HUD Library

HUD library

The library is a folder where you keep all your HUDs. From the library, one click changes which HUD TF2 loads.

Set it up

Open HUD library: the books icon at the bottom left, or the button on the start screen. Choose a folder that is not inside tf/custom (TF2 would load everything in it at once), for example Documents/TF2 HUDs. Every HUD in that folder shows up as a card, with its icon, name, version, author and description from its TFHUD manifest.

Link or copy

Settings → HUD library → Install HUDs as decides how a HUD gets into tf/custom:

Mode	What happens	Good for
Link (default)	tf/custom/<name> becomes a junction (Windows) or symlink (Linux, macOS) pointing at the library folder.	Working on HUDs: nothing is copied, and every save in HUD Studio is what TF2 loads. Use Reload HUD in the Game panel to see it.
Copy	The HUD is copied into tf/custom.	A fixed snapshot; install again to update it.

Junctions need no admin rights or Developer Mode. Windows can only make them on local drives, so if linking fails, use Copy.

Swapping HUDs

• Use this HUD installs the HUD and takes every other HUD out of tf/custom. HUD Studio lists what will be removed and asks first. Folders that aren't HUDs (configs, hitsounds, sprays) are never touched.
• Install adds the HUD without removing anything else.
• Uninstall removes the HUD from tf/custom.

Nothing is ever deleted. A link is just a pointer, so removing it leaves the library copy alone. A real folder is moved into HUD Studio's backups folder (…/backups/_custom).

Restart TF2, or run hud_reloadscheme, after swapping.

Bringing HUDs in

• In tf/custom, not in the library lists HUD folders already installed. Move to library moves one into the library and installs it back as a link (or a copy), so the game still loads it.
• Add a HUD folder… copies a downloaded or extracted HUD into the library. If the folder holds one HUD folder inside it, as many zips do, that inner folder is used.
• New HUD creates new HUDs in the library when one is set.