How to change the wallpaper when you open Counter Strike

You will need:
1) An image editor that supports .tga format. I will be using PAINT.NET, you can download it here: http://www.getpaint.net/download.html
2) An idea of what you want your background to look like.
3) A computer with Counter Strike

Let's get started!

~1~
Go to your Counter Strike directory and go in the folder "cstrike/resource/background". You should see 12 (or maybe 13, I'll explain later) files. They should be named like this:
800_1_a_loading.tga
800_1_b_loading.tga
800_1_c_loading.tga
800_1_d_loading.tga
800_1_e_loading.tga -> (not necessarily there)
800_2_a_loading.tga
800_2_b_loading.tga
800_2_c_loading.tga
800_2_d_loading.tga
800_3_a_loading.tga
800_3_b_loading.tga
800_3_c_loading.tga
800_3_d_loading.tga
All there? Good... The Counter Strike menu is made up of 12 separate images, each 256 x 256 pixels big. {image A} The 13th image (800_1_e_loading.tga) is optional. It is at the top-right corner in the few seconds where Counter Strike loads, then it will automatically switch back to 800_1_d_loading.tga when the game is loaded (and the music starts playing).


~2~
Now, the thing is you can make any wallpaper you like, but you have to stitch it all together well in the end or it will look really ugly (trust me). You can either make a wallpaper the size of the whole thing then cut it up to small pieces or edit every single file separately. I did a bit of both because I wanted my username on a black background and write something on the top-right corner. Refer back to {image A} to see the disposition of the images. Open all of the .tga files with your image editor.


~3~
In this step I will show you how I made my wallpaper. If you're not interested you can make your own then jump to step ~4~.
I'll start with the separate images. Since I wanted a black background I just coloured the external images all black. Then I decided I wanted to write my website's URL on the top-right corner, and so that there could be LOADING written while the game loaded. So I edited them like in {image B}.
Then I wanted to put my username in the middle (second method), so I made a new image 512 pixels wide and 256 pixels high, so it was like 2 images stuck close together. I wrote my username and made it look good {image C}. Then I copied it and pasted it in the center-left image and moved it so only half was in the canvas (picture). {image D} Then I pasted it in the center-right image and moved it so I could see the other half of the image. Now save these two files with their correct names and you should be almost done!


~4~
Check that all your .tga files are 256 x 256 pixels big and that they all have the same colour depth (default is 24-bit image, don't change it). Make sure you have all 13 (or 12 if you chose not to make a loadup image) files in the right place then launch your Counter Strike.

Congratulations! You now have your own personal background