The Cover Project

General Category => News and Announcements => Topic started by: Snowcone on February 25, 2011, 05:49:39 PM

Title: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Snowcone on February 25, 2011, 05:49:39 PM
TCPers,

Due to abuse, I'm going to be making a change in the near future that requires registration in order to download covers from the site. As part of this, I will be throttling bandwidth on a per user/per day basis. This is not an attempt to setup some paid premium tier of service around here. We just can't have many more days where single users consume upwards of 50-75GB of bandwidth in a single 24 hour period. It just kills our available resources.

As always, let me know if you have any questions.

-Cone
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: BadChad on February 25, 2011, 05:54:41 PM
If its for the benefit of the site, I dont see any problems.
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: scarmullet on February 25, 2011, 06:32:26 PM
Holy crap, I had no idea. Thats a pretty good idea actually. Bandwidth isn't free.
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Snowcone on February 25, 2011, 07:23:36 PM
It'll also keep people from writing bots to scrape the entire site. Not that I mind, it just slows the site down for everyone else.
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: UncleBob on February 25, 2011, 08:23:32 PM
We just can't have many more days where single users consume upwards of 50-75GB of bandwidth in a single 24 hour period.

Where's that smiley with the big, bulgy eyes?
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: juan0tron on February 25, 2011, 10:39:05 PM
Just curious, does our site have popup ads now? Not sure if it's TCP or one of the other 1,000 websites I visit :P
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Doom on February 25, 2011, 11:07:34 PM
Just curious, does our site have popup ads now? Not sure if it's TCP or one of the other 1,000 websites I visit :P
Seriously doubt Snowcone would do that.
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: AppleQueso on February 25, 2011, 11:21:51 PM
We just can't have many more days where single users consume upwards of 50-75GB of bandwidth in a single 24 hour period.

Where's that smiley with the big, bulgy eyes?
:o
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Staf on February 26, 2011, 12:23:44 AM
No issues here. I've only saved the covers for games that I actually need to make cases for.
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: judog1 on February 26, 2011, 12:37:08 AM
It sounds beneficial, although if I were new to the site, I would be a bit hesitant of making an account to download covers...

That is just me though...if the resources are being pushed to the limit, then I guess it would be good to do so.
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: BadChad on February 26, 2011, 03:06:55 AM
if I were new to the site, I would be a bit hesitant of making an account to download covers...

I cant really see this beeing an issue. If you stumble across this site and are interested enough to print out our covers, Im sure registering isnt going to be a big deal.
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: irvgotti452 on February 26, 2011, 03:18:05 AM
if I were new to the site, I would be a bit hesitant of making an account to download covers...

I cant really see this beeing an issue. If you stumble across this site and are interested enough to print out our covers, Im sure registering isnt going to be a big deal.

Hell I've registered to sites just to get 1 file no lie lol. No big deal I'm sure everybody has a spam email other than their personal email for sites and such.
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: SonicAdvDX on February 26, 2011, 03:44:49 AM
if I were new to the site, I would be a bit hesitant of making an account to download covers...

I cant really see this beeing an issue. If you stumble across this site and are interested enough to print out our covers, Im sure registering isnt going to be a big deal.

Hell I've registered to sites just to get 1 file no lie lol. No big deal I'm sure everybody has a spam email other than their personal email for sites and such.
*cough* Uhhhhh. Yeah. ;D
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Anonymity on February 26, 2011, 03:51:03 AM
if I were new to the site, I would be a bit hesitant of making an account to download covers...

I cant really see this beeing an issue. If you stumble across this site and are interested enough to print out our covers, Im sure registering isnt going to be a big deal.

Hell I've registered to sites just to get 1 file no lie lol. No big deal I'm sure everybody has a spam email other than their personal email for sites and such.

My whole this identityless is anti-spam measure.

And I'm for the registration needed to download, altough it might increase the amount of spammer accounts, so heightened spam-account creating blocking measures are in order.

And also the current member list should be cleaned now before the rush new accounts begins, so blocking spam accounts stays easier (no long list hide in.)
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: akrate69 on February 26, 2011, 09:55:53 AM
if I were new to the site, I would be a bit hesitant of making an account to download covers...

I cant really see this beeing an issue. If you stumble across this site and are interested enough to print out our covers, Im sure registering isnt going to be a big deal.

