[3000+ TM² SIGNS] for Skins/Any/Advertisement folder

[Elmigo]

wikipedia, there are many street signs. this is nice http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison ... road_signs

Now I get it! Wow... That would be so awesome, that I'm actually beginning right now! I think it's going to be a huge pack since there are many road signs in the world...

Thanks for the ideas once again!

To everybody:
My sign packs contain many signs. Some even over 400 signs, so I've got a question for all of you:
What is the quickest way to create locator files that you know?

[zarexz]

Elmigo, are you telling me you are hosting all the 1491 signs you've created sofar for anyone to use who wants to?

If so, aren't you affraid your host will run out of monthly bandwidth before you can say "left U-turn" ? And us players end up with tracks with yellow Ubisoft signs only?

[Elmigo]

That's a really good question. Of course I'm afraid of that, but there's no other option. I have to, because if I don't, players can only see the signs themselves. If they run out of bandwidth, I have to find a solution. Maybe using an other source to upload the files, and updating the locator files for all the sign packs. I'm using Automatic Keyboard and Mouse software which makes it alot easier for me to create those locator files.

I've been asking around for a quick and good way to create those locator files (and a good place to upload them), and most of my friends told me Dropbox is a safe place. I can only hope they were right. Right? Also, I'm using different accounts on different locations, so not all the signs are linked to and depending on just one account. If one account runs out of bandwidth, I have to spread the sign packs over multiple accounts.

Though the best way to avoid this from happening is just about 3 sign packs per account, I have about 7 sign packs per account, which was not a very smart thing to do. But looking at the small amount of downloads on the download page of my signs, the need for more bandwidth is not that big yet. I don't think that many people have seen and used my signs yet, so there's still time.

Future Glow preview (pack 12)
> Sign Pack 12 Future Glow (view image showing content of Sign Pack 12 immediately)
The Future Glow sign pack is created after sign pack 13, but it will release earlier, since the locators of this package are already created. I'm not sure about it's release date, but you will not have to wait for a long time.
This pack contains basic signs only. Please tell me if you think there's more that should be in this package.

Rough Metal preview (pack 13)
> Sign Pack 13 Rough Metal (direct download: the resolution is too big to show in it's original size online)
The Rough Metal sign pack is the most complete sign pack ever created. I won't create more sign packs as big as this one. Please don't expect it to release soon, because I still need to create 712 locators (712 signs in this pack).
If you have any idea for a sign that still misses in this package, please tell me!

[zarexz]

That's a really good question. Of course I'm afraid of that, but there's no other option. I have to, because if I don't, players can only see the signs themselves. If they run out of bandwidth, I have to find a solution. Maybe using an other source to upload the files, and updating the locator files for all the sign packs. I'm using Automatic Keyboard and Mouse software which makes it alot easier for me to create those locator files.

I don't know man. Why should you host the signs? You have allready created them and you are giving them away for free aswell. I personaly think you've done enough allready and people should take care of their own hosting of things. Which also means either using their own direct URLs or their own locators.

I think I understand there's some personal pride involved for you. Meaning, if you provide a complete package, you can be sure more people will use your work. I can't argue with that but still.

Anyway, I now know you're aware of the situation.


I always use direct URLs. Almost just as much work as locators but always 100% sure and not that hard with the new improved copy and paste functions ingame. Of course that's easy to say for me with my own limited signpack.

[Demented]

Hey Elmigo,
Those Future Glow signs look really cool.
There's a lot of good ideas on that wikipedia link too.
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with from those.

[Elmigo]

To zarexz

I don't know man. Why should you host the signs? You have allready created them and you are giving them away for free aswell. I personaly think you've done enough allready and people should take care of their own hosting of things. Which also means either using their own direct URLs or their own locators.

I think I understand there's some personal pride involved for you. Meaning, if you provide a complete package, you can be sure more people will use your work. I can't argue with that but still.

People can take care of it themselves, that's true. I basically create those locators for myself, so I don't have to worry about that when using the signs in one of the tracks I upload online. Once I've created those, I would be selfish to keep them for myself only, right?

