Heads-up display

The Heads-up display or HUD, is a system for quickly relaying important information to the player and is an integral part of Team Fortress 2 gameplay. A minimal version of the HUD can be enabled in Advanced multiplayer options or through the console command cl_hud_minmode 1. Players can also modify the game's HUD files to suit their preferences (see HUD modification).

The HUD in Capture the Flag after picking up the RED team's intelligence.

Comparison between normal and minimal HUDs on a Payload map (click to animate).

General HUD Display

The appearance of the health meter when overhealed to 260 health on a Demoman.

The appearance of the health meter when on 15 health on a Demoman.

Intel arrows and score.

Bottom left corner

• The player's health (white cross extends beyond borders if overhealed and turns red if low enough).
• The player's current class.
• Text chat and server notifications.
• Current Killstreaks, if a killstreak weapon is equipped.
• Mann vs. Machine mode - The player's current credit total and the number of Credits on the field.
• Player Destruction Mode - The player's current scoring pickup total. A gold star indicates team leader status.
• With Spellbook Magazine, Fancy Spellbook, or Fireproof Secret Diary equipped during a Halloween Event - Current spell equipped.
• When the Wheel of Fate is active - Current effect.
• When in a bumper car match - The player's damage and boost gauges, in place of health.

Some Halloween-specific HUD elements, showing bumper car damage/boost and any equipped spells.

Bottom center

• Capture the Flag Mode – The locations and status of the Intelligence briefcase of the BLU and RED teams (depicted by a rotating arrow, and one of three status indicators: dropped, taken, and secure) and the current score.
• Control Point, Arena, Territorial Control, and King of the Hill Modes – The status of the control points on the map (untaken, neutral, capturing, or locked).
• Payload and Payload Race Modes – Progression of cart, cart idle timer, cart reverse indicator, the status of checkpoints, and slopes.
• Special Delivery Mode - The location, status, and current owner of the briefcase.
• Mann vs. Machine mode - The position of the bomb or bomb carrier, as well as bomb carrier buffs.
• Player Destruction Mode - The timer for the contested delivery point.
• Robot Destruction Mode - The locations and status of the Reactor Cores.
• Versus Saxton Hale Mode - The amount of damage done to Saxton Hale, as well as number of Mercenaries remaining.

Player's HUD death icon, seen briefly in place of the health number when the player dies.

Bottom right corner

• The player's ammo (Currently loaded/total rounds carried).
• Voice chat (Displays along with the player's name in the middle right to show when they are using voice chat).
• Rechargeables (Any additional projectiles or items that recharge or charge like the Sandman or the Buff Banner).
• Mann vs. Machine mode - (Available charges for an equipped Power Up Canteen and its buff type).
• When playing as Saxton Hale in Versus Saxton Hale Mode - Saxton Hale's abilities.

Top of screen

• The time left in the match (accompanied by a small circular timer).
• Kill reporter (With names and kill icons showing method of death, as well as objectives captured/defended).
• Mann vs. Machine mode - Robots remaining (gray bar) and current wave, as well as health of mini-bosses and tanks.
• While MONOCULUS is present - MONOCULUS' remaining health (blue bar).
• While Merasmus is present - Merasmus' remaining health (blue bar normally, green bar if hiding).
• Versus Saxton Hale Mode - Saxton Hale's remaining health (yellow bar).

Other elements

• The player's crosshair - center of screen.
• Inventory select menu (displayed by pressing the weapon select key) – center right of screen.
• Player name and health – displayed by directing the view onto player. Will display the player's profile picture if they are a friend.
• Current equipped items of the player's teammate (displayed by pressing F while looking at a teammate) – lower right of screen (pressing F again scrolls through the list of items).
• Amount of damage dealt or healed (combat text) – above target.

