[TUTORIAL] Menu Photos

How to create the Menu Photo's for your map — Detailed instructions using the Paint NET application. Of course you can use Photoshop or GIMP, but in this tutorial the Paint NET application will be used.

Instruction

Installing Paint NET + Plugins for working with Source Engine Textures

Download the app from the official website: getpaint.net

To work with Source Engine textures you will need to install additional plugins in the folder with the application: gamebanana.com/tools/6791

Install plug-ins in the program folder:

1. Extract VTFLib.x86.dll to ..\Paint NET\FileTypes\ folder
2. Extract VTFLib.x64.dll to ..\Paint NET\FileTypes\ folder
3. Extract VtfFileType.dll to ..\Paint NET\FileTypes\ folder
4. Run Paint NET

Preparing map screenshots

1. Capture in-game screenshots: Start by exploring your map in TF2 and take screenshots of the areas you want to represent in the menu photos. Use the console command: jpeg — to take high-resolution screenshots. These screenshots will serve as the base for your menu photos.

I've taken a screenshot of the control point:



2. If you are lazy, you can use an online service to process your photos.

Site: photocollage.com

It doesn't really matter which service, the important thing is that it converts map screenshots into framed photos. Look for others via Google if you like.

Add a screenshot to the site:



Choose a template that works for your map, I'll choose one like this:



To save the file, click: Collage — Then select the picture quality type (HD or SD).



Now that we've processed the screenshot and applied a photo frame through an online service, we can launch Paint NET and start processing the picture for the map load menu.

Launch Paint NET and create a blank page. Click: File → New to create:



Set the blank page size to 512x512 then click OK.



Remove the white background using the tool: Magic Wand.

Add the image of the map photo to this template and turn it slightly sideways:



Great, now let's save the image in *.VTF format and move on to creating a *.VMT file.

Save Menu Photo by clicking: File → Save as... Select file type *.vtf

It's done! Now to create the VMT!

To create a VMT, we will need any text editor. You can use the default Notepad editor. Open Notepad and paste the following lines of code into it:

"UnlitGeneric"
{
 "$basetexture" "vgui\maps\menu_photos_mapname"
 "$translucent" 1
 "$ignorez" 1
 "$vertexcolor" 1
} 

Replace mapname in — "$basetexture" "vgui\maps\menu_photos_mapname" — with the name of your custom map.

Example: "$basetexture" "vgui\maps\menu_photos_ctf_2fort".

Then: File → Save As... menu_photos_mapname.vmt

File: menu_photos_mapname.vmt — has been created !

Cut and past your files: menu_photos_mapname.vtf — and — menu_photos_mapname.vmt — in following directory:

Steam → SteamApps → common → Team Fortress 2 → tf → materials → vgui → maps

Run your map to make sure your images appear.

Test your menu photo: Load your TF2 map in-game and check if the menu photo is displayed correctly in the map selection menu or loading screens. Make any necessary adjustments and re-export the files.

Publishing a map to the Workshop

If you decide to publish your map to Steam Workshop, be sure to pack the Menu Photo files inside your map's BSP file. To pack additional content into a BSP map file you can use programs such as: Pakrat or VIDE.

[Смайл]

You're welcome!

[airapples]

thank you i am going to use this for my map

[Young Venuz]