In-game Chat

Online OmniVisor text · channels · compose · report

Player text chat for Online play. The chrome sits on the OmniVisor (lower-left, above the tracker) so it reads as visor glass — but this chapter owns the system: who hears what, how compose opens, Whisper / Match / Proximity rules, and what stays off the surface. Seat and stills also link from OmniVisor HUD. Social roster / invites live on the Command Deck — Front-End UI. Reports from a chat line live on Online Trust & Safety.

Note

Online only. Solo has no chat widget. Not a Command Deck tab. Not on Character screen I. Discord is not this chat and not a channel. Dea handler text stays on its own OmniVisor seat (W_TFA_Comms) — never mixed into player channels.

Seat on the visor

Widget W_TFA_Chat. Lower-left, above the motion tracker / IFF disc, off the Firehand reticle. Last few log lines may stay faded while compose is closed. Compose raises the channel chip + input on that same seat. Center-top Ultimate stays the painted Shiv — chat never borrows that mark.

• Walk the lab: UX · Play HUD.
• Illustrated stills: OV29 (compose / Fireteam), OV31 (Tab cycle), OV32 (Shift+Enter newline). Do not number a chat still OV30 — FE30 is the GUI locator.

Lock plate. Enter opens / sends. Tab cycles the channel table. Shift+Enter newline. Message limit TBA (TBD-033).

Open · send · close

• Enter (chat closed, Online, in play, no overlay) opens compose. Solo: no-op.
• Enter with text sends on the active channel. Empty Enter closes without sending.
• Shift+Enter inserts a newline and keeps typing. Does not send.
• Esc closes compose without sending and does not open the session menu.
• Opening Deck, I, map, or Esc overlay closes compose without sending.
• While compose is focused: Tab is channel cycle only — no map, no ping. M types (does not ping). Overlay Enter is UI, not chat.
• Remember last Tab-cycle channel per PUID. Whisper is sticky only while that DM thread is active; leaving Whisper returns to the last Tab-cycle channel.

Figure OV29. Enter opens compose. Channel FIRETEAM (HAVOC team). Enter sends. Center-top Ultimate is the locked Shiv.

Figure OV32. Shift+Enter inserts a new line. Enter still sends.

Channels

Tab cycle (wrap). Skip empty seats. Whisper is not in the Tab cycle.

Channel	Audience	Tab cycle
Fireteam	Current fireteam only (example label HAVOC team). A fireteam of 1 still has this channel.	Yes
Clan	Every online member of your ClanId, including other instances. Send fails closed with no clan.	Yes — skip if ClanId is empty
Match	Everyone registered in this matchmade activity (RAID / Vault / Ladder). Not the Social fireteam roster by itself.	Yes — only while in that activity
General	Everyone in the current instance.	Yes
Proximity	Online players within the server proximity radius. Radius meters stay TBA — do not invent a number.	Yes
Whisper	One target PUID. Chip shows the target display name.	No — open from a chat-log name, Social / instance row Whisper, or Match Results name

Tab order: Fireteam → Clan → Match → General → Proximity → wrap. From an active Whisper thread, Tab leaves Whisper and advances the Tab-cycle table from the last remembered Tab channel.

Figure OV31. Tab cycles channels. General is this instance. Clan is online clan, not instance-only. Match / Proximity / Whisper follow this chapter’s table. Still shows the expanded Tab cycle (Whisper is not Tab).

Note

Routing. Server-authoritative. Fireteam members, online clan members, match activity roster, current instance, proximity set, or the whisper target. Ghost spectators never appear on any channel and cannot send.

Log chrome

• Faded last lines when compose is closed.
• Compose shows the active channel chip. Fireteam may show the team name (example HAVOC). Whisper shows the target display name.
• A chat line → Report this player opens the same Trust report sheet as Social / Match Results. Full report lock: Online Trust & Safety.

What this is not

• Discord as a chat channel or voice.
• A Command Deck chat tab.
• Chat on Character screen I.
• Dea handler / Comms mixed into player channels.
• Inventing a character count, flood rate, gamepad bind, or proximity meters before TBD-033 / proximity TBA land.

Open / TBD

• TBD-033 — Chat message limit (there is a limit; number is TBA), flood rate, and gamepad chat binds.
• Proximity radius meters — TBA. Do not invent one on a still or lock plate.