The Hud Free Contest

Tell me how to disable the hud in the following games and you will win the GOG games of your choice worth up to $20.

Descent 3
Splinter Cell Chaos Theory

Solved:
Shank 2
XIII
Splinter Cell

Descent 3 includes options to disable most of the hud, but I can't get rid of the green text that pops up every time I pick up something. There is also some text in the upper right hand corner of the screen that shows the Score.

Splinter Cell 3 actually has two ways of disabling the hud, but they break the game. I'm looking for a better method that still makes the game playable.

The two methods that exist that do not work correctly are:

1. bind the command "disablehud" to a key in the file: Documents and Settings/Yourname/My Documents/Games/SplinterCell3_Demo/Profiles/Profile/Profile.ini ("Profile" being the profile name chosen in game). will disable the hud, but no longer lets players interact with the environment, making the game unplayable. You also have to create the new profile and use it instead of the default profile.

2. edit the SplinterCell3.ini file and changing MagmaVisible=True to MagmaVisible=False. That method removes the hud, crosshair, quick inventory, and even the menus making it incredibly difficult to even get into a game.

Everyone with an account on GOG is eligible.

Rules:

The method of hud removal must not make the game unstable and the game must be playable. If the hud or part of it is absolutely required at certain points to progress in the game, it must be accessible in some way.

If the method of hud removal requires a 3rd party executable (such as a trainer, mod, etc) it must pass a virus scan from virus total. Methods involving programs which contain viruses, trojans, etc will not be tested and aren't eligible for a prize.

I don't have any of those games to test but the usual method would be to use a texture viewer (e.g. Nvidia's Windows Texture Viewer) to view the textures and identify which ones are the HUD, then use another tool to make completely transparent equivalents (same format and dimensions). The game would then load the transparent versions normally as if nothing had happened. This method would work for many games.

This is more time-consuming for games that store textures in archives since you'd have to use the game-specific tool to extract and then recompile the archive with your changes; some games will automatically override archived files with non-archived files with the same names but this depends on the game.

Okay, I found a way, but the text for your health + subtitles (although you might be able to turn it off), but I'm just going to refine it a bit. One minute

What? I'll start XIII (again) today's night, but the HUD disturbs that much?

Ugh, you sure picked 3 great games for your problem.
Well, all have some solutions through game files. Editing and/or renaming various settings in those files does wonders. I'm not sure if all 3 can be completely cleared this way though.

Yeah, one of those things that should be in settings in all games by default. Like night/day cycle and weather :)

Since I have it, I'm working on a texture mod for XIII to remove the HUD, but what in your opinion is 'hud'? Like the boxes that pop up when you kill people, or the health + subtitle boxes?

http://forums.ubi.com/showthread.php/384323-Splinter-Cell-HUD-and-config-editing-Forums

Here, for Splinter Cell. It seems to work.

For XIII, I consider the Hud to be stuff like the health and ammo count and icons that are always visible. The other stuff (like
boxes that pop up when you kill people) is part of the game and adds to the feeling that I'm living
a comic book.

I mainly want to get rid of the stuff that's on screen all the time. If removing the health info
removes the subtitles as well, that's fine.

If I load up these games and tweek them to get the Hud off, I'm afraid I'll never get it back on, and I kind of need it, so I'm not entering. That being said, great giveaway! :)

ps The other day I posted a thread in the Shadow Warrior forum because I couldn't get the Hud on and I kept running out of ammo. I felt kind of like an idiot.

That link is just another guy who wants to disable the hud. It doesn't give any information on how to do it though. I already have those tools and have used them in the past to make transparent huds for some games. The problem, like you said, is finding a game-specific tool to extract and recompile archives. You could do what I do. Back up any file you edit or just make a full copy of the game directory. That way when I screw up (when, not if, because I know I will), I can still revert the game back the way it was.

I see you've been busy on the internet, I've came across more of you around.

I'm not sure what you have against HUD Display, most of the time it doesn't detract anything, for something like Splinter Cell you really need it though since the game gives you so little otherwise to go on (Your inventory, health, light detection for example is attached to the HUD system), same thing with XIII since you won't know your items or ammo.

In any case, if you're that desperate to get rid of it, you'll probably have to do a hard delete of the software relating to the HUD display. You'd probably find it in the visual display files of the game. Some games also have separate image display files kept in the game, I've noticed it especially from people making games with RPG maker. In that case you would just delete the image and it would no longer be accessible to layer over the game, but this is more likely for something like Shank as opposed to XIII because of the more simple build style.

As for specific files or objects to delete, I couldn't tell you how, but you'd need some kind of program so you could read the encoding, then you might be able to hunt down any lines labeled to the display or HUD.

This is all a guess though. If you don't want to work at all for a game without HUD, try out Chronicles of Riddick, or if you have a Nintendo Console you can fully remove the HUD in the Metroid Prime games.

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Frankly I find the concern to be a little absurd anyway, you're honest to god going to have a hard time playing the game for something like Splinter Cell, but that's up to you. If you can't get rid of it through the options (Splinter Cell might allow it) Then your only option is that you're going to have to learn how to get into the graphics files or use a modding program. I can see if I can find one for Splinter Cell and XIII, I wouldn't expect one for the third game though.

Sorry I can't help you, but thanks and +1 for your generosity, hudfreegamer!

Also, a little promotion in the Giveaways' Directory:
http://www.gog.com/forum/general/how_does_one_make_a_gift_aka_gifting_on_gog_for_dummies/post620

I figured out how to disable the hud for Shank 2. So, there are only two prizes left.

However, my method was sloppy. So, if you can figure out how to enable the debug menu in Shank 2 that's mentioned in the autoexec.lua file, you'll still win the prize.