Custom icons in MapSource v. 6.15.3

This is one of the many issues with this version of MapSource.

I'm not sure if it's been discussed here, but if you go to the Groundspeak forums (forums.groundspeak.com) and look in the GPS section, there's a long thread discussing how to get it to work.

In Mapsource v6.15.3 you need to move/copy files ooo.bmp through 007.bmp from c:\My Documents\My Garmin\Custom Waypoints into C:\Garmin then they show up at the end of the waypoint symbols listing.

The existing ones need to be modified in a graphics prog to change the magenta color to transparent, or replace them with your own new symbols.

I understand that Vista requires you to be a deity or something like that to put stuff under your root directory though.

Thanks for the advise, does not work for me!!

It did for me, but I use v6.15.3 and XP. If you move the files with Mapsource open you need to close it & restart it.

Use sam XP as you. But I dont understand your text:

"The existing ones need to be modified in a graphics prog to change the magenta color to transparent, or replace them with your own new symbols."

Magenta is transparent!?

Just means that 000.bmp-007.bmp have magenta background color. If you want the background to be transparent in Mapsource you need to edit the .bmp files.

It has nothing to do with seeing the new "custom" symbols. If you moved the files to the right place and are using v6.15.3 Mapsource you should see a new group called "Custom" at the end of the symbols list, with 8 blue dot symbols.

If I give the bmp-file the color 255,0,255 (magenta) it appears transparent in MapSource (http://freegeographytools.com/2008/creating-custom-waypoint-...). So reading your text, you recommend to make it "more transparent". How do you do that?

I wasn't talking about making it "more transparent". I had to edit the colors (set the transparency) in my bmps to make the magenta transparent (not show as magenta).

If yours just show up in Mapsource as blue dots then your done.

If you are asking about creating or using NEW symbol files then you just get or make them, name them 000 through 007.bmp and put them in the C:\Garmin folder replacing the ones already there, reopen Mapsource, and pick them from the list.

Moving the icon files did not work for me either. But I did find another folder that had a Custom Symbol folder in it.
"C:\Users\*UserName*\AppData\Roaming\GARMIN"
This did not work for me either, but may work for someone.

I found a notation in another forum, that said that Garmen was aware of the issue, so hopefully they will fix it on the next release.

Rainer

There is something wrong here: In my Garmin folder C:\Garmin I see no bmp-files!! Has never been there!

I see how I confused you now...sorry. I should have said:

The existing ones "may" need to be modified in a graphics prog to make the magenta color transparent, or "you can rename your own new symbols 000.bmp through 007.bmp to replace these default custom symbols once they are in the C:\Garmin folder".

Try tomorrow, its midnight in Denmark! Thanks for today!

How do you edit a .bmp to make a color transparent? I do not believe a .bmp has the ability to save that information, I believe Mapsource interprets magenta as transparent.

Hi. Sorry for the delayed reply, but I didn't see your post until now.

You're technically right that it's the software that makes a bmp transparent, but the bmp has to have one special pixel (the first one in the image file, I think) that the software knows to use for the transparency. I'm not an expert (I let my Paint Software do the dirty work), but I know that only some bmp's end up with transparent areas, while some don't. Google transparent bmp if you haven't already and you'll find some how-to's.

geske- Did you ever get your problem with MapSource fixed?

You can put custom icon BMP files in the My Garmin\Custom Waypoint Symbols folder, BUT they must follow the naming convention of existing sample "magenta dots". i.e., the files have to be named with a 3 digit number plus the extension. Then they show up in the custom icons group for your waypoints. Example: 009.bmp or 010.bmp, etc. If there are locations for other icon groups, they may have to follow the same type of naming convention (or if you need to put them in some other folder based upon your own installation configuration.)