Printable View
Hello Severous,Quote:
Originally Posted by Severous
It's a new feature and not fully worked out yet. We know it has to be 96*142 pixels, 10 kb or less and it has to be a theme. What the theme is is still not clear (not for me at least). Submit yours to Here's an uploader http://www.totalwar.org/Downloads/Up...s/uaupload.php and we'll make it available for you when we know what's ok and what not.
Whereas the boundaries are still not defined, I think it's pretty safe to allow the TW related avatars which depict people, i.e. the avatars that are similar to the default board avatars. IIRC, nobody has objected to avatars of this type. So perhaps it might be an idea to approve those uploaded avatars which fulfil those criteria, so people can start to use to the new system? The range of acceptable avatars can be expanded if necessary at a later date.
Good point therother.
Added R'as al Ghuls avatars and Seasoned Alcoholic's ones. The rest is still open for debate.
Very cool R'as! :bow: I'm using Assassin11, thx.Quote:
Originally Posted by R'as al Ghul
So who's for or against the TW-themed objects?
In response to the announcement:
I think that custom avatars are dangerous ground here. The current policy does much to add to the sense of order here. Simplicity is very important and not to be underestimated.
The current avatar policy of in-game family member icons contributes towards a real sense of community here. Personally, I identify users by their avatars just as I would a human face in the "real world". And just as occurs in the real world when seeing a new face, a judgment is made about a person by the avatar they select. The positive thing is that the judgment isn't bad, it's just something that occurs naturally when trying to get to know somebody. This may or may not have been the intent, but it is certainly what happens.
That said, the desire for a custom avatar is understandable. I would adopt a very conservative approach towards policy change in this direction. Allow users to slightly modify existing avatars, and allow some very limited additional avatars so long as they very very closely match the existing avatar set. I don't care for many of the pics submitted by Seasoned Alcoholic, but a few work well. The BI Priest, if fit to the current avatar size would be good since it follows current policy.
I have resized one of SA's submissions:
https://img464.imageshack.us/img464/1669/avatar9pt.jpg
This I would find acceptable. I would find most of the rest unacceptable unless they could be resized to fit and be of only one person.
I'm not sure if that pic posted, I'll try again:
https://img527.imageshack.us/img527/4940/avatar7nl.png
Divinus, if you go to User Options, then tick the custom avatar field
then go to User Profile and paste 'blue text' from the new avatar gallery, you can use the new ones.
It's a choice Divinus Arma: display the system avatars (which will be what it always was) or this more custom set. Each user can select what works best for him. There's a choice in forumskins, each user can decide to display pictures or signatures, this is just another choice.
I did a batch conversion: and quite a few avatars are larger than the proposed 10 kb, what to do there?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quietus
User options? I have "USER CP"...
Well, I think he means that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Divinus Arma
Of the issue at hand, I am in full support of the system. And from what I've seen, all, including the yet-to-be-usable ones are acceptable except a few in-game snapshots from Rome, which are off. My criteria would be of TW-themed -- or Japanese, Medieval, and Classical themed, as long as they fit well with the TW concept -- objects, portraits, busts, etc., in which all of the uploaded avatars basically fit.
AntiochusIII, isn't that Simon Appleton's old Avatar?
I can't find where to do this. All I see is User CP and then Edit Avatar...
:help:
Wait.... I don't get it.
Custom URL avatars? Are these supposed to show up in the discussion board or only when you look at someone's profile...?
Oh that is soooooooooooooooooooo weird. I just figured it out.
Now I see two heads? bleh.
I totally get it now. Wow. Uhm.... Ya. One head, two head, whatever, eh.
Most of them range between 12 and 15 kb.Quote:
Originally Posted by TosaInu
We could set the max at 15kb. I think only a few of them are over 15.
Or convert them all again. :dizzy2:
How much would the overall traffic be influenced at 15kb?
OT: The new avatar suits you very good, Tosa. :bow:
You're welcome. :bow:Quote:
Originally Posted by Quietus
Some very nice avatars there R'as, there is now plenty of depth and variety for forum users to select from.
I know the avatars submitted by myself are probably not the best - the results of a GOOGLE image search, then some tweaking with the GIMP. I'd just thought to include a bit of variety using a TW theme. Many of the pictures are to be found in TW promotions, case packaging, in-game screenshots and so on and so forth. Some of the avatars were inspired by what I'd seen at other forums, specfically the busts of famous generals.
Obviously the TW theme is debatable, every single avatar submitted is debatable. But as more and more themes are submitted, the greater the strain of acceptability, IE "do we accept yet another varied theme for avatars, or should we block the use of this latest theme?"
The concept of custom URL avatars is still relatively new at present; it will be interesting to see how it develops.
