Update: As of the 16th Feb patch that delivered the new/updated demo format, some of these features will no longer work any more, mainly the “Demo UI” and “Demo Drive” functionality. I’m not sure whether we’ll see similar features/new camera controls added to DotA 2 but at the moment there is no workaround for the loss of these commands/functions.
I have had a lot of requests from the DotA 2 movie making community to provide them with some help/guidance for removing certain elements of the HUD etc to help them improve their movies.
First things first, most of these commands will require cheats to turned on:
sv_cheats 1 - This will enable cheat commands.
When watching a replay, it’s possible to use the source engine’s demo drive mode in conjunction with the third person command to unlock the camera.
Before using the demo drive mode, make sure you’ve the replay camera set to “free camera”.
Open the console and type “demoui”, this will open the Demo UI and give you access to the drive function, hit the drive button and then close the Demo UI.
Now reopen the console, enter the command “thirdperson”, go back to the replay and you’ll now have a semi-free/unlocked camera that can be rotated around using the mouse movement and buttons.
demoui - Use this command to open the Demo UI.
thirdperson - Use this command to unlock the camera.
Art.Of.AnGeul’s example video:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=438EpEx6Joo
Currently the DotA 2 HUD is made up of old VGUI elements and new Scaleform elements, both of the interface types can be disabled using a range of commands.
Disabling Scaleform elements:
dota_sf_hud_actionpanel 0 - Disables the action/ability panel.
dota_sf_hud_channelbar 0 - Disables the channelling bar.
dota_sf_hud_chat 0 - Disables the chat/killspam log.
dota_sf_hud_inventory 0 - Disables the inventory slots.
dota_sf_hud_top 0 - Disables the bar across the top.
Disabling VGUI elements:
dota_hud_healthbars 0 - Disables all the health bars.
dota_no_minimap 1 - Disables the minimap.
dota_hide_cursor 1 - Hides the cursor.
cl_drawhud 0 - This command will completely remove any VGUI element from the display but you will lose a number of mouse control functions like zooming in/out, at the moment it is the only way to hide the portrait window.
After you’ve disabled the HUD you’ll notice a lot of black space left over where the game is not rendered.
Using a couple of commands it is also possible to increase the renderer and in combination with the previous commands you’ll be left with fullscreen hudless playback which should be great for recording movies.
dota_render_crop_height 0 - Controls the height of the renderer.
dota_render_y_inset 0 - Controls the renderer inset at the top of the screen.
It will also provide you with the ability to take some sexy screenshots as well.
The camera distance can also be adjusted during the replay, using this in combination with the fog UI can help you get a nice top down shot.
Camera distance 2000 with default fog:
Camera distance 2000 with the fog override:
dota_camera_distance - Controls the amount you can zoom out (1134 is the default).
fogui - This opens up the Fog UI, allowing you to override the default fog.
Update: ReaverXai has sent me a script he has put together which should help you quickly enter drive mode and remove all of the HUD.
bind "F10" "ssMode"
bind "F11" "driveMode"
alias "ssMode" "fullui"
alias "fullui" "sv_cheats 1; dota_sf_hud_actionpanel 1; dota_sf_hud_channelbar 1; dota_sf_hud_chat 1; dota_sf_hud_inventory 1; dota_sf_hud_top 1; dota_hud_healthbars 1; dota_no_minimap 0; cl_drawhud 1; dota_render_crop_height 166; dota_render_y_inset 31; alias ssMode noui"
alias "noui" "sv_Cheats 0; dota_sf_hud_actionpanel 0; dota_sf_hud_channelbar 0; dota_sf_hud_chat 0; dota_sf_hud_inventory 0; dota_sf_hud_top 0; dota_hud_healthbars 0; dota_no_minimap 1; cl_drawhud 0; dota_render_crop_height 0; dota_render_y_inset 0; alias ssMode fullui"
alias "driveMode" "driveon"
alias "driveon" "sv_cheats 1; demoui 1; thirdperson; alias screenshotMode driveoff"
alias "driveoff" "sv_cheats 0; demoui 0; firstperson; alias screenshotMode driveon"
Paste this into a demo.cfg file, drop it in your DotA 2 cfg folder: “dota 2 beta\dota\cfg” and use the command “exec demo” to execute the script, press F10 to enter into a screenshot/hudless mode and F11 to open up the Demo UI.
Alternatively download the file from here: http://dota2.cyborgmatt.com/demo.cfg
Update 2: Demo drive is no longer functional so I have created an updated cfg with just the toggle HUD function.
bind "F10" "ssMode"
alias "ssMode" "fullui"
alias "fullui" "sv_cheats 1; dota_sf_hud_actionpanel 1; dota_sf_hud_channelbar 1; dota_sf_hud_chat 1; dota_sf_hud_inventory 1; dota_sf_hud_top 1; dota_hud_healthbars 1; dota_no_minimap 0; cl_drawhud 1; dota_render_crop_height 166; dota_render_y_inset 31; alias ssMode noui"
alias "noui" "sv_cheats 1; dota_sf_hud_actionpanel 0; dota_sf_hud_channelbar 0; dota_sf_hud_chat 0; dota_sf_hud_inventory 0; dota_sf_hud_top 0; dota_hud_healthbars 0; dota_no_minimap 1; cl_drawhud 0; dota_render_crop_height 0; dota_render_y_inset 0; alias ssMode fullui"
Download: http://dota2.cyborgmatt.com/screenshot.cfg
Update 3: Instead of using “cl_drawhud 0″ you can disable the ingame portrait by editing the “hud_base.res” file with a text editor, it’s located in the “dota\resource\ui” folder.
Find:
“portrait_width” “120″
“portrait_height” “120″
Change to:
“portrait_width” “0″
“portrait_height” “0″
Enjoy.
