«ᴴᴱᴸᴾ» [How To:] Can't Find Your Tank Info?

[DarkErotica]

How To: Can't Find Your Tank Info?

A question I've been asked numerous times. There's nothing wrong with being new to Booty Grab and not being able to find your tank information. In all honesty, Gaia should make it easier to figure out.

Here I'll do you all a favor and give you a step-by-step guide for finding your tank information, creating a "glow/bump thread", optimizing your settings for less lag and smoother games, and provide a number of useful tank-oriented resources.

Finding Your Tank Information:

First things first.
You need your tank information to do anything, right?
Well here's how you find it.

Step 1: First you need to make sure your tank shows up in your signature. It's a must. Sooo, click on this link to go to your Account Preferences.

Step 2: Once there, make sure your checked boxes towards the bottom look like the ones in the image below. It's important to have the pull-down set to "Show All Images". You'll see why a little later in this tutorial. You want to make sure your aquarium is visible to everyone else in your signature, which is why that last box is checked. You also want to make sure you can see everyone's signatures. People usually put a "Direct Link" to their tank, and a link to their "Bump/Glow Thread", in their signatures. You also want to have "Show Aquarium" enabled in the All Signatures: section; You'll need it to reach your aquarium in the next step.

Now that that's all set, make sure you click the Save button at the bottom.



Step 3: Next, it's time to find your Direct Link. Click this link to go to your Forum Post History. Pick any one of these to re-visit that post you made.

Step 4: Underneath your post, you should see your signature, with a miniature flash image of your aquarium in it. Click on the "Visit My Aquarium" link on the bottom right of the image like the one below.



Step 5: You may now see an even smaller version of the flash aquarium you saw on the previous screen, but you also may not. (Gaia's wierd like that.) If you do, click on it again to reach the real aquarium. It should open up in a new window (or new tab, depending on how your browser's options are set) and you should now see a nice-sized aquarium tank, with all your fish and decorations in it.

Step 6: While you're here, in the bottom left corner of the tank, you will see options for Game Quality and Size Options. For reduced lag while you play games, set the Game Quality to low. All it does is lower the resolution, helping it render faster which speeds up game play. Some people set the Size to small, but it's not necessary.

Step 7: Before you close out this tank window, copy the URL in the address bar. It's long, so make sure you get it all!



Step 8: Now that you have that copied, paste it somewhere so you can't lose or forget it. A new Notepad file on your desktop works wonders. Toss the link in there, and just minimize it for now. That link is your Direct Link. It's important and you're going to need it!

Step 9: That entire link is your Direct Link, but now it's time to find your "Tank ID" number. This is the number INSIDE your Direct Link, that follows the ?userEnvironmentId= command. In this instance, the number is "7892493", but yours will be different. That number is your Tank ID, and will be used later. It's in your Direct Link, so it's not necessary to copy it and save it somewhere else. blaugh

That's it! You've now found your Tank Information!
Next, we need to create a "Glow/Bump Thread".

 

[DarkErotica]

How To: Creating A "Glow/Bump Thread":

The point of a Glow/Bump Thread is pretty simple. It's to get more people to play your tank!
Simply enough, the list of threads in the Aquarium Forum is pretty linear.
When a thread gets a reply, it's "bumped" to the top of the list. Therefore the list of threads is always cycling, and the topics at the top of the list obviously get more exposure. The more you're near the top of the list, the more people will see your thread. The more people that see it, the more they'll be likely to click on it, and play your tank! And what do more plays mean?
Psssst... MORE GOLD! blaugh

Here I'll guide you step-by-step through creating your own "Glow/Bump Thread".

Step 1: First, click this link to go to the Gaia Aquarium forum.

Step 2: Once you're there, click on the New Topic button.



Step 3: Starting with the Subject line, write something short and sweet that describes your tank, and lets people know that your tank is currently glowing. (ex. "17 Mermaids Glowing!" or "GLOWING! 14 Lawnsharks & 3 Grunny Subs!")

Step 4: In the Tags line, you're allowed a few words that will bring up your topic in certain search criteria. Words like Gold, Booty, Aquarium, Tank, and Fish are all good Tag words.

Step 5: For now, simply type ***Reserved*** in the larger Body section. We'll get back to that shortly. Select whichever Post Style you like on the right side of the screen, (I usually prefer Document, it stands out nicely) and click the SUBMIT button at the bottom of the screen.

