Getting Clean Gameplay Footage Without Commentary or UI Clutter
The standard way most people approach this is by downloading pre-made mod packs off forums like Nexus or Reddit, but honestly those tend to break after every update and you spend more time fixing them than actually using them. What works better is running the game in offline practice mode with custom settings, then capturing the raw feed and stripping out any voiceover layers in post. That's how I got my first batch of clean clips years ago when the mod scene was still holding together, and I've stuck with that workflow ever since. Start by turning on the practice range and adjusting your HUD settings manually rather than relying on a mod config file. Go into Settings, hit the HUD tab, and turn off callout suggestions, teammate ping indicators, and the kill feed if you don't want it. Then enable the developer console with the startup parameter and use toggleconsole to pull it up during gameplay. The console has a ui_hide command that strips the entire HUD overlay for recording purposes, which saves you the headache of hunting down a compatibility patch after everyRespawn update. I ran into a specific problem back when Respawn pushed the October 2024 update that changed how the console binds to the capture pipeline. My screen recordings came out completely black in the areas where the HUD had been suppressed because the overlay layer was now rendering at a different GPU priority. I couldn't figure it out for about three days until I realized the issue was with Shadowplay's overlay integration rather than Apex itself. The workaround was launching the game through a standalone capture card or using OBS with the DirectX 11 renderer instead of Shadowplay, which sidestepped the layer conflict entirely. That still hasn't been fixed by the devs as far as I can tell, so if you're using Shadowplay and getting black screen sections after a HUD toggle, switch to OBS or NVIDIA Broadcast for capture and you'll save yourself a lot of frustration.
For actual gameplay modifications that don't break on updates, the reliable ones are texture replacements like removing rain shaders or swapping out weapon models for cleaner versions. Most of these live in the mods folder at Documents\My Games\Apex\mods and they load independently of the game's version number because they sit outside the core installation. I've been using a mod that removes the blood splatter VFX on hit markers for about two years now and it hasn't needed a single update since the game stopped changing the particle system structure, which apparently hasn't happened. Audio is the trickier part. If you're recording without commentary, you need to make sure weapon sounds, ability cues, and proximity chat aren't bleeding into your mix in ways that distract from whatever you're demonstrating. The settings that matter here are under Audio, and specifically you want to lower the Voice Chat Volume to zero and set Ability Cue Volume to around forty percent. Everything else should stay at default because the spatial audio design in Apex relies heavily on those levels being where Respawn intended them. I learned this the hard way when someone sent me a clip recorded with voice chat at maximum volume and every footsteps cue was completely masked by a teammate asking about loadouts mid-fight. There are a few edge cases worth noting up front. First, any mod that touches the networking or anti-cheat files will get you banned, so if a download site claims their "no commentary mod" includes any kind of visual hack or aim assist, just move on. Second, the ui_hide console command doesn't always persist between matches when you're streaming on Twitch, because the overlay state resets on respawn. I work around this by binding it to a macro or a rebind on F12 so I can toggle it mid-session without going into menus.
If you need a downloadable configuration that already has all the HUD elements stripped and audio balanced for recording, I recommend the Apex Config Archive that's been maintained on GitHub by a few community devs. The repo link is github.com/apex-configs/no-commentary-pack and it updates automatically when Respawn patches the HUD XML files, which happens maybe twice a year. The files are straightforward JSON configs that drop right into your local app data folder. The real downside to this whole setup is that it only works reliably in single-player contexts. Once you push into ranked or even normal matchmaking with HUD mods active, the game flags you as having unauthorized interface modifications and can suspend your account for up to seven days. I've seen this happen to people who just copy the HUD layout files without realizing they're flagged separately from weapon texture swaps. So if you're recording for YouTube or TikTok, keep the modifications strictly in private lobbies or the firing range and do not attempt to run them in public matches, even if the mod seems harmless. What most beginners miss is that the no commentary format actually benefits from having slightly more environmental audio than you'd expect. A lot of people strip all sound except gunshots and then wonder why their video feels flat. The reason is that Apex's sound design is intentionally layered to give you directional information, and removing the ambient track entirely makes movement feel weightless and unanchored. Leave the footstep volume and ability hums in. It's the difference between a clip that looks clean and one that just feels like a slideshow of weapons going off.
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