# Customising the FiveM pause menu: title, tab names and colours

> Change the FiveM pause menu title with FE_THDR_GTAO, rename tabs, recolour the header with ReplaceHudColourWithRgba, and open or block the pause menu in Lua.

Source: https://fam-tools.com/guides/fivem-pause-menu-title-colours · FAM Tools · published 2026-09-19 · updated 2026-09-19 · about 8 min

**Short answer.** The pause menu title is the text label `FE_THDR_GTAO`; override it with `AddTextEntry('FE_THDR_GTAO', 'Your Server')`. Tab labels such as `PM_SCR_MAP`, `PM_SCR_GAM` and `PM_SCR_SET` can be renamed the same way. The blue accent is HUD colour 116 (`HUD_COLOUR_FREEMODE`), changed with `ReplaceHudColourWithRgba(116, r, g, b, a)`. `ActivateFrontendMenu` opens the menu from a script, and disabling control 200 lets Escape open your own menu instead.

## Key points

- `FE_THDR_GTAO` is the pause menu title; set it with `AddTextEntry`.
- Tab and button names are `PM_SCR_*` and `PM_PANE_*` labels.
- HUD colour 116 is the pause menu accent; 117 is the background dim.
- Colour changes apply to everything that uses that HUD colour, not just the pause menu.
- `ActivateFrontendMenu` with the MP pause hash and component -1 opens straight to the map.
- Disable control 200 to intercept Escape; control 199 (P) still opens the map.

Press Escape on most FiveM servers and the pause menu still says FiveM, or Grand Theft Auto V, in the default blue. It is the one screen every player opens dozens of times per session, it frames the map they use to navigate, and it is almost free to brand. The title, the tab names and the accent colour are all plain text labels and HUD colours that a client script can override in a few lines. This guide covers every label worth changing, the HUD colours behind the menu, and the natives to open the menu on a specific tab or replace the Escape key with your own menu.

## Changing the title

Everything written in the pause menu comes from text labels, and FiveM's `AddTextEntry` overrides any label on the client. The title bar uses `FE_THDR_GTAO`.

*client.lua*

```lua
CreateThread(function()
    AddTextEntry('FE_THDR_GTAO', '~p~Night City~s~ Roleplay')
end)
```

Label text supports the game's formatting tokens: `~r~` red, `~b~` blue, `~g~` green, `~y~` yellow, `~p~` purple, `~o~` orange, `~c~` grey, `~m~` dark grey, `~u~` black, `~s~` back to the default and `~h~` for bold. Keep it short. The header is a single line, and long names are truncated on smaller resolutions.

> **Run it once** — `AddTextEntry` persists for the session. There is no need to call it in a loop; run it once when the resource starts.

## Renaming tabs and buttons

| Label | Where it appears |
| --- | --- |
| `FE_THDR_GTAO` | Menu title |
| `PM_SCR_MAP` | Map tab |
| `PM_SCR_GAM` | Game tab |
| `PM_SCR_INF` | Info tab |
| `PM_SCR_STA` | Stats tab |
| `PM_SCR_SET` | Settings tab |
| `PM_SCR_GAL` | Gallery tab |
| `PM_SCR_RPL` | Rockstar Editor tab |
| `PM_PANE_LEAVE` | "Disconnect" entry in the Game tab |
| `PM_PANE_QUIT` | "Quit" entry in the Game tab |
| `PM_PANE_CFX` | FiveM key bindings entry in Settings |

*client.lua*

```lua
local LABELS = {
    FE_THDR_GTAO = 'Night City Roleplay',
    PM_SCR_MAP = 'City Map',
    PM_SCR_GAM = 'Server',
    PM_PANE_LEAVE = 'Back to server list',
    PM_PANE_QUIT = 'Quit to desktop',
}

CreateThread(function()
    for label, text in pairs(LABELS) do
        AddTextEntry(label, text)
    end
end)
```

Rename, do not repurpose. Players know where Settings and Disconnect live; calling the Game tab "Server" is fine, but renaming Settings to something clever just makes support tickets. If your community is not English-speaking, these labels are also the cheapest way to localise the menu's top level into your players' language.

