So for now this will be a just a quick overview of my process for getting custom textures into the game. I will try to add to this later and make it more in depth for everyone!

I'm using Adobe Photoshop CC 2015. I had to install the necessary Nvidia plugin to output the .dds files, you can find the photoshop plugin here Nvidia Texture Tools for Photoshop[developer.nvidia.com].

Then I create the art in Photoshop. Once finished, I right click the layers (in my layer palette) that I want to export, and select "duplicate layers". I send them to a new document so that art now has it's own Photoshop document. Then I merge everything together and crop the canvas to fit the art. You have to make sure the art size is divisible by 4 in your width and height, so I go to canvas size and check my pixel numbers. Using a calculator I divide my current width of the canvas by 4, if the result is not a whole number you know this won't work! Then i just add 1,2, or 3 to my width to get the proper value. I do the same with the height. Now your texture is ready to export as a .dds file!

So I go to file > save as, and choose the output type as .dds, be sure to give your texture a name as well. Also, you need to save them in your mods folder, there should be a folder already created in there called Textures. SteamApps/Common/OwnMods/NameOfMod/Textures/ ...save them directly to that folder!

You'll then get that snazzy Nvidia exporter to pop up. You must select DXT1 codec for images without transparency, and DXT5 codec for images with transparency. You also need to make sure that you check the box for "No MIP Maps". There's a ton of other options in that exporter for quality and such, but I'm no expert on those settings.

NOW when you relaunch your mod in Awesomenauts and create a texture, you'll see your custom textures at the beginning of the list with "(mod)" prefixing their file name. HOORAY!

I know the devs said you can also use a free software called Gimp, which is a great alternative to Photoshop if you don't want to shovel a bunch of your money out of your bank account and into Adobe's. I assume you will need to find a DDS exporter for Gimp if you go that route, Google should be able to help you track that down (a quick search gave me this link Gimp DDS exporter[registry.gimp.org]). Anyways, good luck and happy texturing!!!