In-game Journal : is there a way to select and copy text ?

[popps]

I have a question for the 2D client in-game Journal.

Is there a way to select someone's text and copy it somehow ?

I am not talking about the off-like journal.txt file, I am talking about the actual journal scroll which one can pull online pressing ALT-J.

Thanks.

 

[Zym Dragon]

No. There is no way to copy the text from the in-game journal. You will have to copy from the journal.txt file.

 

[Tazar]

UO Journal Converter is available for download from Stratics and I believe it will save all text in file(s) for later review/use.

 

[Phaen Grey]

This is posted on another site:

As for the journal, edit your uo.cfg file with notepad. You need to add the following line in there. I have mine right above the dotted line part way down the list, under ClientLogin=

JournalSaveFile=c:\Journal.txt

Now you can change the location as it suits you. I actually save the file into a folder called UOJournal, so my line would look like:

JournalSaveFile=c:\UOJournal\Journal.txt

I wouldn't recommend using spaces, however. Not sure how Windows manages those.

Finally, make sure this line is set to On in the uo.cfg file:

SaveJournal=On

so you don't need an extra program to save your journal

 

[altarego]

This is posted on another site:

As for the journal, edit your uo.cfg file with notepad. You need to add the following line in there. I have mine right above the dotted line part way down the list, under ClientLogin=

JournalSaveFile=c:\Journal.txt

Now you can change the location as it suits you. I actually save the file into a folder called UOJournal, so my line would look like:

JournalSaveFile=c:\UOJournal\Journal.txt

I wouldn't recommend using spaces, however. Not sure how Windows manages those.

Finally, make sure this line is set to On in the uo.cfg file:

SaveJournal=On

so you don't need an extra program to save your journal

And if you really want to get fancy, you can find a text editor that will run in the background that will constantly update your screen from that file. So you can have two journals on screen at the same time, one of them in the game, the other you can cut/paste from on the fly.

 

[popps]

And if you really want to get fancy, you can find a text editor that will run in the background that will constantly update your screen from that file. So you can have two journals on screen at the same time, one of them in the game, the other you can cut/paste from on the fly.

Thank you to all for the help.

This last post sounds interesting for my need but I have not well understood what text editor will allow me to cut/paste on the fly.

Can you please make me some examples of text editors which could do this ?

I will make an example.

First of all, I would prefer not to have the journal text be saved onto a journal.txt file because I remember when I had this in the past, the file grew to monstrous sizes after a while.

If I could select an option to, for example, limit the journal.txt file to, say, a week time and then clear itself and start all over, than I would have no problem with saving onto a journal.txt file because it would maintain always a limited size.

But that I know of, as of now I have to remember to turn it on and off and clean it up myself, manually, which is only another burden to have to remember.

Now, all this said, the text editors working in the background would allow me to have control of my journal while I play the game ?

How ?

Example.

Say that I am in UO, playing the game, I have the save to journal.txt option as off.
I realize that I may need to select some text in my in-game journal and paste it elsewhere.
Is there a text editor that allows me to fire it up with a key stroke and duplicate whatever is coming up on my in-game journal so that I can select what I want and copy/paste it elsewhere ?

Then when I am done with my need I press another key and the text editor shuts off.

Is there anything which could be as handy ?

Thanks

 

[altarego]

Your simplest solution is to just give the EC a try. You can copy and paste both into and out of it.

 

[popps]

Your simplest solution is to just give the EC a try. You can copy and paste both into and out of it.

EC ? Stands for ?

Can I do it while I am playing UO, in the background ?

Like I play UO and the text editor gets updated "live" and I can cut/paste from it while I have UO open and am playing it ?

 

[Petra Fyde]

EC stands for Enhanced Client - instead of 2D. It's possible to cut/paste from the journal in that version.

 

[popps]

EC stands for Enhanced Client - instead of 2D. It's possible to cut/paste from the journal in that version.

Oh, had not thought of EC as the enhanced client, thought it was a text editor....

My problem with the EC client is that I have too old hardware.

If possible I'd rather find some text editor that does that rather than using the EC althougether. Until I renew my hardware, that is.....

But what text editor would do what I need ?

 

[popps]

EC stands for Enhanced Client - instead of 2D. It's possible to cut/paste from the journal in that version.

Oh, had not thought of EC as the enhanced client, thought it was a text editor....

