Ladies and Gentlemen, it's ready!

After 3 weeks of development and testing, I proudly bring the HUD Tweaker software to the BLR community.




What is it ?

It's a piece of software that let you modify any possible game HUD element using a graphical interface.


How does it works ?

Your game directory contains a folder "Cooked" where are stored different config files that are fully modifiable by the players, with the benediction of Zombie Studios (from here you can stop thinking "Is this allowed?")
One of those config files is the FoxHud.ini, which contains all HUD elements that can be tweaked. But since this file is pure text, it's a real pain to modify values lying in it... the HUD Tweaker solves this problem by giving you an intuitive graphical interface to make your modifications, and save them in the FoxHud.ini format.


What is a Widget ?

Better to demystify this right now as that will increase your understanding of the software and what's next.
A Widget is a rectangle HUD element that can be moved and repositioned and is used to display specific information.
For instance the HealthWidget is:


A widget has several modifiable properties amongst:

• * X - Horizontal position : Distance between the center of the screen and the widget's anchor point represented by a red circle.
• * Y - Vertical position : Distance between the center of the screen and the widget's anchor point represented by a red circle.
• * Xrot - Horizontal rotation : Rotates your widget horizontally around its anchor point represented by a red circle.
• * Yrot - Vertical rotation : Rotates your widget vertically around its anchor point represented by a red circle..
• * DispTime : Time before the widget fades out. Widgets having a default DispTime=0 ignore this property.
• * Opacity : Defines the widget's Transparency (Percentage). Widgets having a default Opacity=0 ignore this property.
• * Scale : Defines the widget's Scale. Widgets having a default Scale=0 ignore this property.
• * Z : Only used on stuff named with "WorldLocationOffset". The WorldLocationOffset applies to an Object in the world instead of a HUD Widget. On those objects, X represent North-South axis, Y West-East axis, and Z the Top-Bottom axis"

Important Note:

Not all the widgets have all available properties exposed.
If a widget has not a property exposed, specifying a value for this property will have no effect in game. Also there might be a max/min value for some properties on some Widgets.
All hidden info we don't know about

Installation & first run

1. Download the latest build below.
2. Extract the zip contain anywhere on your HDD
3. Start the exe
4. At first start it will detect that your game directory is unknown and give you a notification, press OK.
5. Go in menu "Application" then "Locate Game" and browse to your \Blacklight Retribution\Live directory. Pay attention, you should select the "Live" dir!
6. If your game path looks correct it will notify you, after that you can go in menu "FoxHUD.ini" and select "Load". This will load your default config file. If you can see the widgets and colors, than it's OK

Note 1 : For Steam users, your game folder is in : STEAM FOLDER\steamapps\common\blacklightretribution\Blac klight Retribution\Live
Note 2 : It will remember your game dir path and the next time you will start the app, it will automatically load the default config file.


Tweak your HUD

One you have a config file loaded, you can start moving the widgets and modify their properties in the first tab, change the colors in the second tab, or change the advanced parameters in the third tab.
There are 3 ways to move the widgets:

1. Drag & Drop them with your mouse
2. Move them with your keyboard's arrow keys for better accuracy
3. Manually change their X or Y values in the corresponding boxes

Once you are done with your modifications, go in menu FoxHUD.ini and select Save, this will make a backup of your current config file and then overwrite the file with your modifications
You can start the game and see the result.


Tweak your FOV

Additionally to the FoxHud.ini, the HUD Tweaker also let you change an interesting property in the FoxEngine.ini config file : The Field of View. This is a must have for all players having a Large screen, which is probably the majority of us. You'll find more information about this in this thread.


Share your config

If you come to that ubber config of your dreams and find it perfect for you, chances are high that some other players will like it too... so why wouldn't you share it with your fellow buddies and become the hero that made the perfect HUD ? The software let you share your config on the forum in a matter of second thanks to a built-in assistant that automatically format your config file for a forum post. All you have to do is copy it and post it (stick on this thread please !) If you do so, it's probably better that you also add a screenshot of your interface.


Import a config

As you can share your config with others, of course you can also import other's configs as simply. Just copy to your clipboard the config code that a generous player let on the forum, paste it into the HUD Tweaker and Load it. Once it's loaded you can Save it like it is, or make your own modifications out of it, and why not Share the results with others afterwards.


The FoxHud.ini menu in details

Save : Backup the default config file then overwrite it with your modifications
Save As: Save your modifications to a ini file of your choice (no backup is done)
Load : Load THE FoxHud.ini config file
Load Zombie's default : Load the default config file backuped by Zombie after each patch as FoxHud.Bak
Load Specific File : Load the config file of your choice
Load From Clipboard : Load a config file found on the forum by copy/pasting it.
Share your config : Assistant to share your config in the forum
Open Config Directory : Opens an explorer on the folder where your config files lies.



