Skip to content
XBLAH's Modding Tool Download

Customize the title

Source Essentials · Updated 18 Oct 2026 · 3 min read

Written for version 3.0. Some labels may have changed since.

This page has versions for
On this page

The title is the text on your mod's main menu. Source mods have two labels and an optional logo. You design them in the Title editor with a live preview, and the tool writes every file they need when you save.

1. Open the Title editor

Open the Menu dashboard and click the Title card. Pointing at the card outlines the title in the preview.

The Title card of the Menu dashboard

The editor lists the parts of the title under ELEMENTS: Label 1, Label 2 and Logo. The settings of the selected one are underneath, and the preview on the right shows the menu with your changes.

The Title editor

2. Type the title

Select Label 1 and type the title in the Text field. Then select Label 2 and type the second line, or leave it empty for no second line.

In the Half-Life 2 episodes, Half-Life is the first label, and Episode One or Episode Two is the second. In Counter-Strike: Source, Counter-Strike is the first label and Source the second.
Label 1 and Label 2 typed in the Title editor
This title only appears on the main menu. The name in the window title and in the Steam library is set on the Mod page, under Steam Library Item.

3. Place the labels

Drag a label in the preview to move it, or type its position in X and Y under Position. The buttons under the position line the label up with the left, centre or right of the menu, and with the top, middle or bottom.

The Position fields and the alignment buttons
Positions are counted on a 640×480 screen. On a larger screen the game scales them to keep the same proportions.

4. Pick the colour

Click Colour to pick the label's colour, and drag Alpha to make it more or less see-through. Each label has its own colour.

Label 2 in orange, with the Colour and Alpha fields

5. Change the font

The TYPE section sets the Font, its Size and Blur, and the Rendering options: Bold, Additive, Anti-Alias and Drop shadow.

The TYPE section of the Title editor
The font settings apply to both labels. There is no way to give them different fonts.

6. Add a logo (optional)

Select Logo to use a picture instead of, or next to, the labels. Click the Image box to import a picture, then set its Position and Scale.

The Logo settings
The Essentials Edition edits the text of the labels. Their position, colour and font, and the logo, come with the Advanced Edition: those settings show a padlock until you upgrade.

7. Save the title

Click File > Save or press Ctrl+S. Back on the Menu dashboard, the preview and the Title card show your new title. Click Revert at the top right of the editor to throw away everything since the last save.

The new title on the Menu dashboard
Was this page helpful?
Suggest an editAsk on Discord