The Asset Browser and .meta GUIDs

Every file in a watched asset folder gets a .meta sidecar file the first time it is seen by the editor. The sidecar contains a stable Guid that survives renames and moves within the project. The editor uses this GUID to resolve prefab references when a .vprefab file is renamed or moved.

The .meta/GUID system is editor-time only. Published games do not read .meta files. Asset references in scenes and prefabs are stored as project-relative file paths, and VoltageContentManager resolves them against VoltageContentManager.ContentRoot at runtime.

Do not delete .meta files while the project is open. If a .meta file is missing the editor regenerates it with a new GUID, which will break any prefab references that pointed to the old GUID.

Asset type icons

The browser uses monochrome icons so file types stay readable in every editor theme. Textures, shader effects, Tiled maps, tilesets, timelines, and data assets have distinct icons; unknown file types use a plain document icon. Scene, prefab, script, Aseprite, and audio icons retain their existing artwork. Plugin descriptors can supply an IconPath; if it cannot be loaded, the browser falls back to the asset kind icon.

The original vector sources and their 96 x 96 transparent PNG exports are in Voltage.Editor/DefaultContent/UI/AssetTypes. Edit the SVG source and regenerate its PNG before committing artwork changes. The editor loads the PNGs directly; no SVG renderer or new runtime dependency is required. For example, a development environment with CairoSVG can export Shader.svg using cairosvg Shader.svg -o Shader.png.

Three editor design concepts and a GUI framework assessment compare presentation improvements on ImGui with a possible Avalonia or Qt port. The concepts are design sketches, not implemented editor themes. Further visual validation should check small icons at multiple display scales on Linux, Windows, and macOS, and dynamic non-ASCII names when broader font coverage is introduced.