My problem with the EC client is that I have too old hardware.

If possible I'd rather find some text editor that does that rather than using the EC althougether. Until I renew my hardware, that is.....

But what text editor would do what I need ?

Noone has a text editor to suggest that would do what I need ?

 

[Beastmaster]

Noone has a text editor to suggest that would do what I need ?

No, because it cannot be done without creating one which would violate the TOS. You specifically said you did not want to have the journal.txt feature turned on. To do as was suggested earlier in this thread with a text editor would require that feature to be on.

 

[popps]

EC stands for Enhanced Client - instead of 2D. It's possible to cut/paste from the journal in that version.

Alright, I finally got the Enhanced Client downloaded, launched it, opened the journal............... and............ aheam............. I cannot find a way to select text in the Journal and copy and paste it afterwards. Left click on the journal and drag over text does nothing. Right click does nothing other than get my avatar to move on the screen.

I tried shift-click on the journal and nothing. Tried ctrl-click on the journal and nothing.
Cannot figure out how to select text in the journal, copy it and the paste it where I need to paste it.

How can this be done with the EC client ?

Also, as compared to the Classic Client, everything in the EC client seems tinier.
So much smaller that I have hard time seeing things.

How can I increase the text size ?

By the way, UOAssist can work with the Enhanced Client ? How ?

I tried launching the EC client with UOASsist but was unable to.
Had to start the EC client alone, from the EC folder, and without bothering touching UOAssist.

 

[wanderer1origin]

poops ec doesnt work with assist

and i can run ec with my net book so a easy client low demands u can get a net book for about 300 $$
to join 2010 gaming minimums

ut no jack for dial up

 

[popps]

poops ec doesnt work with assist

and i can run ec with my net book so a easy client low demands u can get a net book for about 300 $$
to join 2010 gaming minimums

ut no jack for dial up

I am running the Enhanced Client at this time.

My problem, is that I cannot figure out what is the way to drag over text in the in-game journal to select it, so that I can then copy the text and paste it elsewhere.

I tried left mouse click and drag over journal text and it selects nothing.

I tried shift-click and drag over journal text and it selects nothing.

I tried ctrl-click and drag over journal text and it selects nothing.

I cannot seem to figure out how to copy from the in-game journal to then paste elsewhere.

How should I do it with the EC ?

 

[Petra Fyde]

I don't know how it's done, Alterego was the one who said that was possible.

 

[LadyKeroOfAtl]

Don't know anything about text editors..
But if I see something funny, I just click and drag the journal to be longer.
then hit printscreen, open paint program, and click paste.

 

[Cirno]

I didn't think it was possible with the EC.
Perhaps an addon could do it, but I don't think there's any that do that, either.

Come to think of it, I don't know any modern MMOs that allow you to copy directly from the journal.

 

[popps]

Your simplest solution is to just give the EC a try. You can copy and paste both into and out of it.

I know how to past into the in-game Journal, but I have not been able to figure out how to select --> copy --> paste, OUT of the in-game journal.

Can you please be so kind to explain how I can do it ?

I tried left mouse click and drag over journal text and it selects nothing.

I tried shift-click and drag over journal text and it selects nothing.

I tried ctrl-click and drag over journal text and it selects nothing.

Which is the working way to do it ?

Thanks.

 

[popps]

Don't know anything about text editors..
But if I see something funny, I just click and drag the journal to be longer.
then hit printscreen, open paint program, and click paste.

I guess that only copies images, not the actual text.

I am trying to copy actual text off of the in-game journal.to paste it elsewhere.

 

[popps]

I didn't think it was possible with the EC.
Perhaps an addon could do it, but I don't think there's any that do that, either.

Come to think of it, I don't know any modern MMOs that allow you to copy directly from the journal.

Well, one can paste into the in game journal, I do not see why it could not be possible to select, copy and past also OUT of the in-game journal.....

Question is, how can this be done (out of the in-game journal....) ?

 

[Cirno]

LUA makes my head spin, but...
When you type in things to say in the EC, you can select blocks of it and such, although I never checked copy or pasting in there. I assume pasting would work, but I don't know about copying. But that does mean that it's seemingly within the power of LUA to practically allow selecting of blocks of text.
So, there would have to be a mod that changes the way the journal deals with the text. I couldn't say how hard that would be, but I'm sure it wouldn't be easy to do.