## The pause menu colours

The menu's blue accent bar, tab highlight and several other elements use HUD colours defined in `hudcolor.dat`. `ReplaceHudColourWithRgba(index, r, g, b, a)` overrides a colour for the session, and `GetHudColour` reads the current value.

*Default values from the Cfx HUD colours reference*

| Index | Name | Default | Used for |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 116 | `HUD_COLOUR_FREEMODE` | 45, 110, 185 | Pause menu accent in multiplayer |
| 117 | `HUD_COLOUR_PAUSE_BG` | 0, 0, 0, alpha 186 | Background dim behind the menu |
| 123 | `HUD_COLOUR_FREEMODE_DARK` | 22, 55, 92 | Darker accent shade |
| 142 | `HUD_COLOUR_WAYPOINT` | 164, 76, 242 | Waypoint blip and GPS route |
| 157 | `HUD_COLOUR_PAUSEMAP_TINT` | 0, 0, 0, alpha 215 | Tint over the pause map |
| 25 | `HUD_COLOUR_RADAR_HEALTH` | 53, 154, 71 | Health bar under the radar |
| 26 | `HUD_COLOUR_RADAR_ARMOUR` | same as blue | Armour bar under the radar |

*client.lua — purple theme*

```lua
CreateThread(function()
    ReplaceHudColourWithRgba(116, 132, 94, 214, 255)
    ReplaceHudColourWithRgba(123, 60, 40, 110, 255)
    ReplaceHudColourWithRgba(142, 170, 120, 255, 255)
end)
```

> **HUD colours are shared** — A HUD colour is used wherever the game references it, not only in the pause menu. Changing 116 also recolours other GTA Online-style elements that use the freemode blue. Check menus, notifications and blips after changing it, and pick a colour with enough contrast against white text.

Matching the pause menu accent to your map is what makes the two feel like one product. If your server uses a coloured minimap, take the accent from the map's road or label colour; the themes in the [minimap catalogue](https://fam-tools.com/minimaps) each have a clear accent colour that works well here, and the [studio](https://fam-tools.com/studio) lets you build a map around your own brand colour.

## Opening the menu from a script

`ActivateFrontendMenu(menuHash, togglePause, component)` opens a frontend menu. For the normal multiplayer pause menu use the hash of `FE_MENU_VERSION_MP_PAUSE`. The component argument selects the tab; -1 opens the map directly, which is handy for a phone GPS app or a "show map" button in your own UI.

*client.lua — open straight to the map*

```lua
RegisterCommand('bigmap', function()
    if not IsPauseMenuActive() then
        ActivateFrontendMenu(GetHashKey('FE_MENU_VERSION_MP_PAUSE'), false, -1)
    end
end, false)
```

Close it with `SetFrontendActive(false)`. The older `SetPauseMenuActive` native is deprecated; the native reference points to `ActivateFrontendMenu` and `SetFrontendActive` instead. To check what state the menu is in, `GetPauseMenuState()` returns 0 when inactive and higher values while starting, ready or shutting down; `IsPauseMenuActive()` is enough for most checks.

## Replacing Escape with your own menu

Many servers open a custom NUI menu on Escape (with settings, the map, a report button and disconnect) and leave the vanilla pause menu one click away. The pattern is to disable the Escape control every frame and react to its disabled press.

*client.lua*

```lua
local ESC = 200

CreateThread(function()
    while true do
        DisableControlAction(0, ESC, true)
        if IsDisabledControlJustReleased(0, ESC) and not IsPauseMenuActive() then
            TriggerEvent('myui:openMenu')
        end
        Wait(0)
    end
end)
```

Control 200 is `INPUT_FRONTEND_PAUSE_ALTERNATE`, the Escape key. Control 199, `INPUT_FRONTEND_PAUSE`, is the P key and still opens the vanilla menu, which is exactly what you want as a fallback. Add a "Map" button in your menu that calls `ActivateFrontendMenu` as above, and make sure your NUI releases focus correctly, or players get stuck with a cursor and no way out.

