“Can’t find background image materials/console/startup_loading.vtf” is an error caused by a SteamPipe’s update and you could fix it by editing the gameinfo.txt file. Aside from that, you could download the Source 2013 patch. Read to the end to be able to take care of the error and enjoy your mods to the fullest.
A Few Fixes
Edit The Gameinfo.txt File
- Step 1: Head to the mod folder.
- Step 2: Open the gameinfo.txt file.
- Step 3: Find the base game of the mod using the SteamAppId tag (420 is Episode 2, 380 is Episode 1, 400 is Portal and 220 is Half-Life 2).
- Step 4: Highlight everything from the SearchPaths header downwards.
- Step 5: Copy and paste the codes down below for the corresponding game.
For Half-life 2: Episode 2:
SearchPaths
{
game+mod |gameinfo_path|.
platform |gameinfo_path|.
game_lv hl2/hl2_lv.vpk
game+mod ep2/ep2_english.vpk
game+mod ep2/ep2_pak.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|episodic/ep1_english.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|episodic/ep1_pak.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_english.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_pak.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_textures.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_vo_english.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_misc.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_misc.vpk
platform |all_source_engine_paths|platform/platform_misc.vpk
mod+mod_write+default_write_path |gameinfo_path|.
game+game_write |gameinfo_path|.
gamebin episodic/bin
game |all_source_engine_paths|episodic
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2
platform |all_source_engine_paths|platform
}
}
}
For Half-Life 2:
SearchPaths
{
game+mod |gameinfo_path|.
platform |gameinfo_path|.
game_lv hl2/hl2_lv.vpk
game+mod hl2/hl2_sound_vo_english.vpk
game+mod hl2/hl2_pak.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_textures.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_misc.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_misc.vpk
platform |all_source_engine_paths|platform/platform_misc.vpk
mod+mod_write+default_write_path |gameinfo_path|.
game+game_write |gameinfo_path|.
gamebin hl2/bin
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2
platform |all_source_engine_paths|platform
}
}
}
For Portal:
SearchPaths
{
game+mod |gameinfo_path|.
platform |gameinfo_path|.
game_lv hl2/hl2_lv.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|portal/portal_pak.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|episodic/ep1_pak.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_english.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_pak.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_textures.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_vo_english.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_misc.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_misc.vpk
platform |all_source_engine_paths|platform/platform_misc.vpk
mod+mod_write+default_write_path |gameinfo_path|.
game+game_write |gameinfo_path|.
gamebin portal/bin
game |all_source_engine_paths|portal
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2
platform |all_source_engine_paths|platform
}
}
}
After you finish, launch the game, load the mods and see how things turn out.
Download The Source 2013 Patch
- Step 1: Launch your web browser then look for Source 2013 patches by malortie / marc-antoine.
- Step 2: Download the patch.
- Step 3: Determine whether the issue persists.
A Summary Of SteamPipe
SteamPipe is a content distribution system developed by Steam that revolutionizes how games as well as dedicated servers are downloaded, updated, stored, … To be precise, downloads will use HTTP instead of a proprietary protocol and game files are kept under the file system. Regarding the in-game data, it will appear in the common subfolder and the dedicated servers replace HLDSUpdateTool with SteamCMD during updates.
Needless to say, SteamPipe provides various benefits to players, server admins and developers. For example, players could enjoy quick downloads, reduced game boot/map load time, smooth dedicated server distribution, no-nonsense mod management, etc. For the server admins, SteamPipe let them host multiple servers at the same time thanks to the HTTP. Meanwhile, game developers have an easy time issuing updates by themselves.
Still, SteamPipe remains far from perfect and “Can’t find background image materials/console/startup_loading.vtf” is a prime example.
Related Questions
What is the code to fix the “Can’t find background image materials/console/startup_loading.vtf” error for deathmatch?
SearchPaths
{
game+mod hl2mp/custom/*
game+mod hl2mp/hl2mp_english.vpk
game+mod hl2mp/hl2mp_pak.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_textures.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_vo_english.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_misc.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_misc.vpk
platform |all_source_engine_paths|platform/platform_misc.vpk
mod+mod_write+default_write_path |gameinfo_path|.
game+game_write hl2mp
gamebin hl2mp/bin
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2
platform |all_source_engine_paths|platform
game+download hl2mp/download
}
}
}
What is the code used for Battle Wars?
