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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/sr2echa/TF2-Source-Code/llms.txt

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TF2’s user interface is built on VGUI2 (Valve GUI 2), a retained-mode panel system declared in public/vgui/ and implemented in vgui2/. All HUD elements — health, ammo, objectives, charge meters — and menus are VGUI2 panels. The game-specific HUD lives in game/client/tf/ and game/client/hud_*.cpp.

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VGUI2 panel system

Every UI element inherits from vgui::Panel (or a subclass). Panels form a tree; each panel owns its children and is responsible for layout and painting. 
// public/vgui/Panel.h (simplified)
namespace vgui
{
class Panel : public IClientPanel
{
public:
    Panel( Panel *parent, const char *panelName );
    virtual void Paint();           // draw the panel content
    virtual void PerformLayout();   // compute size/position of children
    virtual void OnCommand( const char *command );
    virtual void ApplySchemeSettings( IScheme *pScheme );
};
}
Common base classes used in TF2:
ClassFileUsage
EditablePanelvgui_controls/EditablePanel.hContainer panels loaded from .res files
Framevgui_controls/Frame.hMovable dialog windows
ImagePanelvgui_controls/ImagePanel.hTexture display
Labelvgui_controls/Label.hText display
Buttonvgui_controls/Button.hClickable buttons
RichTextvgui_controls/RichText.hMulti-line formatted text

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HUD element system

TF2 HUD elements inherit from CHudElement (game/client/hudelement.h). They register with GetHud() via the DECLARE_HUDELEMENT macro and receive ShouldDraw(), Init(), Reset(), and Paint() callbacks each frame. 
// game/client/hudelement.h
class CHudElement
{
public:
    CHudElement( const char *pElementName );
    virtual bool ShouldDraw() { return true; }
    virtual void Init() {}
    virtual void Reset() {}
    virtual void OnTick() {}
    virtual void ProcessInput() {}
    virtual void SetActive( bool bActive );
};

// Registration macro
DECLARE_HUDELEMENT( CHudAmmoStatus );

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TF2-specific HUD components

CTFHudPlayerHealth and CTFHudAmmoWeapons (in game/client/tf/) read from the local player’s networked health and ammo variables and draw the corresponding numeric and icon panels.
Medi Gun ÜberCharge, Bonk energy, and similar meters use CTFHudItemEffectMeter — a generic charge bar that reads an item attribute or condition value from CTFPlayerShared.
CHudControlPointIcons (game/client/hud_controlpointicons.cpp) reads from CTFObjectiveResource (replicated from server) to display capping progress, team ownership icons, and lock states.
CHudDeathNotice displays the kill feed. Floating damage numbers are drawn by CTFHudDamageAccount using world-to-screen projection of the damage position.
CTFHudMannVsMachineStatus displays wave progress, robot counts, and the money collected tracker. It reads from CTFObjectiveResource network variables populated by the MvM game logic.

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Schemes and fonts

VGUI2 schemes (.res files in resource/) define fonts, colors, and border styles. Game code retrieves scheme values via IScheme: 
// Applying scheme in a panel
void CMyPanel::ApplySchemeSettings( IScheme *pScheme )
{
    BaseClass::ApplySchemeSettings( pScheme );
    SetFont( pScheme->GetFont( "HudFontMedium", IsProportional() ) );
    SetFgColor( pScheme->GetColor( "TFOrange", Color( 255, 128, 0, 255 ) ) );
}

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.res layout files

Panel layout is driven by KeyValues .res files loaded at runtime, so UI can be resized and repositioned without recompilation. EditablePanel::LoadControlSettings() parses the file and applies xpos, ypos, wide, tall, and labelText keys to child controls.
HUD .res files are loaded from scripts/HudLayout.res and per-panel files in resource/ui/. Custom HUDs mod these files to rearrange or restyle TF2’s interface.

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