Editing Local chat filter

There is no need to rely on the server owners to protect yourself from unwanted language. One can filter chat locally from the BZFlag client. 

=Overview=
The "-badwords" option is used in conjunction with a file that contains the words to be blocked. To use this option one must start ones client from the command line interface. Once the filter is enabled, it will stay active until deactivated. (It saves this option to the [http://my.bzflag.org/w/Config_File Config file] ). To deactivate it, edit this config.cfg file and comment out the command with the path with a <nowiki>#</nowiki> in front of the line.

A [http://bzflag.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/bzflag/trunk/bzflag/misc/multilingualSwearList.txt?view=log multilingual badwords file] can be found in source downloads.

==Starting the client with a command line ==
The game client must be started with a command line option to enable the local filter. 

===Linux and Unix===
On Linux or other Unix-like systems the game client can be started with command line options directly from the terminal.
{|
|
 bzflag -badwords /path/to/badwords.txt
|}

===Microsoft Windows===
Microsoft Windows users can follow the following steps to create a shortcut that starts the game client with chat filtering enabled.
# Locate the BZFlag shortcut installed in the programs section of the start menu.
# Drag the BZFlag shortcut with the right mouse button on to the desktop.
# Pick the "Copy here" item from the context menu that pops up when the drag is complete.
# Click on the Copied shortcut with the right mouse button and pick the "properties" item.
# Find the "Target" field in the shortcut properties window that is opened, and click in it.
# Press the "End" key on your keyboard to jump to the end of the text in the target field. It will end in bzflag.exe".
# After the last quote(") add a space and then '''-badwords "C:\path\to\badwords.txt"''' 
# Save the changes by hitting the OK button at the bottom.

Running this shortcut will now start the client with chat filtering.

===Mac OS X===
The Mac OS X method for starting the game with chat filtering enabled is the same as the Linux method, but the path to the bzflag client is required. If you installed BZFlag in your applications folder, then the command that needs to be typed into terminal will be along the lines of:
{|
|
 /Applications/BZFlag-[''version#''].app/Contents/MacOS/bzflag -badwords /path/to/badwords.txt
|}
[[Category:Client]][[Category:Tutorials]]