I always use direct URLs. Almost just as much work as locators but always 100% sure and not that hard with the new improved copy and paste functions ingame. Of course that's easy to say for me with my own limited signpack.

How does this work? Is it actually almost the same as locator files? Should I save the URL to the folder that contains the sign and give it the name of the sign it represents?


To Demented
Thank you! You helped me with some ideas too during our private message conversation, so I also posted credits to you now in my original sign pack topic on ManiaCreative.

- Elmigo

[zarexz]

Well, it's definitly not as straightforward as using locators. They don't show up in the signmenu inside the editor. So you really have to know what you have and with over 1500 in your case, thats gonna be difficult. I just save my signs on some remote folder called "signs" and name them simple like "leftup.jpg" or "rightuturn.jpg". Again, easy to remember if you only use one limited set with only basic signs.

In the signmenu i just use the "use url" button and type "http://myaccountbladibla/signs/up.jpg" and that's it.

[Elmigo]

Well, it's definitly not as straightforward as using locators. They don't show up in the signmenu inside the editor. So you really have to know what you have and with over 1500 in your case, thats gonna be difficult. I just save my signs on some remote folder called "signs" and name them simple like "leftup.jpg" or "rightuturn.jpg". Again, easy to remember if you only use one limited set with only basic signs.

In the signmenu i just use the "use url" button and type "http://myaccountbladibla/signs/up.jpg" and that's it.

Cool. Thanks for the tip. I think it's a little easier than creating locator files. Defenitely going to use this in my next packages, such as the Future Glow package which I expect to come out soon.

[edit]
I think - like you said - it's gonna be difficult with over 1500 signs. I may stick to the locators so you can see the signs in the editor sign menu and that's just alot easier to find.


Updates & news:

FUTURE GLOW SIGN PACK 12 (20-12-2012)
This small sign pack releases today and can be downloaded on my official sign packs topic on Mania Exchange. It's basic package is completely free of charge and available for everyone. Silver and Gold upgrade are coming soon.
> Download page

ROUGH METAL SIGN PACK 13
This giant sign pack can be downloaded very soon. The Basic package, which is free, is already available. You can buy the Silver upgrade for just 20 planets. The Gold upgrade is coming soon.
> Download page

GREEN NEON SIGN PACK 14 (20-12-2012)
This pack just came out. You can download the Basic package with basic signs only for free. If you still need more, you can buy the Silver upgrade (basic required) for just 15 planets, and the gold upgrade (basic + silver required) for 20 planets.
> Download page

ROUGH METAL UPGRADES (29-12-2012)
The Rough Metal Gold upgrade is just uploaded and you can get it for just 50P. Read the download page for more instructions. The Silver upgrade already was available and costs only 20P.
> Download page

BUILDINGS 2 SIGN PACK 15 (02-01-2013)
Now you can get buildings in your game, without using any mods! I already created an old sign pack like this, and combined it with this one. The old packs are no longer supported. The signs in this package look like buildings and can be placed above and next to each other.
> Download page

[Elmigo]

The layout of this topic has been edited. All download URL's are now available straight from this website.

Since Mania Creative changed their website, the layout of my download topic was a mess and some downloads even ended up as dead URL's. Apologies for the inconvenience. Everything is fixed now.

[TMarc]

Can they still be purchased in game using ManiaLink?

You're doing a really great job!
I like the glow signs a lot.

Now only animation is missing (blinking on /off or so would be enough to get attention)

About to your question about the fastest possible locator creation:

use a storage that does not encrypt the name, like a regular website or ftp.

Then use a batch from the root folder of where you have stored the files.
for /r %i in (*.jpg) do @echo fileserver_name_and_path/%~ni%~xi > %~di%~pi\%~ni.loc
Attention, this will overwrite the existing loc, but you have them in the RARs anyways.
You could also add individual folder names, I guess you'll find out easily (cmd -> help for ) , or you ask me

Unless there is some kind of DropBox helper tool.