Step 6: Gaia should automatically re-direct you back to your new topic. Once you're there, click on the REPLY button itself, not the down arrow next to it.



Step 7: Once you see the entry form, select and copy the URL in the address bar. It should look something like this:

http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/compose/entry/new/73013667/

Step 8: Paste that URL somewhere in the same Notepad file you have minimized with your Direct Link in it. See? Told you it'd come in handy! blaugh

Step 9: Now that you have all your tank and thread information, all we have to do now is format your new "Glow/Bump Thread"! For a simple, pre-fabricated format, copy ALL of the code in the box below.

[align=center][color=black][b][u]Welcome, and thanks for bumping![/u][/b][/color][/align]

[align=center][color=black]:heart: [size=15][b][u]***INSERT NAME HERE***[/u][/b][/size] :heart:
[img]http://awesomolocity.info/?id=***INSERT TANK ID***[/img]
[url=***INSERT DIRECT LINK***][img]http://absols-web-apps.info/gtools/fishSig.php?id=***INSERT TANK ID***&mode=hybrid&TR=255&TG=255&TB=255&ATR=0&ATG=255&ATB=0&ETR=255&ETG=0&ETB=0&AR=0&AG=0&AB=0[/img][/url]
[url=***INSERT DIRECT LINK***][img]http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z352/lildvl999/PlayDarkInv.png[/img][/url] ■ [url=http://awesomolocity.info/analyzer.php?id=***INSERT TANK ID***][img]http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z352/lildvl999/AnDarkInv.png[/img][/url] ■ [url=***INSERT BUMP THREAD/REPLY BOX***][img]http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z352/lildvl999/BumpDarkInv.png[/img][/url][/color][/align]

[align=center][url=***INSERT DIRECT LINK***][img]http://absols-web-apps.net/gtools/imgAnalyzer.php?id=***INSERT TANK ID***&link=http://www.gaiaonline.com/landing/flashaquarium/?userid=***INSERT TANK ID***&name=on&owner=on&ghost=on&logo=on&R=247&G=0&B=0&code=[/img][/url][/align]


[align=center][color=black]Sponsored by:
[url=http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds-home/dark-waters/g.364767/][img]http://i52.tinypic.com/2vnjtvl.jpg[/img][/url]
Click to go! Tons of incredible tanks of all kinds, sorted by category!
Booty grabbing is just the beginning!
[/color][/align]

Step 10: Go back to the topic you just created. You can easily do so by clicking the Forums tab in the main menu bar, and then clicking the My Topics link. Now click inside the Body section where you had earlier typed ***Reserved***. Delete everything in the box. Once it's empty, paste the code you had copied in the previous step, into that entry box.

Step 10: Now all you have to do is Edit in your tank information, and it's all finished! Simply browse through the code, and replace any text surrounded by *** (deleting the stars themselves as well) with your information you have in that notepad file.

In this packet of code, replace:

1 x ***INSERT NAME HERE*** -with- Your actual account's name.
5 x ***INSERT TANK ID*** -with- Your Tank ID, which is found after the "userEnvironmentID=" in your Direct Link.
3 x ***INSERT DIRECT LINK*** -with- Your tank's Direct Link.
1 x ***INSERT BUMP THREAD/REPLY BOX*** -with- Obviously your Bump Thread or Reply Box URL.

And YES, you must DELETE THE *** ALONG WITH THE TEXT ITSELF. wink

Once you're finished with that, click the Submit button at the bottom, and you should now see something similar to this:

Welcome, and thanks for bumping!

heart DarkErotica heart


■ ■

Sponsored by:

Click to go! Tons of incredible tanks of all kinds, sorted by category!
Booty grabbing is just the beginning!

That's it! You've now created your own Glow/Bump Thread!
Now to add your tank information to your signature!

 

[DarkErotica]

How To: Adding Your Tank To Your Signature

Another thing I've had a few people ask me.
Adding your tank and bump information to your signature is very simple. blaugh

Step 1: Click this link to go to your Signature Options.

Step 2: Once you're there, you'll see a small entry system that looks kind of like the Reply Box entry form. This is where you will enter and format your signature.

Step 3: Copy either of these lines of code that you like, and paste it into your signature entry box. They are both formatted to take as little space as possible, leaving you room for whatever else you would like to have in your signature. The character cap for signatures is 512, so using as few as possible is always the best idea.

