ChatForwarder

A MetaHookSv plugin that forwards game events, chat messages, console output, and system logs to a specified UDP address.

Overview

This plugin acts as a passive "listener" that hooks into various GoldSrc engine messaging systems. It aggregates these streams and sends them via UDP to a remote observer (e.g., an external chat bot, logger, or web interface).

Note: This plugin does not filter duplicate messages. Depending on the server type (Local vs. Dedicated) and engine behavior, the same text may appear in multiple streams (e.g., a Chat message appears in both SayText and OutputDebugString). The receiving end is responsible for deduplication if required.

Protocol

The UDP packet structure is simple: [1 Byte Header] + [Message Body (UTF-8)]

Message Types & Hooks

Header	Hex	Source Hook	Description
CHAT	0x12	UserMsg: SayText	In-game chat. Reconstructs the string from arguments (e.g., #Cstrike_Chat_All).
GAME	0x13	UserMsg: TextMsg	Game notifications (e.g., "Game Commencing", Radio commands).
NET	0x14	cl_parsefunc: print	Raw console output received from the server.
SYS	0x15	IAT: OutputDebugStringA	Internal engine system logs and debug output.
STUFF	0x16	cl_parsefunc: stufftext	Server-to-Client command requests.

String Handling

Incoming strings are processed by a CleanMessage function before sending:

• Standard control characters (0x00-0x1F) are stripped, except for:
  • 0x01 to 0x04 (GoldSrc color codes) - Preserved.
  • \n, \r, \t - Preserved.
• The plugin adds its own Header Byte (0x12 for Chat) at the very beginning of the packet. If the game string also starts with 0x02 (color code), the packet will look like 12 02 .... This is intentional behavior.

Installation

1. Copy ChatForwarder.dll (and ChatForwarder_AVX2.dll if supported) to your svencoop/metahook/plugins/ directory.
2. Add ChatForwarder.dll to your plugins.lst.

Configuration (CVars)

CVar	Default	Description
cf_enabled	1	Master switch. 0 = Disabled, 1 = Enabled.
cf_server_ip	127.0.0.1	The target IP address to send UDP packets to.
cf_server_port	26000	The target port to send UDP packets to.
cf_listen_port	26001	The local port to listen for incoming commands (UDP -> Game Console).
cf_debug	0	If 1, prints sent messages to the game console for debugging.
cf_listen_only	0	If 1, disables sending and only listens for incoming commands.

Build

The project is configured for Visual Studio 2026 (v143/v145 toolset).

Automated Build (PowerShell)

A standalone build script is included to compile the project without needing the full MetaHook solution structure.

# Build Release and Release_AVX2
.\build_plugin.ps1

# Build and create a ZIP archive in /Builds
.\build_plugin.ps1 -Package

# Build and copy to game directory
.\build_plugin.ps1 -CopyTo "C:\Games\SvenCoop\metahook\plugins"

Tools

• udp_test_client.py: A simple Python script (no dependencies required) to act as a receiver/sender for testing the plugin.