How should I go about managing images online for a game mod?

Question

I am working on a mod for a game. Currently, the mod checks to see if an image (the image is a texture for the 3d model) with the filename that is the username is online at a certain location (So currently, I'm using Dropbox to hold these images, so it checks with my public directory). If that image is online, it renders a model on the player and applies that image to the model.

I can manually upload images (with the username as the filename) up to the website that holds the images, but I plan on making this mod public and obviously that won't work if hundreds of players want to use this mod. What I need is when the user ticks or unticks the option to apply that model to their character, the image will become available or unavailable to the client, allowing the client to decide whether to render the object or not on the player.

I don't know anything about databases or web design/coding and I only have a vague idea on how to go about this.

I need some way to make the image available or not. Should I:

• Have the filename change? So something like from eegabooga.png to eegaboogaunused.png
• Have a MySQL database that has the images and a boolean. So true means it's a used image and false means it's unused? (Sorry if that makes no sense, I have no knowledge about MySQL or any sort of databases).
• (Something you think would be better).

Sorry if this makes little sense. I will try to explain anything in further detail if you need, just ask. I appreciate the help!

Answer 1

So - I'm guessing the checkbox exists outside the mod? Otherwise, the mod should handle the hide/show of the file.

If the checkbox is on a website, then use that website to control access. Route all image requests through the website, and let the website redirect the request on to DropBox or Amazon S3 if access is permitted - otherwise, reject the request with a 404.