Hell I've registered to sites just to get 1 file no lie lol. No big deal I'm sure everybody has a spam email other than their personal email for sites and such.

My whole this identityless is anti-spam measure.

And I'm for the registration needed to download, altough it might increase the amount of spammer accounts, so heightened spam-account creating blocking measures are in order.

And also the current member list should be cleaned now before the rush new accounts begins, so blocking spam accounts stays easier (no long list hide in.)

A few days ago I noticed another large batch of accounts had just been removed. It looked like any account without a forum post got the ax. 
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Arseen on February 26, 2011, 10:09:45 AM
if I were new to the site, I would be a bit hesitant of making an account to download covers...

I cant really see this beeing an issue. If you stumble across this site and are interested enough to print out our covers, Im sure registering isnt going to be a big deal.

Hell I've registered to sites just to get 1 file no lie lol. No big deal I'm sure everybody has a spam email other than their personal email for sites and such.

My whole this identityless is anti-spam measure.

And I'm for the registration needed to download, altough it might increase the amount of spammer accounts, so heightened spam-account creating blocking measures are in order.

And also the current member list should be cleaned now before the rush new accounts begins, so blocking spam accounts stays easier (no long list hide in.)

A few days ago I noticed another large batch of accounts had just been removed. It looked like any account without a forum post got the ax

Close but no cigar. Some of spam and un-activated accounts plus accounts not used since early 2008 were removed it seemed if I'm not mistaken.
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: BadChad on February 26, 2011, 10:16:47 AM
I would say it might even be a good idea to remove any account that hasnt been logged into as far up as the beggining of 2010.
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: akrate69 on February 26, 2011, 10:21:44 AM
if I were new to the site, I would be a bit hesitant of making an account to download covers...

I cant really see this beeing an issue. If you stumble across this site and are interested enough to print out our covers, Im sure registering isnt going to be a big deal.



Hell I've registered to sites just to get 1 file no lie lol. No big deal I'm sure everybody has a spam email other than their personal email for sites and such.

My whole this identityless is anti-spam measure.

And I'm for the registration needed to download, altough it might increase the amount of spammer accounts, so heightened spam-account creating blocking measures are in order.

And also the current member list should be cleaned now before the rush new accounts begins, so blocking spam accounts stays easier (no long list hide in.)

A few days ago I noticed another large batch of accounts had just been removed. It looked like any account without a forum post got the ax

Close but no cigar. Some of spam and un-activated accounts plus accounts not used since early 2008 were removed it seemed if I'm not mistaken.

Ok. I based that on there's no accounts left before January 2009 that don't have a forum post. 
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Arseen on February 26, 2011, 10:29:20 AM
Oh your right, cleaning has progressed.  ;D
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Snowcone on February 26, 2011, 11:40:56 AM
Just curious, does our site have popup ads now? Not sure if it's TCP or one of the other 1,000 websites I visit :P

No we don't
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: UncleBob on February 26, 2011, 11:53:09 AM
Suggestion.  How about setting it so that someone can download a cover without creating an account, but instead of going straight to the download, they get a screen that says "Hey, register" - and the "anonymous" downloads can be limited to so much data (either so many covers or purely limit the data) in a 24 hour period (with the limit being set via IP, of course... I know IPs aren't perfect, but neither are user accounts.)
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Arseen on February 26, 2011, 12:11:43 PM
Suggestion.  How about setting it so that someone can download a cover without creating an account, but instead of going straight to the download, they get a screen that says "Hey, register" - and the "anonymous" downloads can be limited to so much data (either so many covers or purely limit the data) in a 24 hour period (with the limit being set via IP, of course... I know IPs aren't perfect, but neither are user accounts.)

This might lead to that the downloads bots will still put strain on bandwidth by trying to ecxeed the limit.
I say it's better to have no registration -> no download button available.
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: UncleBob on February 26, 2011, 12:15:42 PM
This might lead to that the downloads bots will still put strain on bandwidth by trying to ecxeed the limit.
I say it's better to have no registration -> no download button available.

They're not going to exceed the limit unless they're spoofing IP addresses or such - in which case, the registration issue isn't likely to stop them either.  Additionally, I'd suggest a maximum cap on the amount of anonymous downloads from *any* IP for the day/month.