Last thoughts

Believe it or not, I haven't make this for myself, I did it for you all. I don't even use it except to change a few colors (but I am looking forward to copy the best configs taht will pop up here ) ... Coding is my job, my hobby, my life... that's the thing I do best. So for every game I love I use my skills to bring something to the community, especially when that community is nice and this is the case here. From the very first moment I saw the FoxHud.ini, I knew I could do something out of it very quickly as long as I'd receive the needed support from Zombie devs, which has been the case and I'd like to thanks again Brian Sprague for the countless support he provided in the development thread, without him this tool would not have been possible !.

I expect a few remaining bugs or annoyance and be sure that I will solve them as fast as needed in a next built.
Don't hesitate to share your ideas for new features. This is just beginning.
Also don't count on me to make a detailed description of all widgets and advanced parameters... I made my part of the job and let the rest to the community.

Happy tweaking !

NB: If you want to offer me a beer or a new camo, you have a "Donate" link in "Application" menu, or you can click on the button below...

Release Notes & Download Links

Version 1.2 (09.05.12) | Download
* FoxHud.ini : The application can now manage the 3 Aspect Ratio supported by the game: 4:3; 16:9 and 16:10. So the application should now works properly on all resolutions. When you'll have located your game folder, a new window will appear where you can set your Aspect Ratio. It will automatically look in the FoxEngine config file to retrieve your in-game resolution and compute the ratio. You can still change your Aspect Ratio afterwards in the options menu.
* FoxHud.ini Added new scene HRV with PlayerCardWidget (Player info you see when you mouse over someone in HRV).
* FoxEngine.ini: Added an option to adapt the config to Alacratha's Lowest .ini (Notebooks) .
* FoxEngine.ini: Now when you change the FOV, the config file is not set to Read-only anymore, that should let the game save your settings whenever you change them from the game.
* Miscellaneous: Added an option to create an auto-login shortcut to the game on your desktop so you can bypass the login screen.
* Fixed a couple of bugs.
* Revamped a little bit the menu


Version 1.1 (17.02.13) | Download
* Added Coin colors (new stuff to come...)
* Fixed a bug in the "Save As" function
* Fixed a bug that made the loading fail when finding a color line ending with a space
* Windows Named Colors now appear as Hex in the color textboxes.
* Now when you overwrite your FoxHud.ini (option Save), the file of reference for the saving process is Zombie's default (FoxHud.bak). This should prevent inconsistencies between versions when a new patch is released.

Version 1.0 (13.02.13) | Download
* added the remaining Widgets. Config file is now covered at 98%
* you can now move the widgets with arrow keys for more accuracy.
* added an Assistant to share your config on the forum.
* added a Load from Clipboard option to copy/paste and load another player's config found on the forum.
* added a button to Reset your changes on the selected widget
* now when you select a Widget, it is automatically bring to front and not possibly hidden behind others.
* In the Colors tab, you can now enter manually a hexadecimal color code instead of using the color picker dialog.
* In the bottom StatusBar, if you click on the file loaded it will open this file in your fav text editor. If you click on File version (right side), it will open the ini version to your clipboard.

Beta 4 (08.02.13) | Download
* Added adavanced parametres, a lot more things to tweak only for the Braves
* Added some help tooltips
* Polished the app

Beta 3 (04.02.13) | Download
* Added a new menu "FoxEngine.ini" where you can change your FOV to vertical if you have a large screen monitor.
* Added tons of new widgets
* Widgets are now displayed in Scenes

Beta 2 (29.01.13) | Download
* Added vertical and horizontal scrollbars to the Widget panel so you can see all of it on lower resolutions.
* Now when you save your config file, the sofware first remove the possible read-only, overwrite the file with your changes, and set back the read-obly. It should prevent both the "my mods are not saved" and "the game overwrite my config file with defaults" issues.

Reserved for tuts

A+ work man.

i am literally vibrating with excitement to try this... why must i be chained to a work desk.

*glares at the evil ticking wall clock*

Amazing work, it's things like this that make a community even better and stronger.

Seriously?! I love it, great work man.
A question if you don't mind.

If I wanna for ex. make the tactical gear goes to the left of the ammo widget instead of it being on the right, flip it 180

You can't do that because the tactical gear is part of the widget ammo. It is only one Widget.
That's actually one of the first thing I told to myself when I did my first runs: Why the hell did they glued the Tactical with the Ammo ?

And the forum probably ate your first post because of a special char... and I can even guess that it was a degree circle sign hehe
PWE DB admins don't know what UTF8 is...

Thank you so much dude, now that it is public -- I will review it in my video for you.

Again, thank you Mr. Crippius. I will ensure that I pass by and say hello with my LMG if I ever see you on EU servers

Also check my video I has cool HUD for u ;D



My HUD http://www.speedyshare.com/QqSB5/epic-hud.rar + Gameplay http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wg0Vb5U0mA