Modding: How to Create a New Unit Icon

All images in Gladius (apart from fonts) use the DDS format. The freely-available Paint.NET program (https://www.getpaint.net/download.html) is an easy and convenient way to work with DDS images, a file format which it natively supports.

The trickiest part in getting your images to work in Gladius is to make sure you have the correct export settings for the DDS format. You will first need to save your file in Paint.NET, only then will the export settings be displayed. You want to make sure that you use the following settings:

- DXT3 (Explicit Alpha) - Cluster fit (Slow/HQ) - Perceptual - Generate Mip Maps - Fant

The only other thing you want to keep in mind while working with your image in Paint.NET is to set an appropriate Opacity-Alpha value (which is accessible from the Colors palette -> More). Setting this value correctly might require some trial and error if it's an image to which Gladius applies it's own additional filters.