Tune the Overhaul

How a dial works

Almost every value is a multiplier on the game's own per-difficulty baseline, not a flat override. The developer's careful Easy/Normal/Hard/Nightmare tuning is preserved and simply amplified:

final_value  =  game_baseline_value  ×  your_multiplier

• 1.0 means “leave it exactly as the game shipped it.” That's how you neutralise any dial you don't like.
• Above 1.0 increases the value; below 1.0 decreases it.
• It is applied once per toy, at spawn, and never compounds — a 1 Hz safety sweep only finishes toys the spawn hook missed, it never re-stacks a buff.

The master switches

The top of the file is section 1. These four lines decide what the whole mod even touches — flip any to false to carve off an entire half of the overhaul:

config.master_enable       = true   -- whole mod on/off
config.enable_friendly_bots = true   -- enhance your teammate bots
config.enable_enemy_npcs    = true   -- enhance the hostile toys
config.respect_team         = false  -- strict team-tag safety (PvP modes)

Want only smarter enemies and your teammates left stock? Set enable_friendly_bots = false. Want a co-op power-fantasy with godlike allies but vanilla foes? Set enable_enemy_npcs = false. The mod auto-detects every HYPERCHARGE game mode, so these apply everywhere unless you also narrow mode_filter in section 1b.

The map: 9 sections, two sides

The file is laid out top-to-bottom in numbered sections. The friendly side (cyan) and the enemy side (orange) mirror each other, with master controls and the difficulty director between them. You never need all of it — jump to the section for the behaviour you want to change.

The difficulty director, visualised

Section 2g is the smartest part of the overhaul. It reads which vanilla difficulty you're on, measures how the match is actually going (Core power left, active enemy pressure, your health, how many humans are still up), and slides your teammates' Skill in real time — but always inside the band you allow for that difficulty. Help scales with need; it never runs away.

Each difficulty ships with a sensible band, and you can widen or narrow any of them:

config.dda_easy_skill_min      = 20    config.dda_easy_skill_max      = 50
config.dda_normal_skill_min    = 35    config.dda_normal_skill_max    = 65
config.dda_hard_skill_min      = 50    config.dda_hard_skill_max      = 80
config.dda_nightmare_skill_min = 65    config.dda_nightmare_skill_max = 100

• dda_smoothing — how fast skill slides toward its target. 0.05 is cinematic and gradual; 1.0 snaps instantly. Default 0.25.
• dda_scale_competence — when true, the bots' aim and perception visibly track their live skill, so the director's effect is obvious in a firefight.
• The metric weights (dda_metric_core_weight, ..._enemy_weight, ..._player_health_weight, ..._players_weight) let you choose what “danger” means — set any to 0 to ignore that signal.

Two sides, mirrored

Friendly and enemy tuning live in parallel sections so you can dial each independently. A few of the headline dials on each side:

Apply changes without restarting

You don't have to relaunch the game every time you tweak a number. Section 1 exposes optional hot-reload keys — assign them and editing becomes a live, in-match loop. They're nil (off) by default; set each to a Key.* value:

config.reload_key         = Key.F9    -- re-read this file live after you save
config.status_key         = Key.F10   -- print a one-shot status line to the console
config.toggle_key         = Key.F8    -- pause applying NEW buffs (live toys keep theirs)
config.auto_reload_seconds = 0        -- or auto re-read every N seconds (0 = off)

After binding reload_key: edit config.lua, save, alt-tab back into the game, press the key. The director and every newly-spawned toy immediately use the new values; toys already on the field keep what they had. A syntax error on reload is caught and ignored, so you fall back to the last good values instead of crashing.

Three quick recipes

To get a feel for it, here are three small, sane edits. Each is just a line or two in config.lua:

1 · “Make enemies actually scary”

Lean into the interception pathfinding and perception without touching your teammates:

config.enable_friendly_bots = false   -- leave allies stock
-- then raise the section 3–5 perception & pathfinding multipliers a notch

2 · “Co-op power fantasy”

Godlike allies, vanilla foes, director cranked toward the top of the band:

config.enable_enemy_npcs   = false
config.dda_hard_skill_min   = 70
config.dda_hard_skill_max   = 100
config.dda_competence_max   = 1.40

3 · “Endless Survival ramp”

Turn on the time-survived signal so teammates grow more capable the longer you last:

config.dda_metric_time_weight = 1.0    -- off by default
config.dda_time_ramp_seconds  = 600    -- full ramp after 10 minutes