Scoreboard

The scoreboard is a screen accessible with Tab ⇆ ( on the Xbox 360, on the PlayStation 3) or at the end of the round, before a map change. It displays player information, server name, team scores, duel score (if the player is running a duel), and so on. Information is given about each player including their Steam ID, what team they are on, how many points they have, and what class they are playing as (unless on the opposing team).

Class-specific elements

Elements listed below are located next to the ammo, in the bottom right corner of the screen (unless otherwise specified).

 Scout

• Ball meter for the Sandman ball and the Wrap Assassin bauble. Recharges after every launch.
• Drink meter for Bonk! Atomic Punch and Crit-a-Cola drinks. Recharges after every consumption.
• Jar meter for the Mad Milk and Mutated Milk. Recharges after every toss.
• Cleaver meter for the Flying Guillotine. Recharges after every toss.
• Hype meter for the Soda Popper. Fills up when causing damage to enemy players with any weapon.
• Boost meter for the Baby Face's Blaster. Fills up when causing damage to enemy players with any weapon.

 Soldier

Charge meter.

Heads counter.

Stickybomb counter.

Engineer's building panels.

Standard ÜberCharge meter.

Vaccinator's ÜberCharge meter.

The player's current disguise as a Demoman with the Loose Cannon.

An example of a player's loadout being shown on the 3D Character HUD.

• Rage meter for the Buff Banner, Battalion's Backup and Concheror. Fills up when causing damage to enemy players with any weapon.
• Mangler meter for the Cow Mangler 5000. Displays remaining projectiles, recharges on reload.
• Bison meter for the Righteous Bison. Displays remaining projectiles, recharges on reload.
• Mini-Crit, shield or healing icon when under the effect of the Buff Banner, Battalion's Backup or Concheror respectively. Displayed above the player's health.
• Kills counter for the Air Strike. Increments on kill with the Air Strike. Value indicates the increase in clip size for the weapon.
• Parachute icon for the B.A.S.E. Jumper. Appears above the player's health when deployed.

 Pyro

• Mmmph meter for the Phlogistinator. Fills up when causing fire damage to enemy players.
• Gas meter for the Gas Passer. Fills up over time or when dealing damage to enemy players.
• Crits counter for the Manmelter. Value indicates the number of guaranteed Critical hits stored on the weapon.
• Charges for the Thermal Thruster. Recharges after every launch. Also indicates whether the jetpack is active or not.

 Demoman

• Charge meter for the Stickybomb Launcher, Scottish Resistance, Quickiebomb Launcher, and Sticky Jumper. Holding the fire key fills the charge to lengthen the stickybomb's launch distance, automatically firing when a full charge is reached.
• Fuse meter for the Loose Cannon. Holding the fire key depletes the cannonball's fuse time, automatically firing when the meter is emptied, causing self-damage.
• Charge meter for the Chargin' Targe, Splendid Screen and Tide Turner. Recharges after every charge.
• Number of placed stickybombs for the Stickybomb Launcher/Quickiebomb Launcher (max 8), Sticky Jumper (max 2), and Scottish Resistance (max 14).
• Heads counter for the Eyelander, Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker, and Nessie's Nine Iron. More heads contribute to more health and increased speed.
• Parachute icon for the B.A.S.E. Jumper. Appears above the player's health when deployed.

 Heavy

• Food meter for the Sandvich, Robo-Sandvich, Dalokohs Bar, Fishcake, Buffalo Steak Sandvich and Second Banana. Recharges after every consumption or drop.
• Mann vs. Machine mode - Rage meter for upgraded primary weapons. Pushes back robots on hit when activated.

