HUD Documentation¶
Another popular aspect of customization for TF2 is custom HUDs, which enable community members to modify the menu UI and in-game HUD.
The HUD uses a vast system called VGUI2, and it is documented by many HUD authors:
Text guides¶
- JarateKing HUD reference - A great reference for all sorts of HUD editing, both from the basics to clever advanced and technical aspects
- DoodleStuff TF2 HUD Editing Guide - A well known, easy to use guide that goes over how to get familiar with most of HUD editing
- Flame’s Guide to HUDs - A PDF guide that goes over common HUD elements
- Boen’s Guide to HUDs - Part 1 and Part 2
- Revan’s resource file list - A list of HUD elements with images and how to edit them
- Whisker’s SourceScheme Documentation - A step by step visualizataion on to customize Source Scheme (the game UI in menus like the server browser)
- HUD Animations - How to use the manifest to easily modify HUD animations
- HUD Crosshair Guide - Everything about custom crosshairs
- Installing Font Crosshairs - How to install a font crosshair into an existing HUD
- Custom video intro - How to add a custom intro video for game launches
- Particle Effects on Main Menu - How to add any particle effect to the main menu
Installation guides¶
Video tutorials¶
- Rays’ TF2 HUD From Scratch Tutorials
- Rays’ TF2 HUD Tutorials
- kermit’s HudPlayerHealth.res tutorial
- kermit’s Updating HUDs tutorial
Other guides¶
- Hypnotize’s TF2 HUD Updating Guide - Learn how to quickly get your HUD up to date with the game as it updates
- clovervidia’s captions tutorial - Get started with modifying the closed captions HUD
- Whisker’s Guide on Finding HUD Elements
- Whisker’s Guide on HUD Elements Positioning
- Whisker’s Guide on Adding and Replacing Fonts
File resources¶
To get started with your own HUD, you’ll need to base your HUD off of the game’s files, use another HUD (with appropriate permission), or you can use some helpful utilities from the community.
- JarateKing BaseHud - A set up starting point for creating custom HUDs
- Default TF2 HUD files - Default HUD files for TF2 collected from the game
- Hypnotize’s TF2 HUD Crosshairs - A font-based HUD crosshairs pack which is easy to integrate into a HUD
- Hypnotize’s TF2 HUD Icons - An icon font, easily integrated into a HUD for various UI elements
- Jakadak’s TF2 extended fonts - Extended vanilla TF2 fonts
Helpful Development Tools¶
Editing tools¶
- GCFScape
- VTFEdit Reloaded
- VTF Plugins for Photoshop and Paint.NET
- VTF Plugin for GIMP
- TF2 HUD Editor
- Revan’s HUD Merger