SearchPaths
{
game Intrusion
game+mod |gameinfo_path|.
platform |gameinfo_path|.
game_lv hl2/hl2_lv.vpk
game+mod ep2/ep2_pak.vpk
game+mod ep2/ep2_english.vpk
game+mod ep2/ep1_pak.vpk
game+mod ep2/ep1_english.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_pak.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_misc.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_english.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|episodic/ep1_pak.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_textures.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|episodic/ep1_english.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_misc.vpk
platform |all_source_engine_paths|platform/platform_misc.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_vo_english.vpk
mod+mod_write+default_write_path |gameinfo_path|.
game+game_write gameinfo_path|.
gamebin episodic/bin
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2
game |all_source_engine_paths|episodic
platform |all_source_engine_paths|platform
}
}
}
How can I publish games on Steam?
- Step 1: Fill in the forms required by Steam.
- Step 2: Pay the submission fee.
- Step 3: Go through the onboarding process.
- Step 4: Make your own store page.
- Step 5: Develop the depots for the game, upload the game build and set a price for the game.
Do Steam sales have negative impacts on developers?
Although games’ prices are reduced greatly during Steam sales, the developers do not think it as a bad thing. In fact, the Steam sales work wonders for business based on the provided data.
How many copies can a Steam game sell on average?
Games published on Steam sell around 1,500 units on average, so the total number of revenue after the first year will be $16,000.
How much money do the top games make on Steam?
Regarding the top 1% of Steam games, they make no less than $25,000,000 per game and the revenue is calculated solely on Steam.
Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he’d stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He’s also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own. Connect with him on Twitter.
currently i recommend installing everything into one steam library on one disk drive, so your HL2, source SDK and blamod are inside the same steamapps directory. Theoretically you’re only required to have Source SDK Base 2013 Singleplayer Half-Life 2 in the same directory (most likely called Common) and blamod location is not important.
If that is not the case:
Several people had problems with this mod before, because they had very old pre-steampipe instalation of HL2 mixed with steampipe instalation somehow. In this case even if game works you might experience problems with save files or failing save-deletion. In this case you will need to unistall HL2, all episodes and all SDKs, delete folder steamapps/Common/Half-Life 2 and steamapps/Common/Source SDK ... manually and then reinstall everything.
Finally i’ve had reports of Source SDK being installed, but not working untill you run it at least once. I’m not sure it’s true, but you’re welcome to try. You can start a «Video stress test» from SDK through steam tools menu. Just double-click on «Source SDK 2013 Singleplayer» and that should do it.
“Can’t find background image materials/console/startup_loading.vtf” is an error caused by a SteamPipe’s update and you could fix it by editing the gameinfo.txt file. Aside from that, you could download the Source 2013 patch. Read to the end to be able to take care of the error and enjoy your mods to the fullest.
A Few Fixes
Edit The Gameinfo.txt File
- Step 1: Head to the mod folder.
- Step 2: Open the gameinfo.txt file.
- Step 3: Find the base game of the mod using the SteamAppId tag (420 is Episode 2, 380 is Episode 1, 400 is Portal and 220 is Half-Life 2).
- Step 4: Highlight everything from the SearchPaths header downwards.
- Step 5: Copy and paste the codes down below for the corresponding game.
For Half-life 2: Episode 2:
SearchPaths
{
game+mod |gameinfo_path|.
platform |gameinfo_path|.
game_lv hl2/hl2_lv.vpk
game+mod ep2/ep2_english.vpk
game+mod ep2/ep2_pak.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|episodic/ep1_english.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|episodic/ep1_pak.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_english.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_pak.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_textures.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_vo_english.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_misc.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_misc.vpk
platform |all_source_engine_paths|platform/platform_misc.vpk
mod+mod_write+default_write_path |gameinfo_path|.
game+game_write |gameinfo_path|.
gamebin episodic/bin
game |all_source_engine_paths|episodic
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2
platform |all_source_engine_paths|platform
}
}
}
For Half-Life 2:
SearchPaths
{
game+mod |gameinfo_path|.
platform |gameinfo_path|.
