TF2 default HUD: how to get it back, minimal mode and files

The default HUD is the one Team Fortress 2 comes with: the original health, ammo, menus and scoreboard. The game draws it whenever no custom HUD replaces it. This page shows how to get it back, what its minimal mode is, where its files are, and which custom HUDs keep its look.

How to get the default HUD back in TF2

1. Open your custom folder. In your Steam library, right-click Team Fortress 2, choose Manage, then Browse local files. Open tf, then custom.
2. Delete the folder of your custom HUD.
3. Restart TF2.

A custom HUD never changes the game's own files, so there is nothing to reinstall. The install guide has the folder paths for every system.

If the HUD still does not look like the default one, check two things:

• Another folder in custom. The game reads every folder in tf/custom. A second folder with HUD files in it keeps replacing parts of the default HUD.
• Minimal mode. It is a setting of the game and not a part of any custom HUD, and the game saves it. Removing a HUD does not turn it off.

Minimal HUD mode: cl_hud_minmode

The default HUD has a second layout, minimal mode, also called minmode. The Team Fortress 2 wiki describes it as a smaller and denser HUD that leaves out some of the explanations. It is off by default.

• In the menu. Open the advanced multiplayer options. Under HUD options, the option is called Enable minimal HUD.
• In the console. cl_hud_minmode 1 turns it on and cl_hud_minmode 0 turns it off. The console guide shows how to open the console.

In the HUD's files, a value with _minmode at the end of its name is the one used in minimal mode. The default ammo panel sits at xpos r95 and at xpos_minmode r85. A custom HUD has a minimal layout only if its author wrote these values: the HUDs with minmode support have them.

Where the default HUD files are

The default HUD is not a folder you can open. Its files are packed inside the game's VPK files: tf2_misc_dir.vpk, hl2_misc_dir.vpk and platform_misc_dir.vpk. There are two ways to get at them:

• Read a copy online. TF2-Default-HUD by Hypnootize holds the extracted files and was last updated in October 2026. Its resource and scripts folders hold the files that HUDs change. TF2-Hud-Reference by JarateKing keeps a second copy, last updated in October 2024.
• Extract them yourself. A VPK file opens like an archive with GCFScape, the tool the HUD reference names for it.

Hypnootize's copy has 709 .res files in resource/ui alone. Its info.vdf carries ui_version 3. To change these files, read the TF2 HUD editing guide.

TF2 default HUD download

You do not need to download the default HUD to use it: removing your custom HUD brings it back. To get its files as a starting point for a HUD of your own, take them from the two copies above, or open the HUD builder, which starts from the default HUD and gives you a zip.

HUDs that keep the default look

These custom HUDs keep the look of the default HUD and fix, tidy or extend it. hud-db tags 5 HUDs as vanilla:

• CosmosHUD by VermilionCosmos
• Center HUD by RoseyLemonz
• e.v.e Plus by RoseyLemonz
• Improved Default HUD by Eniere
• Middle-Mann by Vexcenot

The default-style TF2 HUDs page has their screenshots and downloads.

Where this comes from

The default value of cl_hud_minmode and the fact that the game saves it are read from Valve's published TF2 source code. The place of the option in the menu and the description of minimal mode are from the Team Fortress 2 wiki. The _minmode values, the VPK files and the file counts are from the two copies of the default HUD named above. The list of HUDs is from hud-db.

Next

Pick a new HUD from the best TF2 HUDs, learn to install a HUD, or change the default one by hand with the HUD editing guide.