`DisableFrontendThisFrame()` blocks the pause menu entirely for a frame. Use it only for short moments such as a cutscene or a character creator where opening the menu would break the flow, never permanently.

## The header details on the right

The right side of the header shows player details. These are drawn by the frontend header movie, which scripts can address with `BeginScaleformMovieMethodOnFrontendHeader`. The method names available depend on the header movie itself, and community resources that show three custom lines there (a job, a character name, a server rank) do it by streaming a modified `pause_menu_header.gfx` together with their script. That works, but like any streamed Scaleform replacement it is tied to the game build it was made from and conflicts with any other resource streaming the same file. Title, tab labels and colours cover what most servers need without that maintenance.

## Conflicts and load order

Labels and HUD colours are global per client, so the last resource to set them wins. That is the source of the classic "my title keeps changing back" report: vMenu, some framework HUDs and several all-in-one "server branding" scripts set `FE_THDR_GTAO` or colour 116 themselves. If your title flips after a few seconds, another resource is overriding it later.

- Search your resources for `FE_THDR_GTAO` and `ReplaceHudColour` and keep one owner.
- If you cannot remove another resource's call, set yours slightly later, for example after your framework's player-loaded event.
- Keep branding (title, colours, labels) in one small resource with a config, so a rebrand is a one-file change.
- Restart that resource and reopen the menu to test; labels apply the next time the menu is drawn.

A compact branding resource usually ends up with three blocks in one client file: a table of labels passed to `AddTextEntry`, a table of HUD colour overrides passed to `ReplaceHudColourWithRgba`, and optionally the Escape handler. Everything runs once at start except the Escape loop. Players on the server never notice any of it, which is the point; they just see a menu that looks like it belongs to your server rather than to a default install. The wider picture of branding the map itself is in [branding your server map](https://fam-tools.com/guides/brand-your-server-map).

## The map inside the menu

The map tab is the pause menu's most used feature, and it shows the same textures as the radar at a different zoom, so a custom minimap changes it too. How the pause map works, how to read and set the waypoint from it and how its textures relate to the radar is covered in [the pause menu map](https://fam-tools.com/guides/fivem-pause-menu-map). Blip legend headings shown next to the map are set with text labels as well, described in [blip categories and the legend](https://fam-tools.com/guides/fivem-blip-categories-legend).

## Questions

### How do I change the pause menu title in FiveM?

Call `AddTextEntry('FE_THDR_GTAO', 'Your Server Name')` once in a client script.

### How do I change the pause menu colour?

Use `ReplaceHudColourWithRgba(116, r, g, b, 255)`. HUD colour 116 is the freemode blue used as the pause menu accent.

### Can I use colours in the title?

Yes, with the game's formatting tokens such as `~r~`, `~b~`, `~p~` and `~s~` to reset.

### How do I open the pause map from a script?

`ActivateFrontendMenu(GetHashKey('FE_MENU_VERSION_MP_PAUSE'), false, -1)` opens the pause menu on the map.

### How do I stop Escape opening the pause menu?

Call `DisableControlAction(0, 200, true)` every frame and open your own menu when `IsDisabledControlJustReleased(0, 200)` is true.

### Does changing HUD colour 116 affect anything else?

Yes. Every element that uses the freemode blue changes with it, so check notifications and menus after changing it.

## Related

- https://fam-tools.com/guides/fivem-pause-menu-map
- https://fam-tools.com/guides/brand-your-server-map
- https://fam-tools.com/guides/fivem-gps-routes-waypoints
- https://fam-tools.com/guides/fivem-blip-categories-legend