Diver's Best Friend - Automated Stratagem System (ASS) 45 - Plays Nicely With Others

A Mod for Helldivers 2
Diver's Best Friend - Automated Stratagem System (ASS) akl_mod_preview_image
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Diver's Best Friend

Automated Stratagem System (ASS)



Your stratagems. In the game. No OCR. No Python. No AutoHotkey. Just a nice ASS.









What it does

Select a stratagem using an in-game wheel or list. ASS enters its code through the game's normal input path; you throw the beacon yourself. It runs inside HELLDIVERS 2 through a compatible loader, without an external helper application.



Download R45 - BSL / MDL / LLL | Installation and controls | Changelog



R45 - Plays Nicely With Others​

  • HUD Plus 0.2.8: its competing stratagem list and picker yield while ASS controls selection. Other HUD Plus features stay active.
  • Custom Stratagem Compendium 0.4.1 / HD2Runtime 0.40.0: custom call-in codes work through Confirm and Select on Release, with ownership and code checks retained.
  • Single-use availability: exhausted entries such as Shredder dim on both wheels and cannot be selected again.
  • Foliage Pass-Through 1.0: accepts its exact owned projectile-template variant so Runtime can validate gas-barrage and cluster-launcher donors. Other native changes remain checked.
HUD Plus, Custom Stratagem Compendium, HD2Runtime and Foliage Pass-Through are optional compatibility targets. ASS works without them, and foliage can be on or off. Restart after changing foliage.

R42 UI recovery is included: recognized temporary HUD failures cancel pending input and restore the UI/camera. Close and reopen the stratagem menu to recover. Held inputs are not replayed and fatal safety checks remain.

Choose one download​

All R45 downloads, detailed changes and SHA-256 checksums

  • BSL: DiversBestFriend-R45-BSL.zip - import into Arsenal and deploy.
  • MDL API 2: DiversBestFriend-R45-MDL.zip - extract divers_best_friend into %LOCALAPPDATA%/MDL/Helldivers2/Mods.
  • LLL R30+: DiversBestFriend-R45-LLL.zip - extract divers_best_friend into %LOCALAPPDATA%/LLL/Helldivers2/Mods.
Install one ASS revision and one loader variant. Close the game before updating, remove the previous ASS archive when switching to a loose variant, and restart. ASS remains restart-only. Begin a fresh mission for custom stratagems.

The LLL compatibility predecessor was reported working in-game after restart. All eleven custom-code fixtures and the regression suite pass. BSL packaging and MDL startup/lifecycle coverage are offline; MDL gameplay has not been verified. Full validation notes.



Settings

The streamlined Bingus Mod Options Menu keeps Enable Mod, Mode, Sound feedback, Experimental layout, Preset, Controller Select on Release and Input interval.



Appearance sliders are hidden from Bingus. Existing saved appearance values are preserved, presets still work, and vertical offset is disabled at zero.



Blacklist options

  • Blacklist SOS Beacon — on/off.
  • Blacklist Eagle Rearm — on/off.
Both options are available on the ship, regardless of your current loadout. Additional blacklist entries require the optional MCM blacklist page. MCM changes apply when you confirm, and SOS/Eagle settings stay synchronized between the menus.



Settings are saved. Filtering takes effect when the stratagem is present in your mission. Equipped stratagems remain protected.



Selection modes

  • Native wheel: mouse or stick pointing, then Confirm. Eight slots with Next/Previous paging.
  • Keybindings list: Next/Previous and Confirm. Wraps through the list while leaving camera control available.
  • Experimental — Cards: up to sixteen native cards arranged around a circle.
  • Experimental — Expanded wedges: up to sixteen entries on one wheel.
Radial layouts retain the original top-left stratagem list. Camera control is restored when the menu closes.



Select on Release is optional and off by default. With a Hold menu binding, point at a stratagem and release to select. Return to the center before releasing to cancel. List mode uses Confirm.



Input interval controls the delay between code directions: 0–250 ms, default 70 ms. It applies to Confirm and Select on Release.



Native and expanded wheels dim unavailable stratagems and show the selected entry's remaining cooldown or delivery time. Scrambled-code handling follows the current required sequence.



Requirements

Install these separately; they are not bundled:

  • One compatible loader: Bingus Shared Loader / API 1, MDL API 2, or LLL R30+. Keep Mod Bindings Menu and Mod Options Menu available through your loader.
  • Mod Bindings Menu — v2.0 or newer / API 1.
  • Mod Options Menu — v1.0.1 / API 1.
  • HELLDIVERS 2 on Windows/Steam — supported build 25480438.
  • Arsenal or a compatible mod manager for installation.
Mod Configuration Manager is optional. But incredibly useful to get access to more blacklisting options.



Quick start

  1. With the game closed, install the dependencies and choose the R45 BSL, MDL or LLL package above.
  2. Enable one ASS provider and restart. Follow your chosen loader's installation and startup-priority instructions.
  3. Launch the game, open MODS > Diver's Best Friend, choose your mode and Apply.
  4. Set Next stratagem, Previous stratagem and Confirm stratagem in the native bindings menu's MODS tab. Mouse defaults are Wheel Down, Wheel Up and Mouse 1.
  5. In a mission, open the normal stratagem menu, select an available entry and Confirm. Keep it open until code entry finishes, then throw the beacon normally.


