UI System

Hytale provides four distinct UI systems, each designed for different use cases.

The Four Systems

System	Use Case	Docs
Custom Pages	Menus, dialogs, forms, custom interfaces	Custom Pages
Windows	Inventory, crafting, containers	Windows
HUD	Persistent overlays, status displays	HUD
Entity UI	World-space UI (health bars, damage numbers)	Entity UI

Which System Should I Use?

Coming from Minecraft?

Hytale	Minecraft equivalent
Windows	Java Edition container GUIs (chest, furnace, crafting)
Custom Pages	Bedrock Edition forms - but with full markup, styling, and layouts
HUD	Scoreboard overlays
Notifications	Action bar / toast messages
Event Titles	`/title` command display
Kill Feed	Death messages
Entity UI	Nameplate and health bar rendering

Custom Pages

The primary system for custom UIs. Uses .ui markup files with a curly-brace DSL and server-side event handling.

// open a custom page (see Player API for PlayerRef)
Player player = store.getComponent(ref, Player.getComponentType());
PlayerRef playerRef = store.getComponent(ref, PlayerRef.getComponentType());
MyPage page = new MyPage(playerRef);
player.getPageManager().openCustomPage(ref, store, page);

See: Custom Pages | Builders | Markup | Styling

Windows

For inventory and crafting interfaces with item slots. Different paradigm from pages - uses ItemContainer and slot transactions.

WindowManager windowManager = player.getWindowManager();
ContainerWindow window = new ContainerWindow(...);
windowManager.openWindow(ref, window, store);

See: Windows

HUD

Control built-in HUD components (health, mana, compass), send notifications, display event titles, customize the kill feed, or create custom overlays.

HudManager hud = player.getHudManager();
hud.hideHudComponents(playerRef, HudComponent.Compass);

See: HUD

Entity UI

World-space UI attached to entities - health bars, damage numbers, nameplates.

See: Entity UI

Event Flow

All UI systems follow a server-authoritative model:

Every interaction is a network round-trip. Latency equals ping. Plan your UI accordingly - batch updates when possible and use interface locking to prevent spam clicks.