I can't say one way's "better" than the other - I don't know all the details.  But I can definitely say which one is going to be more welcoming to newcomers to the community.
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Arseen on February 26, 2011, 12:33:22 PM
What I meant was:

For unregisterd users no download button available, so bot trying to bang it, which hopefully lessens the amount of bots on the site, which in turn  lowers the trafic on the site, as I have had trouble getting to the site due to high usage. Last time today I got message saying something like: Cannot connect to forums because of server overload.

Plus if the bots have to register, they can be more easily blocked and banned.
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: juan0tron on February 26, 2011, 02:50:59 PM
I just downloaded the cover for Resident Evil 3 without being signed in on a different computer. Have you not put this feature in yet or was it because I was on the same IP as this account?

Edit: Nevermind, saw you'd be making this change "in the near future." Silly me.
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: UncleBob on February 26, 2011, 05:30:39 PM
Plus if the bots have to register, they can be more easily blocked and banned.

But then, of course, we run the risk of blocking/banning legitimate users.

I'm just trying to think of an option that helps keep Snowcone from having to pay millions per month for bandwidth while keeping the site as user-friendly as possible.
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Arseen on February 26, 2011, 05:36:39 PM
Plus if the bots have to register, they can be more easily blocked and banned.

But then, of course, we run the risk of blocking/banning legitimate users.

I'm just trying to think of an option that helps keep Snowcone from having to pay millions per month for bandwidth while keeping the site as user-friendly as possible.

Accounts will be safe if the user behave.
There is no auto-banning, the banning is done Admins manually, using secret standards.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: the7k on February 26, 2011, 08:08:14 PM
This seems like a good idea.

I'd imagine that uploads will similarly be only for members. Makes the most sense.
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: UncleBob on February 26, 2011, 11:29:18 PM
Accounts will be safe if the user behave.
There is no auto-banning, the banning is done Admins manually, using secret standards.

Not if those "secret standards" include banning/deleting accounts that don't have enough posts...
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: satoshi_matrix on February 27, 2011, 03:07:44 AM
I'm all for spring cleaning, but I was recently banned for no apparent reason and had to contact snowcone to sort it out. I'm also not totally sure I understand what is being purposed here. Is it that covers will in the future only be available for forum members, or are we talking about a separate registration for that?
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: kuroi1986 on February 27, 2011, 03:36:31 AM
I really never had any bandwith problems while visiting the site, but if it's necesary to keep it working, i guess you should go on with it.

To keep the site user friendly as Uncle bob says i guess that with a simple notice at the home page explainig why the registration and limitations are necesary should be enough. Making that notice go away once the registrations and loggin in is done, just adding the same option that's available on the forum login (keep me loged forever) it wouldn't bother regular users.

just a thought. Hope it helps.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Arseen on February 27, 2011, 05:39:45 AM
Is it that covers will in the future only be available for forum members?

Yes, to weed out bots, auto-downloading and taking up the band-width.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: AppleQueso on February 27, 2011, 02:35:07 PM
I can't even think of any reasonable reason why anyone would be against this, so yeah I like the idea.

I'm all for spring cleaning, but I was recently banned for no apparent reason and had to contact snowcone to sort it out. I'm also not totally sure I understand what is being purposed here. Is it that covers will in the future only be available for forum members, or are we talking about a separate registration for that?

pretty sure it's just tying downloads to forum accounts. Having to register twice would be annoying.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: satoshi_matrix on February 27, 2011, 04:37:26 PM
Yeah, that was my concern.

Another idea: what about some anti-bot service like CAPTCHA when you want to download covers? That would still allow unregistered users to download covers while at the same time thwarting bots.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Arseen on February 27, 2011, 05:08:15 PM
Out of curiosity, why are you against the registration required thing?  ???

