choice (e.g. notepad will work).
The basic principle is that we will create a custom link within Eve that when clicked will re-open the chat window we want to re-enter. Here is how it works:
Step 1: Identify the log file of the chat
First you need to find the chat log on your drive of the very chat you want to get back into. Eve Online automatically saves all chats in the following folder:
Documents\EVE\logs\Chatlogs
Open this folder in your Windows Explorer and sort by date (newest first). The log file we are searching for should be near the top of the list. The file itself is usually named after the chat channel or just called “Private Chat” and contains the names of all attendees.
If you are not sure which one it is, just open them one by one and check the chat content until you find the right one.
Step 2: Get the ID of the chat
Open the file in a texteditor (e.g. notepad.exe). Note the Channel ID that you find at the top of the file. We will need that ID later.
Example for a chat log file:
--------------------------------------------------------------- Channel ID: -12345678 Channel Name: Private Chat Listener: Erik Kalkoken Session started: 2016.10.24 01:25:41 --------------------------------------------------------------- [ 2016.10.24 01:25:45 ] Erik Kalkoken > hi [ 2016.10.24 01:25:52 ] XXX > o7 thanks!!
Step 3: Create in-game link to the chat channel
Next we create the ingame link to the chat channel. For that create a new and empty text file with you editor and type the following code:
<url=joinChannel:-12345678>Link</url>
Replace the “12345678” with the ID from your chat log above. Note that the minus before the ID number needs to stay in place.
Then copy and paste this code into a page on your Notepad in Eve Online. It should show as “Link” and be clickable.
Voila. Now, just click on the newly created link and you will be back in your previous chat window.
Best regards,
Erik