Hi Kevin,
Yes, I did away with the old cheesy avatar system completely. I will implement a config option today to allow you to use the new one in the same way as you did the old one, that is, an option where only the admins can upload a user avatar. Sorry for any inconvenience, I should have thought of this option for the initial version. I've also added a new option to allow forcing a square avatar rather than keeping the aspect ratio as it does in the current release.
Best,
Joe