It's free and takes few minutes for new user to do, so it should not discourage anyone wanting the covers to register.  ;)
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: satoshi_matrix on February 27, 2011, 09:08:46 PM
I'm not personally against it, but I know some people who occasionally visit the site to get covers who aren't forum members, and I know that I lose track of logins for things I don't use. A CAPTCHA system would solve the problem of bot spamming and also allow unregistered users to continue to get covers when they want them.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: juan0tron on February 27, 2011, 10:17:35 PM
I agree, captcha could be a good alternative. Though I don't mind it either way honestly.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: SonicAdvDX on February 27, 2011, 11:55:02 PM
I'm not personally against it, but I know some people who occasionally visit the site to get covers who aren't forum members, and I know that I lose track of logins for things I don't use. A CAPTCHA system would solve the problem of bot spamming and also allow unregistered users to continue to get covers when they want them.
I'd actually probably suggest captcha for unregistered, and no-captcha for registered? Give a frequent user a reason to register to these wonderful boards. :P
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: satoshi_matrix on February 28, 2011, 12:59:30 AM
I'm not personally against it, but I know some people who occasionally visit the site to get covers who aren't forum members, and I know that I lose track of logins for things I don't use. A CAPTCHA system would solve the problem of bot spamming and also allow unregistered users to continue to get covers when they want them.
I'd actually probably suggest captcha for unregistered, and no-captcha for registered? Give a frequent user a reason to register to these wonderful boards. :P

This man is a genius. This is an excellent suggestion. The only question is how difficult it would be to implement.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Snowcone on February 28, 2011, 01:09:10 AM
I'm all for spring cleaning, but I was recently banned for no apparent reason and had to contact snowcone to sort it out. I'm also not totally sure I understand what is being purposed here. Is it that covers will in the future only be available for forum members, or are we talking about a separate registration for that?

The site has 1 method of registration so yes, forumers will only be able to download covers.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Snowcone on February 28, 2011, 01:10:37 AM
I'm not personally against it, but I know some people who occasionally visit the site to get covers who aren't forum members, and I know that I lose track of logins for things I don't use. A CAPTCHA system would solve the problem of bot spamming and also allow unregistered users to continue to get covers when they want them.
I'd actually probably suggest captcha for unregistered, and no-captcha for registered? Give a frequent user a reason to register to these wonderful boards. :P

This man is a genius. This is an excellent suggestion. The only question is how difficult it would be to implement.

Not a bad idea. I'll see what I can do.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: SonicAdvDX on February 28, 2011, 02:19:21 AM
Not a bad idea. I'll see what I can do.

Haha, thanks, I'm honored!  ;D I've also seen some other sites implement some sort of control strategy of making new users have to make a certain number of posts in the forum before they get FULL user powers. In theory, it's a good idea, but it usually leads to a bunch of noobies making tons of useless, stupid posts about nothing in order to get their post count up.

Also, I can't remember if your site already implements this sign-up method or not, because it's been so long, but are you required to confirm your e-mail address by ACTUALLY clicking a link in an e-mail that is sent to the potential new user? I know that will definitely keep bots from signing up to download if you make them use and CONFIRM a legitimate e-mail address BEFORE they can download.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: juan0tron on February 28, 2011, 02:55:32 AM
Lol I though satoshi_matrix was suggesting a non-user only CAPTCHA this whole time. By the way, do new users have to fill out a CAPTCHA while registering? It's been a while since I last signed up ;)

Edit: I'd also suggest new users should have to fill out a CAPTCHA until theyve posted a number of times, or if they tried to download over X amount of megabytes in a certain block of time.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: AppleQueso on February 28, 2011, 03:05:42 AM
There's no reason to overcomplicate this sort of thing. Captchas for non-members, no captchas for registered members, and reasonable download limits for everyone. I see no real reason to do anything else.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Snowcone on February 28, 2011, 03:14:08 AM
Queso is right on the money and yes users have to fill out a captcha during registration and yes they have to click a link to activate the account.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Snowcone on March 15, 2011, 12:10:49 AM
The registration required for downloads is now active. Please let me know if you run into any issues.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: UncleBob on March 15, 2011, 12:18:10 AM
Just checked it out - looks like it's working as planned...
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: RockinX on March 16, 2011, 01:06:12 PM
I just re-registered after noticing that my account was deleted. I'm still credited for my uploaded covers (like http://www.thecoverproject.net/view.php?game_id=690 ) but it links to a non-existent profile. Can that be fixed?
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Snowcone on March 16, 2011, 01:55:12 PM
Sorry about that RockinX. I'll get that fixed for you.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: RockinX on March 16, 2011, 05:02:44 PM
Sorry about that RockinX. I'll get that fixed for you.
Thanks. Looking forward to it :)
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: BadChad on March 16, 2011, 05:19:16 PM
Why is that some users have a username link under the "Created by" as where most dont?
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: tiktektak on March 16, 2011, 06:20:43 PM
Why is that some users have a username link under the "Created by" as where most dont?

