A Simple Counter-Strike 2 Custom Hud and Hud manager. Manage overlays, players, teams, and matches — then send it all live to your broadcast overlay in real time.
- Built-in default HUD — works out of the box with no extra setup
- Bring Your Own HUD (BYOH) — import any HUD compatible with the cs2-react-hud open-source format
- Player & team management — create player profiles with avatars, Steam IDs, countries, and team assignments
- Match management — set up matches with team veto data that feeds directly into the overlay
- Keybinds — Quick action keybinds for refreshing the hud and reversing the sides.
- Live view — see the current CS2 game state and manage players mid-match
- HUD panel controls — tweak HUD settings (team colors, display options, etc.) from within the app
- Spectator Binds tool — reorder and rebind observer slots via CS2's telnet interface so player positions never shift during a broadcast
- Download the latest
simple-huds-setup.exefrom the Releases page. - Run the installer and follow the prompts.
- Launch SimpleHuds.
Windows only at this time.
SimpleHuds reads live data from CS2 via the Game State Integration (GSI) system. The config file is installed automatically — no manual file editing required.
- Click the Settings icon in the sidebar.
- Select your Steam directory (the folder where Steam is installed, e.g.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam). - Click Install GSI.
SimpleHuds will write the required config file into your CS2 installation automatically. Restart CS2 if it was already running, and the Live view will begin receiving game state data.
- Open the HUDs tab.
- Find SimpleHuds Default and click Launch.
- Copy the overlay URL that appears and paste it into your broadcasting software (OBS, vMix, etc.) as a Browser Source.
The default HUD ships with multiple layout variants (e.g. default, horizontal, vertical). Expand the HUD card to see all available variants and launch the one that fits your production layout.
Click Panel on any HUD to open the live settings panel. From here you can change team colors, toggle display elements, and send action commands to the HUD without interrupting the broadcast.
These shortcuts are always active while SimpleHuds is running, regardless of which HUD is open.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Alt+F |
Force-refresh all connected HUD overlays |
Alt+R |
Toggle reverse sides for the current map in the active match veto |
When the SimpleHuds Default HUD overlay is open, the following additional shortcuts become active:
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Alt+V |
Increase radar size |
Alt+B |
Decrease radar size |
These are registered automatically when the overlay launches and unregistered when it closes.
SimpleHuds supports any HUD built against the lexogrine/cs2-react-hud open-source format. The majority of features from the open-source spec are integrated, including game state data, player/team enrichment, match data, and panel controls.
Not currently supported: Lexogrine-specific features including ScoutAI, camera controls, and killfeeds (in the works) are not available in SimpleHuds.
- Package your HUD as a
.zipfile. The zip should contain the HUD files at its root (including ahud.jsonmanifest). - Open the HUDs tab and click Import HUD.
- Select your
.zip— the HUD will be extracted and appear in the list.
Go to Players to create and edit player profiles. Each player can have:
- First name, last name, username
- Steam ID (used to match live GSI data to your player profiles)
- Country, avatar image
- Team assignment
- Coach flag
You can also bulk-import player rosters from an Excel spreadsheet using the import feature on the Players page.
Go to Teams to create teams with a name, logo, country, and custom colors.
Go to Matches to create a match:
- Assign a left team and right team.
- Add veto data (map picks/bans and side selections).
- Set the current match as active — the HUD will immediately reflect team names, logos, and scores.
The Live tab shows the current CS2 game state in real time. When a match is running, all 10 players are displayed with their live stats — making it easy to quickly create player profiles on the fly and assign them to a team without leaving the view.
- Open the Live tab while a CS2 match is in progress.
- Click Add Player next to any live player to pre-fill their profile from GSI data (username, Steam ID, side).
- Assign them to a team directly from the creation form.
- The player is immediately available for future matches and the active overlay.
The Spectator Binds tool lets observers assign specific players to fixed observer slots (1–10) and push those binds directly to CS2 via its telnet interface.
Why use it? By default, CS2's observer slots shift as players die and respawn. Locking player SteamIDs to specific slots means the observer's number keys always target the same player throughout the match — essential for clean shoutcaster camera work.
In tournaments that allow coaches inside the server, CS2 counts the coach as an occupying a player slot. This throws off the observer slot numbering — teams appear misaligned and player 1–10 binds no longer map to who you expect.
SimpleHuds solves this in two ways:
- Mark a player as a coach — go to Players, edit the player, and enable the Coach flag. This hides them from the HUD overlay entirely so they never appear in the scoreboard or player cards.
- Override slots manually — use the Spectator Binds tool to explicitly assign each real player to the correct observer slot, bypassing whatever CS2 auto-assigned.
Together these two steps keep the overlay clean and the observer controls predictable regardless of how many coaches are in the server.
- Launch CS2 with telnet enabled. Add the following to your CS2 launch options:
-netconport 2020 - Open Spectator Binds in SimpleHuds and click the Telnet settings button.
- Enter the host (
127.0.0.1) and port (2020) and save. - Click Test Connection to verify.
- Click Fill from CS2 to auto-populate slots from the current live game state.
- Drag players between slots or use Quick Assign to assign an entire side at once.
- Click Apply Binds — SimpleHuds sends the
bindcommands to CS2 via telnet automatically. - Use Clear Binds to remove all slot assignments.
The Command Preview panel shows exactly what commands will be sent before you apply.
All data (players, teams, matches, HUD files) is stored locally on your machine. Cloud storage coming soon.
