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1) Download MonsterMan's Resources from Apolyton Creation forum. This will give you six templates to work with.
2) Find a nice picture. I like to visit [images.google.com] and [www.clipart.com].
You will need to separate the picture from its background. Because jpegs intentionally makes images fuzzy, they aren't as good as gifs. Photos are rarely a good idea to use, because you don't really want the picture to be square - you want the Civ3 icon background underneath it, so your work looks professional.
Handdrawn computer icons are the best, as seen in this picture I used for tobaccosmall.pcx :
3) Start paintshop pro (d'l from www.jasc.com) and open up the picture you saved from internet.
Go -> Colors/Increase color depth/16 million
This is the only way you'll get transparancy.
Then click the Magic Wand button on the left console. Hold down SHIFT as you mark the background areas. If you aren't getting all of it, increase "Tolerance" in the "Tool Options box". When you are finished, go to 'Selections' menu and click "Invert". Voila, you have told the program what it is you want. Now copy the selection (CTRL+C) and press CTRL+V to paste it as a new picture. See the checkerboard background? That's nothingness, or transparant.
Resize your image now. It must be smaller than 128 pixels in any direction.
4) Now open up the appropriate template. Increase color depth to 16 million. Switch back to the picture you just created and press CTRL+C. Back in the template, press CTRL+E. Do not press CTRL+V this time, because E pastes the selection into the active image.
Now, left-click where you want the icon. If you hold down CTRL while clicking the arrow keys you can finetune the position of the selection. Finally hit CTRL-D to deselect everything.
5) Now, go -> "Colors/Decrease color depth/X Colors (4/8 bit)" and set the number of colors to 254.
6) Colors/Edit palette
The two last colors will probably be black. Doubleclick the first one and give it the RGB code 0/255/0 or HTML #00FF00. Either code will give you "Acid Green". Click the OK button and doubleclick on the last color. Give it RGB 255/0/255 or HTML #FF00FF which gives you "Hot Pink".
7) Save your newly-made image in CivilizationIII\Art\Civilopedia\Icons\resources as a Zsoft Paintbrush (*.pcx) file. Paintshop pro likes to nag about forcing to join layers when saving to most formats other than their own, don't worry if you get that pop-up. Go into CivilizationIII\Text and open pediaicons.txt, add a line of code for your new icon. The line of code should refer to the entry you'll make in the Civilopedia. You don't have to write anything of value in the Civilopedia entry, but it helps stabilize the game if rules aren't broken. There are many great guides in Apolytons Creation forum for working with the Civilopedia and PediaIcons files.
The process is similar when creating small icons. If you save the transparant image you made earlier, you can just resize it and paste into a template for a small icon.
Good luck!
2) Find a nice picture. I like to visit [images.google.com] and [www.clipart.com].
You will need to separate the picture from its background. Because jpegs intentionally makes images fuzzy, they aren't as good as gifs. Photos are rarely a good idea to use, because you don't really want the picture to be square - you want the Civ3 icon background underneath it, so your work looks professional.
Handdrawn computer icons are the best, as seen in this picture I used for tobaccosmall.pcx :
3) Start paintshop pro (d'l from www.jasc.com) and open up the picture you saved from internet.
Go -> Colors/Increase color depth/16 million
This is the only way you'll get transparancy.
Then click the Magic Wand button on the left console. Hold down SHIFT as you mark the background areas. If you aren't getting all of it, increase "Tolerance" in the "Tool Options box". When you are finished, go to 'Selections' menu and click "Invert". Voila, you have told the program what it is you want. Now copy the selection (CTRL+C) and press CTRL+V to paste it as a new picture. See the checkerboard background? That's nothingness, or transparant.
Resize your image now. It must be smaller than 128 pixels in any direction.
4) Now open up the appropriate template. Increase color depth to 16 million. Switch back to the picture you just created and press CTRL+C. Back in the template, press CTRL+E. Do not press CTRL+V this time, because E pastes the selection into the active image.
Now, left-click where you want the icon. If you hold down CTRL while clicking the arrow keys you can finetune the position of the selection. Finally hit CTRL-D to deselect everything.
5) Now, go -> "Colors/Decrease color depth/X Colors (4/8 bit)" and set the number of colors to 254.
6) Colors/Edit palette
The two last colors will probably be black. Doubleclick the first one and give it the RGB code 0/255/0 or HTML #00FF00. Either code will give you "Acid Green". Click the OK button and doubleclick on the last color. Give it RGB 255/0/255 or HTML #FF00FF which gives you "Hot Pink".
7) Save your newly-made image in CivilizationIII\Art\Civilopedia\Icons\resources as a Zsoft Paintbrush (*.pcx) file. Paintshop pro likes to nag about forcing to join layers when saving to most formats other than their own, don't worry if you get that pop-up. Go into CivilizationIII\Text and open pediaicons.txt, add a line of code for your new icon. The line of code should refer to the entry you'll make in the Civilopedia. You don't have to write anything of value in the Civilopedia entry, but it helps stabilize the game if rules aren't broken. There are many great guides in Apolytons Creation forum for working with the Civilopedia and PediaIcons files.
The process is similar when creating small icons. If you save the transparant image you made earlier, you can just resize it and paste into a template for a small icon.
Good luck!