Perhaps a mod could be written to just copy an entire tab's contents. That would probably be easier.

 

[Fink]

popps, can I ask why you want to be able to copy/paste live text?

 

[KalVasTENKI]

UO Journal Converter is available for download from Stratics and I believe it will save all text in file(s) for later review/use.

Wow, I didn't know this existed.. Thanks! I'm going to try it out
Not sure what help it would be but hell, interesting piece of software.

 

[popps]

popps, can I ask why you want to be able to copy/paste live text?

for a number of reasons.....

For example, say that someone else is discussing about a web site and a player wants to check it out. Copying the address from the in-game journal and pasting it on a browser would make the whole process much easier.

Or, even better, say that someone is talking in a foreign language and one wants to use an online translator to figure out the sense of what is being said, one could select and copy the foreign text in the in-game journal and paste it in an online translator to understand in one's own language what is the sense of what is being said.

I am sure others may come up with other good reasons for being able to select, copy and paste from an in-game journal.....

 

[popps]

Your simplest solution is to just give the EC a try. You can copy and paste both into and out of it.

I know how to past into the in-game Journal, but I have not been able to figure out how to select --> copy --> paste, OUT of the in-game journal.

Can you please be so kind to explain how I can do it ?

I tried left mouse click and drag over journal text and it selects nothing.

I tried shift-click and drag over journal text and it selects nothing.

I tried ctrl-click and drag over journal text and it selects nothing.

Which is the working way to do it ?

Thanks.

altarego ?

Could you please explain how one can copy and paste out of the in-game Journal using the Enhanced Client ? I still have been unable to find the way to do it and some help would be very welcomed.....

Thank you.

 

[altarego]

altarego ?

Could you please explain how one can copy and paste out of the in-game Journal using the Enhanced Client ? I still have been unable to find the way to do it and some help would be very welcomed.....

Thank you.

I have to apologize. I must have been having a brain malfunction when I made that comment. You can paste *into* the client, but you cannot copy journal text unless it's something you have typed within the text entry box.

I just sent your request in as a suggestion, i.e. to be able to copy text from the journal would indeed be useful.

Until they implement something like this, you'd be limited to having the journal dump its text into a flat file and using a "tail" script - a throwback to my early Unix experiences. What it does is run a program that constantly scans the last few lines of a text file *as they are written*. In a sense, you would have a window up that would be an exact copy of your journal, only you could copy or cut from it, as needed.

I just successfully tested this using this program:

http://ophilipp.free.fr/op_tail.htm

which could be pointed to tail chat.log; which for the EC is located in:

C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\Ultima Online Stygian Abyss\logs

 

[Harlequin]

Actually, windows has the tail command too. But you need to install the windows resource kit from microsoft (search on microsoft's page, it's free).

Alternatively, the other way is to load up the log file in your internet browser. When you read something that you want to copy out, hit refresh and scroll to the bottom (use ctrl+end).

I have an interesting issue though. For some reason, any output to files, be it the journal or macro files, seems to be buffered in memory on my system. Doesn't get flushed and written into the files until I exit UO or get lots of entries. Anyone getting this and knows how to make it commit the file writes without exiting UO?

 

[altarego]

Actually, windows has the tail command too. But you need to install the windows resource kit from microsoft (search on microsoft's page, it's free).

Alternatively, the other way is to load up the log file in your internet browser. When you read something that you want to copy out, hit refresh and scroll to the bottom (use ctrl+end).

I have an interesting issue though. For some reason, any output to files, be it the journal or macro files, seems to be buffered in memory on my system. Doesn't get flushed and written into the files until I exit UO or get lots of entries. Anyone getting this and knows how to make it commit the file writes without exiting UO?

That would otherwise be a good suggestion...but I tried the 2003 resource kit and it intersperses spaces in the text and it's not copy-able (except as full screen blocks from the command shell window). That's why I did not recommend it. The program I listed before has small, unobtrusive footprint and presents the text in an easy-to-copy format.

As far as your chat logs not updating, I confess to only testing this with the enhanced client. I know my recommendation works because I'm using it *right now*. However, I have no experience with the classic client logs.


I will mention one thing, though. The chat.log file in the EC client directory is overwritten whenever you restart UO. So if you missed some bit of chat - and restart UO - you'll never be able to capture it after the fact.

