Customizing Car Icons
That boring little arrow icon that represents your car on the TomTom 3D map doesn't really have
any spark. Wouldn't it be cool to have your own selection of icons to use?
Now you can, I found a French program that will do this for your on the lower end TomTom units!
1. Using your favorite image editing software, create your own *.bmp car icon using the following criteria:
- 80 x 80 pixels
- 24-bit color
- Bitmap format (*.bmp)
- Background transparency color must be RED (R: 255, G: 0, B:0)
2. Plug in your TomTom to your PC
3. Turn on your TomTom
- It is VERY important that your TomTom device be plugged into the PC and turned ON before installing
the French car icon changing program
4. Using Windows Explorer, find your TomTom device (it will have the little red TomTom icon next to it: )
5. Click the little "+" sign next to the TomTom icon to expand the folders:
6. Create a folder named art
- NOTE: must be all lower case letters
7. Create a subfolder named cars in the art directory you created in step #6
- NOTE: must be all lower case letters and also plural
- Folder structure will look like this:
8. Using the *.bmp image(s) from step #1, copy them all into the subdirectory you created in step #7
9. Using TomTom Home, backup your TomTom because you won't be able to access the little blue cursor
from this program to put it back to the default.
- This French program will modify the settings.dat file
- Once you make your TomTom backup, I encourage you to copy the settings.dat file into a safe place
in case you want to go back to the default icon, you'll need the original file.
10. Download and install the TomTomHeavenXplorer program:
>>> TomTomHeavenXplorer <<< link above
I would highly recommend turning off any Anti-virus software or firewall software you may have running
If you are having issues understanding the words in French when installing, I recommend using Google
French-to-English translation tool online:
>>> Google French/English Translation <<<
The program is written in French, but very simple to use:
a) Create a backup of your default cursor by clicking
- I would recommend doing this SAVE option ONLY the very first time. You are doing this to be
able to set your TomTom back to the default blue arrow cursor . If you make any subsequent
SAVEs, I would suspect it would overwrite your original save an lose the ability to restore to the
default using this program
b) Your icons you placed into the folder in step #8 should show up in the left pane:
c) Highlight and select one of those cursors and select
- NOTE: You can see a preview of the selected icon in the left window when you highlight the cursor name:
11. On your windows lower right icon task menu, click on the safely remove hardware icon:
12. When Windows states it is safe to remove your hardware, disconnect your TomTom from your PC.
13. Now when you turn on your TomTom in the 3D map view, your new icon will be shown!
NOTE: This icon will not show up in the 2D map modes or in TomTom Home when you are controlling your device.