skate-3-rust-engine/docs/hud-installation.md

Original HUD installation

The runtime reads both caches from the selected --assets directory:

HUD	Default manifest	Optional development override
Trick scoring	private/hud/runtime/trickdisplay.json	SKATE_SCORING_HUD_ROOT
Session marker	private/session-marker/hud.json	SKATE3_SESSION_MARKER_OVERLAY

Merging HUD code does not install ignored, extracted game assets. Earlier feature launchers used private caches through environment overrides; the combined build with only --assets could not find either cache. Setup now prepares both with the existing extractors. The marker extractor defaults to the vendored UI toolkit; the external --ui-toolkit argument remains supported.

The original installer calls prepare_runtime_huds.py after VLT conversion. It exports only the scoring movie and marker subtree needed by the runtime, validates both, and installs their manifests and referenced RGBA payloads. Intermediate extraction files remain in the existing conversion workspace and are removed by the installer's normal cleanup. No full-disc or audio extraction stage is added, and the original map/skater/environment setup flow is retained.

For an existing installation, reuse prepared caches without reconverting maps:

python tools/install_prepared_hud.py --assets <installed-assets> --scoring-cache <prepared-scoring-cache> --marker-cache <prepared-marker-overlay>

This validates both manifests and referenced texture sizes before copying any files, checks available marker texture hashes, and verifies byte-identical copies. It refuses differing installed files unless --replace is supplied. It installs only the runtime files, preserving authored geometry, fonts, images and actions. No copyrighted assets are committed or bundled with the source.

If no prepared caches exist, prepare only the two HUDs from the owned game folder:

python tools/prepare_hud.py --game <owned-game> --output <installed-assets>/private/hud --collections <installed-assets>/private/stock/skater-collections.json
python tools/extract_session_marker.py --game <owned-game> --output <installed-assets>/private/session-marker

Startup logs report the loaded paths or a load failure. Check the executable and asset paths in the launcher as well: PLAY.bat delegates to Launch.ps1, which selects bin/skate3rust.exe, not a feature build elsewhere in bin.

Session-marker prompts appear while holding LB during gameplay; they are not an always-visible panel. Scoring follows the original trickdisplay movie. Its camera renders layer 31 offscreen before the presentation UI; the marker camera renders layer 29 at order 1 after presentation. The existing scoring startup dependency on PresentationSetup must be retained. Neither HUD uses the world mesh layers.

The installation repair and release compilation do not establish GPU visibility or gameplay parity. Manual checks remain: resume gameplay, hold LB for the marker panel, and perform and land a trick for the scoring display.