 Engineer

• Metal counter. Depletes when constructing and fixing buildings, refills when picking up ammo or touching a resupply locker.
• Pomson meter for the Pomson 6000. Displays remaining projectiles, recharges on reload.
• Revenge counter for the Frontier Justice. Value indicates the number of guaranteed revenge criticals stored on the weapon.
• Building panels, displayed on the top left corner.
  • Sentry Gun panel: health, level, number of kills, number of assists (in parenthesis), bullet ammo, rocket ammo/upgrade meter and whether or not the turret is being sapped or is in need of repair.
  • Dispenser panel: health, level, metal stock, upgrade meter and whether or not the Dispenser is being sapped or is in need of repair.
  • Teleporter Entrance and Exit panels: health, level, number of times used/recharge meter (Entrance only), upgrade meter and whether or not your teleporter(s) are being sapped or are in need of repair.
  • Mann vs. Machine mode - Disposable Sentry Gun panel: health and bullet ammo.

 Medic

• Damage resistance icon for the Vaccinator. Displayed above the player's health.
• ÜberCharge progress meter. Shows the progress of the player's charge when healing teammates (or an enemy Spy) and flashes when it is fully charged. When the ÜberCharge is activated, the meter gradually depletes until it is empty.
• ÜberCharges for the Vaccinator. Shows the amount of charges left and the progress of one of the player's charges when healing teammates (or an enemy Spy). Also displays the damage resistance icon.
• Medic! calls – shown above any nearby friendly (or enemy Spy) players that call for medical assistance.
• Auto-Medic! calls have a slightly different appearance than those invoked by players themselves but serve the same general purpose. In the Advanced Options menu, the user can set the percentage threshold of health points at which other players automatically emit these beacons.
• Organs counter for the Vita-Saw. Higher organ count contributes to a higher ÜberCharge percentage retained on death.
• Mann vs. Machine Mode - Energy meter for upgraded secondary weapons. Deploys a Projectile Shield when activated.

 Sniper

• Shot charge for the Sniper Rifle, AWPer Hand, Sydney Sleeper, Bazaar Bargain, Machina, Shooting Star, Hitman's Heatmaker, and the Classic. Charge amount determines the damage output of the shot. Displayed to the right of the crosshair when scoped.
• Charge meter for the Huntsman and Fortified Compound. Holding the fire key fills the charge to increase the arrow's damage output.
• Razorback respawn meter. Recharges after it has been destroyed.
• Jar meter for the Jarate and Self-Aware Beauty Mark. Recharges after every toss.
• Heads counter for the Bazaar Bargain. Higher values contribute to a faster zoomed shot charge time.
• Focus meter for the Hitman's Heatmaker. Fills up with every kill or assist.
• Crikey meter for the Cleaner's Carbine. Fills up when causing damage to enemy players with the Cleaner's Carbine.

 Spy

• Current disguise with the disguising player's name, health and currently equipped weapon. Displayed on the bottom left corner of the screen.
• Cloak meter for the Invis Watch, Enthusiast's Timepiece, and Quäckenbirdt. Depletes when the cloak is active and recharges when the player is uncloaked.
• Motion meter for the Cloak and Dagger. Depletes when moving while motion is active and recharges when the player stops moving.
• Feign meter for the Dead Ringer. Depletes when feign is activated, then recharges over time.
• Knife meter for the Spy-cicle. Recharges when the weapon is destroyed by fire damage.
• Health of Sapper and currently sapped buildings. Displayed on the top left corner.
• Crits counter for the Diamondback. Value indicates the number of guaranteed Critical hits stored on the weapon.
• Cloaking visibility as indicated by the translucency of the class and disguise images. This option is only available when using class images instead of the 3D player model.
• Mann vs. Machine Mode - Recharge meter for Sapper, Ap-Sap, Snack Attack, and Red-Tape Recorder.

3D Player Model

When enabled, the player's current class is shown as a 3D model instead of a 2D image. The model shows what the player is currently wearing and the item they have equipped. This adds a benefit for Spies because a disguised Spy can see what the player they are disguised as looks like, making it easier for them to identify (and potentially avoid) other players they are disguised as.

This option can be enabled by going to the Advanced Options menu and selecting the option Use Player Model in Player Class HUD.

