Firstly, to start off with, this guide will need a program you need to install, in order to be able to make this work. GCFScape[nemstools.github.io] can be downloaded from here either as a zip or an installer (I recommend installer. Make sure to select "associate with vpk files" while installing).

After that is finished, you can proceed to the second step.

Firstly, navigate into your Black Mesa installation folder. In the Black Mesa folder, go to bms folder and look for a "bms_misc_dir" file. Open it up with GCFScape upon finding the file.
We are looking for two particular files. Firstly, right click on the "clientscheme.res" file and click on exract, then select your desktop. (This is located within resource folder on the left panel)

Secondly, go to scripts and look for a "hudlayout.res" file and exract it to the desktop as well. Create a new folder on your desktop (the name can be anything you want, in this case I went with hud test) and create 2 additional folders within the folder, resource and scripts .

Once it looks like this on the screenshot, move the hudlayout.res file you exracted to the scripts folder, and move the clientscheme.res file into the resource folder.


Refer to the screenshot if you are confused. Once this step is done, move the folder you've created (in my case, the "test hud" folder) into the Black Mesa/bms/custom folder.


(Ignore classic weapons, it's just a different addon I have.)

There is only one last thing you have to do, before we're entirely done with this. Go to the scripts folder in the new folder you just moved to custom folder. Open it up and look for the "CHudCrosshair" line.


Normally, the "CrosshairColor" part of the file would read something else like "OrangeBright". Replace this OrangeBright with your choice of a rgb value (Has to be 4 digit, the last digit represents its transparency value). If you need an idea on how much transparency it may need, it really comes down to the type of color you'll use. In game's case, it uses a value of 110 or 160 for it's orange colors everywhere regarding transparency. Once you change it, save the file and launch your game. If you've did everything correctly, it should work upon loading a save file or starting a new game.

Is there a faster way to change the hud colors?

That, there is! Go towards the clientscheme.res file you've put in your custom folder and open it up. You'll see stuff like "OrangeBright" "OrangeDim" within the file. The hudlayout file refers to this file in order to be able to work properly. If you change the RGB values of those orange files (as well as the blue one) to the color of your choosing, you can quickly swap the entire hud colors towards your liking!

Extra notes

This method may not work if an another addon uses "hudlayout.res" file as well. I sadly cannot make a list of them all, but classic weapons uses it's own hudlayout.res file, and thus you'd need to edit that one in order to be able to change your crosshair while using those weapons. I recommend exracting the vpk file of it and putting the scripts etc folders of the addon in a "classic weapons" folder, which would be located in your custom folder. Then, just simply edit the hudlayout.res file similarly to what I had mentioned in here.


If you are confused about anything on this guide, please leave a comment explaining what you've did so far and I'll try my best to help you out.