[HL2DM] Custom Menu Background

Overview

Here you learn how to costumize your ingame menu background. You can choose any picture you want. Questions?Post in the comments.Would be nice if you rate the guide after you’re done, thanks. More guides for customizing will follow.

Required Programs

Use Paint (or any other image editing software) to resize your picture.

Use VTFedit to save your picture in the right format.
Download VTFedit here[nemesis.thewavelength.net]

Step 1 – Prepare your picture

First you need to resize your picture to the right dimensions. Use paint (or any other image editing software) for this. The resolution of the picture should be the same you use ingame.

Example: My game resolution is 1680×1050, so my picture should also have those dimensions.

Save it.

Step 2 – Edit and save it with VTFedit

Open VTFedit. Click File –> Import, choose your picture and click OK. Leave the presets as they are and click OK. (Sometimes it loads a while, just be patient)

Now you only need to save the picture. Click File –> Save as….
Choose following path (if some folders don’t exist yet, create them):
SteamSteamAppscommonHalf-Life 2 Deathmatchhl2mpcustommy_custom_stuffmaterialsconsole
File name for 4:3 resolutions:
background01.vtf
File name for 16:9 and 16:10 resolutions:
background01_widescreen.vtf

Thats it. Launch the game and be happy with your new custom background.

Final Look

Your game menu background could look like this.

The image quality seems to be bad – how to fix?

If you set your texture quality ingame to “low” the background image will look bad. You can fix this by checking the [x] No Level Of Detail option in VTFedit.

Background turning black when the menu loads?

Thanks Scratch ‘n Sniff for this fix.

Originally posted by Scratch ‘n Sniff:

Good Tutorial. It’s been a long time since I was able to see my custom background.

However, you forgot to include how to make a custom background01.vmt. I needed to make one because my custom background would show only for a second before the menu appeared, then it turned black. The game created a generic background01.vmt which didn’t work.

Here’s how to make one:
Open a text editor and copy this bit of code:

“UnlitGeneric”
{
“$basetexture” “console/background01”
“$vertexcolor” 1
“$vertexalpha” 1
“$ignorez” 1
“$no_fullbright” “1”
“$nolod” “1”
}

then save it as background01.vmt in the same location as your background01.vtf.

OR

If you use a widescreen:

“UnlitGeneric”
{
“$basetexture” “console/background01_widescreen”
“$vertexcolor” 1
“$vertexalpha” 1
“$ignorez” 1
“$no_fullbright” “1”
“$nolod” “1”
}

then save it as background01_widescreen.vmt in the same location as your background01_widescreen.vtf.