From just a while earlier:

They often come in pairs. The update itself and some hotfix because of either a fuck up or forgotten something.

That is the path to make a lot of custom images to load (alongside preloading), but specifically for the match HUD it's hard-coded like that, sorry.

As a rule of thumb you can spot what can be changed and what can't from checking up-to-date HUD's in what they customize. Surely they would propose their own renditions of those icons if that was possible, alas it doesn't work in pure servers, so devs don't bother.

In regards to the video, very likely it's a recording of a demo, of which has no constraints of sv_pure.

Any sort of override only works in sv_pure 0 (even by preloading), so make sure the listen server you're testing in is not pure 1/2 and that you're ok with it not working in casual and most pugs.

Can't vouch for this but hope it helps https://www.teamfortress.tv/28218/disabling-birthday-mode#17

Sad news from the perspective of TF2 but beyond the points of aiming for a less stressful approach and adjusting to a smaller cast, if it means targetting bigger audiences in the long run and by doing so raising more money, then surely it must be seen as a half full glass kinda scenario.

Even though I tuned in for TF2 in the past (RIP Dota Fortress), I'll try to keep the tradition and chip in this year as well.

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198800729818

https://clips.twitch.tv/NaiveTalentedMouseSoonerLater-9sYTpBUZt1uTMOaR

Add the code below to your animations file (usually Scripts/hudanimations_custom) so it doesn't reset and adjust the height to your liking through Resource/UI/BaseChat by changing the ypos.

It can be anything resized or leftover (maybe "RedScoreBG"?). Unless you have a general idea of what to look for, you're better off using the method I described in my previous post, first paragraph.

https://clips.twitch.tv/ProudSmoothPigDAESuppy-gCDQtYW08O3vkD7F

Type "vgui_cache_res_files 0; sv_cheats 1; vgui_drawtree 1" in the console and tick "Highlight Selected". An element tree will pop up. Filter through the items until a red box appears around that text. Search for the indicated element here so you get the name of the file it's in.

Go to said file in your custom HUD's folder and look up the element (the culprit will have as its controlName "CExLabel" or "Label" and will be missing a label property within. Add "label" "" (blank), do a hud_reloadscheme and check if the text is gone.

tl;dr: you can probably skim through the files you recently edited, look for a Label missing "label" "[value]" inside and add it with blank, but just so you know this is how you identify an element.

Those are controlled through map point entities (game_text and logic_relay), so not HUD elements you can target. You can try masking the area with a refract, but it may be the case that map graphics will always be drawn on top.

I mean, sorry for EU but they usually drop on late evening/nights for NA which is also disruptive, so hard not to get in the way of either region. Better than on weekends, in the very least. We know what that accomplished... Being a drought of 112 days without an update it's not hard to check for a period where a league is not running, but that's beneath Valve, right?

Regarding the effects, hell yeah! Can't wait to get my hands on those new pog light particles on top of those food hats, drippy af! /s