game_lv hl2/hl2_lv.vpk
game+mod hl2/hl2_sound_vo_english.vpk
game+mod hl2/hl2_pak.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_textures.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_misc.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_misc.vpk
platform |all_source_engine_paths|platform/platform_misc.vpk
mod+mod_write+default_write_path |gameinfo_path|.
game+game_write |gameinfo_path|.
gamebin hl2/bin
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2
platform |all_source_engine_paths|platform
}
}
}
For Portal:
SearchPaths
{
game+mod |gameinfo_path|.
platform |gameinfo_path|.
game_lv hl2/hl2_lv.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|portal/portal_pak.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|episodic/ep1_pak.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_english.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_pak.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_textures.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_vo_english.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_misc.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_misc.vpk
platform |all_source_engine_paths|platform/platform_misc.vpk
mod+mod_write+default_write_path |gameinfo_path|.
game+game_write |gameinfo_path|.
gamebin portal/bin
game |all_source_engine_paths|portal
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2
platform |all_source_engine_paths|platform
}
}
}
After you finish, launch the game, load the mods and see how things turn out.
Download The Source 2013 Patch
- Step 1: Launch your web browser then look for Source 2013 patches by malortie / marc-antoine.
- Step 2: Download the patch.
- Step 3: Determine whether the issue persists.
A Summary Of SteamPipe
SteamPipe is a content distribution system developed by Steam that revolutionizes how games as well as dedicated servers are downloaded, updated, stored, … To be precise, downloads will use HTTP instead of a proprietary protocol and game files are kept under the file system. Regarding the in-game data, it will appear in the common subfolder and the dedicated servers replace HLDSUpdateTool with SteamCMD during updates.
Needless to say, SteamPipe provides various benefits to players, server admins and developers. For example, players could enjoy quick downloads, reduced game boot/map load time, smooth dedicated server distribution, no-nonsense mod management, etc. For the server admins, SteamPipe let them host multiple servers at the same time thanks to the HTTP. Meanwhile, game developers have an easy time issuing updates by themselves.
Still, SteamPipe remains far from perfect and “Can’t find background image materials/console/startup_loading.vtf” is a prime example.
Related Questions
What is the code to fix the “Can’t find background image materials/console/startup_loading.vtf” error for deathmatch?
SearchPaths
{
game+mod hl2mp/custom/*
game+mod hl2mp/hl2mp_english.vpk
game+mod hl2mp/hl2mp_pak.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_textures.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_vo_english.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_misc.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_misc.vpk
platform |all_source_engine_paths|platform/platform_misc.vpk
mod+mod_write+default_write_path |gameinfo_path|.
game+game_write hl2mp
gamebin hl2mp/bin
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2
platform |all_source_engine_paths|platform
game+download hl2mp/download
}
}
}
What is the code used for Battle Wars?
SearchPaths
{
game Intrusion
game+mod |gameinfo_path|.
platform |gameinfo_path|.
game_lv hl2/hl2_lv.vpk
game+mod ep2/ep2_pak.vpk
game+mod ep2/ep2_english.vpk
game+mod ep2/ep1_pak.vpk
game+mod ep2/ep1_english.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_pak.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_misc.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_english.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|episodic/ep1_pak.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_textures.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|episodic/ep1_english.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_misc.vpk
platform |all_source_engine_paths|platform/platform_misc.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_vo_english.vpk
mod+mod_write+default_write_path |gameinfo_path|.
game+game_write gameinfo_path|.
gamebin episodic/bin
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2
game |all_source_engine_paths|episodic
platform |all_source_engine_paths|platform
}
}
}
How can I publish games on Steam?
- Step 1: Fill in the forms required by Steam.
- Step 2: Pay the submission fee.
- Step 3: Go through the onboarding process.
- Step 4: Make your own store page.
- Step 5: Develop the depots for the game, upload the game build and set a price for the game.
Do Steam sales have negative impacts on developers?
Although games’ prices are reduced greatly during Steam sales, the developers do not think it as a bad thing. In fact, the Steam sales work wonders for business based on the provided data.
How many copies can a Steam game sell on average?
Games published on Steam sell around 1,500 units on average, so the total number of revenue after the first year will be $16,000.
How much money do the top games make on Steam?
Regarding the top 1% of Steam games, they make no less than $25,000,000 per game and the revenue is calculated solely on Steam.
Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he’d stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He’s also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own. Connect with him on Twitter.