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Icon Pack Requirements

Icon packs must be structured in a certain way, and follow specific requirements to work in-game and be uploaded to NightLight.

The NightLight app will do what it can to validate packs and to avoid anything extra being uploaded. This validation will check things like icon names/paths, and image dimensions.

In addition to these functional requirements, there are also some "limits" on things like file and pack sizes, though these shouldn't affect normal usage.

Icon Requirements​

Filenames & Folder Structure​

The filenames of icons and folder structure of icon packs are crucial to getting custom icons to show in the game.

The easiest way to get this right is to edit/work from a copy of the Default Icons.

If your pack is simply applying a background and/or overlay to the default icons, the simplest option is using NightLight's Image Merger as it can automatically apply those layers to the correctly structured default icons for you.

If you are not sure where an icon is located, you can preview the Default Icons on NightLight, then search for and click on the icons you are interested in. A tooltip will appear showing the folder path and filename for it.

Here's an example of a proper folder structure:

  • My Icon Pack - Parent folder named however you wish. This is what you should select when uploading to NightLight.
    • Perks category folder
      • Haiti
        • iconPerks_autodidact.png
      • iconPerks_kindred.png
      • Other DLC folders & icons that you've changed...
    • CharPortraits category folder
      • Qatar
        • QM_charSelect_portrait.png
      • WR_charSelect_portrait.png
      • Other DLC folders & icons that you've changed...
    • Other Category folders for icons you've changed...

Haiti/Qatar are the subfolders named using the chapter/DLC codenames for the related icons. For the game to detect your icons, they have to be in the correct subfolder (if one is needed) and use the correct filenames.

You do not need to include category folders or icon files which your pack doesn't change (in fact, it's strongly preferred that you don't).

Make sure you're using a parent folder and category subfolders

Please note that while you may only be interested in one category (i.e. Perks or CharPortraits), you'll still need to structure the pack correctly to avoid "Unrecognised path" errors when uploading.

You can't just upload my_perk_icons with a few perk icons in there, they have to be inside the Perks category folder which itself is inside an overarching pack folder.

This means having a parent folder above the Perks folder (or whichever category you're modifying). That parent folder is what you should select when uploading.

Image Format​

PNG

Watch out for renamed files

File extensions don't guarantee a file's format. It's possible to have a JPG formatted file with a .png extension (or anything else).

NightLight will show a content type error if an icon isn't actually PNG encoded. You'll need to re-save the icon as a PNG for it to be uploaded.

Image Dimensions​

See Icon Sizes for a full list of sizes by category and any exceptions.

NightLight Limits​

In addition to the requirements above, there are a couple of NightLight imposed "limits".

Pack Quantity​

To help prevent abuse, all accounts are limited to two pack uploads by default.

If you wish to upload more, reach out to me on Discord @britishboop and providing what you're uploading meets the rules on the upload page, then I'll get the limit increased for you.

There's no upper limit on how many packs you can publish providing they meet the rules and are reasonable to be publishing. It's not uncommon for creators to upload dozens!

Pack Size​

Packs should be less than 200 MB. In reality, it should be tough to reach this limit.

Reducing pack size

If you are managing to reach the limit or would like to help NightLight out a bit and speed up downloads, take a look at a tool like pngquant.

It's run via command, here's a PowerShell one. You'll need to replace the pack folder path with your own.

gci -Path "C:\Users\boop\packs\my_awesome_icon_pack" -r -Filter '*.png' | foreach -Process {.\pngquant.exe -f --strip --ext .png -- $PSItem.FullName}

Note that this will overwrite the icons so should be run on a copy of them. It will process recursively from the folder you give it so don't go giving it C:\ or anything like that...

It may result in a quality loss if they make use of many colours (most often the case when using gradients). It's worth comparing to an unoptimised icon to see if you can notice any difference and whether it's acceptable on the off chance you can.

File Size​

Icons can't exceed 1 MB each. It shouldn't be possible to reach this unless something is wrong with how the image is saved.

In the past, there have been icons like Bubba's Tantrum which ended up with several megabytes of Photoshop metadata being embedded. If something like this happens, then one of the easiest ways to fix it is to just upload the file to Discord and "Open Original" > Download as Discord strips most image metadata.