Thanks and feedback

This project would not exist without CowboyBingus and the shared modding infrastructure.



Thank you to everyone using the mod and saying such nice things. I really appreciate it.



As always, please use GitHub Issues to request features or report problems. Include your revision, game build, selection mode and steps to reproduce the issue.



Credits | MIT license for the project code
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VoidGoose
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45 - Plays Nicely With Others
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Latest updates

  1. R45 - Plays Nicely With Others

    R45 - Plays Nicely With Others R45 adds HUD Plus and custom stratagem compatibility, fixes...
  2. R42 — UI Recovery (Test Build)

    R42 — UI Recovery (Test Build) A recovery path for temporary HUD failures: Close the stratagem...
  3. R41 — The one where I forgot about other people

    The one where I forgot about other people I forgot that not everyone has MCM yet. I'd crammed...

Flufferson

Members
Members
Sep 18, 2026
66
32
Hey man, is there any chance you can make it compatible with custom stratagems? Cause I noticed that it will add the custom stratagem to the pie menu but it doesn't do anything when trying to select it like the normal ones, curious if that is possible, not a super big deal tbh
 

VoidGoose

Modder
Modder
Members
Sep 26, 2026
23
19
Hey man, is there any chance you can make it compatible with custom stratagems? Cause I noticed that it will add the custom stratagem to the pie menu but it doesn't do anything when trying to select it like the normal ones, curious if that is possible, not a super big deal tbh
I'll see what I can do.
 

Antares30

Members
Members
Sep 30, 2026
4
1
Hellforge is letting us play on the last pre-EAC version of the game. LUA mods don't load, but it does enable them to be adapted for it's own loader. Modding isn't dead.
 

Froonb

Members
Members
Sep 28, 2026
4
0
Hellforge is letting us play on the last pre-EAC version of the game. LUA mods don't load, but it does enable them to be adapted for it's own loader. Modding isn't dead.
Great find! It’s a shame we have to go this route because of EAC, but it’s awesome to see the community keeping modding alive. I’m curious how stable the performance is with this loader and if it’s safe to use. Does anyone know if the code is open or if you've run into any major issues?
(Qué buen aporte! Es una lástima tener que recurrir a esto por el EAC, pero me alegra ver que la comunidad sigue buscando formas de mantener vivo el modding. Me da mucha curiosidad qué tan estable es el rendimiento con este cargador y si es seguro usarlo. ¿Alguien sabe si el código es abierto o si han tenido algún problema técnico al probarlo?)
 

meppycola

Members
Members
Sep 17, 2026
9
2
does anyone know how to make it work with hellforge? the wheel works but none of the inputs work
 

Flufferson

Members
Members
Sep 18, 2026
66
32
It is a tragedy not to have this, my dyslexic ass can't deal with not having this.
A few modders been able to get their mods working without LUA, hopefully you too can figure it out somehow, cause this is just too good a thing to not have anymore :/
 

VoyageAuxy

Members
Members
Sep 30, 2026
10
7
does anyone know how to make it work with hellforge? the wheel works but none of the inputs work
No luck either, I don't even get a wheel showing up on HellForge. Worked great for me pre-EAC.
Edit:
NativeStratagemRadial.lua:304: Native signature changed: wheel_label_definition

Did some digging around in my logs and found that. Do note that HellForge is a version behind, and they are trying to make porting Lua mod easier, but it's mainly C. I gathered some surface-level information on it, and it seems centered around patch signatures and the bytes for the version that Forge runs on. I don't know much about this, but I figured I'd give you a decent error report.
 
Last edited:

rousi

Members
Members
Oct 2, 2026
3
0

Diver's Best Friend!!!!It’s incredibly convenient! I’ll keep following for updates.​

 

Antares30

Members
Members
Sep 30, 2026
4
1
Great find! It’s a shame we have to go this route because of EAC, but it’s awesome to see the community keeping modding alive. I’m curious how stable the performance is with this loader and if it’s safe to use. Does anyone know if the code is open or if you've run into any major issues?
(Qué buen aporte! Es una lástima tener que recurrir a esto por el EAC, pero me alegra ver que la comunidad sigue buscando formas de mantener vivo el modding. Me da mucha curiosidad qué tan estable es el rendimiento con este cargador y si es seguro usarlo. ¿Alguien sabe si el código es abierto o si han tenido algún problema técnico al probarlo?)
The source code for Hellforge has just been made open. CowboyBingus has joined with Skye to work on implementing his loader and other mods into Hellforge. It's performance is great (especially because it has zero anti-cheat running) and some of the older LUA mods can still run using Bingus shared loader as Hellforge got an update recently to make it backwards compatible with them. It's not perfect, like this mod just won't work properly, and some LUA mods can have performance impacts because of incompatibilities, but others do work. Give it time and this mod and others will come to Hellforge. The modding potential it has is also vast as its code base is C, while the original method of using LUA scripts to mod the game were less efficient, worse performing (generally), and had less capability. There's an alpha version mod of a custom strategy game/galactic war manager that lets you train SEAF divisions, send them on offensives to nearby worlds, and build supply/fortresses on captured planets to better defend them against counter attacks. That mod is in VERY early alpha, and has some performance drops and expected bugs, but its potential is incredible.