Depends if the Admin who created the Username in our database also added a weblink to the username. I always found it kind of unneccessary to link the name to the profile so I almost always leave the link form field blank.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: AppleQueso on March 17, 2011, 10:40:29 AM
I think the links would be a lot more useful if they just took you to a page for every cover by that artist.

Maybe in TCP 2.0, Snowcone?
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: SonicAdvDX on March 17, 2011, 11:23:26 AM
I think the links would be a lot more useful if they just took you to a page for every cover by that artist.

Maybe in TCP 2.0, Snowcone?
I agree with this.

Also, on our main home page, where we have a list of the top ten or so most recent covers, I think that the header of that box should be a link to a page with a list of all the sites covers, in order with newest at the top, to oldest. I mean, whenever we have an update to our cover collection, it's always WAY more covers than just the last ten that are shown on the front page. I mean, look at the home page right now, for instance. There's 8 instances of The Ninja, and two Choplifters. That's great, but now I need to check every other console's page individually to find out if any other consoles got an update. You see what I mean? If we just had a listing page of all the latest covers, it would make searching for updates a lot easier.

Just a thought. ::)
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Snowcone on March 17, 2011, 03:48:29 PM
Yes to both of you. I'm actually coding the real 2.0 version of the site as we speak. I know I've said that like 30 times over the last 3 years, but I really am this time. :)
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Arseen on March 17, 2011, 03:58:36 PM
whenever we have an update to our cover collection, it's always WAY more covers than just the last ten that are shown on the front page.

Click Recent Covers on front page, it shows 50 most recent uploaded covers, it rarely maxes out, altough it has happened.
Link: http://www.thecoverproject.net/rss.php
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: SonicAdvDX on March 17, 2011, 05:12:05 PM
Yeah, whenever I click that link I always get some insane page full of RSS code instead of a viewable page. It would be great if I had an RSS reader, but I don't.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Arseen on March 17, 2011, 05:30:27 PM
I have never had problem using that link. Not with Firefox (currently using 4 RC1) or Explorer. Not with XP, Vista or 7. I have never installed anything special to read that.

So I no clue why you can't use that. (except if your not using Windows).

Anyone else have problem with that link, or solution to his problem.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: tiktektak on March 17, 2011, 05:32:06 PM
Yeah, whenever I click that link I always get some insane page full of RSS code instead of a viewable page. It would be great if I had an RSS reader, but I don't.

Yeah Firefox works perfectly!
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: SonicAdvDX on March 17, 2011, 05:39:21 PM
Yeah, whenever I click that link I always get some insane page full of RSS code instead of a viewable page. It would be great if I had an RSS reader, but I don't.

Yeah Firefox works perfectly!

That's really odd. I guess Google Chrome on Win7/XP/OSX doesn't support RSS then. That's REALLY strange.  ???
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Snowcone on March 17, 2011, 07:47:30 PM
Yeah, whenever I click that link I always get some insane page full of RSS code instead of a viewable page. It would be great if I had an RSS reader, but I don't.

Yeah Firefox works perfectly!

That's really odd. I guess Google Chrome on Win7/XP/OSX doesn't support RSS then. That's REALLY strange.  ???

It's Chrome. It doesn't display rss feeds in pretty format like IE and FF.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: AppleQueso on March 17, 2011, 10:09:39 PM
Yes to both of you. I'm actually coding the real 2.0 version of the site as we speak. I know I've said that like 30 times over the last 3 years, but I really am this time. :)

