How can I disable the splash screen and intro videos?

Question

When I open borderlands through Steam, it opens a menu where I have to click play a second time. Then another splash screen Then it goes through these annoying, but at least skippable, intro videos. Is there any way I can bypass all this and have the game go directly to the opening menu?

Answer 1

It is possible to disable the startup movies by editing the WillowEngine.ini file located in your Documents/My Games folder and commenting out a few lines which define which videos play when the game launches.

The default location for the Borderlands 2 config folder within your Documents folder is;

%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Borderlands 2\WillowGame\Config\

Simply edit the file 'WillowEngine.ini' and find the following variables:

[FullScreenMovie]
StartupMovies=2K_logo
StartupMovies=Gearbox_logo
StartupMovies=NVidia
StartupMovies=Loading
SkippableMovies=2K_logo
SkippableMovies=Gearbox_logo
SkippableMovies=Attract
SkippableMovies=NVidia

...and comment out the 'StartupMovies' lines as follows;

[FullScreenMovie]
;StartupMovies=2K_logo
;StartupMovies=Gearbox_logo
;StartupMovies=NVidia
;StartupMovies=Loading
SkippableMovies=2K_logo
SkippableMovies=Gearbox_logo
SkippableMovies=Attract
SkippableMovies=NVidia

This should cause the game to skip over these startup movies when you start Borderlands 2.

To disable the Borderlands 2 launcher, set the following launch option within Steam:

-NoLauncher

To change launch options with Steam, do the following;

• Right-click on 'Borderlands 2' under the game Library in Steam and select Properties
• Under the General tab click the 'Set launch options...' button
• Enter the launch options as per above and click OK
• Close the Borderlands 2's 'Properties' window and launch the game

This will disable the 'Play/Setup' screen upon launching Borderlands 2 from within Steam.

^{Sources: Disabling Intro Movies | Disable Launcher | How to set launch properties}