My suggestion: use Project M Unbound in conjunction with the BrawlEX Clone Tool.
It works pretty good from my own experience, though I did have one issue: for some reason, once I added three characters, any additional character added would get rid of another on the roster. I dunno if that's just some one-time thing I experienced (haven't tried adding more than three since), or an actual bug when using the Clone Tool with Unbound/Unbound's version of BrawlEX, but just throwing it out there.
EDITING TO ADD POSSIBLY USEFUL INFORMATION: I'm making these modifications on Project M: Unbound beta 0.3. I'm referring specifically to the larger, white franchise icon that needs a transparent background. I have checked the brres file, and it is not compressed.
It worked perfectly... almost. The custom franchise icon works everywhere except the results screen, and the game freezes when trying to go into it. I double, triple, quadruple checked everything, and it should be working perfectly, but it's not. D:
I also added stock icons with his tutorial, and I thought those MAY have been the problem, but I verified that was not the case by going into the character select screen for Classic Mode. They displayed just fine. So, I was wondering if anyone could possibly take a look at my STGRESULT.pac file, and see whatever it is I may have done wrong?
I'm expanding upon Reaver's model import of Jack of Blades. I've already added additional color pallets for him (which I think look pretty good in action), custom images (BP, CSP, CSS icon/name/whatever they're called, stock icons, and so on), and am going to be working on improving it in other aspects.
I just really need help sorting this. Thank you for any assistance!
I can't wait until this and Bagan's Ridley is finished; the Metroid Roster will finally have substance. Samus, Zero Suit Samus, Ridley, and Dark Samus... brilliant.
When this is done, you totally need to show this to the Project M: Unbound team, as this would be a much better Ridley than what they're trying to put in (I think it's the old one you're improving on here).