[TUTORIAL] How to customize lobby images and splash screen!

[TUTORIAL]
How to customize lobby images and splash screen!

I recently stumbled upon some image files that were kind of easy to edit and customize. I decided to write up a tutorial on exactly how to edit them. I have not yet verified whether or not these images stay customized after weekly maintenance and/or updates. So be sure to also save a backup of any images you have edited.

In this tutorial I will explain how I edited the images for my AVA which is an English client from the USA. This tutorial explains how an English USA AVA client can be edited. All clients can be edited in the same way, some folders are named different for each country/client. If I have not made my self clear enough on any section(s) of this tutorial, please reply or private message me. I will make any alterations or additions that will help clear up the customization process.

I also made a small video that shows what mine looks like launching all 6 of the custom splash images that are displayed when AVA launches. The video also shows the images that I have used for my AVA client. Which are viewable while in the game lobby. I have been having trouble uploading this video to YouTube so i used TinyPic instead.


Keep in mind that all I am showing is how to do is edit the images, not how to make them look cool! The pictures I have used are nonsense and make the AVA look custom, yes. And ridiculously stupid, also! lol

Add whatever pictures you think would spice up your AVA install. You can use any photo editing software, even just normal Paint that comes preinstalled with Windows(98, XP, Vista and 7). However I like to use Paint Shop Pro when I edit photos.

Find your AVA installation folder. By default AVA is installed to:




Navigate to your AVA installation folder.
The \AVA\ folder will look like this inside:


Now you need to open the \avagame\ folder.
The \avagame\ folder will look like this inside:
We will be using two folders:
\avagame\Splash\
\avagame\Web\




First lets open the \Splash\ folder.
The \Splash\ folder will look like this inside:

You can look inside both the \INT\ and the \USA\ folders there are 3 splash images for both.
I am only going to talk about the \USA\ folder for this tutorial.

Open the \Splash\USA\ folder.
The \Splash\USA\ folder will look like this inside:


I suggest that you make backup copies of these 3 images
in case you should ever need to replace the original images.
You can download this zip file which contains all the original images from
my splash folder, including both \INT\ and \USA\ images.

These are the images that get shown when you launch AVA.
It is very important that whatever new images you use remain the same size,
551 Pixels Width x 342 Pixels Height.

Remember that the new images must be the same exact size as the originals.
This is easy when editing the Splash images because all three images are the same size.


Navigate your photo editing software to C:\IJJI\ENGLISH\AVA\avagame\Splash\USA\
Open up any of the three images. Once you have the images loaded into the program you can edit them up however you would like. Add any images or logos you would like. I kept mine pretty simple but customized none the less. Once you have edited the images, save them into the same folder that you loaded them from.




Next navigate to \AVA\avagame\Web\Notice\.
The \Notice\ folder will look like this inside:







All of these images you will see in game.
Four of these images will be seen every time you play AVA.
One of these will only be shown to new players.
I replaced all five images with different images of the same Ferrari.

Remember that the new images must be the same exact size as the originals.
These are a little more difficult, because each image is a different size.

There are five images here that are editable each image is:
a_01.png 256 Pixels Width x 256 Pixels Height
b_01.png 512 Pixels Width x 256 Pixels Height
c_01.png 256 Pixels Width x 256 Pixels Height
d_01.png 512 Pixels Width x 512 Pixels Height
e_01.png 1024 Pixels Width x 1024 Pixels Height

I suggest that you make backup copies of these 5 images
in case you should ever need to replace the original images.
You can download this zip file which contains all the original images from my \Web\Notice\ folder.


Navigate your photo editing software to C:\IJJI\ENGLISH\AVA\avagame\Web\Notice\
Open up any of the five images. Once you have the images loaded into the program you can edit them up however you would like. Add any images or logos you would like. I kept mine pretty simple but customized. Once you have edited the images, save them info the same folder that you loaded them from.