Place your overlay
The right spot is the one the game leaves empty. Find that area, make the overlay large enough to read on a phone, and check it on a recording before you go live.
What are the basic rules?
- Never cover the HUD: the minimap, ammo, health, kill feed, score and timers stay fully visible.
- Make it readable on a phone. On a 1080p canvas, most layouts end between 300 and 500 pixels wide. The Browser Source size to start from is in the OBS setup guide.
- Keep 20 to 40 pixels from the edge, so the overlay does not look glued to the frame.
- Use the same place every stream, so viewers learn where to look.
Where does it go in each type of game?
| Game | Keep clear | Good starting spot |
|---|---|---|
| Rocket League | Boost meter bottom right, score and clock top center | Bottom left |
| Call of Duty: Warzone | Minimap top left, ammo and equipment bottom right | Bottom center |
| Fortnite | Minimap top right, health bottom left, inventory bottom right | Bottom center |
| Apex Legends | Minimap top left, squad bottom left, weapons bottom right | Bottom center |
| EA Sports FC | Score top left, radar bottom center | Top right |
| Street Fighter 6 | Health and Drive gauges at the top, Super Art gauges in the bottom corners | Bottom center |
| Tekken 8 | Health and Heat gauges at the top | Bottom center |
| Other shooters | Minimap, ammo, health, kill feed | Bottom center, just above the edge |
| Racing games | Speed, map, position | Top center |
| Speedruns | Timer and splits | In the layout panel, outside the game capture |
HUDs move between game modes, with updates and with your own HUD settings, so use the table as a starting point and confirm with a recording.
Can I move the game HUD instead?
Sometimes the cleanest fix is in the game. Fortnite has a HUD Layout Tool that moves or hides elements, and recent Call of Duty games offer HUD presets and minimap settings. Freeing a corner in the game often works better than squeezing the overlay into a smaller one.
Do the platform players cover anything?
Yes, briefly. On Twitch and YouTube, the player shows its controls along the bottom edge when a viewer moves the mouse or taps the video, and on some screens the title at the top. They fade after a few seconds, but a viewer who pauses on a play sees them. Keep the overlay about 40 pixels above the bottom edge of a 1080p canvas so it stays readable with the controls shown.
What changes on TikTok LIVE?
On a vertical stream, comments and gifts cover the bottom third and buttons cover the right edge, so the overlay goes centered under the gameplay, above the comment area, at about half the canvas width, which is far larger in proportion than on Twitch. The TikTok LIVE setup guide gives a complete layout with positions in pixels.
How do I make it present without being distracting?
- Lower the opacity slightly: a Color Correction filter at 85 to 90% opacity keeps inputs readable and lets the game show through.
- Hide it when idle: your link settings can fade the controller out after a delay without input, so it disappears during menus and breaks.
- Use one of your stream colors in the design, so the overlay reads as part of the layout.
How do I check it before going live?
- Record 30 seconds of play and watch it on your phone.
- Include a busy moment: menus, scoreboard, killcam or replay.
- If the overlay covers anything important at any point, move it or shrink it.
Running a facecam as well? Keep the two in separate corners, with the overlay the smaller one. Details in Overlay vs facecam. If the camera films your hands instead, compare the trade-offs in Overlay vs handcam.
Design a compact overlay for free, then size it in OBS like any other source.
Create my overlay