Counter Strike Source

How to Hide the HUD in CS:GO

Counter Strike Source·May 20, 2026·11 min read

Overview

A clean CS:GO screenshot can be hard to grab when the HUD is covering the exact part of the screen you want to show. Health, ammo, radar, and the crosshair are useful during a match, but they are not always welcome in a weapon skin showcase or cinematic clip.

The good news is that CS:GO lets you hide the overlay with a couple of console commands. The change is temporary, easy to reverse, and does not require editing game files. Just avoid doing this during a serious match unless playing at a disadvantage sounds like your idea of strategy.

Enable the Developer Console

Before hiding the HUD, the developer console needs to be enabled. This is where the commands are entered.

  1. Open Steam, select Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in your Library, then press Play.
  1. From the main menu, open Settings near the lower-left corner.
  1. Go to Game Settings and set Enable Developer Console to Yes.
  1. Load into a match.
  1. Press the Tilde (~) key to open the console.

Once the console opens, the game is ready for HUD commands.

Hide the HUD and Crosshair

With the console enabled, removing the HUD only takes two commands. This will hide most of the on-screen overlay and remove the crosshair, leaving the viewmodel visible for cleaner screenshots or video capture.

  1. While in-game, press Tilde (~) to open the developer console.
  1. Enter these commands one at a time:

```text cl_draw_only_deathnotices 1 crosshair 0 ```

  1. Submit each command after typing or pasting it.
  1. Close the console and line up the shot.

The HUD should disappear immediately. If you are capturing skins, inspect animations, or scene compositions, this gives the subject more room to breathe without UI clutter getting in the way.

Restore the HUD

When it is time to play normally again, use the same commands with their default-style values. The HUD and crosshair return as soon as the commands are submitted.

  1. Open the developer console with Tilde (~).
  1. Enter these commands one by one:

```text cl_draw_only_deathnotices 0 crosshair 1 ```

  1. Submit each command, then close the console.

Your radar, ammo display, crosshair, and other interface elements should be visible again.

Final Notes

Hiding the CS:GO HUD is mainly useful for screenshots, thumbnails, cinematic recordings, and weapon skin previews. It is not recommended for actual competitive play, since removing your crosshair and interface makes basic awareness much harder.

For content creation, though, it is a quick way to make CS:GO look cleaner without installing extra tools. Enable the console, run the hide commands, capture what you need, then restore the HUD before getting back into a real match.

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