I've been considering editing some of my .TGA screenshots (IE from the battlefield) from RTW and BI and possibly submitting them as custom avatars. I have a good selection to choose from, roughly 1300+ at present. Would I be starting a new theme with this idea? ~D Thanks :medievalcheers:
[EDIT:]Btw, I think one of the avatars in the SA subdirectory (this one) was uploaded by somebody else than myself. Looking at the posters in this topic already, I'd think it was therother ~D, thanks.
It's a second system. Each user can display one or the other or both (there are toggles in the UserCP).Quote:
Originally Posted by Divinus Arma
This second system was intended to be 'display whatever you want', but we have some rules now.
Instead of staff making a middleway selection of many wishes (search Watchtower, there are several avatar discussions since 2002), users decide. I'm fine with a Teletubbie (R) (C) (TM) or Harry Potter (R) (C) (TM) theme if that's what users want, it's obviously PG-13 safe and a black antenna or a purple dragon will suit me as well.
There's still work to do. This page should provide best help to set your account for now: http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pics/avatars/
All users who don't have an URL avatar yet, now show a default one so everything looks balanced.
Tosa,
I've a question.
Before we started this Uesugi Kenshin was the only one whos
avatar showed while all other patrons had board avatars.
Now, it seems that all who haven't selected a url avatar
get this default one:
http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pics...ar/SA/mtw2.jpg
Is this a bug or intentional? I find it confusing and would like
it more as we had it before. Meaning, that their old board avatar is shown
instead of the default url-avatar.
:bow:
EDIT:Nevermind, you've explained it above.
Yes, there's a lot to say to display the board avatar instead. But as we have one dimension now, it's neat to make it like this.
This seems to be closest to what you want, forgive my intrusion and feel free to upload a better one (has to be same size though).Quote:
Originally Posted by Divinus Arma
I have switched off URL avatars again because I could not stand to see almost everyone with the same picture. What was wrong with the previous system that only showed URL avatars if people had selected them?
Various Medieval and Rome related avatars, I will submit all of these shortly:
https://img140.imageshack.us/img140/9323/mtw135cm.jpg
Henry VIII
https://img134.imageshack.us/img134/8782/mtw146ya.jpg
Henry V
https://img134.imageshack.us/img134/9006/mtw156ok.jpg
Joan d'Arc
https://img140.imageshack.us/img140/8831/mtw163qd.jpg
El Cid
https://img140.imageshack.us/img140/8811/mtw177oc.jpg
Saladin
https://img134.imageshack.us/img134/9708/mtw186nm.jpg
https://img134.imageshack.us/img134/9633/mtw193nj.jpg
Moctezuma
https://img506.imageshack.us/img506/6834/mtw200mc.jpg
Hernando Cortez
https://img506.imageshack.us/img506/9072/rtw139oy.jpg
https://img506.imageshack.us/img506/8272/rtw140jf.jpg
https://img134.imageshack.us/img134/8867/rtw151gz.jpg
https://img134.imageshack.us/img134/1633/rtw164mk.jpg
https://img506.imageshack.us/img506/7841/rtw177eu.jpg
[EDIT:]Named some portraits for descriptive purposes
I submitted this picture of Hannibal, I think it looks better than the statue picture.
https://img466.imageshack.us/img466/...annibal4ld.jpg
Added Hannibal and new ones by Seasoned Alcoholic.
Great new avatars. Hail Tosa! :2thumbsup:
Edit: I was wondering what attracted me to this one, and now I know what it is: the first faction I ever played in MTW was the Almohads. Wierd how the subconscious works.
Test post. :balloon2:
Edit: It works. I`m like a new person.
2. Edit: I`ve disabled custom avatars, the pages were way to messy when both "the old" and the URL avatars shows up. I still have a custom avatar selected though, so I take it that it still shows.
Agreed, I'm going to have to turn off URL avatars if this continues. I can't tell anyone apart.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ludens
Also, this may sound selfish, but do we have to share? The system as it's currently working appears to be basically just a second collective avatar pool that can be expanded by users. I would prefer something closer to a normal CA system as far as that goes: the entire purpose is to allow people to be more distinct and express themselves better, and that goal is harmed if anyone can browse through a list and pick my avatar. This is a modified version of the avatar I use everywhere:
https://img499.imageshack.us/img499/...eguild21yg.jpg
It fits the medieval theme, certainly, but I don't want a ton of people to start using it . . . that would rather defeat the point.
Toggle URL avatars on and normal avatars off -> displays only URL avatars.Quote:
Originally Posted by Viking
I agree with Sim and Ludens: if a Member doesn't select a URL avatar, their standard board avatar should be shown. It will probably get better once more people take up URL avatars, but having the vast majority of people with the same URL avatar is distracting.
As for Sim's second issue, perhaps we could separate URL avatars into 2 pools: one for general Member usage, one for individual use? For instance, assuming they don't mind, Seasoned Alcoholic and R'as al Ghul's avatars could go into the general usage pot, whereas avatars like Sim's would go into the individual pot, named after their usernames, ensuring that everybody knows which avatar is for each user.