How to use crosshair with melee weapons?

Question

Crosshair (yellow cross in the middle of the screen, second picture) disappears when a melee weapon is equipped - how to enable crosshair for all weapons? A native solution is preferred, but Half-Life mods are accepted too.

Answer 1

short answer

just copy 2 lines starting with word "crosshair" from Half-Life\valve\sprites\weapon_9mmhandgun.txt to Half-Life\valve\sprites\weapon_crowbar.txt and change first number in Half-Life\valve\sprites\weapon_crowbar.txt 4 to 6

long answer

in game codes crowbar and gun not different much except 1 thing. crowbar set to use different hit pyhsic so hit can be done only when you close enough to an object. but still i dont prefer to use crosshair for crowbar because i got a belief that crowbar hit pyhsics are works little bit different than bullet so it is useless to use crosshair. can change a weapon's hud elements by changing weapon_weaponsname.txt file in Half-Life\valve\sprites folder.

example on weapon_rpg.txt;

8
weapon          320 320hud1 80  40  80  20
weapon_s        320 320hud1 80  60  80  20
ammo            320 320hud2 90  16  18  18
crosshair       320 crosshairs  24  48  24  24
weapon          640 640hud2 0   45  170 45
weapon_s        640 640hud5 0   45  170 45
ammo            640 640hud7 120 72  24  24
crosshair       640 crosshairs  24  48  24  24

"8" means there is 8 data lines in file

line format: picture_type-----screen_ratio------data_picture_file_name------start_x_coordinate------start_y_coordinate-----end_x_coordinate------end_y_coordinate

coordinates determiines which part of the picture file is used. for example if you want to use lower half of 64x64 picture file. you have to write coordinates like this " 0 32 64 64

"weapon" typename for unselected weapon picture on weaponlist

"weapon_s" typename for selected weapon picture on weaponlist

"ammo" is typename for ammo picture on hud

"320" means this line is dedicated to 16:9 widescreen pictures. and 640s are 4:3 screensized

lets look first line, it says the game using 320hud1.spr file from the Half-Life\valve\sprites.

here is a picture of selected machinegun and unselected shotgun and bow images shown.

if you add crosshair line to weapon_crowbar.txt file you can see crosshair for crowbar. you can use any file with any line you dont have to use crosshairs.spr for crosshair. you can use any hud element's picture for crosshair. for ecample you can made a crosshair with using ammo pictures.

color and size of hud elements set in the mod you cant change easily but there is an exception on crosshairs. crosshairs is literally orange colored pictures. you can change them with any picture with any color. if you want to edit it you need a software called sprite explorer and you need 8-bit bmp file for desired hud element. but you dont need this programm unles you make special designed crosshair.

software link i used and liked much

and here is my custom crosshair for handgrenade. the hudexchange.spr is an aplhatest type sprite file. (masked image file - background color of this image is transparent at ingame)

8
weapon          320 320hud1 160 0   80  20
weapon_s        320 320hud1 160 20  80  20
ammo            320 320hud2 36  34  18  18
crosshair       320 hudexchange     0   0       64  640
weapon          640 640hud3 0   0   170 45
weapon_s        640 640hud6 0   0   170 45
ammo            640 640hud7 48  96  24  24
crosshair       640 hudexchange     0   0       64  640