HUD modification

Team Fortress 2 allows players to modify their HUD from the default layout. Many community members have made modifications that are shared with the public, and many have become very popular. Reasons for using custom HUDs vary widely, but most agree that they are primarily to improve visibility of important information, e.g. health, ammo, Damage Text, or ÜberCharge meters, and move non-vital HUD panels aside. Most custom HUDs only modify the game visually, but some add custom buttons such as a Console button. Custom HUDs can also be used on servers with an sv_pure 1 setting.

• Note: Custom HUD modifications often break after major game updates, and for that reason are disabled when players next launch the game. If the current custom HUD is not displaying properly, check the website of the custom HUD for an update.

Installation

Each custom HUD contains different files and their correct destination may vary (see their individual documentation for exact locations). However, custom HUD modifications generally only modify files in two folders:

• /tf/resource
• /tf/scripts

After placing all files in their correct destinations, using hud_reloadscheme or restarting the game allows playing with the new HUD.

Often after using hud_reloadscheme when replacing or copying files from /tf/resource, the HUD bugs out and displays fonts and other items incorrectly, requiring a restart.

After editing clientscheme.res, the game requires a restart before changes take effect.

Update history

Bugs

• After switching teams, HUD panels may appear incorrectly colored, with a player on BLU having a RED HUD (but not vice-versa). This can be fixed by opening and closing the Advanced Options or by the console command hud_reloadscheme.
  • A similar bug can occur with the buildings panel, in which the panels of buildings left at the end of the previous round do not get greyed out after a team switch. Bringing out the relevant building's blueprint fixes this.
• The HUD may load incorrectly if the game window is not in focus when the map is loaded. The console command hud_reloadscheme can be used to fix this.
• Inspecting another friendly player can occasionally cause the bottom right corner of the HUD to disappear after no longer inspecting them. This can be fixed by inspecting a player again.
• Changing loadout from Chargin' Targe or Splendid Screen to Stickybomb Launcher, Scottish Resistance, Sticky Jumper or using the command hud_reloadscheme may result in the HUD displaying "%A" or a blank instead of the number of stickies. This is fixed by dying or placing new stickies.
• When choosing another class and respawning, a RED Scout and "%HEALTH" are shortly seen on the HUD instead of the current health.
• The "Overtime" text can conflict with the text showing server time remaining, should the option be enabled.
• The Diamondback Crits counter overlaps the Spy's cloak meter when the minimal HUD option is enabled.
• The Righteous Bison's ammo meter overlaps the Air Strike's "kills" counter when the minimal HUD option is enabled.
• The Air Strike's "kills" counter overlaps the "rage" meter when the minimal HUD option is enabled.
• The cash counter in Mann vs. Machine overlaps the player's killstreak counter and current disguise panel.
• The canteen counter in Mann vs. Machine overlaps the panel used for the Thermal Thruster.
• When equipping another primary weapon after equipping the Dragon's Fury and touching a resupply cabinet, a "Pressure" meter appears in the bottom right corner.
• When the "Use player model in class HUD" option is in use:
  • The 3D HUD icon displays the player's selected loadout rather than their current loadout, which can lead to inconsistencies if they have not yet respawned or visited a resupply locker.
  • Some items that affect the appearance of the character while inactive, such as the Buff Banner and Battalion's Backup backpacks, do not display unless they are active.
  • Dying holding one weapon and respawning holding another may cause the display to continue showing the first weapon until any weapon switch is made.
  • Disguised Spies who change their disguise weapon to a default Shotgun do not see the HUD update.
  • Disguised Spies may see a taunt animation instead of their selected disguise weapon in some cases (an example of this is with the Chargin' Targe). The animation loops and plays any associated sounds.

See also

• Main menu
• System messages
• Mechanics
• Health
• Ammo
• Scripting

External links

• Flame's HUD Guide (PDF) – a starter's guide to modifying the HUD.
• Comfig huds, a collection of HUDs created after HUDS.tf shut down.

References