diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/Getdown.java b/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/Getdown.java
index bbeb37a..b82084a 100644
--- a/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/Getdown.java
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/Getdown.java
@@ -758,7 +758,12 @@ public abstract class Getdown extends Thread
                     _container = createContainer();
                     _status = new StatusPanel(_msgs);
                     _container.add(_status, BorderLayout.CENTER);
-                    _background = getBackground();
+                }
+                RotatingBackgrounds newBackgrounds = getBackground();
+                if (_background == null || newBackgrounds.getNumImages() > 0) {
+                    // Leave the old _background in place if there is an ond one to leave in place
+                    // and the new getdown.txt didn't yield any images.
+                    _background = newBackgrounds;
                 }
                 _status.init(_ifc, _background, getProgressImage());
                 showContainer();
diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/RotatingBackgrounds.java b/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/RotatingBackgrounds.java
index 33994b4..48ebd8e 100644
--- a/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/RotatingBackgrounds.java
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/RotatingBackgrounds.java
@@ -75,6 +75,13 @@ public class RotatingBackgrounds
         return images[current];
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @return the number of images in this RotatingBackgrounds
+     */
+    public int getNumImages() {
+        return images.length;
+    }
+
     protected void makeEmpty ()
     {
         percentages = new int[] {};