I am interested in this answer, as I was thinking of making some
of my mods into 2 parts:
part 1: the server side safe mod. Icons are just recoloring of existing items, etc
part 2: the “client side” icons.
as I understand it, the “xml for the game” will come from the game server, meaning *any* client side mods will not be loaded/activated if you are connected to a separate game server. To me this means that even if you had the #2 mod loaded only on the client, it would not be processed when joining a server. I believe this is because if the client can change the xml definitions a server sends, it could make all sorts of changes, like making a hat worth 10,000 duke’s or a gun have 10,000 damage.
you asked about icons, but, it’s the same issue as the XML mod will not have its icons referenced in the server side xml. And if the server side XMl does reference the icons, then if the client doesn’t have them the ricin’s will be blank…
but… a curiosity: what if the icons/models in the client side mod are named identical to the vanilla game? Like “resourceWood” in a client mod that was not loaded on the server side was the image of a clown? Would it take effect then (meaning the client side mod does load some things, but will not overwrite server sent XML). I would love any answers to this and I think this may be very similar/identical to what you’re also asking?
I have not tested this, so I’m not 100% sure.