Is the idea to just go ahead and launch 2.0 instead of worrying about the uploads here?
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: larryinc64 on March 17, 2011, 10:24:59 PM
If there is going to be a Cover Project 2.0 why not a new logo?
(http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp280/larryinc64/The%20Cover%20Project/PDR_0030.jpg?t=1300418491)
It is just a quick sketch i made in Science class today, i screwed up on the NES cart "V" and thy need to be more defined, but i will do that when i make a digital version with your approval. it will co next to the milk carton logo alredy on the site and have orange tinted spines of various covers on the site fading to white behind it to the right.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: juan0tron on March 17, 2011, 10:32:35 PM
That's actually pretty freakin' cool. The top one is better IMO
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: larryinc64 on March 17, 2011, 11:09:12 PM
That's actually pretty freakin' cool. The top one is better IMO
I think TG16 cards work better for the "R" than a Japanese Sega Genesis cart. The top one has a TG16 card for the "THE"
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: juan0tron on March 17, 2011, 11:52:05 PM
No wait I lied, I like the second one now. I'm an artist, I'm allowed to be picky lol
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: shenske on March 18, 2011, 07:34:25 AM
That's a very creative logo, great job coming up with that idea. If you're having trouble with the "R" you could always try a tilted UMD disc as the inside of the "R" laying over top of something else. I can draw it and take a picture for the forum here if you would like to incorporate that idea.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Snowcone on March 18, 2011, 10:01:01 AM
@larryinc64 That is actually quite amazing. The logo i was going to use was just a basic typographical logo, but I'd love to see how this comes out in digital format.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: SonicAdvDX on March 18, 2011, 10:41:17 AM
Wow, yeah, way to go man, that looks great.

Speaking of logos, might I ask what out current logo is? It's always kind of confused me. It looks like a milk carton.  :D
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: UncleBob on March 18, 2011, 10:48:47 AM
Wow, yeah, way to go man, that looks great.

Speaking of logos, might I ask what out current logo is? It's always kind of confused me. It looks like a milk carton.  :D

It is. :D
This site is unofficially part of Snackbar-games.com
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Anonymity on March 18, 2011, 10:52:00 AM
Nice logo suggestion larryinc64, can't wait the digital version.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: larryinc64 on March 18, 2011, 11:59:23 AM
That's a very creative logo, great job coming up with that idea. If you're having trouble with the "R" you could always try a tilted UMD disc as the inside of the "R" laying over top of something else. I can draw it and take a picture for the forum here if you would like to incorporate that idea.
I think TG16 cards wih a side slightly bent in work well here, ill try that though.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Snowcone on March 19, 2011, 12:02:48 AM
Wow, yeah, way to go man, that looks great.

Speaking of logos, might I ask what out current logo is? It's always kind of confused me. It looks like a milk carton.  :D

It is. :D
This site is unofficially part of Snackbar-games.com

Unofficially officially. lol. I run both sites and suck at graphic design so I reused what I already had.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: bananajim on March 25, 2011, 05:35:32 AM
Hi guys,
im just wondering when the cover upload section will be up and running
im new and i have been designing away with new covers for some Snes classics that i really want to share!
any idea when we will be able to upload again?
thanks
Banana Jim
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Arseen on March 25, 2011, 05:50:20 AM
Hi guys,
im just wondering when the cover upload section will be up and running
im new and i have been designing away with new covers for some Snes classics that i really want to share!
any idea when we will be able to upload again?
thanks
Banana Jim

No idea, but you can create free Mediafire or Box.net account, upload there and give us the links to the covers so we can check the quality of the covers, and give you pointers how to better them if needed (which is probable as the quality criteria here is high)

But do the account and suprise us.  ;)
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: larryinc64 on March 26, 2011, 03:04:51 PM
Working on Digital version of the logo now, will be done soon, it wont take to long.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: larryinc64 on March 26, 2011, 08:50:33 PM
Im 1/2 done. i finished the word COVER. Its all vector art drawn free-hand (or free mouse) in FLASH CS3
(http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp280/larryinc64/The%20Cover%20Project/Logosample-1.png?t=1301190843)
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: juan0tron on March 26, 2011, 11:41:00 PM
How does one draw in vector? I've always wanted to know. Looking good so far, can't wait to see the final product! Are you going to make it look more like the original in the end? I liked when it looked like a disorganized pile of games.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: larryinc64 on March 27, 2011, 01:21:45 PM
How does one draw in vector? I've always wanted to know. Looking good so far, can't wait to see the final product! Are you going to make it look more like the original in the end? I liked when it looked like a disorganized pile of games.

As for drawing in vector, the program i use is Adobe Flash, and you just draw normally, its my perferd program for drawing. You can see some of my other art HERE! (http://motament.newgrounds.com/art/)

And i am going to make it a disorganized pile going into a case similar to a PS2 one mixed with genesis.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: bananajim on March 27, 2011, 03:03:19 PM
http://www.mediafire.com/?0wb0sko2fgwrj

See what you think of my Designs guys, Thanks!
i have tried to keep a similar design so that the covers match but give them their own induvidual styles
i was really happy with them and printed them myself for VHS tape cases to fit my Snes games
let me know what you think!
thanks
Bananajim
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Arseen on March 27, 2011, 03:17:15 PM
Let's put it this way: If you would stick to our cover template, you would be great artist addition to our site!  ;)

In other words: nice quality!

