diff --git a/common/Cargo.toml b/common/Cargo.toml
index 6ce742c38d..3fa8fd33a3 100644
--- a/common/Cargo.toml
+++ b/common/Cargo.toml
@@ -15,3 +15,5 @@ mio-extras = "2.0"
 serde = "1.0"
 serde_derive = "1.0"
 bincode = "1.0"
+log = "0.4"
+pretty_env_logger = "0.3"
diff --git a/common/src/assets/mod.rs b/common/src/assets/mod.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..141a9c6cf1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/src/assets/mod.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+use std::env;
+use std::fs;
+use std::io;
+use std::io::prelude::*;
+use std::fs::File;
+
+fn try_load(name: &str) -> Option<File> {
+    let basepaths = [
+        // if it's stupid and it works..,
+        "assets".to_string(),
+        "../../assets".to_string(),
+        "../assets".to_string(), /* optimizations */
+        [env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"), "/assets"].concat(),
+        [env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"), "/../../assets"].concat(),
+        [env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"), "/../assets"].concat(),
+        "../../../assets".to_string(),
+        [env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"), "/../../../assets"].concat(),
+    ];
+    for bp in &basepaths {
+        let filename = [bp, name].concat();
+        match File::open(&filename) {
+            Ok(f) => {
+                debug!("loading {} succedeed", filename);
+                return Some(f);
+            },
+            Err(e) => {
+                debug!("loading {} did not work with error: {}", filename, e);
+            }
+        };
+    };
+    return None;
+}
+
+pub fn load(name: &str) -> Result<Vec<u8>,()> {
+    return match try_load(name) {
+        Some(mut f) => {
+            let mut content: Vec<u8> = vec!();
+            f.read_to_end(&mut content);
+            info!("loaded asset successful: {}", name);
+            Ok(content)
+        },
+        None => {
+            warn!("Loading asset failed, wanted to load {} but could not load it, check debug log!", name);
+            Err(())
+        }
+    };
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/common/src/lib.rs b/common/src/lib.rs
index 0b22bd70d7..9fc68777e4 100644
--- a/common/src/lib.rs
+++ b/common/src/lib.rs
@@ -2,7 +2,10 @@
 
 #[macro_use]
 extern crate serde_derive;
+#[macro_use]
+extern crate log;
 
+pub mod assets;
 pub mod clock;
 pub mod comp;
 pub mod figure;
diff --git a/voxygen/src/hud/mod.rs b/voxygen/src/hud/mod.rs
index 5110e6c9d7..3b4369019d 100644
--- a/voxygen/src/hud/mod.rs
+++ b/voxygen/src/hud/mod.rs
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ use crate::{
     ui::{ScaleMode, ToggleButton, Ui},
     window::{Event as WinEvent, Key, Window},
 };
+use common::assets;
 use conrod_core::{
     color, Color,
     image::Id as ImgId,
@@ -245,10 +246,13 @@ pub(self) struct Imgs {
 impl Imgs {
     fn new(ui: &mut Ui, renderer: &mut Renderer) -> Imgs {
         let mut load = |filename| {
-            let image = image::open(
-                &[env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"), "/../assets/voxygen/", filename].concat(),
-            )
-            .unwrap();
+            let fullpath: String = [
+                "/voxygen/",
+                filename,
+            ].concat();
+            let image = image::load_from_memory(
+                assets::load(fullpath.as_str()).expect("Error loading file").as_slice()
+            ).unwrap();
             ui.new_image(renderer, &image).unwrap()
         };
         Imgs {
diff --git a/voxygen/src/menu/char_selection/ui.rs b/voxygen/src/menu/char_selection/ui.rs
index 7341da88c7..ce89996f42 100644
--- a/voxygen/src/menu/char_selection/ui.rs
+++ b/voxygen/src/menu/char_selection/ui.rs
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ use crate::{
     ui::{self, ScaleMode, Ui},
     window::Window,
 };
+use common::assets;
 use conrod_core::{
     color,
     color::TRANSPARENT,
@@ -224,15 +225,13 @@ struct Imgs {
 impl Imgs {
     fn new(ui: &mut Ui, renderer: &mut Renderer) -> Imgs {
         let mut load = |filename| {
-            let image = image::open(
-                &[
-                    env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"),
-                    "/../assets/voxygen/",
-                    filename,
-                ]
-                .concat(),
-            )
-            .unwrap();
+            let fullpath: String = [
+                "/voxygen/",
+                filename,
+            ].concat();
+            let image = image::load_from_memory(
+                assets::load(fullpath.as_str()).expect("Error loading file").as_slice()
+            ).unwrap();
             ui.new_image(renderer, &image).unwrap()
         };
         Imgs {
diff --git a/voxygen/src/menu/main/ui.rs b/voxygen/src/menu/main/ui.rs
index d1d6311b12..66126c6f0a 100644
--- a/voxygen/src/menu/main/ui.rs
+++ b/voxygen/src/menu/main/ui.rs
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ use crate::{
     ui::{self, ScaleMode, Ui},
     window::Window,
 };
+use common::assets;
 use conrod_core::{
     color::TRANSPARENT,
     image::Id as ImgId,
@@ -57,15 +58,13 @@ impl Imgs {
     fn new(ui: &mut Ui, renderer: &mut Renderer) -> Imgs {
         // TODO: update paths
         let mut load = |filename| {
-            let image = image::open(
-                &[
-                    env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"),
-                    "/../assets/voxygen/",
-                    filename,
-                ]
-                .concat(),
-            )
-            .unwrap();
+            let fullpath: String = [
+                "/voxygen/",
+                filename,
+            ].concat();
+            let image = image::load_from_memory(
+                assets::load(fullpath.as_str()).expect("Error loading file").as_slice()
+            ).unwrap();
             ui.new_image(renderer, &image).unwrap()
         };
         Imgs {