 

[Petra Fyde]

We have a small facility for that in our 'tools and downloads' section. It's a tiny batch file, if you use that to start the enhanced client instead of the normal icon it will move the chat.log, rename it, then launch the client using the normal .exe, which then creates a new chat.log. It is approved for use, since it's not actually running when the client is in use. The last thing it does is start uo.

 

[popps]

I have to apologize. I must have been having a brain malfunction when I made that comment. You can paste *into* the client, but you cannot copy journal text unless it's something you have typed within the text entry box.

I just sent your request in as a suggestion, i.e. to be able to copy text from the journal would indeed be useful.

Until they implement something like this, you'd be limited to having the journal dump its text into a flat file and using a "tail" script - a throwback to my early Unix experiences. What it does is run a program that constantly scans the last few lines of a text file *as they are written*. In a sense, you would have a window up that would be an exact copy of your journal, only you could copy or cut from it, as needed.

I just successfully tested this using this program:

http://ophilipp.free.fr/op_tail.htm

which could be pointed to tail chat.log; which for the EC is located in:

C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\Ultima Online Stygian Abyss\logs

Thank you very much for the help.

I prefer to wait for something official from the game, though, rather than resorting to third party software.

I may try the windows tail, though, just need to figure out where it is and how to use it....

But thanks anyways, hopefully one day we will be able to select, copy and paste out of the in-game journal as a feature of the game.

 

[popps]

That would otherwise be a good suggestion...but I tried the 2003 resource kit and it intersperses spaces in the text and it's not copy-able (except as full screen blocks from the command shell window). That's why I did not recommend it. The program I listed before has small, unobtrusive footprint and presents the text in an easy-to-copy format.

I cannot seem to find a version of the windows resource kit past the year 2003.....

I wonder if the 2003 is the last available with no more recent update.

 

[Harlequin]

That would otherwise be a good suggestion...but I tried the 2003 resource kit and it intersperses spaces in the text and it's not copy-able (except as full screen blocks from the command shell window). That's why I did not recommend it. The program I listed before has small, unobtrusive footprint and presents the text in an easy-to-copy format.

Ahh, copying text from any DOS window (like the one tail.exe starts) can be easily done by enabling "quickedit mode" by

1) Going to a command prompt window (starting tail.exe will do this. you can also start a command prompt manually via start->run->accessories->command prompt

2) Single click the top left icon (the small square picture that looks like "C:\") on the title bar of a command prompt window

3) Select "Properties" from the menu

4) Check "quickedit mode"

5) Click ok and select "save properties for future"

From now on, you can select and copy text easily (right click to copy hi-lighted text). Very useful for me since I use the command prompt a lot



Mine doesn't add any extra spaces between text though, it reads exactly what is saved in the journal. Any double spacing I see are actually inherent in the saved journal file.



@Popps,
I'm using the 2003 resource kit. It works fine.

All the utilities included in the resource kit adds up to 18 mb. However, tail.exe itself is only 7k in size if you have limited harddisk space and want to delete the other files.

Extra tip - create a batch file to run the tail command, and use the "-f" parameter to have it auto update whenever something new is written to the journal file. eg:

tail -f C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\Ultima Online\logs\journal.txt​

Replace the text in bold with the path of your journal file.


Edit: Just wanted to add that using 3rd party apps like the one altarego recommended in this case is fine. Since it doesn't modify or interact with the UO client packets in any way.

 

[Ox AO]

This works great but:

How do you get UO to recognize Japanese and other languages?

Thank you

 

[Ox AO]

I would like to copy and past Japanese text into Google translate or some other translator so I can at least get an idea what is going on.
Anyone got an idea how to get UO to recognize Japanese text?

Thank you

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

The only way I know of to accomplish what you are talking about is to save your game journal as a text file (it's in the options on CC - not sure about EC). Once the phrase shows in the text file (which you have to create in a UO folder) you can copy/paste that into Google Translator.

On occasion it does take a couple of minutes for the in game journal to save to the text file though.

 

[Ox AO]

The only way I know of to accomplish what you are talking about is to save your game journal as a text file (it's in the options on CC - not sure about EC). Once the phrase shows in the text file (which you have to create in a UO folder) you can copy/paste that into Google Translator.

On occasion it does take a couple of minutes for the in game journal to save to the text file though.

Yes, i was able to set it up this way and it is working great for ASCII text but for Japanese I believe I need UO to recognize JIS X 0201 file

Thank you