Try one of these if you want to really show off: http://www.thecoverproject.net/forums/index.php?topic=4950.30  ;D (really need these covers).
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: SonicAdvDX on March 27, 2011, 06:42:25 PM
Let's put it this way: If you would stick to our cover template, you would be great artist addition to our site!  ;)

Seriously, damn. Those covers look pretty sweet, man. If only they were consistent with our templates.

Also, larryinc64, VERY nice job on the vector drawing so far. I especially like the game you chose for the "O". ;)
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: bananajim on March 28, 2011, 03:37:55 AM
Let's put it this way: If you would stick to our cover template, you would be great artist addition to our site!  ;)

In other words: nice quality!

Try one of these if you want to really show off: http://www.thecoverproject.net/forums/index.php?topic=4950.30  ;D (really need these covers).

thanks for the support and good words, im a artist and designer so i do try to keep my designs polished!
are you guys using the universal media case? would you be able to send me the dimensions for the cases?
as i live in London i have the same problem as others in that its too expensive to ship them to here! so i designed mine to fit with VHS cases...
let me know guys and maybe i can try doing one of the requests!
bananajim
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Arseen on March 28, 2011, 09:12:42 AM
UGC dimensions here: http://www.thecoverproject.net/forums/index.php?topic=39.0
I live in Finland and gave up on buying UGCs. Instead I use 27.5mm thick DVD cases, way cheaper. They are only about 5mm taller than UGCs so the UGC covers fit nicely un altered (I leave 5mm white bar to the bottom, but it's not 100% necessary), see part of my collection here:
http://www.thecoverproject.net/forums/index.php?topic=2738.0
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: gator on March 28, 2011, 01:12:47 PM
How does one draw in vector? I've always wanted to know. Looking good so far, can't wait to see the final product! Are you going to make it look more like the original in the end? I liked when it looked like a disorganized pile of games.

I use the program Inkscape to do my vector drawing. It isn't like Flash where you can program and animate, it is only for drawing. It is also open source so it is free to use. I usually use it to put together my covers and keep everything I can vectors as long as possible. Also good for reproducing logos and text. If you try it out and need some advice let me know!

http://inkscape.org/ (http://inkscape.org/)
Title: Re: I very much agree with what you said!!!
Post by: Arseen on March 30, 2011, 02:24:09 AM
I very much agree with what you said!!!

QUIT SPAMMING!
Final warning!
Messages deleted.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: bananajim on March 30, 2011, 03:56:45 AM
Hey there,
so i converted my Template into the UMC size and specs, had to tweak a little but i still think it looks good!
have a look at my 3D render of the Blank Case (had to create from scratch cause that programe doesnt work on mac!)
http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/6e30258a181158e58c9804fcdffaaf55b3cffee5b4c37a8c7c0188cc911910d36g.jpg
and here is the jpeg flat of my UMC template, will start converting my covers to this size when i can, let me know what you think!
http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/cfbcc14000b045016b440452274fc2ce0e3f0bfb5a394a8bd1b9474c1fc14c5c6g.jpg
thanks
Jim
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Arseen on March 30, 2011, 04:15:19 AM
Nice lokking template, but the link leads to template with way too low resolution, hope your actual template is higher DPI.

Other thing that springs to mind is that with slight alteration that could be used as uniform NES template.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: bananajim on March 30, 2011, 11:04:49 AM
http://www.mediafire.com/i/?topcuv43bsqva7j
apologies, i linked to the image of it rather than the actual link to download the file! here is the download file
i worked at 300 dpi and with the mesurements for the UM case so it should be fine
yeah i think ill have a go at a NES template too,
if i upload the other covers i desinged in the same size/format as this would they be added to the cover project?
thanks
jim
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Arseen on March 30, 2011, 01:55:43 PM
Gives error message when trying to download.

