Starting Out

[www.gimp.org]

[www.irfanview.com]

[nemesis.thewavelength.net]

In this guide, we will be editing images. I will be using Adobe Photoshop, but many free alternatives can be used to achieve the same results. I recommend http://www.getpaint.net/ or GIMP if you are on a budget and not an artist. If you are using Windows, the default Paint program may be sufficient for our purposes, but will likely make it difficult due to the lack of features available in other programs.A useful tool for viewing images and not necessarily editing them is IrfanView If you would like to dig through Dota's file structures to see what you can edit on your own time, I recommend using GCFScape As always, run an unfamiliar file that you've downloaded from the internet through a virus scanner before opening it.We'll be replacing files in Dota's file structure, so first we'll need to go into Dota 2's launch options and enter -override_vpk so the game knows where to look.Dota 2 is programmed to look in pak01_dir.vpk for all of its resources, but if we turn on -vpk_override, it will instead look in its default file structure before falling back onto the VPK. When replacing icons, we will place them in \Steam\steamapps\common\dota 2 beta\dota\resource\flash3\images , and the appropriate folders inside. If they do not already exist in your folders, simply add them.