The revelation may shock you!
So this was going to be a more in depth guide based on what I had heard about the gfx files being changed from PNG to AVIF. Turns out, this whole change is a sort of nothingburger. So think of this as a documentation of sorts.
You see, the assumption was that all XML files were changed so that they redirect to AVIF files in the game's directory. Opening my game, I found the XML files were unchanged completely. However, it is true that every PNG WAS turned into an AVIF. I must stress again that Paint.net is the ideal software to edit AVIF files. It can view, edit and export all AVIF files, and can be turned into PNG files, and vice versa! To do this, when you select "Save As", click the bottom box where the file extension is and you should see AVIF near the bottom of the list that appears.
Here's the shocking discovery I made:
The file extension in the XML file DOES NOT MATTER. It will accept both PNG and AVIF files!!!
As an example, Quarrister here still functions as he should, even with .png (or .avif) removed from the XML ImagePath. This is because the XML is only reading to see the filename, not the file extension of it. This does mean that all old mods SHOULD still work whether or not you change the file type. Actually, the game seems to prioritize the PNG file even if AVIF is present.
However, we still do recommend and basically require that the premultiply feature is used to its fullest extent. This is due to how AVIF files are more compressed than PNGs. Remember to read up on how to apply premultiply to spritesheets. Interestingly, all AVIF files are unpremultiplied by default.
This won't mean much for rules on this page. You can submit an AVIF or PNG file for your mod, all other rules will still apply. For consistencies sake, and though it is not required, AVIF is the recommended file to submit to this page.
More information will be added here as more research is done on this. For now, don't worry too much.