And if your covers are high enough quality, thwey might be accepted as alternate covers, altough I have no say over this.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: bananajim on March 31, 2011, 05:02:08 AM
it worked fine when i did it, hmmm
i havent used media fire before so maybe im doing something wrong
well if you try this link and it doesnt work im not sure what im doing wrong...
http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=topcuv43bsqva7j&thumb=4
if i upload them to my blog they could always be downloaded from there
is the uploading method on the website not going to be ready anytime soon?
also proberly a stupid question but can newbies not create new posts?
thanks
jim
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: laserkid on April 05, 2011, 02:37:43 PM
As someone who has used this site for covers for his boxless games I have NO problem registering, though I can't promise constant forum activity, I will try to keep up with it as I consider this website a precious resource.  ;D
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: SBbolt569 on June 03, 2011, 06:55:50 PM
Hey dude, I'm trying to upload covers to this site and it wont let me, do you know why?
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: ShoothimNow on June 03, 2011, 06:59:46 PM
Someone tried to hack the site a year ago, and it hasn't been in place since
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Arseen on June 03, 2011, 11:24:25 PM
ShootHimNow, you could have linked your topic, in case he is for realz :
http://www.thecoverproject.net/forums/index.php?topic=5754.0
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: ShoothimNow on June 04, 2011, 08:04:32 AM
For realzies, I never bookmarked that page, and I didn't want to steal your thunder!
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Arseen on June 04, 2011, 01:06:30 PM
For realzies, I never bookmarked that page, and I didn't want to steal your thunder!

  ;D
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: moulinoski on August 01, 2011, 03:15:39 PM
Hmm, so you'll need a forum account to download the covers or it'll be a separate account? Probably got answered before (and is a bit of a silly question) but I tl;dr'd everything past the first couple of posts.

It'd be nice to prevent the bots from registering, though. I've seen a bunch of bots here more than in any other forum I've been to. O_O
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Arseen on August 01, 2011, 03:30:56 PM
Hmm, so you'll need a forum account to download the covers or it'll be a separate account? Probably got answered before (and is a bit of a silly question) but I tl;dr'd everything past the first couple of posts.

It'd be nice to prevent the bots from registering, though. I've seen a bunch of bots here more than in any other forum I've been to. O_O

Same account.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: ShoothimNow on August 01, 2011, 08:27:21 PM
There is the tricky way of "viewing the image" and saving it as a picture, which bypasses the whole "registration" part.  But hey, who else would know that!
Title: Re: Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: fthfllyg on August 05, 2011, 06:42:12 AM
if I were new to the site, I would be a bit hesitant of making an account to download covers...

I cant really see this beeing an issue. If you stumble across this site and are interested enough to print out our covers, Im sure registering isnt going to be a big deal.

precisely. i registered a few days ago after i attempted to download a cover and realised you had to have an account. i saw the benefit of the site, and did not hesitate to create that account. :)
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: FFXIK on August 11, 2011, 03:01:46 AM
I have been racking my brain to figure out how to get covers for my games.  Because I am anal about looks.

I came across this video on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxnIp4oCQTA (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxnIp4oCQTA)
This site was BY FAR the best one he listed in the description.

I found it annoying to have to register first, but to be honest I would do so again in a heartbeat.  The community here seems to be very helpful and respectful.  Outside of being the perfect site to further my video game OCD.   ;D
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: pepsiturtle22 on September 26, 2011, 02:20:59 AM
Hi, I have a request to upload a gamecube cover. I can email it to you if you like. Its Crash Bandicoot Wrath of the Cortex for the Gamecube, I wouldn't offer but you don't seem to have one. Let me know, thanks :)
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Arseen on September 26, 2011, 02:35:31 AM
Bit wrong place to offer, but nevermind.

Upload it to Mediafire or Box.net and post the sharing link to us.

Thank you.
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: akuma632 on December 02, 2011, 09:15:47 PM
New to the site. Love what you guys are doing here. I made a login after first finding you on YouTube. I just tried to get covers to all my N64 games but for some reason it doesn't let me save the cover an more.

The link comes up to see the cover I hit save but it doesnt show up after. I don't think I DL a lot but just wondering if I did and when can I get the rest of my covers? I was al most done with the "T" s.  ???

Thanks again for free registrations too !!!
Title: Re: Free Registration Required to Download Covers
Post by: Arseen on December 03, 2011, 04:14:28 AM
Try using different web browser.