(The displayed examples are using my own information.
The code has been stripped, and needs to be filled with yours, just like the Glow Thread layout)

~Bump

[align=center][url=***INSERT DIRECT LINK***][img]http://awesomolocity.info/?id=***INSERT TANK ID***[/img][/url]~[url=***INSERT BUMP THREAD***]Bump[/url][/align]

Please Bump When I Glow!

[align=center][url=***INSERT DIRECT LINK***][img]http://awesomolocity.info/?id=***INSERT TANK ID***[/img][/url]
[url=***INSERT BUMP THREAD***]Please Bump When I Glow![/url][/align]

Step 4: To save as much space as possible, click this link to go to TinyURL.com. Once there, take your Direct Link, and use the website to shrink it. Take that shorter link (the one without "preview" in it) and paste it in the Signature entry box in place of ***INSERT DIRECT LINK***. Remember, the asterisks need to be deleted also!

Step 5: Replace ***INSERT TANK ID*** with your tank's ID number, which comes after the ?userEnvironmentId= command in your Direct Link.

Step 6: Then use TinyURL.com again to shrink your bump link, and replace ***INSERT BUMP THREAD*** with that new shorter link.

When all is said and done, your line of code should look something similar to this:

[align=center][url=http://tinyurl.com/68ct3u9][img]http://awesomolocity.info/?id=7892493[/img][/url]
[url=http://tinyurl.com/3gaqmzq]Please Bump When I Glow![/url][/align]

That's it! You've added your tank to your signature!
Now everyone will know when you're glowing and where to bump when you are!

All that's left is to optimize your settings to reduce lag and have smoother games!

 

[DarkErotica]

How To: Optimizing Your Settings

This isn't really necessary, but I've noticed it's helped me have much smoother games.
I hope these little tips help you as well!

[ ■ ] First, Internet Explorer seems to take up a bit of resources since it has a little more than necessary running in the background. Switching to Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox will definitely help kill lag and increase speed.

[ ■ ] Second, while you're in a tank window, switch the Game Quality to "low". All it does is lower the resolution, which decreases render lag on slower computers.

[ ■ ] You can opt to turn the sound off by clicking the sound icon at the top right of the tank, but it's much easier to play with the sound. You're able to focus on where you are, rather than staring at the corner to see how much longer you have your power-up.

[ ■ ] Go to your Account Preferences and deselect the check box in All Signatures: that says Show Aquarium. A page with 10 or more flash aquariums loading in signatures will lag the heck out of your game, not to mention your load speed on the page.

[ ■ ] And probably the most important of all, KEEP YOUR TABS AND WINDOWS DOWN TO A MINIMUM! You'll have the least lag possible when you only have the thread tab/window and the tank tab/window open. Don't try playing games while you have 14 tabs up, you'll find yourself slower than molasses, and unresponsive to your mouse movement.

Relatively simple tips, but they definitely help!
Good luck in your games. Now go GRAB THAT BOOTY!

 

[DarkErotica]

Amy McGregor

I dont know if there's something wronw with my settings, but under the ***INSERT NAME HERE*** all I see is a blue text saying "User Image" and then below that the same, but in black. And below the Play*Analyze*Bump buttons there's just a black User Image text.

In your Account Preferences menu, make sure SHOW ALL IMAGES is selected in the pull-down menu, like the picture below. (You don't have to have Show Aquariums checked in the All Signatures section unless you're looking for your direct link.)



If that doesn't do the trick, let me know and I'll try to help you figure out what's going on. heart  

[DarkErotica]

Amy McGregor

DarkErotica

Yeah, I tried to do that, I promise. This is how it looks on my side:


It still dosen't work...

That's really weird. Do you see that kind of thing everywhere? Or just here?
Unfortunately I have to run, I have a lunch date with my grandfather and I have things to take care of beforehand. If it's still an issue by the time I get back, we'll definitely have to figure out the problem. I know it's a stupid question, but you DID click the SAVE button at the bottom once you changed it to Show All Pictures, right?  

[DarkErotica]

Amy McGregor

DarkErotica

Yes I did wink I followed your instructions in the tutorial.But the weird thing is that I can see it in the thread, the "This tank has had x playes and this much gold has been produced". I also see whe black/blue "My tank is not glowing yet" on everyone else...

Hmm, if it's still a problem when I get back, I'll help out, but I REALLY have to go. razz I'm already running late. heart I'll be back in a couple hours or so.