Chat Better

Chat Better turns Minecraft chat into a modern messenger.

── WHAT IT DOES ──────────────────────────────

• Animated messages — nine entry styles (slide, fade, pop, bounce, unfold,
  typewriter and more), with older messages sliding up smoothly instead of
  snapping.

• Images — paste straight from your clipboard with Ctrl+V, or drag a file onto
  the game window. They render inline in chat; click for a full-window view.

• GIFs — animated inline, properly frame-composited.

• Voice messages — hold a key to record, release to attach. Waveform with a play
  button, and a live microphone level while recording so you can tell if you are
  muted.

• Emoji — type :smile:, :fire:, :heart: and they render as colour images.
  :) <3 xD and friends convert automatically. A picker is built into the chat bar.

• A dedicated "Chat Better" section in Options → Controls for every keybind.

• An archive — everything you send or receive is saved to a "Chat Better" folder
  next to your other Minecraft folders, with an index of who sent what, when, and
  on which server. Browse it in game with the gallery screen.

── MULTIPLAYER ───────────────────────────────

Attachments travel over your normal Minecraft server connection, split into small
chunks. Nothing is uploaded to any third-party service.

• Server has Chat Better → attachments are shared with everyone. Players without
  the mod see a plain text line describing the attachment.
• Server does not have it → the mod still works and attachments stay on your
  machine. The mod tells you which situation you are in when you join.

Server owners get their own "Chat Better" folder next to server.properties, with
size limits, a per-player cooldown, bandwidth pacing and a delivery radius in
server-config.json — enforced server side, so clients cannot raise them. It also
keeps an archive of what every player has sent, which can be turned off.

── REQUIREMENTS ──────────────────────────────

Minecraft 1.20.1 · Forge 47+ · Java 17

── PERMISSIONS ───────────────────────────────

✔ Modpacks: YES. You may include Chat Better in any modpack, public or private,
  on CurseForge or elsewhere. No need to ask, and no need to credit me beyond
  leaving the mod page linked where your pack lists its mods.

✔ Videos, screenshots, reviews: go ahead.