Q: How do I get started?

A: Download the example widget from the Files section! It's named "HUDFramework Sample Widget". It's a simple HUD widget that tracks and displays on-screen the number of kills the player has made. It contains all the information you need to load a widget and send data to it.

For more advanced widgets, check out the sources for HoloTime and Companion Status HUD, which are available on their respective mod pages.

Q: Does adding HUDFramework to my existing mod mean that it will have a hard requirement on HUDFramework?

A: Absolutely not! Adding HUDFramework as a master makes sense if your mod is solely a HUD widget or wouldn't otherwise work without HUDFramework. If you already have an existing mod and are considering adding UI elements to beef it up (imagine a radar, or minimap, or a timer counting down to detonation, etc.), you don't have to add HUDFramework as a master to make use of the framework. You can dynamically retrieve a reference to HUDFramework by calling HUDFramework.GetInstance(). It returns HUDFramework if installed, and None if it's not installed.


Q: When will HUDFramework be available for XB1?

A: HUDFramework is already ready for XB1. I am in the process of updating the two existing HUD widgets (HoloTime and Companion Status HUD) so that they have a menu-based interface for positioning and scaling their widgets. (On XB1, they won't have the luxury of the command console to directly set the coordinates for the widgets!) I want to make sure that at launch, users have widgets to use the framework with.

That said, though, if you get your HUD widget ready for XB1 earlier than me, let me know and I can put up HUDFramework on XB1. The goal is simply to make sure that XB1 users don't get a framework without any widgets they can use it with - doesn't matter if these widgets were created by me or not!

HUDFramework is now available on XB1.


Q: Will HUDFramework be available for PS4?

A: Unfortunately, no. Sony's restrictions prohibit external assets, and new UI widgets would certainly constitute new assets.


Q: How can I debug my HUD widgets?

A: With F4SE installed, Scaleform logging can be turned on.
In Data\F4SE\f4se.ini (create it if not present), add the lines:
[Interface]
bEnableGFXLog=1

Scaleform trace output will now be output to <Documents Folder>\My Games\Fallout4\F4SE\f4se.log.