Using Larger Avatars with InstantPalace

      • Overview

        The avatars used in InstantPalace are located in the palace/avatars directory. There are 104 small GIFs in there named cf0.gif through cf103.gif, and in a default installation, most are pictures of smileys with various colors and expressions.

        There are 13 avatars that are usually pictures of something else, and are presented to you in the Avatar Selector that you see just before InstantPalace enters a server. These 13 avatars are represented by cf26.gif through cf38.gif. Take a look at these pics in your favorite graphics program. To use different avatars, you can replace the pics cf26.gif through cf38.gif with different graphics, as long as you keep them named the same as they are now.

        While you can use much larger graphics if you want, there are two primary things to consider when deciding the best size to use: lag, and name placement. InstantPalace will always place your name 44 pixels down from the top of the avatar, and on a wide avatar the name will always appear to be off to the left. For this reason, an avatar 44 pixels wide and 88 pixels high is a great choice, as the name appears approximately in the middle, and the lag factor is relatively low.

      • Animated GIF Avatars

        Animated GIFs will work as avatars, but if you experiment with these, it is important to keep the size, number of frames, and frame rate in the animation as low as possible. Animated GIF InstantPalace avatars can cause significant lag for InstantPalace users, especially for those with slower CPUs, and most especially with multiple people in the room.

      • JPEG Avatars

        InstantPalace can use and render avatars in 24-bit jpeg format. While jpegs don't offer transparency, and are often larger in bytes than GIFs when using smaller graphics, it does represent a 24-bit avatar alternative. Room sized avatars are possible, but not practical.

      • Avatar Selection Panel

        When using larger avatars, only the top 44 X 44 section will appear on the Avatar selection panel. Animated avatars will animate on the avatar selection panel, which can add significant lag when the panel is open, especially if multiple avatars are animating.

      • Additional Notes

        Note 1:

        InstantPalace avatars can't be seen by people using C-clients. They will appear as smileys. InstantPalace users can see both C-client avatars and InstantPalace avatars.

        Note 2:

        For the InstantPalace avatars in your palace/avatars directory to be used, this line must appear on a separate line in the pserver.prefs file in the palace/psdata directory:

         
        USEOTHERAVATARSERVER

        If this line isn't in the pserver.prefs file, you can add it. Your server will need to be restarted for the change to take effect. If your server is hosted, you may need to contact your host regarding InstantPalace configuration.

      • Additional Resources

        • InstantPalace Resources Index
        • Scripting for InstantPalace
        • Customizing InstantPalace
        • InstantPalace Installation
        • 104 Avatars for InstantPalace
        • Using Sounds with InstantPalace
        • InstantPalace with 4.4 Windows Server
        • Mac InstantPalace and Browser Issues
        • InstantPalace Troubleshooting
        • Iptscrae Quick Reference Table
        • InstantPalace Demos
        • InstantPalace Parameters
        • InstantPalace Discussion Group

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