RealTimeHeadChat
Displays physical keyboard typing above a player's head in real time for other modded BONELAB Fusion players.
About this mod Author’s original text
Real-Time Head Chat
Real-Time Head Chat is a mod-only accessibility chat for BONELAB Fusion. As a
player types on their physical keyboard, the text updates above their avatar's
head for other players running the mod. There is no chat window to open and no
clipboard workflow.
Features
- Enabled automatically after installation.
- Updates overhead text while the player is typing.
- Shows a compact near-vision preview of the local player's head text.
- Backspace edits the current text.
- Ctrl+V pastes clipboard text into the current message.
- Preserves Unicode emoji sequences during typing, paste, Backspace, networking,
and overhead wrapping when BONELAB has a compatible fallback glyph.
- Enter clears the text immediately.
- Five seconds without keyboard input clears the text automatically.
- Reliably relays messages from hosts and clients, limits them to 160 characters,
and sends at most ten updates per second.
- Removes stale remote text if a clear update is lost.
- Wraps overhead text onto two lines after 80 characters and three lines after
120, with progressively smaller fonts. The local VR preview remains unchanged.
- Uses Fusion's original nametag font, background, and automatic stacked layout.
- Prevents size drift by enforcing a clean font baseline and resetting the chat element's local scale while leaving Fusion's avatar-scale modifier intact.
- Includes separate BoneMenu toggles for the chat feature and local typing HUD,
plus a manual clear button.
- Includes a persistent Disable Text Input switch, also toggled with F2 or Page
Up, for flatscreen players who need normal keyboard controls.
- Includes saved, live VR HUD placement controls expressed in centimeters.
Requirements
- MelonLoader
- BoneLib 3.2.1 or later
- LabFusion 1.14.2 or later
Every player who needs to produce or see the overhead text must install this mod.
Players without it do not participate in the head-chat system.
Installation
Install through Mod Manager/r2modman, or copy
RealTimeHeadChat.dll into BONELAB/Mods/ for manual installation.
Usage
Join a Fusion session and begin typing on the physical keyboard. Use Backspace to
edit, Ctrl+V to paste, or Enter to dismiss the current text. The chat feature or only its local
VR HUD can be toggled under BoneMenu > Real-Time Head Chat. Head Chat
Enabled controls typing and broadcasting; Show VR HUD controls only the
local headset preview. Both are enabled by default.
Disable Text Input stops only local typing and Ctrl+V capture. Press F2 or
Page Up to toggle the same setting without opening BoneMenu. Incoming chat
remains active while text input is disabled.
Use VR HUD Placement to adjust horizontal position, vertical position, and
distance from the headset in centimeters. Changes apply immediately and save
automatically.
Install & use Install: follow the bundled instructions
- Unzip the archive from playbuff and read the bundled readme / instructions first.
- Most mods rely on the game's mod loader — the usual route is a community mod manager (such as r2modman): pick this game, install, and it handles the loader and dependencies.
- For a manual install, put the mod files into the matching Mod / plugins folder inside the game directory.
- Launch the game to confirm it loaded; mods with listed dependencies need those installed as well.
Install locations vary a lot between mods — the bundled readme is the most reliable guide.
Install these first, or the mod will not work: