Using the overlay
The overlay is everything REDnode draws on top of the game: windows, HUD widgets and the launcher. REDnode draws it after the game draws each frame, using the game’s own graphics device, so it moves at the game’s frame rate. What the windows show comes from the overlay host, a program beside the game.
F10 and the three modes
F10 switches between three modes, in this order:
| Mode | You see | The mouse and keyboard go to |
|---|---|---|
| Passive (the start) | HUD widgets, and windows that are pinned to the HUD | The game. You play as normal |
| Interactive | Every open window, and a cursor | The windows. Click, type, drag |
| Hidden | Nothing from REDnode | The game |
To leave interactive mode, press Esc or click empty screen, away from any window. Both take you back to passive.
While a window has your input, the game doesn’t get it: V doesn’t move or shoot. That’s on purpose, the same as Cyber Engine Tweaks’ windows.
The launcher
The launcher is REDnode’s home. Its tab sits at the lower left of the screen: REDNODE with a count, such as · 9/20 (open packages out of all of them). Press F10, then click the tab to open the launcher; click it again to close it.
| Part | What it does |
|---|---|
| GAME LINKED or GAME OFF | Whether the overlay host is connected to the game |
| The list | The Mod Manager first, then every package pinned to the launcher, and any package that crashed even if it isn’t pinned, so an error never hides |
| “3 more in the Mod Manager · 1 new” | Packages not in the launcher, and new ones you haven’t looked at yet. Open opens the Mod Manager |
| A package’s switch | Turns it on or off: opens or closes an app, starts or stops a mod |
| Asks for … with Allowed | A permission the package wants. Nothing happens until you allow it. See Permissions |
| “Needs …” | A mod the package requires that your game doesn’t have |
| For a Node mod | Its state (RUNNING, STARTING, CRASHED, NOT RESPONDING), own or shared process, memory, its last lines and last error, Shared process and Restart |
| “Window closed” with Show | You closed one of the mod’s windows. Show brings it back |
| The bottom | The switches, the Space row, the Theme buttons and the REDnode version. See Settings and controls |
The tab has a striped grip on its left: drag it to move the launcher. When you have more than one space, the tab also shows ▾ and the current space’s name; when a package is in solo mode, it shows SOLO, the package’s name and End.
Windows
In interactive mode:
| To | Do |
|---|---|
| Move a window | Drag its title bar, or the handle the app marks (for example a striped grip) |
| Bring it to the front | Click it. Only the front window gets keyboard input |
| Click what’s behind a window | Click where the window is see-through: the click passes to the window behind, or to the game |
| Close it | Its ✕. For a Node mod’s window, the mod keeps running; Show in the launcher or Mod Manager brings the window back |
REDnode remembers where you put each window, and which windows you closed, across game starts. A saved position applies while the window keeps its size; if a mod changes the size, the window goes back to its default place.
Title-bar buttons
Windows built with REDnode’s UI kit show a few small buttons beside ✕, right to left, only when they apply:
| Button | Does | Shows when |
|---|---|---|
| Move to space | Puts the window in another space, or in all of them | You have two or more spaces |
| Roll up | Folds the window down to its title bar, and back | Usually. An app can leave it out |
| Pin to HUD | Keeps the window on screen in passive mode | Usually |
| Reset position | Puts the window back where it started | After you moved it |
| Debug | Opens the window’s debugger | Developer mode is on |
At most three of them fit beside ✕. If a window has more, a ⋯ button appears on the far left with the rest, each with its name. A choice such as “which space” opens in the same list, with ‹ Back.
HUD widgets
A HUD widget is a window that acts like part of the game’s own HUD: it is drawn, but never takes the mouse or keyboard, even in interactive mode, and you can’t drag it. The Coords HUD and Vitals samples are HUD widgets.
HUD widgets, and other windows that ask for it, hide by themselves while the game shows:
| State | When |
|---|---|
| A menu | Inventory, map, pause menu and so on |
| Photo mode | While it’s on |
| The main menu | The main menu and loading screens |
| A scene | A cinematic scene. Conversations with NPCs are normal play and don’t count. Exactly which scenes count is still to be confirmed in a cutscene |
Themes
The Theme buttons at the bottom of the launcher recolour every window built with the UI kit, at once:
| Theme | Look |
|---|---|
| REDnode | The EDGE HUD look: dark panels, yellow and cyan |
| HUD red | A look-alike of the game’s own red UI |
| EDGE | Like REDnode, with solid yellow title bars |
An app can choose its own look; it then keeps it whatever you pick. The HUD samples always use HUD red.
Keys
| Key | Where | Does |
|---|---|---|
| F10 | Anywhere in the game | Passive, interactive, hidden, and round again |
| Esc | Interactive mode | Back to passive. Ends a held cursor first (pointer lock) |
| Ctrl+1 to Ctrl+9 | While the overlay is open | Switches to that space |
| Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+X, Ctrl+A, Ctrl+Z | In the front window | Copy, paste, cut, select all, undo |
Good to know
- REDnode’s windows sit above everything, game menus included, because they’re drawn after the game’s frame. Windows that hide with menus avoid the clash.
- The cost is small. In the developer’s tests the overlay took about 0.1 ms of each game frame with every sample open. Each open window does use memory in the host: roughly 60 to 100 MB.
- Alt+Tab to the desktop and back keeps interactive mode.
- Not yet handled: HDR brightness matching, frame generation, resolution and window-mode changes and ultrawide screens are planned work. Steam Deck is untested.